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I have worked with recruiters before and just wanted to say a few things about this: 1. The Word Doc is not the fault of the Developer. Every time I send my C

I have worked with recruiters before and just wanted to say a few things about this: 1. The Word Doc is not the fault of the Developer. Every time I send my CV out it is a PDF, but Recruiters usually ask me to send them a Doc instead. "How can I hire a developer who can’t even understand file formats?" This is a wrong conclusion I think, the Developer probably knows that a PDF would be better, but he has no choice if he wants to work with the recruiter. 2. how relevant is a traditional CV I don't know how relevant a traditional CV is, but I know that there are great developers that simply can not pump everything they do onto GitHub because the type of Contract they have with their employers. This means that a CV would be the only way to show what they have done in those years without breaking their Contracts. Or do you think that someone that can do a little Play project on GitHub really does not even have to show what else he did? 3. "desperate, so driven by money" Every time I work with a recruiter it works like this: The recruiter contacts me and tells me about a company that would be interested in working with me and I send him my CV. The reason I send him my CV is because it is no work at all and I want to find out if it is a interesting company. This doesn't mean that I am desperate and so far money didn't even come up once. And also I have not "gone to" a suit-and-tie recruiter the suit-and-tie recruiter came to me.

liamgooding 13y ago
Hey VonGallifrey, also thanks for giving this some decent feedback. While it's mostly criticism, been challenged like this is extremely valuable as it helps me address my own preconceptions and assumptions about the recruitment game! >The recruiter contacts me and tells me about a company that would be interested in working with me In over 1,000 recruiter emails I've received over the last few years (of which at least 500 have been in the last few months due to Trak.io spiking in awareness) not once have I ever, ever expressed an interest first. Which means the Word Doc's getting dumped in my inbox are from people who haven't had your experience at all. So the recruiters who are coming to you (kudos BTW), probably spinning you different shit as they send to employers but equally just as BS. Think about it - a recruiter earns a commission on your base salary. Not options. Not employment perks. Not company culture. Not product vision. Which opportunities do you think they're going to put in front of you?? Their only job is literally to get the highest salary possible for the developer. They hope you'll pull that salary for 3 months, so that their manager will unlock their full commission. >This means that a CV would be the only way to show what they have done in those years without breaking their Contracts. I totally get your point about NDA work, and perhaps finding no time for any out-of-work-projects, but I fail to accept that truly interesting people have NOTHING outside of their job to talk about. Or maybe there are some people... not seen enough people to truly call definitive judgement on this yet. A word doc feels so "copy-paste". A personal intro email with a few relevant points, with a follow up Skype call, is going to tell me so much more. Receiving a "pump and dump" CV through a recruiter leaves absolutely no room for this. And I want people who KNOW this. I want people who know full well that having that first impression of a "pump and dump" kinda developer is not how they want to be perceived. So I guess my point shouldn't be specifically that they need a Github profile full of fun projects instead of a CV, more that I don't want to get a CV of them via a recruiter as it sending all the wrong signals.

liamgooding 13y ago

Hey VonGallifrey, also thanks for giving this some decent feedback. While it's mostly criticism, been challenged like this is extremely valuable as it helps me address my own preconceptions and assumptions about the recruitment game! >The recruiter contacts me and tells me about a company that would be interested in working with me In over 1,000 recruiter emails I've received over the last few years (of which at least 500 have been in the last few months due to Trak.io spiking in awareness) not once have I ever, ever expressed an interest first. Which means the Word Doc's getting dumped in my inbox are from people who haven't had your experience at all. So the recruiters who are coming to you (kudos BTW), probably spinning you different shit as they send to employers but equally just as BS. Think about it - a recruiter earns a commission on your base salary. Not options. Not employment perks. Not company culture. Not product vision. Which opportunities do you think they're going to put in front of you?? Their only job is literally to get the highest salary possible for the developer. They hope you'll pull that salary for 3 months, so that their manager will unlock their full commission. >This means that a CV would be the only way to show what they have done in those years without breaking their Contracts. I totally get your point about NDA work, and perhaps finding no time for any out-of-work-projects, but I fail to accept that truly interesting people have NOTHING outside of their job to talk about. Or maybe there are some people... not seen enough people to truly call definitive judgement on this yet. A word doc feels so "copy-paste". A personal intro email with a few relevant points, with a follow up Skype call, is going to tell me so much more. Receiving a "pump and dump" CV through a recruiter leaves absolutely no room for this. And I want people who KNOW this. I want people who know full well that having that first impression of a "pump and dump" kinda developer is not how they want to be perceived. So I guess my point shouldn't be specifically that they need a Github profile full of fun projects instead of a CV, more that I don't want to get a CV of them via a recruiter as it sending all the wrong signals.