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Many times it's also because the companies want to keep the positions secret. If a company wants to quietly replace their VP of Engineering, it won't be on any

Many times it's also because the companies want to keep the positions secret. If a company wants to quietly replace their VP of Engineering, it won't be on any job boards, and they don't want anyone who isn't interviewing for the position to know about it. Everyone will ultimately give up the firm name prior to sending the resume, but there are reputable firms who wait until they know you're serious. (If 100 candidates know the firm name, word will leak out. If only 5 do, then perhaps not)

redmattred 12y ago
That's true. There are plenty of jobs that are never posted online either because they are trying to fill a role on the sly or the company just simply does not want to deal with the flood of unqualified applicants they'll get from job boards.
- mathattack 12y ago
  1/3 of a year's salary (headhunter fee) is rarely justified by just sorting through resumes. The headhunter has to provide one of the following: 1) Confidentiality in the search 2) Access to people not currently looking 3) Access to candidates that are perfectly suited for the job 4) Strategic advice For better or worse, most are only capable of #1. The ones that can do #3 and #4 are worth their weight in gold.
jonnathanson 12y ago
"If 100 candidates know the firm name, word will leak out. If only 5 do, then perhaps not" I would imagine that after a certain inflection point, p(leak) scales exponentially as n(people you've told) scales linearly. Obviously your probability of a leak is extremely high if you've told 100 people -- but after a certain number n, practically speaking, your probability is high enough. That n might be as few as 5 people, or as many as 50, but it's probably pretty low.
- thesteamboat 12y ago
  Since probability is between 0 and 1, more likely is that the odds of a leak scale exponentially.
  - jonnathanson 12y ago
    You're right. I caught that, as well, and corrected my wording in mid-edit. (I do a lot of after-the-fact editing. Force of habit).
- mathattack 12y ago
  Definitely not linear. I'm pretty sure it's similar math to "If X of your friends have seen Viral Junk Z, then you most likely will have too." That's why I chose two very far apart #s. :-)
SEMW 12y ago
I think I got one of these a few months ago. A recruiter at "an executive search firm" emailed saying my name "was mentioned in connection with a CTO/SVP Eng brief" they were trying to fill, specifying that "It’s a confidential search". Which at the time I assumed just meant they couldn't mention the company name, but then in an (unsolicited) followup email they told me the company name, so possibly they did mean they were trying to keep it quiet. The kicker is I'm a junior dev not long out of uni, and not qualified to be CTO of a ham sandwich. If they were trying to keep it quiet, they were doing a pretty terrible job of it.

redmattred 12y ago

That's true. There are plenty of jobs that are never posted online either because they are trying to fill a role on the sly or the company just simply does not want to deal with the flood of unqualified applicants they'll get from job boards.

mathattack 12y ago
1/3 of a year's salary (headhunter fee) is rarely justified by just sorting through resumes. The headhunter has to provide one of the following: 1) Confidentiality in the search 2) Access to people not currently looking 3) Access to candidates that are perfectly suited for the job 4) Strategic advice For better or worse, most are only capable of #1. The ones that can do #3 and #4 are worth their weight in gold.

jonnathanson 12y ago

"If 100 candidates know the firm name, word will leak out. If only 5 do, then perhaps not" I would imagine that after a certain inflection point, p(leak) scales exponentially as n(people you've told) scales linearly. Obviously your probability of a leak is extremely high if you've told 100 people -- but after a certain number n, practically speaking, your probability is high enough. That n might be as few as 5 people, or as many as 50, but it's probably pretty low.

thesteamboat 12y ago
Since probability is between 0 and 1, more likely is that the odds of a leak scale exponentially.
- jonnathanson 12y ago
  You're right. I caught that, as well, and corrected my wording in mid-edit. (I do a lot of after-the-fact editing. Force of habit).
mathattack 12y ago
Definitely not linear. I'm pretty sure it's similar math to "If X of your friends have seen Viral Junk Z, then you most likely will have too." That's why I chose two very far apart #s. :-)

SEMW 12y ago

I think I got one of these a few months ago. A recruiter at "an executive search firm" emailed saying my name "was mentioned in connection with a CTO/SVP Eng brief" they were trying to fill, specifying that "It’s a confidential search". Which at the time I assumed just meant they couldn't mention the company name, but then in an (unsolicited) followup email they told me the company name, so possibly they did mean they were trying to keep it quiet. The kicker is I'm a junior dev not long out of uni, and not qualified to be CTO of a ham sandwich. If they were trying to keep it quiet, they were doing a pretty terrible job of it.