5 ms·

Boo hoo, you have people knocking on your door to give you a comfortable job. I wish I had that problem.

ipsin 10y ago
Tech recruiters at cold-call end of the Talent Acquisition Funnel aren't offering you a comfortable job, though. They're searching on LinkedIn and offering you to throw at a company with Similarly Aligned Keywords to see if you stick. I want to believe that there are higher-quality recruiters out there, ones who understand employee fit from both sides, but I haven't had the privilege of meeting one.
- freework 10y ago
  Any job with a paycheck on a regular basis is a high quality job, for me at least.
  - khedoros1 10y ago
    With the tech job market right now, most tech workers can find jobs that pay the bills easily, so they'll tend to raise their level of discrimination a little. So they look for the one that pays a little more, is working with some neat technology, and basically works with their schedule (Or whichever other list of nice-to-haves). When you can afford to be picky, "high quality" takes on a different meaning.
    - maym86 10y ago
      Exactly. But the point is that is a luxury for most people. Having recruiters chase you and being irritated by it lacks some awareness of how hard it is for some people to earn a living. It is hard to sympathize with people for having to ignore a few emails every day.
      - khedoros1 10y ago
        That part of it isn't lost on me. Although, I think being irritated by people (recruiters) harassing you is natural, but complaining about it to someone vying in a less-lively job market is insensitive, and I wouldn't expect that person to sympathize in the least.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - onewland 10y ago
    I think the point the parent was trying to make is that responding to a recruiter isn't likely to get you ANY job, because they don't understand the job reqs they're recruiting for nor the people they're trying to place.
- Pica_soO 10y ago
  If there where, they would understand the underlying tech and would be drafted to run some department or code/architect on some system. The good recruiters get there time wasted by the bad recruiters, just like everyone else.
- user5994461 10y ago
  > I want to believe that there are higher-quality recruiters out there, ones who understand employee fit from both sides, but I haven't had the privilege of meeting one. There are the internal recruiters from companies spamming on LinkedIn too. And the recruiters who have good roles and state the companies and salaries upfront.
- mooreds 10y ago
  There are. They are called headhunters. They'll meet with you and give first.
- lithos 10y ago
  There are, but they're virtually reserved for ex-military. Though that can actually be an interesting problem for all three parties.
0xCAFEFARE 10y ago
The secret ia that 90% of them are garbage. When someone boasts how they are getting courted left and right I have a chuckle and put them in my "very impressionable" bin.
- stephengillie 10y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law
Arizhel 10y ago
It's not very helpful when they're trying to give you a job you aren't qualified for; it's just a waste of everyone's time: mine, the recruiter's, and if I were to actually work with the recruiter, the hiring manager's. The problem is most recruiters have no idea what they're doing. Just because some 3rd-party recruiter wants to "give you a comfortable job" doesn't mean he's actually capable of it. IME, most 3rd-party recruiters are barely competent if that, and are trying to get me to apply for jobs I either am not qualified for, have zero interest in (some dead-end technology that'll mean I won't have a career before long if I go that route), or is some short-term contract in the middle of nowhere (meaning I'd be losing money to take the job, unless I want to live in my car). The short-term contracts are the ones that really make my head spin, because those requisitions are coming directly from companies and the recruiters are just looking for heads for those positions. Do these companies in places like Erie, PA really think they're going to find someone with highly specialized skills who's willing to come work for them for only 6 months at an unremarkable pay rate? The cost to relocate there would be substantial, not many places will let you have a 6-month lease, and then there's the cost to relocate somewhere else after 6 months because there's no other similar jobs there. What are these companies thinking?
Swizec 10y ago
Ok, I'll bite. How can I find you online? Do you have a blog with even a modicum of activity? Do you have a linkedin that says "I'm good with X"? Some github activity? At least a twitter account where you post sometimes? Software engineers have a NEGATIVE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE. Negative. If you're not getting recruiterspam, you're not findable. And that's totally on you, not on anyone else. It's 2017, it has never been easier to be findable. Do something, anything, and put it out there. If recruiters can find you with "Software engineer with a pulse", you will get emails. Maybe not every day, but at least once in a while. This advice [probably] does not work for many other professions.
- freework 10y ago
  Do you even read this forum? "Negative unemployment rate" couldn't be further from the truth. There are tons of qualified programmers who get rejected left and right. I'm experiencing this at the moment myself. If there were really negative unemployment rate, then I should get 10 offers for sending out 10 resumes. In reality I'm getting 0 offers for every 10 resumes sent out.
  - bcbrown 10y ago
    If you're looking for work, you should put contact info in your profile here. If you're in Seattle, email me.
  - apandhi 10y ago
    Well that's not necessarily true. From one of your other submissions, you stated "...I am very bad at interviewing..." So the problem seems more of, "Hiring Mangers think I'm unqualified" rather than "There aren't enough jobs for qualified developers" Hiring an unqualified developer is MUCH worse than not hiring a developer at all. It's wasted time and money for the company. I've been on both sides of the table so if you want some feedback on your resume/interviewing skills feel free to shoot me an email.
    - gspetr 10y ago
      Shoot you an email where exactly? You should check your HN profile visibility from a browser where you're not logged in. You don't have email in your profile.
vtange 10y ago
The ideal is that people genuinely are knocking on your door with a nice job for you. The reality is that most are just in it for commissions - which in some cases comes out of the salary you're promised - and you get thrown into a job where the company cared too little to actually look for quality candidates.

ipsin 10y ago

Tech recruiters at cold-call end of the Talent Acquisition Funnel aren't offering you a comfortable job, though. They're searching on LinkedIn and offering you to throw at a company with Similarly Aligned Keywords to see if you stick. I want to believe that there are higher-quality recruiters out there, ones who understand employee fit from both sides, but I haven't had the privilege of meeting one.

freework 10y ago
Any job with a paycheck on a regular basis is a high quality job, for me at least.
- khedoros1 10y ago
  With the tech job market right now, most tech workers can find jobs that pay the bills easily, so they'll tend to raise their level of discrimination a little. So they look for the one that pays a little more, is working with some neat technology, and basically works with their schedule (Or whichever other list of nice-to-haves). When you can afford to be picky, "high quality" takes on a different meaning.
  - maym86 10y ago
    Exactly. But the point is that is a luxury for most people. Having recruiters chase you and being irritated by it lacks some awareness of how hard it is for some people to earn a living. It is hard to sympathize with people for having to ignore a few emails every day.
    - khedoros1 10y ago
      That part of it isn't lost on me. Although, I think being irritated by people (recruiters) harassing you is natural, but complaining about it to someone vying in a less-lively job market is insensitive, and I wouldn't expect that person to sympathize in the least.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- onewland 10y ago
  I think the point the parent was trying to make is that responding to a recruiter isn't likely to get you ANY job, because they don't understand the job reqs they're recruiting for nor the people they're trying to place.
Pica_soO 10y ago
If there where, they would understand the underlying tech and would be drafted to run some department or code/architect on some system. The good recruiters get there time wasted by the bad recruiters, just like everyone else.
user5994461 10y ago
> I want to believe that there are higher-quality recruiters out there, ones who understand employee fit from both sides, but I haven't had the privilege of meeting one. There are the internal recruiters from companies spamming on LinkedIn too. And the recruiters who have good roles and state the companies and salaries upfront.
mooreds 10y ago
There are. They are called headhunters. They'll meet with you and give first.
lithos 10y ago
There are, but they're virtually reserved for ex-military. Though that can actually be an interesting problem for all three parties.

0xCAFEFARE 10y ago

The secret ia that 90% of them are garbage. When someone boasts how they are getting courted left and right I have a chuckle and put them in my "very impressionable" bin.

stephengillie 10y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law

Arizhel 10y ago

It's not very helpful when they're trying to give you a job you aren't qualified for; it's just a waste of everyone's time: mine, the recruiter's, and if I were to actually work with the recruiter, the hiring manager's. The problem is most recruiters have no idea what they're doing. Just because some 3rd-party recruiter wants to "give you a comfortable job" doesn't mean he's actually capable of it. IME, most 3rd-party recruiters are barely competent if that, and are trying to get me to apply for jobs I either am not qualified for, have zero interest in (some dead-end technology that'll mean I won't have a career before long if I go that route), or is some short-term contract in the middle of nowhere (meaning I'd be losing money to take the job, unless I want to live in my car). The short-term contracts are the ones that really make my head spin, because those requisitions are coming directly from companies and the recruiters are just looking for heads for those positions. Do these companies in places like Erie, PA really think they're going to find someone with highly specialized skills who's willing to come work for them for only 6 months at an unremarkable pay rate? The cost to relocate there would be substantial, not many places will let you have a 6-month lease, and then there's the cost to relocate somewhere else after 6 months because there's no other similar jobs there. What are these companies thinking?

Swizec 10y ago

Ok, I'll bite. How can I find you online? Do you have a blog with even a modicum of activity? Do you have a linkedin that says "I'm good with X"? Some github activity? At least a twitter account where you post sometimes? Software engineers have a NEGATIVE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE. Negative. If you're not getting recruiterspam, you're not findable. And that's totally on you, not on anyone else. It's 2017, it has never been easier to be findable. Do something, anything, and put it out there. If recruiters can find you with "Software engineer with a pulse", you will get emails. Maybe not every day, but at least once in a while. This advice [probably] does not work for many other professions.

freework 10y ago
Do you even read this forum? "Negative unemployment rate" couldn't be further from the truth. There are tons of qualified programmers who get rejected left and right. I'm experiencing this at the moment myself. If there were really negative unemployment rate, then I should get 10 offers for sending out 10 resumes. In reality I'm getting 0 offers for every 10 resumes sent out.
- bcbrown 10y ago
  If you're looking for work, you should put contact info in your profile here. If you're in Seattle, email me.
- apandhi 10y ago
  Well that's not necessarily true. From one of your other submissions, you stated "...I am very bad at interviewing..." So the problem seems more of, "Hiring Mangers think I'm unqualified" rather than "There aren't enough jobs for qualified developers" Hiring an unqualified developer is MUCH worse than not hiring a developer at all. It's wasted time and money for the company. I've been on both sides of the table so if you want some feedback on your resume/interviewing skills feel free to shoot me an email.
  - gspetr 10y ago
    Shoot you an email where exactly? You should check your HN profile visibility from a browser where you're not logged in. You don't have email in your profile.

vtange 10y ago

The ideal is that people genuinely are knocking on your door with a nice job for you. The reality is that most are just in it for commissions - which in some cases comes out of the salary you're promised - and you get thrown into a job where the company cared too little to actually look for quality candidates.