We’ll continue with the problem of incentivization for recruiters.
Recruiting must be the most outsourced, underfunded, middleman-heavy profession there is. There are several frustrations that go along with being heavily recruited by people who do not know or care whether you fit a given job description, and they range from the merely careless and time-profligate to the truly unethical.
(1) CARELESS: Recruiters who mass email everyone on CareerFinder and Monster with the word “Ruby” in their profile for an Austin, Texas-based junior web developer 3-month contract gig specializing in Ruby on Rails.
I am not a Ruby developer, I will not move to Austin, Texas, especially for a three month contract, and I’m not a junior ANYTHING. I have some skills with Ruby, meaning that I can install the necessary scripts, edit them, run them to operate a site, and I know enough to know when I need to call a specialist. This makes me able to list Ruby as a general low-level skill on my resume, but does not in any way qualify me for a development job on a site that solely uses Ruby for an environment. However, that keyword hits big with recruiters, and I get probably 15 emails a day from recruiters trying to get me to take a job for which I am unqualified and in a location to which I would not move. A simple glance at my resume with the words “Senior Development Manager and Web Architect” emblazoned across the top and a brief scan of my skillset tells anyone I am a skilled coder who has been moved up the chain to management, and would likely help those recruiters to target me far more efficiently.
(2) CARELESS: Recruiters who speak such poor English that their emails are unreadable–and that sometimes includes native English speakers.
I am glad that you’re “pleased for making time and hoping you will be helping me networking to fill VERY IMPORTANT positino immediatly in NEW YORKCITY as JAVA DEVELOPAR” [not a joke; I seem to be perpetually emailed by the recruiter version of Paul Christoforo], but I don’t need it filling my day. At the very minimum, have your job posts reviewed for content and grammar before sending them to thousands of developers.
(3) UNETHICAL: Recruiters who are paid by the emails they generate, not by the positions they fill.
This is a common problem among firms that have outsourced to the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia…in fact, name your popular outsourcing destination in Asia, and you’ll find these recruiters, who are paid to send out as many emails as possible. They’re no better than spam, but because they’re targeted to you and have your email address, you can’t filter them the way you would filter a Cialis or pr0n ad.
(4) CARELESS: Recruiters who have not paid attention to your preferred location–and don’t care.
I will not take a job in South Dakota; I’m sorry. I’ve lived in several midwest states and think that South Dakota is quite eerily beautiful. I will not be transferring my life, my career, and my love of well-produced opera to Sioux Falls any time soon.
(5) UNETHICAL: Recruiters who expect you to do their job for them.
My final post will be the most egregious example I’ve found, combined with a horrific example of #6. The most common variety is this:
——————————————————————————————-
To better represent you, kindly fill out the skills inventory below. Thank you
1) Agile/Scrum (Beginner/Intermediate/Expert) (Years of experience/Date Last used)
2) Software Development Proj Mgmt (Beginner/Intermediate/Expert) (Years of experience/Date Last used)
3) Web-Based Application architecture knowledge (Beginner/Intermediate/Expert) (Years of experience/Date Last used)
4) Test Driven Development / XP (Beginner/Intermediate/Expert) (Years of experience/Date Last used)
5) Java development principals (Beginner/Intermediate/Expert) (Years of experience/Date Last used)
6) Release Management (Beginner/Intermediate/Expert) (Years of experience/Date Last used)
——————————————————————————————-
Remember that I get about 50 or so of these emails per day; this person doesn’t even want to read my resume, and instead wants me to fill out his paperwork for him. Note: this was for a position in California, making it irrelevant anyway.
(6) UNETHICAL: Recruiters who expect you to prep and interview with no information about the company.
This is the worst one. How can I know if I want to take a position if I’m not told: (1) what the salary will be, (2) where the company is physically located, (3) what benefits are available, and (4) to whom I would be reporting? This is just another version of wasting my time. I don’t talk anymore to recruiters who are secretive; they are occasionally fronts for disreputable companies who want a chance to sell you before you find out what their online reputation looks like.
Next, the traits of successful recruiters.
