3 ms·

Dealing with recruiters is maddening. They are, in my experience, not only incompetent -- but harmful as well.

by stray 13y ago

r00fus 13y ago
Their interests are barely aligned with yours. After all, you're not paying them. Their real customer (the hiring company/manager) is. Here's a scenario I've had happen in the past: * Recruiter pings me about job I'd really like * They prep me and I go to interview * I'm clearly not qualified or actually prepared as hiring manager asks about stuff that wasn't on job description * Company chooses other candidate from same recruiter. Stuff like that makes me really wary of recruiters in general. Best way to get hired is to make great industry contacts at as many levels as possible and network your way into a gig (perm or contract). Most of mine have been through this route.
NoGoodName 13y ago
Agreed. The worst ones harm all three parts of the triangle - the client company, the candidate, and their own recruiting firm. Here's an example from last week: junior recruiter contacts me for an ERP PM role because she won the first round of key word bingo in my generic CareerBuilder resume. That's primarily an instructional resume in which I tout my ERP training experience, although I'm a certified PMP as well. Dolly the Bimbo asks me to update my resume for PM - done. Dolly the Bimbo then asks me to draw out my manufacturing ERP experience - done, along with addendum with details. (two resumes, three days) Wisely, I've learned to demand review of my info as it will be submitted to the client. Amazingly, she only used the original CareerBuilder resume, with wrong job title and scant mention of ERP, rather than the well-written, targeted resume that she herself solicited. Certain outcome: the client company rejects application ("What the heck?! This isn't even a PM resume!"), so they suffer without a good candidate. Client company also downgrades their estimation of recruiting company, so that's a hit. And, of course, my name is on the client reject list, so the candidate is burned as well. Dolly can't read.

Dealing with recruiters is maddening. They are, in my experience, not only incompetent -- but harmful as well.

by stray 13y ago

Dealing with recruiters is maddening. They are, in my experience, not only incompetent -- but harmful as well.

Their interests are barely aligned with yours. After all, you're not paying them. Their real customer (the hiring company/manager) is. Here's a scenario I've had happen in the past: * Recruiter pings me about job I'd really like * They prep me and I go to interview * I'm clearly not qualified or actually prepared as hiring manager asks about stuff that wasn't on job description * Company chooses other candidate from same recruiter. Stuff like that makes me really wary of recruiters in general. Best way to get hired is to make great industry contacts at as many levels as possible and network your way into a gig (perm or contract). Most of mine have been through this route.

NoGoodName 13y ago

Agreed. The worst ones harm all three parts of the triangle - the client company, the candidate, and their own recruiting firm. Here's an example from last week: junior recruiter contacts me for an ERP PM role because she won the first round of key word bingo in my generic CareerBuilder resume. That's primarily an instructional resume in which I tout my ERP training experience, although I'm a certified PMP as well. Dolly the Bimbo asks me to update my resume for PM - done. Dolly the Bimbo then asks me to draw out my manufacturing ERP experience - done, along with addendum with details. (two resumes, three days) Wisely, I've learned to demand review of my info as it will be submitted to the client. Amazingly, she only used the original CareerBuilder resume, with wrong job title and scant mention of ERP, rather than the well-written, targeted resume that she herself solicited. Certain outcome: the client company rejects application ("What the heck?! This isn't even a PM resume!"), so they suffer without a good candidate. Client company also downgrades their estimation of recruiting company, so that's a hit. And, of course, my name is on the client reject list, so the candidate is burned as well. Dolly can't read.