Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

news.ycombinator.com

1–10 of 149 posts

Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#1
I posted on the Who wants to be hired thread last week. I have received a ton of recruiter spam, all saying "We have the perfect position for you". I quickly realized they say that to everyone. I'd rather talk to a company directly.

What's the procedure for getting a new job without going through external recruiters?

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#3
A counterpoint to that is that if a company is hiring a recruiter they are serious about hiring somebody.

There are some places where they bring in a huge number of candidates, interview them, and then never hire anyone. For instance, at a local Uni, they had a position open for 2.5 yrs.

If there is a recruiter involved there is a sense of urgency at least.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#4

A counterpoint to that is that if a company is hiring a recruiter they are serious about hiring somebody. There are some places where they bring in a huge number of candidates, interview them, and then never hire anyone. For instance, at a local Uni, they had a position open for 2.5 yrs. If there is a recruiter involved there is a sense of urgency at least.

That's actually a good point you've made. My issue is mostly in determining which ones are serious and which ones are throwing every job they have to see what sticks.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#5

Googling "the name of the company you're interested in + careers" usually does that. Or you can go on linkedin and search for internal recruiters from that company, but you'll be wasting time.

>Or you can go on linkedin and search for internal recruiters from that company.

This has never occured to me, thanks for that tip

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#7

Googling "the name of the company you're interested in + careers" usually does that. Or you can go on linkedin and search for internal recruiters from that company, but you'll be wasting time.

Agreed on the wasting time part. I've actually had significantly better response rates from companies when going through a recruiter instead of applying directly to the position on the website/linkedin/whatever. At least with a recruiter you get someone with an active interest in getting your resume in front of a hiring manager, as opposed to your application disappearing into the sea of 100+ applicants vying for keyword supremacy.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#8
Good Recruiters are out there but they are like needle in a haystack. It is tough to know good ones but when they do come, make sure they are in your rolodex

Having said that, I have found a couple of ways of finding jobs that I want:

Approach 1. Decide a company that you want to work for. Go to their careers page if they have one and then find a relevant position. Then go to Linkedin and search for "HR " in linkedin and try to find an HR contact in that company. Send them a short email that you are interested in that specific position. You never know and they may just connect you to the right hiring manager (has happened to me). BUT the trick is that you need to write effective and precise email. Don't send generic "I need a job" type of email.

Approach 2: Go to sites like indeed.com and shortlist a list of relevant jobs you like. They may not provide a direct HR/hiring manager contact but it could be a recruiter. That's ok for starters. Now take some of the keywords from that job posting and run a google search on the exact words. You may be surprised to get a direct listing from a company's career page. Now go back to Approach 1. (Done this as well)

Approach 3: The "good" recruiter can be very useful if you have found one. Then just go through them as it will be worth your time (done this as well)

Rinse and repeat.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#9

A counterpoint to that is that if a company is hiring a recruiter they are serious about hiring somebody. There are some places where they bring in a huge number of candidates, interview them, and then never hire anyone. For instance, at a local Uni, they had a position open for 2.5 yrs. If there is a recruiter involved there is a sense of urgency at least.

other reasons for hiring a recruiter:

desperation, laziness, no idea about hiring at all

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#10
The key with recruiters is to find one that is like you. Read their messages and if they say something that "hits on something" for you, then go with that one. Trust your gut!

The benefit of a recruiter is that you won't have to do the whole "meet for coffee" thing, where the company does an initial check to make sure you don't have any crazy red flags. With a recruiter, you "meet for coffee" once, he vets you (or tells you you have a big red flag), and then does your leg work.

A recruiter is also your negotiator. The money they make is dependant on your salary, so it's in their best interest to get you the highest salary possible. I suck at negotiating, so I really appreciate this aspect of recruiters.

And if you picked the right recruiter and they are open with you, they can really help cut through the bullshit that are most job postings. They'll say things like "This posting says X, but I talked to the CTO and he really just needs someone to take a functional spec and build an interface out of it".

Without a recruiter, you'll need your wits about you, lest you end up being deceived by a flowery job posting. And you'll need to have confidence and a firm understanding of your abilities so you can negotiate a good salary. You'll have to pour through job sites and you'll submit the same application form over and over and over... It's tiring.

Post reply on HN