Applying direct

For those of you advocating to bypass the recruiters and apply direct to the company, have you actually succeeded? There are multiple reason why a company prefers to hire through a 3rd party recruiting company vs. hiring direct. Just curious to see if anyone got hired direct for the same position offered by a recruiter.

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Dojiscalper

In my job search I'm finding companies either use a 3rd party or they don't and so far its been pretty hard to find the direct hire positions in the midst
of all the recruiter's posting on every career site local and national. I've even searched using google maps to find companies and look at their websites careers section. When searching the dense industrial/commercial areas near me it takes hours to go a few miles and I find maybe 1-2 companies with
the type of IT position I'm looking for. There must be a better way.

scaredoftests

Yes, I have. Look carefully at the ads and you can start to tell the difference.

DoubleNNs

How do you do the research and figure out which companies are worth applying to? (Let's say if you apply through the company website or directly to internal recruiter/hiring manager)

Finding companies worth applying to (or worth responding to for an interview request) has lately been the hardest part of the application process.

Legacy User

I haven't been hired but I was contacted when applying direct. A few months prior a recruiter contacted me and told me about the company name. He was super excited said he'll submit me and get back to me, got no reply back. A couple of months after I seen the company advertising so I applied direct with the same resume and got a call back the same day.

dave330i

scaredoftests wrote: »

Yes, I have. Look carefully at the ads and you can start to tell the difference.

Care to share some more details?

What was the position?
Size of the company?
How much more did you get paid vs. recruiter offer?
Tried with other companies?

ThomasITguy

dmarcisco wrote: »

I haven't been hired but I was contacted when applying direct. A few months prior a recruiter contacted me and told me about the company name. He was super excited said he'll submit me and get back to me, got no reply back. A couple of months after I seen the company advertising so I applied direct with the same resume and got a call back the same day.

And that is the reason why we advocate going directly to the company..... It will get you a job!!!

thomas_

DoubleNNs wrote: »

Finding companies worth applying to (or worth responding to for an interview request) has lately been the hardest part of the application process.

Lately I've been giving this a lot of thought and a bit of research. I think the only way to do this is research the different industry groups in your area and then start researching the companies that fit into those groups. Examples would be local, state, county, and federal entities, healthcare, universities, colleges, public school districts, finance/banking, hosting companies, MSPs, VARs, Fortune 100/500/1000, major tech companies, companies whose products you use, companies whose products you like, etc. Of course this takes a lot more work, but it might uncover more opportunities than just a search on dice or indeed(although you should include those in your search as well).

aderon

I'm about to change your guys lives lol. This is a job search engine that only pulls directly from company career pages:

Job Search Engine | Jobs Direct from Companies | LinkUp.com

It's pretty much the only thing I use anymore.

ThomasITguy

In my research I have found some IT jobs in cities like DC, TX, IL, and other major cities have recruiters... when you go into Law, education, state, federal, and county IT jobs you don't have any recruiters. It depends on the jobs. Most of the time you can apply directly to the job without the recruiter, other times you have to either know the name of the company, or go through the recruiter

DoubleNNs

I want to work at a company with bleeding edge tech, doing dope stuff haha. Whether it's a tech company, a start-up, or even just a company in another sector that realizes the importance of technology in today's age and invests in it.

Going with that goal, I have no idea how to find what companies are in my geographical location, then figure out what technology they use and company culture. And that's not even worrying about open positions or team/company size.

dustervoice

I've never had any good experience applying directly to any company. Normally a company thats willing to bypass recruiting firms and review 10,000 CV themselves wont pay well. 90% of direct applications ive got an email back saying salary requirements are too high so i dont bother applying directly any longer i'd rather go through a recruiter who know exactly what im looking for and dont play games!

RHEL

I've worked for three different companies after graduating. I have only ever applied directly to the company and have never worked with an external recruiter (all have been internal to the company).

First job was for a large global technology outsourcing company (200K employees). I applied on their website living 1,000 miles away from the job location. I briefly spoke with a internal recruiter for the company, had a phone interview with the hiring manager, and then received an offer letter.

Second job was for a local resort/casino (5K employees). I applied online, had an interview with the hiring manager and a teammate and was extended an offer.

Current job is for a regional non-profit company (6K employees). I applied directly online (even though the company WAS using recruiters for the role), received a call from HR, interviewed with the team lead and hiring manager, and then did a meet-the-team meeting at the company's headquarters. I was extended an offer.

Russell77

dave330i wrote: »

For those of you advocating to bypass the recruiters and apply direct to the company, have you actually succeeded? There are multiple reason why a company prefers to hire through a 3rd party recruiting company vs. hiring direct. Just curious to see if anyone got hired direct for the same position offered by a recruiter.

Every situation is different. Where I work now they were looking to add 40 positions and the company would take interviews any way they would get them. It would not change the rate of pay because here it is very structured so an agency would be paid a finders fee. I think the best thing is to know your market. If you are looking within a region and scanning companies sites, job boards, or networking you come to know what is going on as much as any recruiter does. Many times you will see the same job posted a different way. That would be an open request and any one who can find someone might get a cut. Sometimes companies are exclusive to a reqruiter and that is just the way it is. Some companies hate using recruiters.

I am not one to discount any method of finding the next job. You never know how the opportunity is going to come to you. Certainly there are recruiters that I ignore, like ones that can't read a map, job description or pronounce the name of my city but there are a few local ones that are worth keeping in touch with.

The biggest advantage you can give yourself is to apply for a job within 24 hours of when it is posted. The first resumes that come in get the longest looks and when they have 6 or so candidates everything else is going to get pushed aside. This is not as much of an issue for high level IT with certain skill sets but if you are in a competitive situation everything counts. Use all resources because you just never know where that next great job will come from.

Russell77

DoubleNNs wrote: »

How do you do the research and figure out which companies are worth applying to? (Let's say if you apply through the company website or directly to internal recruiter/hiring manager)

Finding companies worth applying to (or worth responding to for an interview request) has lately been the hardest part of the application process.

You have to be in tune with what ever market you are looking in. Subscribe online to the local business journals. Scan for stories about local companies that are working on the latest stuff. Check around to see if the colleges have business incubators helping start ups. Look up who the local recruiters are the specialize in IT. Interview them. Find someone who knows what they are talking about and use them. As far as the culture part you will never have any idea until you get an interview or know someone who works there.

Iristheangel

I will say that from my experience there are some companies that just won't advertise a job or hire directly in certain roles/cases. For one certain large company, it had to do with cost centers: A contractor/consultant was seen as an operational cost and came out of a different bucket vs an employee which is seen as a "permanent cost" which comes out of a different bucket. A permanent cost usually takes longer to get approved and they need a spot filled now to get projects completed or they will always do contracting for certain roles. Other companies see contracting as a way to "try before you buy" and avoid legal hiccups if a new contractor isn't working out in the first few months or after the "honeymoon" wears off.

It's not a bad idea to see if the company is advertising the job directly on their site and applying but I wouldn't advise to burn any bridges with recruiters either. Sometimes they may be your only route into that dream job/company you're looking for. Also be aware of this: Sometimes certain states have laws where if they are opening up a new FTE spot to bring a contractor on, they legally have to post the role on their career site for X amount of days before allowing the contractor to onboard. This job posting may be advertised but it's not the same opening that the recruiter is calling you about and you have no hope of getting that opening since they already have the contractor they want to bring on for it.

DoubleNNs

dustervoice wrote: »

I've never had any good experience applying directly to any company. Normally a company thats willing to bypass recruiting firms and review 10,000 CV themselves wont pay well. 90% of direct applications ive got an email back saying salary requirements are too high so i dont bother applying directly any longer i'd rather go through a recruiter who know exactly what im looking for and dont play games!

I'm pretty sure Google and AirBnB and Tesla and Netflix don't use external recruiters.

And even tho a lot of other companies allow submissions from eternal recruiters, (for non contractor positions) they almost always have the job posting available for people to apply directly to.

Iristheangel

DoubleNNs wrote: »

I'm pretty sure Google and AirBnB and Tesla and Netflix don't use external recruiters.

And even tho a lot of other companies allow submissions from eternal recruiters, (for non contractor positions) they almost always have the job posting available for people to apply directly to.

I know Google does for sure. My friend's wife is a recruiting manager up a firm in the Bay Area and she works with all the big ones: Facebook, Google, Apple, Cisco, etc. There are certain roles they might always direct hire for - others they go with contracting until FTE spots open up or never convert to FTE.

Danielm7

Iristheangel wrote: »

I will say that from my experience there are some companies that just won't advertise a job or hire directly in certain roles/cases. For one certain large company, it had to do with cost centers: A contractor/consultant was seen as an operational cost and came out of a different bucket vs an employee which is seen as a "permanent cost" which comes out of a different bucket. A permanent cost usually takes longer to get approved and they need a spot filled now to get projects completed or they will always do contracting for certain roles.

My workplace does this. We use one recruiting firm for IT roles and never advertise them directly. We have tons of contractors, some prefer to go 1099 when their contract with the recruiter ends.