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Awful Recruiters

awfulrecruiters.com

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Re: Awful Recruiters

#61

Post by ridonkulous »

dredmorbius wrote: post #47
dabent wrote: post #29

I first started writing software on contract in the mid-90's. It was a good time, full of C++ jobs and my skills and my market seemed to be in harmony. I put my resume out there on the still-so-new-it-shined internet and immediately got over a dozen calls, the vast majority being from 3rd-party recruiters. I complained to my wife after the third call in a row and she explained to me that I should never be upset when…

I've had recruiters submit me for positions I haven't approved (CrossCreek). Oh, yeah, repeatedly. And after I'd talked to them about it. Repeatedly. I've had them email me en mass for an opportunity (varite.com). Indian boiler-room VOIP indecipherable accents too numerous to mention (too numerous to mention). Grossly mis-fit pitches (wrong state, country, skillset). Recruiters who repeatedly call and leave messages…

The biggest offenders in my experience were already on the main list.

I recently had one who told me it was a huge problem that I needed 30 days between accepting the company's offer and actually starting due to existing agreements. I decided that a recruiter who wanted to argue with me over something like that (30-day delay to start a position that was expected to last 5 years) was not somebody I felt like ever talking to, ever again.

Re: Awful Recruiters

#62

Post by bdonlan »

rogerbinns wrote: post #38
tomgallard wrote: post #14

We recruit directly. Our ads are clearly marked at top and bottom with 'We do not use, and never have used, a recruitment agency. Please do not contact us if you are a recruitment agent' Despite this, we receive multiple calls a day from agencies. Exasperating!

I've seen that as well. There are two things going on. One is that agencies will add the jobs to their books. It makes them look better - "hey look at all these cool jobs we are recruiting for". The second is that they can claim to have introduced a candidate to you and can try to sue. Often a company will just roll over especially if it turns out to be a good candidate. Remember that the good recruiters will be succ…

> The second is that they can claim to have introduced a candidate to you and can try to sue. Often a company will just roll over especially if it turns out to be a good candidate.

If they have no recruitment contract, how does this hold water? They're suing because you (allegedly) used some unsolicited advice they gave you?

Re: Awful Recruiters

#63

Post by rogerbinns »

dabent wrote: post #60
rogerbinns wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... when someone called because they wanted to get me a job She overestimates the bad recruiters. Recruiters have been known to advertise non-existent positions so they can build up their folios. They have been known to alter resumes to make it look like the candidate is a fit when they aren't. They have been known to lie about candidates. They have been known to try to make the candidates do all the work. They hav…

Thanks for the comment. I noticed Modis on your list. Do you recall how they earned the spot? I've worked for them (granted, years ago) with no problem. I've had very few bad experiences - never had my resume submitted without approval, or had my resume edited. I do check out a recruiter before working for them and maybe my internal warning system works. Often I try to work for companies that offer insurance, which i…

> I noticed Modis on your list. Do you recall how they earned the spot?

They were added in February or March 2011. I don't record specifics as to why, but they all follow the same pattern - a useless content free email where it is obvious they have made no attempt to see if I am good match or the company is, despite the ease with which they could do that. The messages are usually almost indistinguishable from spam. They have to be pretty egregiously bad that I never want to hear from the recruiter ever again under any circumstances!

See also http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3677709

Re: Awful Recruiters

#65

Post by psaintla »

Add Techlink to the list. Not only do their recruiters lie about the positions they are looking to fill but they get the hiring managers to lie about the positions as well.

Re: Awful Recruiters

#66

Post by rogerbinns »

bdonlan wrote: post #62
rogerbinns wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen that as well. There are two things going on. One is that agencies will add the jobs to their books. It makes them look better - "hey look at all these cool jobs we are recruiting for". The second is that they can claim to have introduced a candidate to you and can try to sue. Often a company will just roll over especially if it turns out to be a good candidate. Remember that the good recruiters will be succ…

> The second is that they can claim to have introduced a candidate to you and can try to sue. Often a company will just roll over especially if it turns out to be a good candidate. If they have no recruitment contract, how does this hold water? They're suing because you (allegedly) used some unsolicited advice they gave you?

> They're suing because you (allegedly) used some unsolicited advice they gave you?

You seem to be confusing the American legal system with justice and it being free to innocent parties!

The recruiter will claim they sent the candidate details and represented the candidate and now you owe them. If you don't they will take you to court. It will cost the innocent company a fair bit of cash to defend even though they are in the right. So faced with a bill from a scummy recruiter for $10,000 or potential legal costs (not to mention time) of $25,000 they end up picking the former.

The same kind of crap goes on with domain names where squatters will set their price a little below that of following the legal route to get your domain. You either pay them in order to get the domain right now, or you spend several months and even more in legal fees in order to get it via the ICANN rules.

Re: Awful Recruiters

#67

Post by ben1040 »

A week or two ago I got a LinkedIn friend request from a recruiter who used the message to tell me about how I should get in touch with him.

He clearly used the friend request mechanism to skirt around the LinkedIn rules about having to pay to send recruiter mails. I can't imagine how else he would try to cut corners or sell people out to save himself a buck.

Re: Awful Recruiters

#68

Post by azylman »

I was contacted by a recruiter from Riviera Partners recently. Stupidly, I thought that it might be beneficial to respond to them.

After not receiving a call from him at our scheduled time, I emailed him. He responded three days later telling me that he had called in sick the day he was supposed to call me and asked for my availability in the next few days. I gave him my availability, and never heard back until he just called me out of the blue. It was fine that time, but would have been very annoying if my availability had changed.

We talked for a bit and he said that he wanted to get me in touch with a startup company that he thought had a position that would be a good fit for me - same deal, I gave him my times and received no confirmation until the company called me one afternoon.

A little bit into the phone call it became apparent that he had told them I was open to permanent positions despite me making it very clear to him I was only looking for internships.

Great.

Re: Awful Recruiters

#69

Post by azylman »

geuis wrote: post #35

I'm going to take issue with one of the companies on his list, Riviera Partners. I worked with this company for several months last summer (Hey Matt!) and, in my dealings with them, they were utterly professional. I hate recruiters in general, but the guys at Riviera were the definite exception. First, their list of clients were very top-notch. I did a number of phone screens and on-site interviews with companies I w…

I posted my experience with them elsewhere here (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3678767) but it was basically the exact opposite of your's - extremely unprofessional the whole way.

Re: Awful Recruiters

#70

Post by maclaren »

iamjustlooking wrote: post #7

It would be great to see an example of the bad recruiter e-mails received from each domain. I think this would give the list some more authority.

I had the same initial reaction, but upon visiting a few of the domains the caliber of the companies became apparent.
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