Few Words To Headhunters
Seems like having my CV online and my profiles on LinkedIn and
Goldenline up-to-date makes ma a popular person among IT headhunters.
Great, this is exactly as I wanted it to be. But this is not what I
wanted to write about. Dear Headhunters, you contact me a lot, so let
me give you some feedback on your actions.
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In general, you people are really tactful and it is a pleasure to talk with. Really. But there are few things that makes me mad. And this post is about them.
BTW. I live and work in Cracow, Poland. I wonder how if you experience
similar situations as described in this post. Please comment.
So, let us begin.
Do not use my company's email. This is so lame. I do not respond to such emails. (I have to admit it happens rarely, but happens).
What is really, really annoying is not revealing the company name and salary.
Well, regarding the company, this is simply stupid. It is enough that I say I am interested and you will arrange a meeting so I will learn the company name. Wouldn't it have been easier if company's name had been mentioned in the job offer? There are some companies I will not work for, so it would spare us all some trouble if I knew beforehand.
...and BTW, it is even more comical, if you first tell me you can not reveal the name of the company, and then you describe it so I can easily guess which company is it. :)
Regarding the salary... Well, this seems to be polish specific, because when I searched for jobs outside Poland, most of the job ads clearly indicate it. But in Poland, it very rare to find such job offer. Not sure why, but this is how it is here. Sometimes I think, the only reason is to piss me off. :) Well, I mean, I will learn it anyway, because you usually want me to specify my expectations and then you tell me if it is ok for the client or not. So to learn the upper bound, I will simply say amount which I think is above it. Then you say you are sorry, but this is too much, so I lower my expectations and eventually I will learn what I want to know. Gosh... Please, do not waste my time, simply say how much would you like to pay.
Recently I got some job offers which started with long explanations and excuses like "I know you are receiving a lot of such offers, but let me..." or "I'm really sorry if you get offended by contacting you..." etc. WTF? Do not apologise for sending me a job offer. It doesn't hurt me in any way. If I don't like it, I will simply reject it. In fact, I'm thankful for any job offer I get - it let me to know the market better.
Sometimes you do not know the details of the job you offer. This is annoying, because these details sometimes decide if I'm interested or not. I ask you, and you say that all questions will be answered during the meeting ...but I want the answers now so I know if I go to the meeting! I'm really busy, you know.
It is even worse if you do not to care. For example, I get some job offers:
- with mail title suggesting the job is in Warsaw, but the text says it is in Cracow. (WTF?)
- which are for .Net and I am living in the Java world.
Sometimes you seem to email masses without really caring about your recipients. Not the best way to hire me, I tell you. :)
Ok, so that would be it. Thank you for reading and please share your thoughts. :)
This used to be my blog. I moved to http://tomek.kaczanowscy.pl long time ago.
And don't send me an invite!
Lately, I've had recruiters send a LinkedIn invite - and I've never met, worked with or even talked to them! Great way for you to build your network, but count me out! My network is just for people I know I could recommend.
I also get such invite
I also get such invite notifications from my mail, I don't know why, for I never registered via linked in! The spam mail recently are increased greatly.
- pain in lower left abdomen
Happens in America too
I live in the US and the same thing happens here. They will not tell you which part of the city, I live in Kansas City which is a large spread out area, company or salary. Some even don't tell you if it is contract, contract to hire or a permanent only position.
If they tell you the company they are worried you will go straight to the company and not use their "services" to get the job so they don't get a cut off the top.
If they tell you the salary they are worried you will say NO right away because they always think they can get them to jack up the salary "for the right person" or they tell you it is worth taking a salary cut because it will be "a great place to work!". I wonder if that line has ever worked? All they care is that they place you and get a check for doing so, you liking the new job is really not their issue. In fact, if you don't like it they want another slice of the pie to get you into another place.
Things must be picking up in the economy as I have been approached via email at least 10 times in the past couple of months. Since they tell me very little in the emails I don't really know if these are entry level positions or senior level positions. I have a feeling most of them are right in the middle and in no way would be worth my time.
They also love to get you to recommend friends if you are not interested. Sadly I know very few people I would recommend and they ones that are good recently changed jobs because they are good and could move on their own.
Shotgun recruiting, yey! The
Shotgun recruiting, yey!
The same happens in Argentina, it's very annoying.
+1 for shotgun recruiting :)
+1 for shotgun recruiting :)
"shotgun recruting" - i like
"shotgun recruting" - i like this term :)
Automated recruiting is more like it
I have become very careful in which buzzwords I use in my resume. If, for example, I mention "wrote a letter to a lady in Timbuktu recommending to her a book about SharePoint development", I am sure to immediately get 20 e-mails for SharePoint developer positions in Kenya (and, yes, I know Timbuktu is not in Kenya--that's my point). It's very annoying that recruiters don't take the time to even scan the resumes to which they're sending postings. I usually just move these recruiters to my spam list.
On the other hand, I have had very good luck with recruiters that picked the top resumes off of Monster or wherever and really worked with candidates. These are the ones that get the high commissions and the ones with whom the good candidates will work.
Oh well, I'm sure it's just a matter of economics. Nothing personal, etc.
sounds familiar
sounds familiar
And match required experience level with my profile first
Sending a senior developer or a manager offers for junior positions is simply an act of ignorance.
-Paweł Wrzeszcz
Got exactly the same feelings
Got exactly the same feelings as you have. Few days ago I had a phone call with really nice-speaking lady about a job offer. Her reply on my "how much do your clients pay?" was like: "I can't tell you that, but you know what? Say your expectations and I'll tell you if it's ok or not". I haven't got any job offer on company email yet but looking forward to have it :)
why do you write in english?
Why are you using english if you are writing to polish recruiters, this is stupid as stupid as the cases that you have described...
Well, my blog is in english,
Well, my blog is in english, have you noticed? :) And BTW, I do not write to polish recruiters. You could treat this blog post as an open letter - for headhunters and it specialists like myself, so we can share our thoughts or simply have a laugh.
I'm also Polish, but it
I'm also Polish, but it happened that English recruiter wanted to recruit me for Polish company. Located in my Polish city. I have to add, he told me what company and what salary it was.