Recruiters
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Finding a good recruiter is very much like finding a new job. You should be interviewing them just as much as they you, if not more. I say this because a good recruiter is just as rare as a good job. If you can find a recruiter that is a good fit for you then that recruiter will be able to find a job that is a good fit for you (prevailing market conditions do apply somewhat). As for the post from the MS recruiter, well I only agree with one point - do not lie <period> Everything else, all of your knowledge, your communications skills, your methods of contact and communication are all tools to be used. This includes blind emails and cold calls. How can you acquire contacts and network if you do not send blind emails and make cold calls ?
The times have changed and the times have not changed. Way back when one typed up letters and snail-mailed them. The we added the telephone. Next came specialty recruiters then the job boards. Now we have all but eliminated snail-mail, specialty recruiters have dwindled and we become scanned entities in resume tracking systems. Now all you have left is your wits to get ahead.
Your key to the city is 'The email address' <period> Using Google and the online phone books are your best resources besides personally made networking contacts. Google for phone listings of IT recruiters, then refine the search to IT recruiters with websites. The hit the website looking for profile information and 'real' names (not hr@ or resume@). Look especially for 'Contact Us' pages, which usually have an email address. If they have one of those canned form pages that creates the email, well, view the web page source to get an email address.
Using 'them' as resources you can win. As proof I sent 160 cold/blind emails to entries found - changing only the 'Dear' line of the cover email. I received 26 responses over the next 2 weeks - a 16.25% return ratio. Of the 26 responses 4 actually turned up potential clients. During week 3 had interview #1. During week #4 had second interview. Received and accepted the offer and I am where I am now. Now I did send email-ids to all 26 recruiters that responded once I accepted an offer informing them of this fact - all 26 responded back too ! Now there were 6 recruiters of the 26 that I 'washed' out - they wanted to play the game of 'come in to our office and let us use you to train a new recruiter in interviewing skills' ... yeah right ... send me to the Middle East with a duffle bag instead of that ! So 20 out of 26 recruiters I have a current dialog with. 4 of the 20 recruiters I actually have some faith in - and just one recruiter delivered in full.
Granted this seemed disjointed and rambling but it shows that you can do things your way, intelligently, and win !
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
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How do you spell
mercenary? But it is not easy to find work with good companies without them because they don't get paid if you are not hired.
Kind regards,
Gift Peddie -
As I've stated on many posts made on here, the vast majority of my experiences with Recruiters has been bad. To say that most are lazy cretins who know nothing about basic courtesy and simple business communications is an understatement.
I went through a LOT of agencies when I was out of work and I am not interested in talking to any but a select few agencies that have a proven track record going on people who have used them. The others are told (when they call) that they can no longer keep my details on record as I do not wish to be associated with unprofessional organisations that choose to treat clients the way they do.
Call it 'burning your bridges' if you will but I detest the thought of rewarding slack behaviour.
The position I am in now was one I found on my own as they didn't go through an agency and, surprisingly, the skills that they liked most on my CV was that I have a mainframe background - meaning that I will not automatically want to reboot a production server if something goes wrong and will investigate problems (something which was not done at my previous place of employment. Their motto: "Reboot. Reboot. Rebuild.")
A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
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http://smoothjazzy.blogspot.com/2007/03/open-letter-to-it-recruiters.html
Check the comments... hehehe
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Oh "boo hoo" to Jenna's list. That's your job, lady. You get paid (quite well) to deal with all the sh*t employers don't want to deal with.
Here's what YOU should do:
- Accurately represent the job
- Read my resume before sending your standard rejection
- Look for more than just "bullet points"
- Clearly state the salary - ALWAYS
- Clearly state the location -ALWAYS
- Clearly state if there is relocation
- If you say you will call me then do it
- Don't discuss my application with ANYONE outside your agency
- Don't share my details with ANYONE outside your agency
- Update your database
James Stover, McDBA -
James, I have to go buy a hat now just so I can take it off to you.
You have stated the most salient points of this service specific niche so eloquently I am saving it off as a "Recruiter Top 10" list !
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
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Thanks Rudy. Some agents are better than others but they have ALL violated at least one of my recruiting 10 commandments at some point. I view the recruiting "industry" as mercenary, opportunistic, and a complete waste of money. Seriously, the usual "screening" process essentially consists of 1) receiving a resume, 2) performing a keyword search, and 3) scheduling an appointment with the real decision maker. Say it with me: sec-re-tary.
James Stover, McDBA -
My first two commercial jobs were through normal ads. The manager at my second job was dead set against recruiters and refused even to listen to any.
For my third, (and current), place I was hired through an extremely nice and highly competent recruiter who'd built up such a strong relationship with the company that they offered me the job two-thirds through my second interview!
Overall, I'd say it entirely depends on who you're with. As in any other industry, there are great people and there are cowboys, so do your research and rely mainly on word of mouth.
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I had forgotten about once recruiter with whom I had dealings and I think it prudent that I mention it considering that I generally bag the hell out of recruiters at every opportunity.
Around the start of this year, I approached a recruiting agency about a position posted on a website. After an initial interview with the recruiter, she concluded that I would be a perfect fit for the position and agreed to send me along to meet the employer.
Only problem is that the employer had forgotten to give me the address of the company. I had not realised this at the time and could not call them over the weekend as the interviewer had called after hours while working late on the Friday afternoon with the interview scheduled for the Monday morning. The company address was not listed anywhere as it is a multinational jewelery-manufacturing & sales chain here in Australia.
I was excited about the interview and set about reading every part of the website in order to learn as much about the company as possible. By chance I discovered the company address on a chairman's report buried in a financial statement for the previous financial year.
So - recruiter bends over backwards to help me secure the interview; I turn up on time to an interview that had no address; I get on amazingly well with the interviewer; I pass their aptitude test in record time (the HR person was amazed as she said that most people don't make it to the last page of the test and I had finished it) -- then I get turned over on the position because someone came along and said that they had all this SQL Server 2005 experience (yet nowhere near the DBA experience going on what I was told) and they were willing to take on the role for $10,000 a year less than the market rate for a SQL Server DBA in this city.
It makes me glad now that I missed out on that role seeing that the whole decision came down to someone who either didn't mind being paid peanuts for possessing more recent skills - or they clearly lied to the interviewer - or both. In any case, I think they deserve each other.
A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
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