4 ms·

You can't know if they are a good recruiter. In successful case, you'll interact with them for a new job and never hear back again (they got you a dream job).

You can't know if they are a good recruiter. In successful case, you'll interact with them for a new job and never hear back again (they got you a dream job). If you're hearing from them again, what was wrong with the first job they got you? You can't go by recommendations. A recruiter may have been decent when working with a certain client and then be shitty with another client.

refurb 3y ago
If you've never interacted with them, reply. I always do. But judge them on how the conversation continues. If they ghost you after promising X, Y, Z, then I don't interact with them again. They aren't reliable. "In successful case, you'll interact with them for a new job and never hear back again (they got you a dream job)." Clearly if they landed you your dream job they didn't ghost you in the middle of the process, right? They must have followed through? Communicated professionally?
column 3y ago
You totally can know up-front. My colleague's Linkedin bio clearly states "Not interested in contract work.", once in a blue moon he'll get a recruiter that actually read his profile!
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  is your colleague active on LinkedIn, or is this just some prestige thing? Like, looking through my LinkedIn, I get maybe 20% contract work at most, and I don't post any specific requirements or salaries. Likewise, while I've gotten some pitches that aren't in my domain, and 2 that weren't even software engineering gigs, I'd say 90% of emails seem to at least be loosely in the ballpark, and of those half of them seem like "okay, it at least got the right kinds of positions). Most of the rest tends to be web development for some reason, though (again, I don't have any specific request on my LinkedIn).
Mountain_Skies 3y ago
My rough experience has been that internal recruiters are the best to work with, independent third party recruiters should be ignored 100% of the time, and outside recruiters are a very mixed bag, with the early careers ones more polite but sloppy compared to the efficiency of highly experienced ones who border on sociopathic in their behavior.
- enoughjobspam 3y ago
  Agreed. Internal recruiters are in for the long run. Their client is the only client. They won't be moving on from that. They have a better chance of caring about the company's future.
AnimalMuppet 3y ago
You kind of can tell. Not 100%, but enough to be useful. One recruiter asked if I wanted a job. I said no. He asked if I knew anyone else who did. I gave him a name. He said, "Oh, he works for X? I recruit for them; I can't present a person from there for somewhere else." I was really impressed. A recruiter with ethics? I made a note - next time I need a job, call this guy. Sometimes you can tell by the way they talk to you. When you say, for example, "I mostly do embedded software", do they know what that is? Do they know that they should stop sending you web front end jobs? As I said, not 100%. But if I can deal with the best 20% of recruiters (with an occasional mistake thrown in), that's still good enough.

refurb 3y ago

If you've never interacted with them, reply. I always do. But judge them on how the conversation continues. If they ghost you after promising X, Y, Z, then I don't interact with them again. They aren't reliable. "In successful case, you'll interact with them for a new job and never hear back again (they got you a dream job)." Clearly if they landed you your dream job they didn't ghost you in the middle of the process, right? They must have followed through? Communicated professionally?

column 3y ago

You totally can know up-front. My colleague's Linkedin bio clearly states "Not interested in contract work.", once in a blue moon he'll get a recruiter that actually read his profile!

johnnyanmac 3y ago
is your colleague active on LinkedIn, or is this just some prestige thing? Like, looking through my LinkedIn, I get maybe 20% contract work at most, and I don't post any specific requirements or salaries. Likewise, while I've gotten some pitches that aren't in my domain, and 2 that weren't even software engineering gigs, I'd say 90% of emails seem to at least be loosely in the ballpark, and of those half of them seem like "okay, it at least got the right kinds of positions). Most of the rest tends to be web development for some reason, though (again, I don't have any specific request on my LinkedIn).

Mountain_Skies 3y ago

My rough experience has been that internal recruiters are the best to work with, independent third party recruiters should be ignored 100% of the time, and outside recruiters are a very mixed bag, with the early careers ones more polite but sloppy compared to the efficiency of highly experienced ones who border on sociopathic in their behavior.

enoughjobspam 3y ago
Agreed. Internal recruiters are in for the long run. Their client is the only client. They won't be moving on from that. They have a better chance of caring about the company's future.

AnimalMuppet 3y ago

You kind of can tell. Not 100%, but enough to be useful. One recruiter asked if I wanted a job. I said no. He asked if I knew anyone else who did. I gave him a name. He said, "Oh, he works for X? I recruit for them; I can't present a person from there for somewhere else." I was really impressed. A recruiter with ethics? I made a note - next time I need a job, call this guy. Sometimes you can tell by the way they talk to you. When you say, for example, "I mostly do embedded software", do they know what that is? Do they know that they should stop sending you web front end jobs? As I said, not 100%. But if I can deal with the best 20% of recruiters (with an occasional mistake thrown in), that's still good enough.