All that is wrong with the Recruitment Industry • Hacker News Board

Re: All that is wrong with the Recruitment Industry

#31

Post by mctavjb9 » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 1:27 PM UTC

Peroni wrote: post #26

ZoFreX wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't work either - either bosons exist, and are plentiful, or there are none of them. Being rarer than one is either not special, or impossible!

I need to work on my analogies. I've been using that phrase for months, trust HN to point out the error! To be fair, I base the analogy on the following: Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly observed or found in isolation; they can only be found within hadrons

"Rarer than a free quark" would save your analogy.

Re: All that is wrong with the Recruitment Industry

#32

Post by Peroni » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 1:27 PM UTC

joshz wrote: post #29

I don't know how it is nowadays compared to 2~3 years ago when I searched for a job in UK but imagine that with stackoverflow careers, coderstack, linkedin (not groups), github jobs, monthly hn who's hiring posts the situation improved at least slightly. Weirdest experiences I had were when recruiters would call from a blocked number and leave fart noises or some other idiocy on my voicemail. Or when one guy flat out…

Or when one guy flat out said (and one implied) that if I don't give him all the companies I ever talked to, he'd not give me the "offer" he "had" for me.

Please tell me you're exaggerating?

Re: All that is wrong with the Recruitment Industry

#33

Post by eru » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 1:29 PM UTC

ZoFreX wrote: post #20

I was on the phone to a recruitment agency and genuinely heard a bull horn going off followed by cheering, I presume signifying a big "sale". This is one of the best companies I've had dealings with, too. The worst edited my CV before sending it to companies without telling me first - nothing like being asked "So why were you fired from your last position?" in a job interview when you left due to illness in the famil…

My team is hiring. Contact me if you are interested in open source and virtualization. My email is in my profile.

Re: All that is wrong with the Recruitment Industry

#34

Post by gpjt » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 1:32 PM UTC

Great to hear from a recruiter who's trying to do something good in a very broken industry. On the subject of horror stories...

One guy called me a while back (in my role as an employer) who, when I politely said that we weren't interested because we always recruit directly, told me that he had been responsible for someone leaving our company a few months ago and he would now actively try to "poach" more people away until we agreed to use him.

Needless to say, we won't be doing any business with him or his company even if we decide to use agencies in the future. If it weren't for UK libel laws I'd mention his name as a warning to others.

Re: All that is wrong with the Recruitment Industry

#35

Post by Peroni » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 1:32 PM UTC

ZoFreX wrote: post #20

I was on the phone to a recruitment agency and genuinely heard a bull horn going off followed by cheering, I presume signifying a big "sale". This is one of the best companies I've had dealings with, too. The worst edited my CV before sending it to companies without telling me first - nothing like being asked "So why were you fired from your last position?" in a job interview when you left due to illness in the famil…

I am actually currently looking for work so if anyone knows of UK recruitment agencies that don't entirely suck, please let me (and everyone else) know who they are!

Email in my profile

Re: All that is wrong with the Recruitment Industry

#36

Post by Peroni » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 1:34 PM UTC

gpjt wrote: post #34

Great to hear from a recruiter who's trying to do something good in a very broken industry. On the subject of horror stories... One guy called me a while back (in my role as an employer) who, when I politely said that we weren't interested because we always recruit directly, told me that he had been responsible for someone leaving our company a few months ago and he would now actively try to "poach" more people away…

I hear that a lot. It's ridiculous. I don't understand why recruiters feel it's appropriate to effectively threaten people. What a clown.

Re: All that is wrong with the Recruitment Industry

#37

Post by hr » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 1:35 PM UTC

'there are plenty of good recruiters out their however there are infinitely more bad recruiters...' I know there are plenty of others out there just as fed up with the self-inflicted negative attitude towards the industry, the difference is I am making my opinion heard.'

Perhaps you should provide equal time and write about good recruiters and the value they bring to candidates and companies alike. Maybe "All that's right with the recruitment industry"

Re: All that is wrong with the Recruitment Industry

#38

Post by hr » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 1:37 PM UTC

Peroni wrote: post #30

hr wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, I've been an executive recruiter for 15 years and only read HN because of the thought leaders who write here. I recruit and work with high level execs who actually understand and respect the value of a good recruiter. Your posts are interest generating because they showcase the low underbelly of the industry and not the well respected recruiter. Still thanks for writing.

I recruit and work with high level execs who actually understand and respect the value of a good recruiter. The difference between executive search & volume recruitment is chalk & cheese. The two are mutually exclusive. Your posts are interest generating because they showcase the low underbelly of the industry and not the well respected recruiter. As I stated categorically in all my posts, there are plenty of good re…

Perhaps you should provide equal time and write about good recruiters and the value they bring to candidates and companies alike. Maybe "All that's right with the recruitment industry"

I fail to see how speaking negatively about an industry helps promote it's value.

Re: All that is wrong with the Recruitment Industry

#39

Post by talmand » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 1:37 PM UTC

Recruiters for the tech field in the US are no better. My recent experience is that a large number of them have absolutely no clue about the industry they are recruiting for. I am a Web Designer/Client-Side Developer. I work in HTML, CSS, Javascript and pretty images. But I kept getting recruiters insisting on submitting me for jobs involving .Net development, SQL and other various server-side technologies. I kept having to tell them I didn't want to have interviews for jobs I had no business applying for, heaven forbid I actually got the job. So far I only had a good experience with one recruiter out of many in my area.

Of course, some of the employers weren't much better. No one can decide on a job title nor job description so you get a bunch of different postings and you have no idea if you qualify. I can't tell you how many job postings I saw that required three people (designer, client-side developer, server-side developer) in the one position that paid below the going rate for just one of the skill sets. It's as if they hope to find that rare individual that can do EVERYTHING and is willing to do it for just a cup of coffee a day. Often times I would discover that the employer thought they wanted Skill Set A when they really wanted the non-related Skill Set B of which I did not qualify.

Sometimes it seems as if an employer finding a good employee is by pure luck.

Re: All that is wrong with the Recruitment Industry

#40

Post by pavel_lishin » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 1:39 PM UTC

gpjt wrote: post #34

Great to hear from a recruiter who's trying to do something good in a very broken industry. On the subject of horror stories... One guy called me a while back (in my role as an employer) who, when I politely said that we weren't interested because we always recruit directly, told me that he had been responsible for someone leaving our company a few months ago and he would now actively try to "poach" more people away…

Is it illegal to mention his name because you can't prove what he said?

A lot of Britain's laws seem awfully strict to me, but I'm fully aware that that's a result of cultural conditioning by living in the United States for 17 years. (I wonder what most UK citizens think of America's laws regarding speech, libel and slander.)