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Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

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Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#101

Post by pc86 »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #99
pc86 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are (at the highest level) two kinds recruiters. Those that work for a company filling that company's internal roles, and those that work for a body shop filling the roles of whatever companies agree to pay them a commission. The former are usually pretty good. They have an idea what the teams need, even if they don't know the specifics of the individual technologies. They usually have very close relationships…

I keep getting the same unsolicited inquiries from Amazon internal for roles that aren't a great fit in a city I don't live in, respond accordingly and never get any type of response again, until the next internal recruiter (with the average tenure of < 12 months). This is no different from the second type of recruiter you highlight.

Amazon is hemorrhaging talent right now so that might be kind of a special case. Or it might be FAANG? Admittedly I've only worked in companies nobody's ever heard of so maybe it's different at those smaller places that only hire 15-20 developers at an absolute max (and usually like 3-5).

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#102

Post by silverlake »

ThePhysicist wrote: post #36

Honestly, be grateful you receive so much recruiter "spam", sometimes great things can come from it. It's quite a HN thing to complain about receiving too many offers for jobs that are basically in the 99.9 % quantile of the highest paying jobs in the world.

For example my friend landed a high 7 figure position initiated by a random executive recruiter. I’ve gotten a few great job offers from recruiters. Engineers on LinkedIn are like women on dating apps. Lots of spam but a few interesting leads.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#103

Post by AlwaysRock »

gizdan wrote: post #91
AlwaysRock wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree to some extend but... Yell? How is a recruiter supposed to know you are okay with LI messages but draw a hard line at emails? A text shortener that populates, "I don't use email for recruiting messages. Please reach out on Linkedin. I'll block your domain if you send follow up emails." is direct and doesnt cause someone trying to do their job to get yelled at for not knowing your specific preference...

They should know because my email isn't available anywhere online for a reason. Every time I reply to ask where they got my email, they mention some service that scrapes emails based on LinkedIn addresses. This isn't okay. That's spam. They're clearly trying to avoid LI's platform for whatever reason (probably cost). It's not just about blocking domains, it's about figuring out what those services are and yelling at…

Ah. At some point you allowed your email to be public. It was captured. And now is served up to paying customers.

You might have taken your email down now but you made it available at some point. LinkedIn scrapers cant make information that wasnt shared available. I'm not arguing that that means you opted in to receiving emails but if you made your email publicly available its odd to be upset when someone uses it to contact you.

The reason people circumvent LinkedIn could be cost but the cost of email tools are much higher than a LinkedIn Recruiter subscription and inmails. The reason people reach out via email is because it allows for easier drip campaigns/follow up emails, email template use, and the response rate is an order of magnitude higher.

I'm not trying to be an ass here. I'm trying to share the viewpoint of someone who is emailing you and why their intentions might not be as malicious you seem to interpret them.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#104

Post by bigwavedave »

gonehome wrote: post #85
Kalium wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately often, I've found that being kind to recruiters and generous with my time pays off in consuming more of my time. I'd very much like to believe that being kind to people on my way up will pay off, be paid back, or otherwise come back to me. So far it mostly gets me treated as a soft touch. I don't want to feel important. I want people to have some base amount of respect for my time, energy, and attention…

Sure - there’s no need to reply to 90% of recruiter emails (I don’t), but that doesn’t mean people need to talk so dismissively and condescendingly of them “recruiter spam” and such. Just don’t reply and be happy we don’t need to.

> [snip] that doesn’t mean people need to talk so dismissively and condescendingly of them “recruiter spam” and such.

What else would you call an unsolicited, undesired, insincere, largely irrelevant, automated message if not "spam"?

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#105

Post by Kalium »

bigwavedave wrote: post #104
gonehome wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure - there’s no need to reply to 90% of recruiter emails (I don’t), but that doesn’t mean people need to talk so dismissively and condescendingly of them “recruiter spam” and such. Just don’t reply and be happy we don’t need to.

> [snip] that doesn’t mean people need to talk so dismissively and condescendingly of them “recruiter spam” and such. What else would you call an unsolicited, undesired, insincere, largely irrelevant, automated message if not "spam"?

Unsolicited Bulk Recruiting, perhaps?

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#106

Post by svrourke »

mvc wrote: post #27

I don't understand the attitute that most software engineers seem to have with recruiters. My early years as a software developer were in locations where opportunities were not like they are in your big tech centers. In those years, recruiters would get you a foot in the door and you were grateful for any opportunities that came. Even in big tech centers, until you build your own network, recruiters will likely be an…

I recently got my first software engineering job via a recruiter, it was an absolutely wonderful experience that resulted in me getting a fantastic job that pays as much as I've made in the past two years combined. I am insanely grateful for the recruiter that reached out to me and helped me along the process.

However today I got a message about URGENT NEED a Senior Java position (I am a junior JavaScript developer) to which I replied "thanks but I've recently accepted an offer and I am no longer looking for a new job"

About ten minutes later they texted me (idk i guess my number is on linkedin) demanding I reply to their message.

There isn't a single instance of the word Java on my profile that isn't connected to the word Script.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#107

Post by gizdan »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #103
gizdan wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should know because my email isn't available anywhere online for a reason. Every time I reply to ask where they got my email, they mention some service that scrapes emails based on LinkedIn addresses. This isn't okay. That's spam. They're clearly trying to avoid LI's platform for whatever reason (probably cost). It's not just about blocking domains, it's about figuring out what those services are and yelling at…

Ah. At some point you allowed your email to be public. It was captured. And now is served up to paying customers. You might have taken your email down now but you made it available at some point. LinkedIn scrapers cant make information that wasnt shared available. I'm not arguing that that means you opted in to receiving emails but if you made your email publicly available its odd to be upset when someone uses it to…

Sure, except for the fact that this specific email is .@gmail.com and I have only ever used it when I've been directly in contact with companies after I've gone through the whole process, or when I've developed a relationship with the recruiters. I've never connected it to LinkedIn either. In addition, as I mentioned in my previous comment:

> Every time I reply to ask where they got my email, they mention some service that scrapes emails based on LinkedIn addresses.

Again, zilch to do with my email being allowed to be public.

Every time when I've reached out to these spam companies, they've mentioned scraping and guessing emails. I.e. if my name on Linked is John Smith, and they'll add john.smith@gmail, john.smith@outlook, j.smith@gmail, and some other common name formats.

It's ridiculous.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#108

Post by Fnoord »

This article is pure FOMO.

Spam rule #1: Do. Not. Reply. (Heck, don't read it either. My filters are usually good enough to not even see them.)

If someone wants to genuinely contact you, it should be a personal message. Every time you give signal to spam, you contribute to it being worthwhile.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#110

Post by hansel_der »

pandaman wrote: post #74
hansel_der wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I get offers for jobs asa frontend eng, when I am a 100% backend guy. for you it might be the difference between "tire guy" and "engine guy" whereas the recruiter just sees a car mechanic.

That's the point of the post you are replying to: don't be in business of hiring mechanics if you have no clue that there are "tire" and "engine" ones.

i too find the "fullstack developer - printer problems" memes pretty funny but i can also sort of understand the other side and to return to the analogy, a tire-guy car-mechanic probably has a better chance to diagnose and fix your car than any bicycle-mechanic.
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