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Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

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Re: Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

#281

Post by datavirtue »

seneca wrote: post #188
lbriner wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the most common reasons is simply that they don't want you to go direct to the company in question and bypass their commission. If they give you too much, it is very easy to do and many companies will recruit directly and the recruiter would have no legal basis to do anything about that. On the other hand, because of commission, it is in the recruiter's interest to get you as much money as possible so you migh…

> On the other hand, because of commission, it is in the recruiter's interest to get you as much money as possible so you might get a better offer via them than you would if you went direct. This isn't my experience at all, having worked with recruiters both as a hirer and hiree. Recruiters typically are looking to close as many positions as possible, making money on volume. Their incentives are to spend as little ti…

A lot of the recruiters have different businesses. Some may be recruiting for direct hire but alot of them retain them as employees as they contract for six months or however long...sometimes years..for an hourly rate. They pocket the difference over what is paid to the engineer.

Re: Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

#282

Post by lizknope »

A lot of recruiters won't list the company that they are recruiting for. I assume this is because you could just apply to the company directly and they wouldn't get their fee.

One time I asked the company who they were recruiting for. They told me the company name and I replied with "I already work there."

This was on LinkedIn where my current employer is on my page and anyone can see it.

Re: Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

#283

Post by wobbly_bush »

wnolens wrote: post #245
reasonabl_human wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on reasons for the move? I am facing a similar realization regarding another one of your child comments about not clicking as much with west coast culture but am concerned about a drop in tech opportunities

Many reasons. But after 10 years on the west coast, I had many dozens of friends but almost none that I wanted to spend holidays with (i.e. felt like family, neither friends nor partners). I decided that it wasn't for a lack of trying or giving it time. The west coast felt judgmental and divisive. I couldn't always express myself for fear of alienation. I do not have strong views and I (used to?) consider myself libe…

Not the person you are responding to - what about NYC made you get in touch with non-tech people that wasn't possible on the west coast? Is there something different about NYC's culture that helps in mingling with more people?

Re: Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

#284

Post by fecak »

selfhifive wrote: post #272
fecak wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question. The bad ones don't go away immediately. They go away eventually, and are quickly replaced with another round of new hires. So you have maybe 10% of the industry that stays for the long haul, and 90% is a revolving door of college grads. There are probably other industries that have similar models where most of the workforce is newbies at all times, but I don't have an example that won't be dissected.

That's a great description of software consultancy firms. Most people are fresh college grads who leave after their first contract is up or earlier.

The bigger ones, yes. Not boutique/niche firms, but large ones tend to churn.

Re: Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

#285

Post by Cd00d »

Tade0 wrote: post #253
dvtrn wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recruiting farms like Cyber Recruiters (yuck) will do everything in their power to waste your time Or share your data. I made a throwaway, but not obnoxious email on my domain just for recruiters a few years ago, so I could try tracking who I was talking to. Via three consecutive third-party recruiters I started getting cold calls and e-mails from recruiters I’d never contacted, never met, or never before engaged wit…

I always ask where do they have this number from. One time the guy told me that the person who referred me "preferred to remain anonymous". I asked him if he realised that this is a violation of GDPR and that a typical candidate would recognize it as such? No coherent answer.

I've more than once asked a cold-call recruiter how they got my number where the answer has been a rather candid, "there are markets for such information".

Kinda makes me regret the few years my LinkedIn profile had my phone number public, but I do wonder how successful these questionable personal data marketplaces are. I certainly haven't had a conversation get beyond "this is spam".

Re: Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

#286

Post by devoutsalsa »

anonygler wrote: post #26

Strong disagree. I've made it my policy to never work with a recruiter that isn't affiliated with the company they're hiring for. Recruiting farms like Cyber Recruiters (yuck) will do everything in their power to waste your time out of sheer incompetence and disinterest. I've "doubled" my salary plenty of times through this policy. But the real secret sauce is referrals. Companies always prioritize a strong referral,…

> Companies always prioritize a strong referral, ignoring mediocre interview performance, and will even skip the reference checks

I wish this were always true. When I worked as a recruiter, I saw referrals routinely get tossed onto the stack of resumes with no special preference. How candidates are treated completely depends on the preferences of the hiring manager & corporate red tape, even at smaller companies.

Re: Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

#287

Post by Cd00d »

actually_a_dog wrote: post #209
belval wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't have a professional network per se, just a bunch of friends I clicked with at various companies. You might not want to label it as such, but that is exactly what a professional network is. People can genuinely be your friends and still be part of your network.

Eh, I find work "friends" to be even more ephemeral than school friends. Nobody I've ever worked with in the past has ever contacted me after I left the company we worked for. At least school friends are around for a more or less guaranteed period of several years. Edit to add: I have initiated contact before and been well received. Nobody contacts me. It's tiring to have to do 100% of the work to maintain these rela…

I think that's a little strange. You haven't maintained a single relationship after having been coworkers?

Try messaging someone you used to work with to check in - you may enjoy catching up or even stumble into being able to give or receive help.

Re: Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

#288

Post by devoutsalsa »

lelandfe wrote: post #243
dvtrn wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recruiting farms like Cyber Recruiters (yuck) will do everything in their power to waste your time Or share your data. I made a throwaway, but not obnoxious email on my domain just for recruiters a few years ago, so I could try tracking who I was talking to. Via three consecutive third-party recruiters I started getting cold calls and e-mails from recruiters I’d never contacted, never met, or never before engaged wit…

I highly recommend using a Google Voice number for recruiters for just such a reason. I keep all my interviewing data isolated from my private data.

These days I just never answer the actual phone for anyone. I don’t even bother to look who is calling.

Re: Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

#289

Post by ehnto »

notdonspaulding wrote: post #183
ehnto wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just trying to articulate what I see as a difference between a purpose built career network and a network of actual friends from work. There is a difference between those two types of networks not captured when you call them both a "Professional network".

Not to beat a dead horse, but the reason you keep getting these kinds of replies is because it seems like you have an idea about a second type of Professional Network that is different than what you described as your network of friends. Everybody's just trying to say that the real Professional Network is exactly the network of your friends, and if there is another kind of "purpose built career network" that people ar…

That is the case I think, the two ideas about types of professional networks seems clear, and it would seem I probably see it differently to some. To me, "professional network" is better at describing a network curated for your career.

It's a tough one, because while I can see that it is also a professional network, said network would be pretty offended if I called them that. So I don't necessarily disagree with you, or even with the other commenters, but there is at least some room for subjectivity about what to call your own personal relationships.

Re: Career advice nobody gave me: Never ignore a recruiter

#290

Post by stjohnswarts »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #288
lelandfe wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly recommend using a Google Voice number for recruiters for just such a reason. I keep all my interviewing data isolated from my private data.

These days I just never answer the actual phone for anyone. I don’t even bother to look who is calling.

Yeah, me too. I have my 3 best friends and my mom whitelisted; everyone else can leave a message or SMS.
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