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Ask HN: Why are there still recruiters?

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Re: Ask HN: Why are there still recruiters?

#31

Post by huevosabio »

scarface74 wrote: post #25

That's the problem. Anyone can apply for a job from anywhere. I find recruiters extremely valuable and I have about 10 companies that I work with regularly. For context, I keep a spreadsheet everytime I look for a job, so any stats below are accurate. 1. My resume never goes into a black hole. I always know the status of my resume. 2. I always know the salary they are willing to pay before I start the process. 3. Rec…

Would you mind sharing the contact of some of these recruiters? Or at least pointers on how to find and approach competent recruiters?

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Why are there still recruiters?

#32

Post by AnimalMuppet »

huevosabio wrote: post #31
scarface74 wrote: post #25

That's the problem. Anyone can apply for a job from anywhere. I find recruiters extremely valuable and I have about 10 companies that I work with regularly. For context, I keep a spreadsheet everytime I look for a job, so any stats below are accurate. 1. My resume never goes into a black hole. I always know the status of my resume. 2. I always know the salary they are willing to pay before I start the process. 3. Rec…

Would you mind sharing the contact of some of these recruiters? Or at least pointers on how to find and approach competent recruiters? Thanks!

Also location (unless the good recruiters are national operations).

Re: Ask HN: Why are there still recruiters?

#33

Post by seem_2211 »

javi830810 wrote: post #29
seem_2211 wrote: post #13

I am a recruiter (albeit for salespeople), and I think there are a few big value points that we provide, when we do our jobs right. 1: Filtering. The downside of the internet making it easy to apply for jobs is that the candidates that do apply, don't tend to be the candidates you want. If you put a job up on Monster / Indeed etc, you're going to get a lot of candidates who aren't remotely qualified for what you're l…

I agree with the values you mention they are "supposed" to provide. But in reality Filtering, I dont think they do it correctly. At least in Technology. See technology nowadays it's a lot about buzzwords, and usually recruiters just look for keywords inside resumes. If you dont have one of those keywords, you're off the hook. Technology hiring, could have another layer of analysis. For example every developer knows t…

That's fair from what I've seen in technical hiring (as mentioned, I only do sales recruitment). A lot of the big outfits hire kids straight out of school who don't understand the difference between C# and Javascript or the difference between front-end or server-side development. A lot of the issues with recruiters stem from the fact that recruiting companies (ironically) don't hire all that well.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there still recruiters?

#34

Post by seem_2211 »

gt_ wrote: post #27
seem_2211 wrote: post #13

I am a recruiter (albeit for salespeople), and I think there are a few big value points that we provide, when we do our jobs right. 1: Filtering. The downside of the internet making it easy to apply for jobs is that the candidates that do apply, don't tend to be the candidates you want. If you put a job up on Monster / Indeed etc, you're going to get a lot of candidates who aren't remotely qualified for what you're l…

Reading these comments has made me feel very stupid for treating recruiter messages like spam. Better late than never! I have been off the job market for almost a decade and things appear to have changed a lot. Do you have any advice for working with recruiters, beyond basically doing the opposite of what I have been doing?

Just reply back :)

Re: Ask HN: Why are there still recruiters?

#35

Post by seem_2211 »

kemiller2002 wrote: post #24

Development Manager here. I will tell you exactly why. It is a LOT of work to find people. I'm not shy in the community either. I go to user groups and job fairs. I have always been the "You find people by pounding the pavement" sort of person, but it takes an immense amount of time. Between all my other responsibilities, it just becomes too difficult to manage at times. I try to get people without using them, becaus…

Yep! One thing I think you find is that your "massive" social network (even if it's 500+ people) isn't big at all when it comes to a hiring pool.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there still recruiters?

#36

Post by [deleted] »

kbaautumn wrote: post #11
codegeek wrote: post #4

Recruiters are there because they are useful. Yes, not all recruiters are scum and low life bottom feeders that we love to hate. To answer your question, systems are just systems. They can never replace the human element which is required when dealing with people. Hiring is a friggin tough job and I can totally see the value of "good" recruiters now that I have been looking to hire people even though I am too small t…

I totally agree that systems are just systems and good recruiters can be really helpful. The problem is that there are way more bad/spam recruiters. And those are what people most complained about. I often receive emails that really has nothing that matched my background (e.g. received an job description that required 10 yrs experience when I was fresh out of college)

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why are there still recruiters?

#37

Post by JamesBarney »

kemiller2002 wrote: post #24

Development Manager here. I will tell you exactly why. It is a LOT of work to find people. I'm not shy in the community either. I go to user groups and job fairs. I have always been the "You find people by pounding the pavement" sort of person, but it takes an immense amount of time. Between all my other responsibilities, it just becomes too difficult to manage at times. I try to get people without using them, becaus…

One thing I did at my company recently was ask to see all of our currently employees resumes. One thing really stood.

Some of our best employees had resumes better used for wiping one's own bottom than persuading hiring managers to call them.

This combined with all the wasted interviews on people with stellar resumes, and I decided to do a short 10-15 min interview with everyone.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there still recruiters?

#38

Post by toomuchtodo »

charlesdm wrote: post #28
xmt wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I've stopped applying to companies directly because it takes too much of my time and the response rate is too low. With a recruiter I'm pretty much guaranteed at least the first round of interviews with just a 15 minute phone call. I imagine it's gotten to that point for a lot of job seekers.

Maybe if you can find a good one, but I've given up on them. Frankly, most (for candidate and company) are horrible and should've been fired years ago. One exception to my experiences was a guy working internally at Google in Switzerland that I had contact with, who hands down was great.

I was suddenly out of a job last year and a recruiter who cold called me had me in front of a hiring manager 48 hours later (who hired me on the spot).

Very satisfied with my recruiter, worth their weight in gold. I bought them a very nice bottle of wine to return the favor.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there still recruiters?

#39

Post by xmt »

gt_ wrote: post #27
seem_2211 wrote: post #13

I am a recruiter (albeit for salespeople), and I think there are a few big value points that we provide, when we do our jobs right. 1: Filtering. The downside of the internet making it easy to apply for jobs is that the candidates that do apply, don't tend to be the candidates you want. If you put a job up on Monster / Indeed etc, you're going to get a lot of candidates who aren't remotely qualified for what you're l…

Reading these comments has made me feel very stupid for treating recruiter messages like spam. Better late than never! I have been off the job market for almost a decade and things appear to have changed a lot. Do you have any advice for working with recruiters, beyond basically doing the opposite of what I have been doing?

Some of them are definitely spammy. If they are vague about the job I pass or if they don't seem very knowledgeable and clearly haven't read my resume I pass.

Recruiters that specialize in your area are better. I've found linked-in recruiters to be better than job board recruiters. Just put some in demand skills on your profile and they will come to you.

I should also mention this probably works better if you already have a job and some experience and isn't so great if you are just starting or switching fields.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there still recruiters?

#40

Post by scarface74 »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #32
huevosabio wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you mind sharing the contact of some of these recruiters? Or at least pointers on how to find and approach competent recruiters? Thanks!

Also location (unless the good recruiters are national operations).

I'm based in Atlanta. Check the websites to see other offices that the recruiters have. Also, I'm listing companies. Recruiters come and go but all of the recruiters at a company usual share jobs.

I've met recruiters from all of these companies either for lunch, at their office or at least over video chat.

I also wouldn't trust national recruiters. A good recruiter forms relationships with the company. The one that I went through for my current position is always meeting the hiring managers for lunch, giving us swag etc.

https://prestigestaffing.jobs.net/

http://www.hays.com/index.htm

http://www.chaseprofessionals.com/

http://www.htrjobs.com/

https://www.matrixres.com/

http://www.elev8staffing.com/

http://www.jdc-group.com/

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