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Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

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Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#61

Post by progressive_dad »

Jemaclus wrote: post #16

I despise recruiters with the fiery passion of a thousand suns, so I try to avoid them as much as possible. That leaves me (and you) with a few viable options: 1) Use a matching service like interviewing.io or TripleByte to get connected directly with companies. (Effectiveness: Questionable but promising) 2) Use a job listing site like Indeed.com to find positions that you're interested in applying to. (Effectiveness…

#3 is how I've gotten every job I've ever held, except 1 where I signed up for the mailing list of the company in question and the signup process had an "Occupation" box. I filled in my current job title and two days later THEY called ME and asked if I'd be willing to interview.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#62

Post by rubidium »

Here's how I did it.

I emailed any technical contact I could find at all the interesting companies in my city. I was following up all these emails with phone calls when I could get a number.

I found a blog article interviewing one of the researchers (call him Bob) at "Company A".

I sent this email that eventually led to my job:

Hello Bob, I've been researching [Company A] and came across this article from [BLOG SITE] that featured some of your work. I'm quite impressed with your assessment of the need for better data analysis tools in the [AREA OF RESEARCH], and the work you get to do in that area interests me. I found from your linkedin profile that part of your current research with the Company A Research Group is on [technical area I talk about below].

My recent PhD work at [University] involved a number of overlaps with your current work, both in technology ([short example]) and modeling physical processes ([short example]).

I am now looking for industry jobs in [City]. The Company A Research Group may be a good fit, but first I would like to learn more about what you do. Can you meet for coffee to discuss?

Best regards, -[my name]

He responded and asked for a resume. After further conversations, it turned out they didn't have room in their group (headcount freeze in their department) but we found another group at the company that needed someone with my skills. I was then "the guy Bob knows" during the interviews (which helped) and landed the job.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#63

Post by rebelde »

collyw wrote: post #37
peteretep wrote: post #18

Hi, I'm a recruiter. Look for job aggregators like Adzuna, Indeed, etc, which scrape all jobs on the web. When you see results, it should be easy to work out which jobs are posted by recruiters, and which have been posted directly by the company. In my (massively biased) experience, you are better off applying for a position when you've been put forward by a recruiter: * The recruiter knows what the client's salary r…

In my experience, disclosing my salary to recruiter has only ever had a negative effect.

You tell them your real salary? I always gave them a number that was closer to my target range.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#64

Post by m0th87 »

I know most job boards are pretty noisy, but there are a few that are really good. Depending on the city/industry you're interested in, there's likely a niche board - including HN itself.

I'm at The Muse (YC W12) - I think we have a pretty good selection of jobs as well, especially in NYC/SF: https://www.themuse.com/jobs?job_category%5B%5D=Engineering&...

Feel free to email me too if you're looking for something specific, I'm happy to help. yusuf @ our site's domain.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#65

Post by DanBC »

rebelde wrote: post #63
collyw wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, disclosing my salary to recruiter has only ever had a negative effect.

You tell them your real salary? I always gave them a number that was closer to my target range.

That's potentially fraud.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#66

Post by pc86 »

a_small_island wrote: post #48
pc86 wrote: post #11

Disclaimer: I've used recruiters to find every job I've had other than the first one. > I'd rather talk to a company directly. Why? What benefit do you get from that? You're not like to negotiate a higher salary than you would without the recruiter, and you're not in a better position to get hired either (over the total spend of an employee's lifespan the recruiter commission is a drop in the bucket). Some companies…

Why would you send your resume in Word? Also, if you think trusting someone else to negotiate for you will = higher compensation, it probably means you're scared to negotiate for yourself.

Recruiters remove your contact information from resumes they pass along to prevent companies from contacting you directly.

I didn't mean that I trust the recruiter, I meant a common (and incorrect) assumption, especially among developers, is that they can negotiate a small salary increase because they don't come with a $20k+ price tag for a recruiter. This is not accurate for any company who can afford to have you on for more than six months.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#67

Post by pc86 »

balls187 wrote: post #60
pc86 wrote: post #11

Disclaimer: I've used recruiters to find every job I've had other than the first one. > I'd rather talk to a company directly. Why? What benefit do you get from that? You're not like to negotiate a higher salary than you would without the recruiter, and you're not in a better position to get hired either (over the total spend of an employee's lifespan the recruiter commission is a drop in the bucket). Some companies…

> Why? What benefit do you get from that? You're not like to negotiate a higher salary than you would without the recruiter, and you're not in a better position to get hired either (over the total spend of an employee's lifespan the recruiter commission is a drop in the bucket). Misaligned incentives. The recruiter is incented to get you to accept the position. Their compensation isn't tied to maximizing your happine…

Especially in tech, a recruiter's #1 incentive is almost certainly to foster a good relationship so that you come back to them when you want to leave. With people moving jobs every 1.5-3 years, a recruiter who consistently places people in positions where they are unhappy and underpaid is not going to make very much money 5 years from now.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#68

Post by chadgeidel »

collyw wrote: post #37
peteretep wrote: post #18

Hi, I'm a recruiter. Look for job aggregators like Adzuna, Indeed, etc, which scrape all jobs on the web. When you see results, it should be easy to work out which jobs are posted by recruiters, and which have been posted directly by the company. In my (massively biased) experience, you are better off applying for a position when you've been put forward by a recruiter: * The recruiter knows what the client's salary r…

In my experience, disclosing my salary to recruiter has only ever had a negative effect.

I would recommend never disclosing salary because the recruiter will always say "oh, you can't possibly expect to make x% more than your current salary" and negotiate from there.

When asked, I always say "I am looking for between $Y and $Z" to set the tone. If they continue pushing for my current salary I end the conversation.

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#69

Post by baron816 »

doeshelooklikea wrote: post #58

I'm a recruiter I can tell you all that I work my ass of to not be like 98% of everyone else in the business. Thankfully, I just have to not be a knob and I generally stand out. Most agency recruiters are a pain in the ass because they are not actually recruitment professionals. Sounds odd, I know, but having worked for a few firms I can tell you that many will hire SALES people rather than folks who actually want to…

I've met with some recruiters in the past (when I was looking for an engineering role) and it was a total waste of time. I got the sense that they just brought me in to see where I had already interviewed so they could get leads on who was hiring. I am wrong to think that, or do you know of recruiters who do that?

Re: Ask HN: Do I have to go through recruiters nowadays, how do you find new jobs?

#70

Post by antisthenes »

DanBC wrote: post #65
rebelde wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You tell them your real salary? I always gave them a number that was closer to my target range.

That's potentially fraud.

Not being paid as much as you deserve is actual fraud, though.
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