61–70 of 94 posts
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…
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Sure, if a good recruiter was better at sorting resumes than one of your developers, they'd add value. hell, even if they were only slightly worse, they'd add some value. The thing is, to justify current prices, a recruiter would need to be rather a lot better at picking good prospects than your in-house hiring manager, and many times better at sorting resumes than someone who actually does the job you are hiring for…
In theory, recruiters can save a lot of work by sorting resumes once and then using that sort to give some subset to companies A, B, and C - rather than the sort being repeated at each company.
I mean, if the recruiter knew more about the position than I did, that'd be different. I mean, this would be very unlikely if I was hiring someone in my own field, but hey, sometimes you need to hire outside your field. I can see using a consulting recruiter for that, but most of that value is teaching me what to look for in an accountant (or whatever I'm hiring for) and they'd need to sit in on the interview. Really, in that case, I'd be looking more for a consultant than a recruiter.
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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!
What? Bosons, such as a photon, definitely exist in the sense that they are part of the Standard Model of particle physics. They are as 'real' as electrons or quarks or, in some sense, a table.
I notice Peroni covers the ground between the recruiter and the employer (and for that, thank you); but is very quiet about what's going on between the recruiter and the target. I'm disappointed by this, because it affects actual developers in a very negative way. The constant unsolicited intrusions despite requests not to are annoying. And there seems to be no way out other than delete everything on the web that mak…
...but is very quiet about what's going on between the recruiter and the target. When you say target, I assume you mean the candidate or potential employee? If so, I do reference how I think people such as yourself can help reduce the impact recruiters have on your day to day activity. Take a look at some of my previous posts. And so in my eyes, these recruiters are no better than spammers. Just more annoying because…
It would NOT, however, increase my chances of working with that recruiter. It would probably diminish them because the recruiter would seem overbearing and desperate: neither traits I want in someone representing me to employers.
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?
In fact, I think I have even worse stories to share: one recruiter who shall forever remain in my email blocklist took my resume, promised she'd ask me before sending it to any company, and then, naturally, sent it to a place where I was already having discussions, which led to quite a bit of unpleasantness all around.
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…
Thanks for all the attention folks! I'm always keen to hear feedback & thoughts or even suggestions for future posts from HN.
Thanks for taking a stand. Trying to write a nice reply without going into a recruiter rant.. I've deleted my response 3 times now :) One thing you left out was laziness and stupidity. Recruiters that can't understand requirements and blag into an interview you aren't skilled for. Or won't get a JD so you have to go to the interview to find out what the hell the position is about. Wastes everyones time, so many of th…
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.)
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I've yet to hear anyone make that claim. The issue is that most of the calls are from bad recruiters, not all. The reason for that is because most recruiters are terrible, not all.
I doubt you will hear anyone make that claim, but only b/c it's not a flattering revelation. Truly I do understand your points and they are valid. How about a post then on how to attract good recruiters? Seems constructive....doesn't it?
What is your constructive advice about how a "good" developer should get your attention, while simultaneously discouraging contact from bad ones?
I suspect that the answer is something like "be an experienced executive", which is obviously not an option for most people in the early part of their careers.