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Why do Recruiters want us, where's the catch? (Share your Experience)

1 points by X4 13y ago

Hi, I'm regularly getting mails from people calling themselves Recruiter, Business Developer and in some cases Headhunter. I've not responded to many of them, except a few recent ones that I politely answered "no". But they keep mailing me. Why do these people send us these requests and why do some want our resumes, or a description of what type of work we want to do? How should we react to it? Is there a catch, or do you recommend to take the opportunity? A friend of mine once got cold called by someone who knew all of his past history and he never actually send his resume to that company who wanted to acquire him (he was employed at that time anyway). They refused to tell where they got his info from, but eventually it came out that a previous company he applied to, sold his resume to other companies.

kjs3 13y ago
Recruiters get paid when they place someone. First step in placing them is finding them. There's a spectrum of ethics associated with how they do that. Some recruiters work on the "relationship model": they have a stable of candidates that they maintain some periodic contact with, generally know what their looking for, and when they get a requirement that fits, they'll present it (or ask people in their stable if they know anyone who'd be a fit). A good relationship oriented recruiter can make a lot of money and be a big help to your career. I encourage everyone to get to know a couple of recruiters like this. Other recruiters are working on the "spammer model": they get as many resumes as they possibly can in their database by any means they can (just like spammers collect email addresses), and when a requirement comes in they do as broad a search as possible and send an email or cold-call everyone found with the requirements in it and say "if this is of interest, contact me". Just like spammers, they're hoping if they mail or call 1000 people that one qualified and interested person responds. These people generally work for an agency, and they're working strictly on volume. This is why I get, almost daily, email about low- to mid-level contract programming gigs even though I haven't been a programmer in 20 years and have hold a senior position at my company. These folks have to place a lot of people to make good money, which is why they're aggressive and persistent. They're the recruiting equivalent of debt collectors and telemarketers. Treat them as such. For completeness, I'll mention there's an even lower form of recruiter: those working on the "fraud model". Anyone who wants you to pay to be presented for a position is a trying to scam you. Legitimate recruiters are payed by the hiring company.
dsschnau 13y ago
They're recruiters, paid by companies to find employees. They get a cut if you sign with a company through them. So they scrape, hard, for leads. May as well be nice to them, maybe they'll give you an opportunity in the future :)
- X4 13y ago
  Ok, that sounds bad.. Your and @kjs3's (who appears to be hellbanned) comments agree on the point that these people should be avoided, right? Recently a "radio moderator & business developer" asked me to join a conference with talented people for "free", but it appears that he's passively recruiting too, but by bringing people together in a room and letting them pay for being there.. that smelled a lot like scam.

1 points by X4 13y ago

kjs3 13y ago

Recruiters get paid when they place someone. First step in placing them is finding them. There's a spectrum of ethics associated with how they do that. Some recruiters work on the "relationship model": they have a stable of candidates that they maintain some periodic contact with, generally know what their looking for, and when they get a requirement that fits, they'll present it (or ask people in their stable if they know anyone who'd be a fit). A good relationship oriented recruiter can make a lot of money and be a big help to your career. I encourage everyone to get to know a couple of recruiters like this. Other recruiters are working on the "spammer model": they get as many resumes as they possibly can in their database by any means they can (just like spammers collect email addresses), and when a requirement comes in they do as broad a search as possible and send an email or cold-call everyone found with the requirements in it and say "if this is of interest, contact me". Just like spammers, they're hoping if they mail or call 1000 people that one qualified and interested person responds. These people generally work for an agency, and they're working strictly on volume. This is why I get, almost daily, email about low- to mid-level contract programming gigs even though I haven't been a programmer in 20 years and have hold a senior position at my company. These folks have to place a lot of people to make good money, which is why they're aggressive and persistent. They're the recruiting equivalent of debt collectors and telemarketers. Treat them as such. For completeness, I'll mention there's an even lower form of recruiter: those working on the "fraud model". Anyone who wants you to pay to be presented for a position is a trying to scam you. Legitimate recruiters are payed by the hiring company.

dsschnau 13y ago

They're recruiters, paid by companies to find employees. They get a cut if you sign with a company through them. So they scrape, hard, for leads. May as well be nice to them, maybe they'll give you an opportunity in the future :)

X4 13y ago
Ok, that sounds bad.. Your and @kjs3's (who appears to be hellbanned) comments agree on the point that these people should be avoided, right? Recently a "radio moderator & business developer" asked me to join a conference with talented people for "free", but it appears that he's passively recruiting too, but by bringing people together in a room and letting them pay for being there.. that smelled a lot like scam.