What kind of degree do you have? What companies did you work for in the past? Most Start Ups, however, tend to look past those qualifications. Start Ups want developers who can demonstrate their abilities on the spot.
They want thinkers and doers who can come up with cool ideas even before the interview starts. This is the most important piece of advice I took away from our dinner discussion. So, run an audition. Recruiters rely on traditional interviewing instead of letting the candidates demonstrate their talents, thus making it impossible to come to the best hiring decision.
Most recruiters are hooked on LinkedIn via their premium accounts. We all agreed during our dinner chat that personal and professional referrals have always led to sourcing the best candidates.
I can't answer your question, but I can attest to your experience. Last recruiter that contacted me was super personable on the phone, cracking jokes, etc. He says he'll set up a time for first round interview with the hiring firm. Never does. Send follow-up email, nothing. My best guess would be recruiters end up where they are because they're basically useless, ineffective people who couldn't do much else. Like HR, most of it is "make work" to keep the unemployment rate down.
They often say that about professors and teachers too which sounds funny until you realize it's your failed mortgage broker saying it about Ivy League professors :. I've gone through buyside corp dev recruiting twice and have interacted with close to a dozen headhunters from the well known ones that are frequently mentioned on here to small mom and pop types shops.
They are either rude, know nothing about the industry, or are simply lying about actually having a position. I think the reason for this is simple: there is no hurdle to become a recruiter.
This isn't like PE where targets weed kids out and then banks weed kids out and then PEGs weed kids out, leaving what should be, at least in theory, the cream of the crop in terms of candidates. Also, it doesn't help that most of these recruiters cut their teeth in accounting where everyone and their mother is looking for exit opps.
That type of buyers market lets recruiters get away with being sloppy, and they then carry that over into trying to recruit for finance positions. When a recruiter emails me now, I simply respond by asking for the name of their client, a job description, and a salary range. There's no hurdle to be anything if you truly care to master your craft BUT recruiting is one of only ways us BC hockey guys even get into your firm so hey I decided to learn people cold as well as learn as much as I could over 20 years about the business.
Moral: you find your niche and specialize the F out of it and you can overcome "recruiting" stigma, it's just you don't wanna do commission based agency recruiting where you can't make any real money. Recruiters are very much like real estate agents.
They get paid on the transaction and often dont care about anything else. After 5 minutes talking to you, they determine if you're a golden goose for them you'd have to be willing to accept the role and the client would have to want you. At the lower levels, it is not much more than that. I will say that when you get more senior and the executive recruiters or more established veterans call, it can be much better. I still get an occasional idiot, but I weed them out pretty quickly.
Now I'm pretty much in touch with a few people who know me better and know what's going on in my area. I'm still a means to an end for them as they could be to me , but it's MUCH better. Even Sally the new recruiter is better than LinkedIn's broken algorithm. In the HF industry, it's best to bypass the recruiters and go directly to the biz development people who are talking to PMs and know what spots are open And sometimes more importantly, which roles are about to open up someone getting blown out or team looking to get bigger.
I once had a useful recruiter actually get me an interview like 6 years ago. Other than that, useless shit heads.
I'm talking to you, Mercury Partners. Would agree with everyone here, have had a good amount of luck reaching out through warm intros; through recruiters nada. I was checking out old high school flame outs on LinkedIn, many of whom I haven't spoken to in years, and a lot of them work for staffing companies.. Justice feels so good.
I think you may be looking at this the wrong way. Recruiters are "useless" because to them you are not a person, but just another number. You don't matter. Recruiting is a numbers game which involves placing the largest number of qualified applicants in front of a client.
From that standpoint, as long as you meet the client's criteria, you will be given an opportunity to be reviewed by that firm. On the other hand, I think you should change your entitled outlook. Be thankful that someone is willing to be the broker between you and your future goal or ideal firm. Do everything you can to make it easy for them to sell you, and be accommodating and polite. If you market yourself as someone easy to work with and flexible, recruiters will have no problem positioning and selling you to their clients.
Having said the above, I took a proactive approach before the beginning of the cycle by reaching out to as many headhunters as possible. You have to take as much control of the process as you can, given the uncertainty of outcomes.
If you play the numbers game as well, you are more likely to find success. At the end of the day we're both playing the same numbers game, but for applicants its how many firms can you get interviews with. For the headhunters, often they don't get paid unless they're closing so I wouldn't expect any "special" treatment. A little self awareness goes a long way in life.
If you read what I posted my complaint was primarily about a recruiter who had stated that they were interested in speaking to me about a role for which I was a good fit and whom I had corresponded with, answered their questions and followed up with after they went radio silent.
This wasn't a headhunter, but an internal corporate recruiter. At risk of sounding pompous, I have a resume that is strong for the role, this is for a corporate banking associate in the same vertical I currently cover.
My other complaint was how few actually try and think about fit. I was annoyed when someone said I have a job at a BB to get me on the phone and then said it's a temp to perm business analyst. I've also had the exact opposite happen where they've gone and pitched opportunities that were very senior think MD-level. My LinkedIn profile leaves no doubt as to what I do now and what I've done in the past, while I might be open to a role that is one degree away from what I'm doing now I'm sure as Hell not looking for a more junior role in the back office.
Getting ghosted isn't common to recruiters. I've been ghosted by many investment bankers too because they simply don't give a fuck about you. Look, the fact is, service is complete ass these days. You can't even sit in at a decent restaurant and expect your server waiting on your table to actually know what's on the menu anymore. Either the overabundance of resources presents too many options for people in charge, leading to confused service people, or it's an education and training issue.
I believe it to be the former. When something isn't working, I believe it starts at the top. The recruiters I've worked with, no matter if they're internal or not, all suck. I mean it's gotten to the point where I don't even think I should follow-up anymore to stay in contact. I know that if there is an available role, someone will reach out at a competing firm, named some street partners, that no one has ever heard of before, and try to get me in front of the hiring manager.
When it doesn't work out for whatever reason, I just don't care so I feel no need to follow-up. When it comes down to it, the best route to a job is to actually get in touch with some good people at the company, and just stay in contact until they're letting you know roles are opening up. Another issue I have is with these "leaders" having so much power and selectivity. I come from a non-target, so I have little to no leverage in most cases.
It's depressing the way you 'end up' in places no matter how geared or inclined to one way or another you might be. I look at it as inefficiency, because these people really have no idea who they're looking for. Typically, they want certain 'whats' in an individual, such as previous company employment and certain very specific duties.
But it would seem that the individuals searching for a job are the ones who can speak to their own interest in an opportunity to grow at a firm or an industry. For example, there are many boutique banks and pe shops out there now. In fact, there now seems to be an abundance of said shops because all of the information is out there and everyone is doing it now.
Yet, breaking into a different role in banking is harder than ever, because most of these companies stick to one, blinded view of looking for candidates. I can say to recruiters, that if someone is looking for a new job, stepping down to your no-name, who gives a fuck boutique is not going to make them happier no matter what they say.
Keep in mind hiring managers begin avoid us recruiters the SECOND we deviate from their "must have list" to try to get them someone perfect for them. It's honestly not far off from dealing with getting a mid 20's girl to date you when their list is key to them :. Important to keep in mind that headhunters get paid by the interview for most buy side stuff , so for them it's all about volume and none about your fit for the role.
That's why you'll waste a lot of time speaking with them as they try to sell the fund on fitting a square peg into a round hole. Getting the contact info for the business development people is a much better way to go. Make the connection, stay in touch, and periodically check in with them to see when something might open up. I am glad that others have similar feelings about headhunters. I have been consistently disappointed in them over the years.
When you are a good candidate, they are stage 5 clinger level they e-mail on personal e-mail, professional e-mail, they somehow find out the personal phone number in addition to the professional phone, they call your current employer on their main line, introduce themselves as a headhunter and ask to be connected to you, etc.
When you are a less good candidate, they never respond to e-mail, when you call them they don't pick up, when you call the main line of the headhunter firm, they are in meetings, etc. These days I primarily rely on my own connections to learn about potential openings and contact potential employers. I seldom have to deal with them except this is a bank where I have limited connectivity on the corporate banking side. It's a super regional so far fewer alums to talk to and all are in other divisions.
Plus they tend to focus on more mid-corporate names so not running into them on transactions. Generally speaking I usually have a friend or acquaintance push my resume. Most hiring managers write silly, hard to quantify job descriptions. Ok, doing what exactly? If you ask for the top 5 skills, theyll give you They simply can't create a recipe because they don't have a proper view of themselves and their team.
Now, interviews are poorly constructed. Many times, interview groups wing it with zero planning of who will cover which topics. For engineering roles. God awful planning. I've seen SVP's basically act like robots and be the least welcoming people ever. It doesn't quite make sense that some recruiting firms don't exercise best hiring practices, but recruiters feel pressure to find scarce resources to fill jobs and are keenly aware that they are competing not just with other firms, but with colleagues.
We want to be clear: there are plenty of great recruiters out there, and not all recruiting firms are horrendous. But enough take part in questionable practices that it bears bringing these situations to light.
Not only can working with a bad recruiting firm derail your hiring efforts, but there's also another factor to consider. Candidates often think of the recruiting firm as an extension of the company, and a bad experience with the recruiter can result in a negative impression of your brand. Knowing what questions to ask and what to look for can help you steer clear of awful staffing firms' worst practices.
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Search Jobs. Job Opportunities What do you want to do? We've moved our content over to our new site Talent Insights. Go to Talent Insights. Jeff Smith Managed Recruiting. Final Thoughts: We want to be clear: there are plenty of great recruiters out there, and not all recruiting firms are horrendous. Contact Us. My recent experience in switching jobs has highlighted two specific problems with recruitment agencies.
With that in mind, they call the recruiter to ask some preliminary questions about the nature of the role, without submitting a CV first. Meanwhile, the agency suspects the candidate of being another agency in disguise, hoping to steal the position and offer a successful placement to the employer at a lower price.
Hence, a barrier has been positioned between the employer and the potential candidate. So, yes, I too am generally not a fan of recruiters — perhaps with one or two exceptions where an individual has really aided my search. That said, part of the dependency of the IT market on recruiters is that most employers — certainly for British IT positions — use recruiters. If a move away from agencies is to be made, recruiting managers need to be persuaded to try non-agency methods of advertising first, and to do their own CV filtering.
Same goes for if you are a student who is just graduating. I had applied to these places after I graduated college and they are getting back to me now? What gives? I told him that I, naturally, would need to know what the role was before going any further. The tone of the conversation at this point, from his perspective, became even more abrupt and rude. He, begrudgingly, started reading to me what he claimed were the specs of the role.
Part way through this, I interrupted asking him why he was just reading my CV to me. I was completely stunned someone would be this professionally deficient. At that point he grumbled something about me never getting a role in the Uk and hung-up. Probability and human-nature mandates this to be so. Recruiters have been a God-send for me. Then recruiters got me into Microsoft who is constantly hiring contractors but will only work through recruiting agencies. My agency hooked me up with more then I could imagine but just getting me into the door at Microsoft has been the greatest value to me.
Furthermore, I appreciate not having to do the work, I hate looking for work. We want to maintain a good relationship with our clients and never submit people who we know are unqualified. Yes, we reach out to you, you who post your resumes on job boards. Sorry for that, we will no longer use the resources dedicated solely to finding candidates and for canidates to find jobs.
How about the people who stalk us? We want to help you find work. Help out your peers that way instead of ranting on the internet. But I have to disagree with the comment about re-writing your resume to match the job description.
Such in-person meet-ups are therefore always a complete waste of your time: always. A recruiter behaving in this way invariably means one of two things:. I must say that I have had a wonderful relationship with recruiters till I ran into the recruiter from hell…. I had a phone screen with Broadridge a financial consulting firm in Jersey City then I had an in person interview the next day.
The commute was 1. Later on I get offered the gig but decided to only accept it with the following conditions:. The hiring manager at Broadridge, Imran Siddiqui, was favorably impressed with the way you presented yourself. What really impresses me, though, is how you married an attorney, and had a child, within 24 hours of the interview.
So, basically he insults me and my family then threatens to ruin my reputation if I did not accept the gig. The only reason I brought up my personal concerns was because I got offered and I have a right to negotiate on my terms. Choosing to use recruiters is a personal decision, and one that should be entered into with full understanding. And there are also many recruiters who practice none of these tactics; those are people you should definitely seek out and get to know.
Disclaimer: many large companies have recruiters either under contract or as employees. These types of recruiters in-house recruiters are not the kind of recruiters being discussed here.
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