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Black Hat Recruiter Tactics

14 points by conesus 16y ago

tbgvi 16y ago
A friend just had this happen at his consulting company: "Discrediting an employee's current company - Black hat recruiters will contact an employed potential candidate and tell them that their current company is in a precarious financial state and offer to find the employee another job. Black hat recruiters will even do this to employees of their own clients." He let one of his employees go and they went to a recruiter to find a new job. Next thing you know, everyone at the company was getting called by him saying they were in financial trouble and that he could find them work. A few days later he calls my friend up and says "I know you've been losing a few employees, I think I have some good candidates if you're hiring." From my dealings with recruiters, this is almost standard practice.
gunmetal 16y ago
I thought this would be about getting a job doing black hat programming...bummed when it wasn't
stuartk 16y ago
I'm based in the UK, and last year spent a couple months dealing with recruiters whilst trying to find a new position. I dealt with several companies, and got several job interviews. All the positions were as described, and I never got any nasty shocks. I may just have been lucky, but is anyone from the UK coming across these shady recruiter tactics, or is the problem US centric?
- nodata 16y ago
  I personally suspect several job offers I have recently been asked to apply for (this is in Europe) do not actually exist, the sole purpose being to get hold of well-qualified candidates' CVs.
  - wyclif 16y ago
    Yes, CV harvesting is still going strong. I think your suspicions are well-founded, even if you're fortunate enough to never have been exploited that way.
- iuguy 16y ago
  You've been extremely lucky. It may well vary by niche, but certainly I've experienced or know someone that's experienced almost everything listed here and more. Not all recruiters are scum but a lot are. My top warning signs: Recruiter talks about their honesty or integrity or years of experience. This is a massive red flag. They're lying about their honesty and integrity. Walk away. Recruiter asks about other people in department, talks up a job, you apply then your more senior colleague gets a call about the same job you supposedly applied for. Of course, the whole thing was just to get the more senior guy's CV. There wasn't even a job. Threats of legal action for not taking a job. Non-payment for contract positions where payment has to go through the recruiter (I know of 3 or 4 guys who took the same company to court for non-payment). Ridiculous unenforceable terms and conditions in a contract ("Contractor will not talk to client about future projects" - so no planning and no delivery then?) The recruiter is young (early 20s) - they're normally put in a sink or swim environment that encourages this type of behaviour. The guys that have been around for between 5 and 10 years have learnt what works and more importantly, what doesn't. Anyone claiming 20 years in recruiting is probably either psychologically unbalanced or lying. Would you still be hitting the streets in a job like that after 20 years, or would you be management by then?
AgentConundrum 16y ago
Nothing's worse than getting to an interview and finding out that you know COBOL from the hiring manager reading it off your resume. This is true, especially since I do know COBOL...

14 points by conesus 16y ago

tbgvi 16y ago

A friend just had this happen at his consulting company: "Discrediting an employee's current company - Black hat recruiters will contact an employed potential candidate and tell them that their current company is in a precarious financial state and offer to find the employee another job. Black hat recruiters will even do this to employees of their own clients." He let one of his employees go and they went to a recruiter to find a new job. Next thing you know, everyone at the company was getting called by him saying they were in financial trouble and that he could find them work. A few days later he calls my friend up and says "I know you've been losing a few employees, I think I have some good candidates if you're hiring." From my dealings with recruiters, this is almost standard practice.

gunmetal 16y ago

I thought this would be about getting a job doing black hat programming...bummed when it wasn't

stuartk 16y ago

I'm based in the UK, and last year spent a couple months dealing with recruiters whilst trying to find a new position. I dealt with several companies, and got several job interviews. All the positions were as described, and I never got any nasty shocks. I may just have been lucky, but is anyone from the UK coming across these shady recruiter tactics, or is the problem US centric?

nodata 16y ago
I personally suspect several job offers I have recently been asked to apply for (this is in Europe) do not actually exist, the sole purpose being to get hold of well-qualified candidates' CVs.
- wyclif 16y ago
  Yes, CV harvesting is still going strong. I think your suspicions are well-founded, even if you're fortunate enough to never have been exploited that way.
iuguy 16y ago
You've been extremely lucky. It may well vary by niche, but certainly I've experienced or know someone that's experienced almost everything listed here and more. Not all recruiters are scum but a lot are. My top warning signs: Recruiter talks about their honesty or integrity or years of experience. This is a massive red flag. They're lying about their honesty and integrity. Walk away. Recruiter asks about other people in department, talks up a job, you apply then your more senior colleague gets a call about the same job you supposedly applied for. Of course, the whole thing was just to get the more senior guy's CV. There wasn't even a job. Threats of legal action for not taking a job. Non-payment for contract positions where payment has to go through the recruiter (I know of 3 or 4 guys who took the same company to court for non-payment). Ridiculous unenforceable terms and conditions in a contract ("Contractor will not talk to client about future projects" - so no planning and no delivery then?) The recruiter is young (early 20s) - they're normally put in a sink or swim environment that encourages this type of behaviour. The guys that have been around for between 5 and 10 years have learnt what works and more importantly, what doesn't. Anyone claiming 20 years in recruiting is probably either psychologically unbalanced or lying. Would you still be hitting the streets in a job like that after 20 years, or would you be management by then?

AgentConundrum 16y ago

Nothing's worse than getting to an interview and finding out that you know COBOL from the hiring manager reading it off your resume. This is true, especially since I do know COBOL...