12 replies to this topic

[HornTootinEE]

How are you supposed to handle those guys? They talk big, but what percentage of time do they actually put you in a better position?

Just looking for expierienced thoughts

[bigray76]

I generally have a recruiter contact me daily, either via phone, email, or LinkedIn. I have actually developed a professional relationship with a couple of them, send them referrals (some pay for that if it works out), or recommend people to them... there are a lot of bad ones out there, but every so often you find a good one.

I can usually tell if they have done their homework on me right off the bat since my linkedin profile is more or less my resume... if they are talking out of their a$$ I politely blow them off. Some are fishing with no real positions, others will actually take your resume and market it...

Never burn a bridge... recruiters jump ship and talk amongst themselves... and make a commission if the candidate lasts at a job and sometimes based on the salary. If nothing else, they will try to get you the best deal they can since it may affect their commission.

Just my $.02

[wilheldp_PE]

I have a lot of experience with recruiters and most of them have been bad. There are several versions of recruiter.

Some basically get a list of job seekers and a list of job openings, and try to play matchmaker. They are glorified versions of HotJobs.com, and I'm not sure how they get compensated.

Some represent you personally, and will shop your resume around to different firms with which they have relationships. These guys usually require you to pay them a fee either on either a monthly basis, or when they find you a job. I personally wouldn't use this type of service because I think it's dumb to pay for somebody to find me a job. Effectiveness is debatable.

The ones I deal with most often are working with a company to find qualified candidates for a specific position. These guys are compensated by the company when one of the candidates is hired. While this is a good concept, I find the process more annoying than anything. The recruiter seems like a useless middleman. You ask a question, and he calls the company to find the answer. Why don't I just call the company directly? I've never actually taken a position that a recruiter has brought to me, but I have interviewed for several of them.

I've had a lot more luck just doing it the old fashioned way. If you are qualified for a job, you just have to be patient and wait for your resume to get noticed by the hiring manager. The job I have now, it was 3 weeks between when I sent my resume and they made first contact. A month, and 3 interviews, later, and I had the job.

[snickerd3]

I have a lot of experience with recruiters and most of them have been bad. There are several versions of recruiter.

Some basically get a list of job seekers and a list of job openings, and try to play matchmaker. They are glorified versions of HotJobs.com, and I'm not sure how they get compensated.

Some represent you personally, and will shop your resume around to different firms with which they have relationships. These guys usually require you to pay them a fee either on either a monthly basis, or when they find you a job. I personally wouldn't use this type of service because I think it's dumb to pay for somebody to find me a job. Effectiveness is debatable.

The ones I deal with most often are working with a company to find qualified candidates for a specific position. These guys are compensated by the company when one of the candidates is hired. While this is a good concept, I find the process more annoying than anything. The recruiter seems like a useless middleman. You ask a question, and he calls the company to find the answer. Why don't I just call the company directly? I've never actually taken a position that a recruiter has brought to me, but I have interviewed for several of them.

I've had a lot more luck just doing it the old fashioned way. If you are qualified for a job, you just have to be patient and wait for your resume to get noticed by the hiring manager. The job I have now, it was 3 weeks between when I sent my resume and they made first contact. A month, and 3 interviews, later, and I had the job.

in regards to the third situation...some companies don't have an HR department and use the head hunter in that fashion or they will only work through the head hunter...no direct contact. When mr snick was looking for his current position he had both of these situations.

[wilheldp_PE]

in regards to the third situation...some companies don't have an HR department and use the head hunter in that fashion or they will only work through the head hunter...no direct contact. When mr snick was looking for his current position he had both of these situations.

I know, and I have been in several of those situations. But it is no less of a hassle working through the recruiter. The thing that annoys me the most is the limited amount of information they will give you. I had one guy that refused to tell me the name of the company until the night before my first interview. That kinda screws you if the interviewers expect you to have a baseline knowledge of the company.

I used to make it a sport of guessing the company name based on the information they would divulge. I guessed correctly 3 times, and it kinda hacked the recruiter off.

[picusld]

I got my first job through a head hunter. I would say that the negative is that they will only place you in a small to mid sized company since the larger ones have their own HR dept.

But they will get your foot in the door, which can be half the battle.

[udpolo15]

I know, and I have been in several of those situations. But it is no less of a hassle working through the recruiter. The thing that annoys me the most is the limited amount of information they will give you. I had one guy that refused to tell me the name of the company until the night before my first interview. That kinda screws you if the interviewers expect you to have a baseline knowledge of the company.

I used to make it a sport of guessing the company name based on the information they would divulge. I guessed correctly 3 times, and it kinda hacked the recruiter off.

If a recruiter ever refused to tell me who I was interviewing with, I would stop the process in that situation. If someone did that to you, my guess is that they did not have an exclusive contract for the hiring process and wanted to keep a claim on you. A good recruiter will want to give you as much info as possible to make sure you can be prepared for the interview

[udpolo15]

I got my first job through a head hunter. I would say that the negative is that they will only place you in a small to mid sized company since the larger ones have their own HR dept.

But they will get your foot in the door, which can be half the battle.

That is not always true. We are a large company and use a recruiter fairly often. The recruiter we use understands our business and our needs and when he has a candidate that may meet our criteria, he provides the introduction. He just facilitated a group of 5 defecting from a competitor to open a office in a area we have been trying to establish a presence for a while. We have had job postings for many years, but he was finally able to get the right fit.

[Road Guy]

I always think its a good idea to at least listen to the recruiters, I havent had many of them call lately due to "the times were in" but when they did I would generally listen, if I wasnt interested I just told them that up front and most of them were cool with that, if they start asking you to send them phone lists from your office then those I may worry about, but all in all I figure it never hurts to listen....

[Supe]

I like to listen to recruiters. With the industry I'm in, even if they don't give me the company name, I can still usually decipher which company is searching for the position, so it gives me an idea of who to target if I'm browsing.

[Ble_PE]

The job that I'm probably going to be getting an offer for in the next few days I found out about via a recruiter. This was a special circumstance because he was contacted to find someone for a position that was open at the time meaning that they were looking for a replacement for an engineer that wasn't working out.

Around the same time I was contacted by another recruiter about a job here locally that I just recently turned down because they were looking for contract workers. These are the only two recruiters that I have ever worked with, but I thought they both were very professional and would recommend them.

[Machiavelli999]

I have a very pushy recruiter trying to get me to switch jobs. He got me to inteview. I got an offer, but it's not very appealing. Essentialy same money I am at now, but possibly a more exciting company.

Anyone have any advice. As an electrical engineer, would you jump over to be able to get into the data center industry? There is a lot of buzz about it, but I don't know what to think. It's essentialy same money.

[Road Guy]

I like to listen to recruiters. With the industry I'm in, even if they don't give me the company name, I can still usually decipher which company is searching for the position, so it gives me an idea of who to target if I'm browsing.

I do the same thing, I think its always good to listen and see whats up, but some can be pushy and if you dont feel like interviewing somewhere just dont, havent had one call in a while,. compared to 5 years ago when it was almost weekly..