What technical recruiters want from engineering candidates

Post by ryanmcbride » Thu, May 17, 2018, 6:00 PM UTC

carlmr wrote: post #155

ryanmcbride wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Don't bait and switch Recruiter: "Hi you seem like a perfect fit for can I set you up with them?" Me: "Yeah sure why not" Recruiter: "Actually you aren't a good fit for that role but how about " What's most annoying is that between the bait, and the switch, I've not talked to anyone new or given them any new information about my skills or technical past. They knew what they were gonna do from the beginning.

>What's most annoying is that between the bait, and the switch, I've not talked to anyone new or given them any new information about my skills or technical past. They knew what they were gonna do from the beginning. It's less of a bait and switch, and more that they have like a 1% response rate on their spam. So they spam first and then see if it actually fits you. It's more efficient that way.

I definitely understand the process, I just call it a bait+switch because from the perspective of the recruitee, that's what it looks like.

Post by qohen » Fri, May 18, 2018, 9:40 AM UTC

goldenManatee wrote: post #150

qohen wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TBH I have never been impressed by any technical recruiter I've met. You know what is impressive about (at least some) technical recruiters I've met? Despite not knowing much about tech, they can pull down $300K/yr (and this is not in SF or NYC).

It's perception. They network, get lucky sometimes, and don't stop preaching about it until everyone around starts believing they're valuable authorities in their profession. Snow ball rolls from there and they start attracting candidates based on perceived connection to the top company/people/teams.

The $300K/yr. recruiters I'm thinking of are not people who have some out-sized reputation, at least not as far as I'm aware -- I think the economics of the business simply allow them to make a lot of money if they can regularly place a small number of candidates each month -- see my reply below to another comment about how I figure that might work.

I do know one recruiter who truly does have a good reputation, but not for the reasons you suggest -- I met her years ago and while I haven't seen her for a while, every so often over the years, I'd be talking to someone about job-hunting and they'd say they knew a good recruiter I should talk to and, inevitably, the name they'd then mention was hers.

And I don't think she did this by networking or attempting to create a higher profile or becoming an authority or by convincing people she had access to top people at top companies. I think she's just done a good job for people and so those people feel good about her and therefore about recommending her to others. Someone like that might be worth paying a lot to -- for all that good will in addition to her skill and experience.

BTW, it occurs to me that the first $300K recruiter I met told me he ran a Python user-group out of his offices -- and perhaps that wasn't the only group he did this for. That kind of thing, obviously, can help a recruiter become known to developers, but, again, not because of having an out-sized reputation -- rather, by just being around when developers congregate, giving him a chance to introduce himself to them, face-to-face. (I don't know how much business hosting such groups actually brought to his firm, but it obviously couldn't hurt).

Re: What technical recruiters want from engineering candidates

Re: What technical recruiters want from engineering candidates