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Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

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61–70 of 111 posts

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#61
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…

If we're fair, you not knowing why recruiters often but not always suck, is in a sense a status signal itself. Recruiters suck because most of the time, they literally don't do anything useful, nor do they even usually have direct contact with a hiring manager. Quite literally, most of them just accept a CV, then give you the HackerRank test you'd get anyway, if they actually work for the company . If they don't, you…

I've been working with some recruiters who are REALLY great.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#62

Using Naive Bayes for text classification problems such as spam detection is fine for teaching purposes but: -it doesn't understand context -if the spammer uses related words, good luck catching those -false positives can be quite high As a recruiter receiving such a wonderful automated reply from you, I would ask you why didn't you use a more suited technique to the problem such as transformer-based attention networ…

Not even Naive Bayes would be needed if recruiters would use a "more suited technique" to predict exactly who is going to be interested in a job and only bother emailing those.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#63

In LinkedIn I have my first name as my first name + middle initial. I always know when is a mass message or a real personalized message based on whether or not they include that initial. Works surprisingly well for me but sadly for LinkedIn that’s a case of an implementation detail totally destroying their value proposition for recruiters.

Some recruiters may think that you want your initial to be included. I’ve seen multiple posts talking about purposefully ignoring communication when there are small spelling mistakes in their names. Missing a whole initial may be one of those red flags for some.

In the US, at least, the 99% of spam templates are using just the first name so you get "Hi, George W.! I am impressed with your work at Arbusto Energy, when can we hop on a quick call?"

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's a bit odd listening to people laugh about having to beat away Google etc recruiters with a stick.

google have recruiters? surely they have enough people applying on a daily basis

Many internal recruiters at companies also work in the HR department, typically they are also the first contact for perspective hires and usually are in sync with the hiring manager needs.

Some recruiters do outreach and networking events (most common at feeder schools through job fairs or internships).

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's a bit odd listening to people laugh about having to beat away Google etc recruiters with a stick.

google have recruiters? surely they have enough people applying on a daily basis

I decided to do an interview with Google after being contacted by a recruiter, but I think I applied for something so it wasn’t a cold contact. Not getting me to apply, but getting me though the process to get a job offer.

Google recruiters are also much better than those at Facebook, who were much less interested in getting candidates through.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#66
post #25

I have a question for devs in Germany/Europe. Is it a violation of Datenschutz/GDPR if the recruiter sends a first email with a link to a video/website that tracks whether I clicked on it or not and then they send me a follow up email because they know I clicked on the link from the first email?

Just clicking on a link (and them checking if you clicked), it's not Personal Information (logging your IP might be). Only if they asked you for your birthdate or something like that.

Anyway, being Personal Information or not, you can always ask them to delete all the Data they have about you.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#67
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…

There are channels where I am open for contact and channels were I am not open for contact. I notice many recruiters email my github contact address to ask about stuff on my linkedin for example. I'm not sure if they've personally scraped my commits or just bought a database of "developers in Europe" to link the two together. They could use LinkedIn, or the contact email I put on my CV (including the public copy on my website, which is linked from linkedin, and then it gets categorised appropriately. But it just seems kind of cheeky to route around that, like cold sales calls.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#68
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…

It's actual spam at this point. It's not like a real recruiter that really wants exactly you for a specific position somewhere.

Yep. Many recruiters trawl LinkedIn for people with tag "Java" or "iOS" or "javascript" depending on role, look them up in contact database, mass email.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#69

In LinkedIn I have my first name as my first name + middle initial. I always know when is a mass message or a real personalized message based on whether or not they include that initial. Works surprisingly well for me but sadly for LinkedIn that’s a case of an implementation detail totally destroying their value proposition for recruiters.

Instead of an initial, I'd recommend putting an emoji in the first name. (And putting your last name as your full name). I've been able to filter out most "InMail/auto" when they say something along the lines of "Hi {emoji}." I learned of it here: https://www.glennstovall.com/the-wolf-test/

A Chinese 囧 works great for emoji first names that will avoid emoji filtering on the other side.

Re: Automatically detecting and replying to recruiter spam

#70
post #67
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…

There are channels where I am open for contact and channels were I am not open for contact. I notice many recruiters email my github contact address to ask about stuff on my linkedin for example. I'm not sure if they've personally scraped my commits or just bought a database of "developers in Europe" to link the two together. They could use LinkedIn, or the contact email I put on my CV (including the public copy on m…

Quite often, it's easier for recruiters to get at your email address from GitHub because it's increasingly difficult to scrape contact details off LinkedIn.
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