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I probably get 3-4 inquiries a week from recruiters. About 2/3 from LinkedIn. I suspect that most software engineers in the Bay Area (and other hot markets) sha

I probably get 3-4 inquiries a week from recruiters. About 2/3 from LinkedIn. I suspect that most software engineers in the Bay Area (and other hot markets) share my experience. I usually politely ignore them. I changed jobs a few months ago and during that process I talked with a few. Not surprisingly, there are good ones and bad ones. That's the final word on it I think. Not all recruiters are idiots and scumbags. Not even most of them. The worst ones, to me, were the ones that just spammed me with any remotely-related job instead of curating and sending me what I'm looking for. I also loath it when they give me pep-talk style, "Just be on time and don't sound too arrogant or cocky." Seriously? I'm a professional with a decade experience. This is a highly paid job. You're not talking to a University Career Fair candidate. For some, I cut off contact. For others, I told them to remember me and contact me if they had anything that matched very specific job descriptions or outlandishly high salaries. Others I worked with pleasantly. The best, to me, were internal recruiters and recruiters working at VC firms. Both of them have a deeper interest and better connections.

rogerbinns 14y ago
I've got what seems like a good solution. At the very top of my resume and on Linkedin I have a link titled 'Note to recruiters'. It is pretty trivial to tell if the recruiter actually read it (after all the majority are clueless/useless). I also add their domain to my email server blocklist. (After all if the recruiter is unable to recruit competent recruiters - its own industry - then why would I trust them for anything else?) The content also helps ensure I am the right person for good recruiters - for example it points out I only want to work for small companies/startups and why. Some of the things I put down are that I want the company names (so I can google them), I'm not sending a resume in Word format, phone calls won't happen until there are enough details, and including long details about industry concepts that can be googled (eg virtualization) is useless. http://www.rogerbinns.com/recruiters.html http://www.rogerbinns.com/recruiters.html
- jfb 14y ago
  SPELLING PEDANT IRONY: you (rightly) upbraid recruiters who use sloppy spelling, but you misspell "hustle" in the same letter.
  - rogerbinns 14y ago
    You are the first person to notice in the many years that has been up. I am of course ashamed.

rogerbinns 14y ago

I've got what seems like a good solution. At the very top of my resume and on Linkedin I have a link titled 'Note to recruiters'. It is pretty trivial to tell if the recruiter actually read it (after all the majority are clueless/useless). I also add their domain to my email server blocklist. (After all if the recruiter is unable to recruit competent recruiters - its own industry - then why would I trust them for anything else?) The content also helps ensure I am the right person for good recruiters - for example it points out I only want to work for small companies/startups and why. Some of the things I put down are that I want the company names (so I can google them), I'm not sending a resume in Word format, phone calls won't happen until there are enough details, and including long details about industry concepts that can be googled (eg virtualization) is useless. http://www.rogerbinns.com/recruiters.html http://www.rogerbinns.com/recruiters.html

jfb 14y ago
SPELLING PEDANT IRONY: you (rightly) upbraid recruiters who use sloppy spelling, but you misspell "hustle" in the same letter.
- rogerbinns 14y ago
  You are the first person to notice in the many years that has been up. I am of course ashamed.