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Ask HN: How do you handle rude/aggressive recruiters?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you handle rude/aggressive recruiters?

#11

Post by anonymuse »

brd wrote: post #10
anonymuse wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I spent a small amount of time trying to craft a suggestion that I honestly felt would help this person do their job better. I can see how it could appear potentially condescending, but how are we able to give people constructive advice if there's an effort at a concise, polite response and it's perceived as obtuse? Using words such as "recommend", "advice", "friendly" in my mind conveys only transparency. I…

Disregarding the entire content of his email while simultaneously nitpicking his email etiquette is never going to come across as "friendly". As its written, you just seem like you're dismissive and passive aggressive. If you had actually responded to the email and then added an aside about his email subject it would have come across much differently.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll consider that in the future. It's probably naive to think drive-by-criticism can be constructive in this setting.

Re: Ask HN: How do you handle rude/aggressive recruiters?

#12

Post by joezydeco »

anonymuse wrote: post #9
notahacker wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed... the whole conversation reads like parody: self-centred and inane recruiter pitch followed by smug, obtuse developer reply followed by recruiter amusingly taking umbrage at the reply and still trying to pitch the job.

Really? I spent a small amount of time trying to craft a suggestion that I honestly felt would help this person do their job better. I can see how it could appear potentially condescending, but how are we able to give people constructive advice if there's an effort at a concise, polite response and it's perceived as obtuse? Using words such as "recommend", "advice", "friendly" in my mind conveys only transparency. I…

You simultaneously tell the guy:

1) Email headers in all caps don't get seen by me.

2) I saw your email.

So, of course, the recruiter switches from spam-intake mode to "just cut the crap and tell me if you're interested or not, since you are responding". His job is to feed the hopper with resumes.

Re: Ask HN: How do you handle rude/aggressive recruiters?

#15

Post by MalcolmDiggs »

I usually just try to hammer home:

* What kind of work I actually do (specific skillset)

* What kind of work I'm actually interested in (contract, full-time, etc)

You're not gonna stop the recruiters...you're just not... the best you can hope for is that they start to get to know you better and bring you better / more-targeted opportunities.

Re: Ask HN: How do you handle rude/aggressive recruiters?

#16

Post by mb_72 »

My public Linked In profile mentions in the first line that recruiters are NOT to contact me for any reason; if they do so, then I feel no remorse in responding rudely. 99% of IT-type recruiters are untalented jerks making a living from the skills of others and are too used to spamming or using dirty techniques to do their jobs.

That said, I can't see what you can do to 'protect' others, just delete their emails, set a spam filter appropriately and move on.

Re: Ask HN: How do you handle rude/aggressive recruiters?

#17

Post by helen842000 »

loco5niner wrote: post #8
Someone1234 wrote: post #3

Your reply was also rude. I'm not going to take sides since I dislike both. PS - Including their email address (and name) but not yours seems extremely petty. Like this thread/negative exposure is effectively your way of getting back at them.

rude reply or not, he was correct.

It looks awful but capitalized, asterisk filled subject lines do get a better response. I have A/B tested a lot of open rates.
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