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Dear Google Recruiting...

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Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#61

Post by d23 »

brucehart wrote: post #17

I don't understand why it bothers people so much to be contacted by recruiters. I just send a quick reply that says "I appreciate the interest, but I'm not looking for new position right now.". It takes me about 10 seconds to type that sentence and hit send. It takes me such little time that I probably would not remember if they contacted me again a year later. I'm always grateful to have skills that are in demand. I…

I find recruiters to be a piss poor annoyance -- but that's because they call me at least once a day despite the "seriously, no recruiters" advertisement on our company's site. And because they don't understand that if I'm looking for someone with web MVC experience I probably most likely just-kinda-sorta want someone that knows HTML too.

That being said, I wouldn't be that ticked if someone from Google contacted me once every three years. It sounds like the author is just humble bragging.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#62

Post by zecho »

brucehart wrote: post #17

I don't understand why it bothers people so much to be contacted by recruiters. I just send a quick reply that says "I appreciate the interest, but I'm not looking for new position right now.". It takes me about 10 seconds to type that sentence and hit send. It takes me such little time that I probably would not remember if they contacted me again a year later. I'm always grateful to have skills that are in demand. I…

I got annoyed, but mainly by the volume and persistence of a few bad recruiters. Many recruiters poorly represent their clients. The one that caused me to close my LinkedIn account spelled "projects" as "progects" three times. He worked for Reuters. The problem is gone now, for better or worse. I wish it wasn't something that came off as a humblebrag. Recruiters and head hunters can be legitimately predatory at worst and incredibly thick at best.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#63

Post by krstck »

It's just insulting when recruiters don't do basic research on the people that they contact. Yeah, it's not the worst problem to have in the world, but I get the feeling that a lot of these people are just spamming anyone they can find in a particular keyword and then expecting those people to do the recruiter's job for them.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#64

Post by huckyaus »

tptacek wrote: post #41
huckyaus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've spoken to lots of other developers who get similarly annoyed by Google recruiters despite their attempts to tell Google Recruiting to stop contacting them It might have been worth mentioning this in your post. As it stands, the faux-formal structure, slightly melodramatic tone and repeated references to your cushy career situation make it read like a classic humblebrag.

He doesn't need to be humble. Google would be extremely lucky to have him. Let's stop wasting time pretending that he's lucky to be contacted by them, or that he needs to be careful about how he presents this. He's at the top of his field. Get over it.

I'm not questioning his ability or professionalism.

I take issue with the fact that the stated intention of his post - to get Google's attention and prevent similar incidents in the future - is at odds with the tone of his writing. That's all.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#65

Post by chris_wot »

frostmatthew wrote: post #36
huckyaus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've spoken to lots of other developers who get similarly annoyed by Google recruiters despite their attempts to tell Google Recruiting to stop contacting them It might have been worth mentioning this in your post. As it stands, the faux-formal structure, slightly melodramatic tone and repeated references to your cushy career situation make it read like a classic humblebrag.

> it read like a classic humblebrag What about this did you feel was humble ?

That's the whole point of a humblebrag.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#66

Post by d23 »

rogerbinns wrote: post #58
brucehart wrote: post #17

I don't understand why it bothers people so much to be contacted by recruiters. I just send a quick reply that says "I appreciate the interest, but I'm not looking for new position right now.". It takes me about 10 seconds to type that sentence and hit send. It takes me such little time that I probably would not remember if they contacted me again a year later. I'm always grateful to have skills that are in demand. I…

> I don't understand why it bothers people so much to be contacted by recruiters. It likely depends on how big your online footprint is. I've been on the Internet publicly since 1989 and hence you can find me all over. That also means recruiters do. I have no problems with the ones who are good at their jobs, but about half are below average, working on commission, and their tactics are the same as spammers (spread y…

> but about half are below average

> I'd say I see about one good recruiter for every 20 spammers

These two seem contradictory, but the second statement strikes me as much more true than the first. Recruiters in this industry seem to be more parasitic and less knowledgeable than even real estate agents, and I say that with great hesitation. Any job where the attracting principle is "ooh money, and I don't even need to know anything!" is probably not usually a service that's worth a damn.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#67

Post by tptacek »

huckyaus wrote: post #64
tptacek wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He doesn't need to be humble. Google would be extremely lucky to have him. Let's stop wasting time pretending that he's lucky to be contacted by them, or that he needs to be careful about how he presents this. He's at the top of his field. Get over it.

I'm not questioning his ability or professionalism. I take issue with the fact that the stated intention of his post - to get Google's attention and prevent similar incidents in the future - is at odds with the tone of his writing. That's all.

Read the thread 'tlrobinson showed you. Like, carefully.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#68

Post by d23 »

benihana wrote: post #39

I think about my friends from high school and college who are struggling to find meaningful work when I read things like this. I try to imagine what it be like from their point and it comes off like an entitled prima donna is complaining about being recruited by what one of the coolest companies on earth. Honestly I think as an industry we should try to keep some perspective here.

To me it comes across as the reverse of sour grapes: "Oh woe is me, I'm being solicited by diamond salesmen to add extravagant adornments to my golden palace. Can't they just understand that my platinum plated safe contains more diamonds than they could ever offer? Why is life so hard?"

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#69

Post by nknighthb »

benihana wrote: post #39

I think about my friends from high school and college who are struggling to find meaningful work when I read things like this. I try to imagine what it be like from their point and it comes off like an entitled prima donna is complaining about being recruited by what one of the coolest companies on earth. Honestly I think as an industry we should try to keep some perspective here.

The odds of a job coming out of contact by a Google recruiter are nearly indistinguishable from 0. They constantly carpet-bomb everybody.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#70

Post by chris_wot »

tlrobinson wrote: post #54
huckyaus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've spoken to lots of other developers who get similarly annoyed by Google recruiters despite their attempts to tell Google Recruiting to stop contacting them It might have been worth mentioning this in your post. As it stands, the faux-formal structure, slightly melodramatic tone and repeated references to your cushy career situation make it read like a classic humblebrag.

humblebrag I see you're new here. Let me refer you to this classic HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35068

I love that pg says that it was the greatest comeback of all time.
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