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Dear Google Recruiting...

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Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#71

Post by larksimian »

d23 wrote: post #66
rogerbinns wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 t…

Statement 1 is tautologically true.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#72

Post by fredgrott »

cperciva wrote: post #11
adnam wrote: post #5

Dear Colin, You're extremely lucky to have talents that are highly sought-after and well paid. I know many talented architects and designers with experience who just scrape by. Just ignore Google's recruitment advances and move on :)

Just ignore Google's recruitment advances and move on If I thought I was the only person being annoyed by them, I would probably do this. But 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 -- so I figured it was worth writing a "ha ha only serious" public piece in the interest of getting Google's attention…

Its not just Google..

Amazon has the same problem..some low recruiters working for Amazon spamming devs

My solution was to contact Amazon dev advocate and state that I would not upload my android apps to their appstore unless the recruiting spamming stooped..

That worked for awhile, it no longer works

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#73

Post by rogerbinns »

d23 wrote: post #66
rogerbinns wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 t…

I make it clear I am only interested in small companies and startups (and detail why). Consequently a good recruiter for a medium/large company won't contact me at all. OTOH the spammers depend on volume.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#74

Post by cperciva »

huckyaus wrote: post #18
cperciva wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just ignore Google's recruitment advances and move on If I thought I was the only person being annoyed by them, I would probably do this. But 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 -- so I figured it was worth writing a "ha ha only serious" public piece in the interest of getting Google's attention…

> 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.

repeated references to your cushy career situation

What references are those? I only mentioned Tarsnap once at the very end. Based on everything else I might have been unemployed.

classic humblebrag

Being repeatedly contacted by Google Recruiting is hardly something to brag about.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#75

Post by ggreer »

I also turned Google down after interviewing [1]. They contacted me every six months to see how I was doing. Eventually, I asked them not to contact me again, and they haven't.

Other recruiters haven't been so nice, but it's important to remember that recruiters are people too. Their jobs can be very stressful, since much of their compensation comes from successful hires. I ended up writing a rather conciliatory post, and I link to it whenever a recruiter contacts me: http://geoff.greer.fm/2013/10/23/dear-recruiter-please-do-no...

It has been quite successful. Replies from recruiters have been understanding and pleasant.

1. One cool thing about Google: They asked me to do a post-mortem to talk about out why I turned them down. I met a manager at a coffee shop and discussed my reasons. He also wanted to make sure that the interview process had been enjoyable for me, and asked for feedback on what they could do better. I was impressed by their thoroughness.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#76

Post by jcdavis »

nknighthb wrote: post #69
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.

That doesn't change the fact that tech folk are unique in being so lucky in the current economic climate to be complaining about getting asked about job opporunities. I know plenty of people in other skilled fields who would be happy to hear back from any of the many companies they ask about jobs at

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#78

Post by cperciva »

adharmad wrote: post #21
cperciva wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the emails which bother me; it's the fact that they're ignoring explicit instructions.

How do you solve this for recruiters other than Google? Surely you must be getting a lot of traffic from them too....

I can't think of any other company which has had recruiters continue to contact me after I've replied "nope, not interested".

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#79

Post by tedunangst »

cperciva wrote: post #11
adnam wrote: post #5

Dear Colin, You're extremely lucky to have talents that are highly sought-after and well paid. I know many talented architects and designers with experience who just scrape by. Just ignore Google's recruitment advances and move on :)

Just ignore Google's recruitment advances and move on If I thought I was the only person being annoyed by them, I would probably do this. But 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 -- so I figured it was worth writing a "ha ha only serious" public piece in the interest of getting Google's attention…

Heh. I read the title and knew immediately what the contents would be.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#80

Post by cperciva »

d0m wrote: post #40

What a jerk. I thought once of using Tarsnap.. now I know there's no way I'll ever use or recommend this product. Ask a support question about Tarsnap? Bam, blog post about you annoying the shit out of him with your question. If you are not interested in an e-mail, it takes about a third of a second to press "!" in gmail.. that's a free way pass to the spam folder. But the person sending the email, the recruiter, won…

Ask a support question about Tarsnap? Bam, blog post about you annoying the shit out of him with your question.

Only if I send you repeated requests to stop contacting me first.

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