17 ms·

Tell HN: Tech Recruiters have no clue

72 points by TamDenholm 16y ago

I detest recruiters with the fiery incandescent white hot burning heat of a nova, but unfortunately I feel like i have to deal with them because I live in Edinburgh but work in London, i dont take part in the local community because i'm not there. I applied for a 3 month contract position online. I have this recruiter call me and give me the usual bullshit and it gets to the usual "can i send over your CV to them?", I say sure as i always do after they've wasted 15 minutes of my time asking if i know PHP, if i then know LAMP, then asking my if i know Linux, apache and MySQL, then asking me if i know HTML, then CSS and you get the idea. They ask me all these questions even though 1) my CV they are looking at in front of them says so and 2) they got my CV by me sending it on an online ad asking for these specific skills. So after i've given them permission to send my CV, the woman asks me for 2 technical references, i say to her that if the company likes the look of my CV then i'd be happy to provide references but i dont just hand out peoples details on a whim because i'd hate people to do that to me. She tells me that she cant send my CV without first getting the references. Normally i'd tell her to piss off politely at this point but the daily rate was going through the market rate ceiling and i'm a whore for money. So i say sure, i'll give you references, i'll go and get permission from them and get back to you. I do this and email her the next day with contact details. She emails back and asks what companies they work for, i tell them they're freelancers that i've done work for. She says that colleagues arent good enough and will need managers i've worked under. I explain they're clients, not colleagues, and that i'm not an employee, i'm a self employed developer with my own company and clients, i dont and have never had a manager, i'm the guy people come to because they're not technical, i take care of everything for them. The position i'm looking for requires me to be the main technical guy there, surely she'd get where i'm coming from. She asked for technical references, thats what i gave her, people who understood and could articulate my technical ability. But alas no, i've been penalised for not being a corporate drone, i avoid working for large corporations because its soul destroying and i hate bureaucracy. I like working for other freelancers and small agencies, its far more friendly and less political and i dont have to write screeds of bullshit documents when a quick email is good enough. Anyway, sorry for the rant but this pissed me off today, i really wish i could totally avoid recruiters as when i have found work without them its been orders of magnitude easier and faster, but they know where the good paying gigs are. Someone please disrupt this industry. tl;dr Recruiters suck and only care about arbitrary bullshit.

swombat 16y ago
Why are you going through recruiters? You already know how to market yourself. You're just trying to market yourself to a different set of people. Also, you can't at the same time say you're a whore for money and then complain that you have to prostitute yourself to make your money.
- TamDenholm 16y ago
  I can get work myself but its only about half as well paid as the jobs i can get from recruiters. I can live on what i make as a freelancer, but i get a much larger injection of cash if i take on an on-site contract. This is the only reason.
- zeraholladay 16y ago
  The reality of the situation is that if you want to work for a large corporation, then you're stuck playing their games. I've had a recruiter ask for references upfront. They don't always check them, but references are required for their software. Also, the other commenter noted that the recruiter is likely using your references to build a list of contacts. A list of line managers is more valuable to a recruiter than a list of technicians since the line managers make hiring decisions and serve as contacts for additional sales.
- jrockway 16y ago
  There are two reasons to involve recruiters. One, many companies only accept your resume if it comes from a recruiter. If you know someone personally (or online), then you can come in through the back door. But for 99% of companies you want to work for, you don't know anyone to vouch for you. So it's either deal with a recruiter, or leave some doors unopened. Second, recruiters get paid as a percentage of the salary they get you, and aren't afraid to get you an amount that gets them a good amount. I always hate to play hardball (effective as it is) and talk about how much money I want, but recruiters love doing that it. It's their job. And, if they are a jackass about it, you just say (after you start work) "oh, sorry about him, recruiters, sigh" and keep whatever they negotiated for you. Then you are the good guy, but you get the benefits as if you were the bad guy. :) FWIW, I doubled my salary by working with a recruiter. And I like the job better! Being a corporate sellout is highly underrated.

72 points by TamDenholm 16y ago

swombat 16y ago

Why are you going through recruiters? You already know how to market yourself. You're just trying to market yourself to a different set of people. Also, you can't at the same time say you're a whore for money and then complain that you have to prostitute yourself to make your money.

TamDenholm 16y ago
I can get work myself but its only about half as well paid as the jobs i can get from recruiters. I can live on what i make as a freelancer, but i get a much larger injection of cash if i take on an on-site contract. This is the only reason.
zeraholladay 16y ago
The reality of the situation is that if you want to work for a large corporation, then you're stuck playing their games. I've had a recruiter ask for references upfront. They don't always check them, but references are required for their software. Also, the other commenter noted that the recruiter is likely using your references to build a list of contacts. A list of line managers is more valuable to a recruiter than a list of technicians since the line managers make hiring decisions and serve as contacts for additional sales.
jrockway 16y ago
There are two reasons to involve recruiters. One, many companies only accept your resume if it comes from a recruiter. If you know someone personally (or online), then you can come in through the back door. But for 99% of companies you want to work for, you don't know anyone to vouch for you. So it's either deal with a recruiter, or leave some doors unopened. Second, recruiters get paid as a percentage of the salary they get you, and aren't afraid to get you an amount that gets them a good amount. I always hate to play hardball (effective as it is) and talk about how much money I want, but recruiters love doing that it. It's their job. And, if they are a jackass about it, you just say (after you start work) "oh, sorry about him, recruiters, sigh" and keep whatever they negotiated for you. Then you are the good guy, but you get the benefits as if you were the bad guy. :) FWIW, I doubled my salary by working with a recruiter. And I like the job better! Being a corporate sellout is highly underrated.