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Why are technical recruiters so clueless?

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Re: Why are technical recruiters so clueless?

#91

Post by pcampbell »

Timothee wrote: post #34
swilliams wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds more like an agent, in the sports/entertainment sense. There might just be a market there. Let the masses of mediocre/average programmers dink around with mediocre/average recruiters, while the quality ones have someone who actually cares focused on them. The biggest issue is that an "agent" would need to not just maintain relationships with quality job candidates, but also quality employers. If all you're off…

I would really like to work with that kind of person. Like everyone else, I've had useless encounters with recruiters, and I feel like someone with more experience and knowledge of the job world should be able to match me up better with a job and a salary. Somebody was asking if he was reaching his pay limit here not long ago. One reason for that question is that it's very hard for one to know how they compare to oth…

We just launched a site today that lets you hire an agent.

Check it out at www.CareerElement.com!

Re: Why are technical recruiters so clueless?

#92

Post by aik »

iamdave wrote: post #88
Timothee wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not put off by someone maximizing the money they're getting for what they do, but I am a little bit by people who do what they do to maximize the money they're getting. Of course, it's a matter of personal taste and point-of-view... But "put off" might not have been the right word, maybe "disappointed" or "disinterested" would have been better. Basically, I saw swombat's question as a question from a developer in…

So in your opinion, the idea of working is sort of like Pascal's Wager where you should only work hard, and build the best relationships you can just in case you get top dollar, and even then you didn't really deserve it-it was arbitarily given to you. Otherwise, just be mediocre and be happy to be getting what you're getting? That makes absolutely zero sense.

It's a common argument - either you work for money or you work because you love the work itself. Besides what should be common sense, there have been plenty of studies denoting that working simply for money does not bring happiness (assuming you are above the poverty line and even then in many cases), especially long term.

Re: Why are technical recruiters so clueless?

#93

Post by TeHCrAzY »

ciupicri wrote: post #48
olegkikin wrote: post #37

That's why me and my friends launched http://recruiter-review.com (I hope you don't consider this spam)

Please replace the Facebook login with a more generic OpenId login.

I don't have Facebook, and I don't use OpenId. What now?

Re: Why are technical recruiters so clueless?

#98

Post by ghotli »

krane_6d7 wrote: post #54
smiler wrote: post #14

I guess technical recruiters will never be any good until you find ex software developers to be technical recruiters - and I can't think you'd find many software developers willing to do that. I am convinced there are still many ways for recruiting to be fixed by disruptive startups

I think a recruiting firm with no technical skills should contract out preliminary interview process to actual software developers. Their task should be weed out any fakers and improve quality. The paid compensation on a part time basis would attract developers to get involved. It would be one or two interviews per day which would not steal time from their day job and put some extra dough into their pockets. Win-Win…

Funny you say that. I've often thought about selling my interviewing skills to other companies. They tell me I'm pretty good at it. Sign me up.

Actually I want to trade interviewing skills with someone who knows how to hire a good mathematician. I've been worried about how to approach interviewing the statistician that I intend to hire eventually.

Re: Why are technical recruiters so clueless?

#99

Post by dspeyer »

tocomment wrote: post #2

I never understood why they stop communicating if an opportunity doesn't pan out? Why wouldn't they be interested in cultivating a long term relationship? That's what I think I would do if I were a recruiter. I'd keep in touch with say 200 people I know are really good and keep placing them as they switched jobs. I'm guessing at least 10 or 20 of those people would be switching jobs every year.

I suspect really good programmers don't switch jobs all that often. They have a lot of leverage in finding a job they like, and once they've done that why leave? Sure stuff can happen, but not very often.

Re: Why are technical recruiters so clueless?

#100

Post by KoZeN »

ig1 wrote: post #33
KoZeN wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am convinced there are still many ways for recruiting to be fixed by disruptive startups I couldn't agree more. I've been actively trying to tackle this problem, so far without success, for a while now.

I'm working on a developer recruitment based startup at the moment, if you want to grab coffee sometime give me a shout. I'm not in London at the moment but I should be shortly (i.e. as soon as I can find somewhere in London to live !)

Sounds like a plan. One point on your site though:

Brand has huge influence when trying to hire the best, so unlike recruiters we don't hide your brand.

There are two reasons why recruiters don't advertise company names:

1) They don't want the competition muscling in.

2) A lot of companies don't want their brand advertised as they don't want the competition to know that they are hiring at certain levels and they also don't want to be pestered by other agencies who spotted the advert and are trying to pitch their services.

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