Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 149 posts

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

#71

Post by balls187 »

pc86 wrote: post #67
balls187 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why? What benefit do you get from that? You're not like to negotiate a higher salary than you would without the recruiter, and you're not in a better position to get hired either (over the total spend of an employee's lifespan the recruiter commission is a drop in the bucket). Misaligned incentives. The recruiter is incented to get you to accept the position. Their compensation isn't tied to maximizing your happine…

Especially in tech, a recruiter's #1 incentive is almost certainly to foster a good relationship so that you come back to them when you want to leave. With people moving jobs every 1.5-3 years, a recruiter who consistently places people in positions where they are unhappy and underpaid is not going to make very much money 5 years from now.

With that same logic, a recruiter isn't also incented to get you a dream-job either, lest you never re-enter the job search market.

Personally, I don't have a problem with recruiters. My skills are marketable enough that it doesn't hurt to have someone else looking to place me in a job.

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

#72

Post by GordyMD »

CTO of Workshape.io here - we are a hiring platform for software engineers that's primary focus is matching developers to opportunities based on your passions and how you want to spend your time in your next role. When you match with a position you interface directly with someone at the company without any mediating through recruiters. Added bonus: there is no need for uploading your resume/CV!

With 2 of the founders being developers we can relate to the level of recruiter spam in this space and so we created Workshape.io to cut through the noise and make meaningful intorductions between developer and company based on shared requirements.

We have about 200 postings on the site right now spread across the globe, but mainly concentrated in Europe. That said though, we do cater for people seeking remote work + relocation so if you fall under that remit then you may find us even more useful.

Would love for you to check us out and would welcome any feedback.

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

#73

Post by 15155 »

DanBC wrote: post #65
rebelde wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You tell them your real salary? I always gave them a number that was closer to my target range.

That's potentially fraud.

In what way? Who is harmed? In which jurisdiction?

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

#75

Post by xando »

A while ago I wrote something called https://whoishiring.io is an aggregator for IT jobs, it has decent IT amount of job posts (~15000) including HN's "Who is Hiring?" which you start with btw.

But as it was mentioned couple of times here: Indeed, Glassdoor, Adzuna are good places to visit as well.

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

#76

Post by mmanfrin »

Even though it's technically a 'recruiter', Hired.com is pretty painless. The main point I appreciated is that it was not terribly pushy. They asked that you respond to offers, but that's about it.

I havent gotten a job through them, I'm still 100% through friends/excoworkers, but the process was nice and I did get offers (and a friend did land a job through them).

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

#78

Post by vonmoltke »

chadgeidel wrote: post #68
collyw wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, disclosing my salary to recruiter has only ever had a negative effect.

I would recommend never disclosing salary because the recruiter will always say "oh, you can't possibly expect to make x% more than your current salary" and negotiate from there. When asked, I always say "I am looking for between $Y and $Z" to set the tone. If they continue pushing for my current salary I end the conversation.

> I would recommend never disclosing salary because the recruiter will always say "oh, you can't possibly expect to make x% more than your current salary" and negotiate from there.

To which you respond, "Then I guess we won't be working together". If he really cares about your business, he'll come around. If not, then it really doesn't matter either way because your likelihood of getting what you would ask for otherwise is slim.

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

#79

Post by Chris2048 »

ohitsdom wrote: post #29
peteretep wrote: post #18

Hi, I'm a recruiter. Look for job aggregators like Adzuna, Indeed, etc, which scrape all jobs on the web. When you see results, it should be easy to work out which jobs are posted by recruiters, and which have been posted directly by the company. In my (massively biased) experience, you are better off applying for a position when you've been put forward by a recruiter: * The recruiter knows what the client's salary r…

> wants you to get paid as much as possible (as the role is commission based) I think recruiters can be great, but don't put too much stock into this point. Recruiters are similar to realtors- yes, they get more if you get more, but they would rather close the deal then to risk no deal at all over a few more thousand dollars.

Also, their relationship with the client (employer) is also important. If they can whittle down how much a client (employee/contractor) is willing to get, they will be who the employer calls first next time.

Also, if they know the budget, they may know how small it is too. If they are no other jobs, they may try to convince you to take whatever's in their book.

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

#80

Post by Colin_M »

I'm constantly being contacted through LinkedIn by recruiters who clearly haven't actually read my profile - they'll say they've read it and then say that they think I'd be perfect for the Senior Developer position they're hiring for, when my profile clearly has me as a student looking for entry -level positions. When I respond, or when they call me, I tell them my actual qualifications and they say that they'll definitely contact me in the future. To date I have not heard from a single one of them again.
Post reply on HN