4 ms·

For what it's worth, the few good recruiters I've seen aren't professional recruiters. They are ex-bankers recruiting bankers, ex-consultants recruiting consul

For what it's worth, the few good recruiters I've seen aren't professional recruiters. They are ex-bankers recruiting bankers, ex-consultants recruiting consultants, and ex-salespeople recruiting salespeople. Very few developers go into recruiting (hint: market opportunity) which is one reason so many tech recruiters are garbage. (90+% of non-tech recruiters are garbage too)

stcredzero 10y ago
I think this is very key. The one recruiting/consulting firm I thought was worth a damn and that I worked with at my 2nd big corporate job was started by an ex-developer who used his industry experience to vet a pool of quality developers. It was very specialized and niche, which made his value-add vetting even more valuable. Later, I ended up working as a consultant for that firm. However, as the niche market dried up, the quality of this firm did seem to go downhill. (The market had spoken.)
- mathattack 10y ago
  People who have done the job before can both understand the needs of the position, and properly vet the candidates. Unfortunately the industry economics encourage short-termism so it can be hard to sort through the sleazeballs, and the honest ones can find themselves out of work in a down market.
throwasay30966 10y ago
Agreed! Although I've never used their services, I know a (non-tech) recruiter who left its recruiting job at a big tech company to start this: https://karat.io/ https://karat.io/ It seems to be: "As non tech recruiter we are not good at finding talents, let's instead find skilled Engineers who are willing to do the recruitment for us" The idea looks good, and there's probably other recruitment companies doing this, but I personally haven't heard of it before.
- bbcbasic 10y ago
  Nice idea. Headline message is a bit confusing. Perhaps it should be: "Need to hire techies? We can help. Our interviewers are experienced in interviewing technical candidates. We'll make sure you only hire the best engineers."

stcredzero 10y ago

I think this is very key. The one recruiting/consulting firm I thought was worth a damn and that I worked with at my 2nd big corporate job was started by an ex-developer who used his industry experience to vet a pool of quality developers. It was very specialized and niche, which made his value-add vetting even more valuable. Later, I ended up working as a consultant for that firm. However, as the niche market dried up, the quality of this firm did seem to go downhill. (The market had spoken.)

mathattack 10y ago
People who have done the job before can both understand the needs of the position, and properly vet the candidates. Unfortunately the industry economics encourage short-termism so it can be hard to sort through the sleazeballs, and the honest ones can find themselves out of work in a down market.

throwasay30966 10y ago

Agreed! Although I've never used their services, I know a (non-tech) recruiter who left its recruiting job at a big tech company to start this: https://karat.io/ https://karat.io/ It seems to be: "As non tech recruiter we are not good at finding talents, let's instead find skilled Engineers who are willing to do the recruitment for us" The idea looks good, and there's probably other recruitment companies doing this, but I personally haven't heard of it before.

bbcbasic 10y ago
Nice idea. Headline message is a bit confusing. Perhaps it should be: "Need to hire techies? We can help. Our interviewers are experienced in interviewing technical candidates. We'll make sure you only hire the best engineers."