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Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation

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Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation

#161

Post by davidiach »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #70
mbroshi wrote: post #34

I will admit I did not make it through this entire article, but it really did not ring true to me at all--just sounded like an unsupported, hostile, angry rant. >> “Fucked if we care” think the recruiters, “now grovel and be exploited”. ... >> You’re meat to them, a resource to be packaged and sold and exploited. Who's being exploited here? I think he's implying the programmers, but as someone who left academia for i…

Honestly it seems like the author has some serious problems. I know hundreds of recruiters having been at Google and Facebook and not a single one of them thinks like this at all. To say "now grovel and be exploited" about a process where the person will almost certainly end up with a fantastic offer for an engineering job in a comfortable office with great pay and great working conditions may actually be the least s…

My theory is probably wrong, but it is possible that this article is a way for the author to signal his skills/worth/value. Someone with low skills and who's desperate to find a job is highly unlikely to publicly complain about the amount of attention he gets from recruiters, so by actually doing it, he signals that he has high value.

But I do believe the more likely explanation remains that this guy got angry after getting harassed repeatedly by recruiters and decided to do something about it.

Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation

#163

Post by toolslive »

lukasm wrote: post #13

Had really bad experience with recruiters in London - Lies. From "They have a free gym pass" to complete bs like salary and position. - Screwed up formatting of CV that I've sent (they wanted .doc) I've written that I have basic perl skills, recruiter changed it to good and destroyed the layout of CV making it unreadable. Good luck with perl question during the interview. - Constant phone calls with no new informatio…

I once (early 2000s) discovered during the interview the recruiter had edited the CV I sent. I showed my own copy and the interviewer and I ended up putting them next to each other and identifying the differences.

It's better if you only hand out a pdf version.

Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation

#164

Post by rbadaro »

adrianb wrote: post #51
raverbashing wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just left my old number (that I don't use anymore) in linkedin

That's still not good enough. I've had recruiters look at who my current employer is then call the public phone number of the company (the reception) and ask for my name. I'm not joking. Happened more than once.

This is common practice in London. I stopped answering calls with the reception ID as they are normally just recruiters doing what you mention. The problem is that somehow they get my mobile number and stealing contacts as they themselves move between recruitment agencies is also common practice.

Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation

#165

Post by fredkbloggs »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #70
mbroshi wrote: post #34

I will admit I did not make it through this entire article, but it really did not ring true to me at all--just sounded like an unsupported, hostile, angry rant. >> “Fucked if we care” think the recruiters, “now grovel and be exploited”. ... >> You’re meat to them, a resource to be packaged and sold and exploited. Who's being exploited here? I think he's implying the programmers, but as someone who left academia for i…

Honestly it seems like the author has some serious problems. I know hundreds of recruiters having been at Google and Facebook and not a single one of them thinks like this at all. To say "now grovel and be exploited" about a process where the person will almost certainly end up with a fantastic offer for an engineering job in a comfortable office with great pay and great working conditions may actually be the least s…

He's not commenting on the in-house recruiting staffs at the major corporations, he's commenting on the third-party (usually contract) recruitment industry. They're not the same; the lack of knowledge and perverse incentives are much less an issue with direct recruitment.

It's my experience that the third-party recruiting business is almost as terrible in the US as the author describes in the UK, though sans the oddball Brit dialect. There also doesn't seem to be as much of the third-party contract scam going; if the recruiter is a contracting agency, they'll tell you that up front. But the incoherent and misspelled emails, the rampant spam, the lack of knowledge of the roles they're recruiting for, yes that all rings true in the US too.

Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation

#166

Post by jsprogrammer »

andrelaszlo wrote: post #151
michaelt wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are rent-seekers, pure and simple, and they leech off our industry. I'm no fan of recruiters, but nothing stops you applying to the company directly, and nothing stops the company posting their own job ads.

Actually your CV can be hijacked by a recruiter, effectively keeping you out of a job. Imagine this scenario: You get a call from a recruiter. They seem to have an interesting position/client/network so you send over your CV. A couple of months later you are actively looking for a job, so you make a list of cool startups in your area and send your CV and a customized cover letter. They all answer that they got your C…

Sounds like a good lawsuit against the recruiter.

Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation

#167

Post by fredkbloggs »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #148
praptak wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If a comment as irate, mean-spirited, and unsubstantiated as this blog post appeared in HN, it would get down-voted into oblivion. Yet this article instead of getting flagged into oblivion got upvoted to #1 as of now. Could that be that HN readers' experience with recruiters mirrors the author's experience?

I think the complaint is that the author could have instead made this argument in a rational, not irate, not mean spirited and substantiated way. What would have been so bad about that?

It wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable to read, for one.

Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation

#168

Post by CyberDildonics »

gambiting wrote: post #130
nordic_nomad wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy god, that's a job in technology? Sounds like your typical retail wage slave situation here in the US. Even entry level tech jobs are in the $40-$50k range generally.

Lol, I'm a C++ games programmer and make $30k/year. North East of England + games industry.

If you are able to produce anything or contribute at all you are getting rolled. Find a new job.

Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation

#170

Post by blktiger »

celticninja wrote: post #131
nordic_nomad wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy god, that's a job in technology? Sounds like your typical retail wage slave situation here in the US. Even entry level tech jobs are in the $40-$50k range generally.

Not in London it isnt. £15k is below average wage, way below for London. Unless this IT job was excel monkey or perhaps keyboard cleaner original commenter is full of shit. I know trainee developers (no education but some skills) who have started off on £21k and that is low for IT in London. I find it hard to believe that any IT role in London was filled for £15k by anyone other than the most junior of people.

He didn't say that was the salary. He said the final salary was that much _less_ than what the recruiter said it would be.
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