And this is why I hate ALL recruiters

I really try to give recruiters the benefit of the doubt every now and then but their soulless beings always disappoint me. A few weeks ago I came across that one job posting that stands out of the noise and make you got "Hmm...".

Recruiter 1 pitches the role through LinkedIn. I am intrigued so I ask for compensation right off the bat. Given the 10-15 hits I receive on a weekly basis this is my gating. He replies with the number. The base was a substantial increase over my compensation, similar benefits, same industry; it's a specialization extremely in line with my expertise. I'm honest and tell him that I have been eternally disappointed by recruiters. He says he's ben in the game for 20+ years, specializes in critical high profile hires, blah blah blah, and give me more details on his relationship with the current client. I like what I hear so I ask him for a time to talk. Then he goes radio silent. It has been 2 weeks now.

Recruiter 2 from another company pitches me the exact same role. Message seems canned so my BS radar goes off. I tell her that the roles does pique my interest, that another recruiter reached out and then ghosted me, but I was willing to hear more from her. She says that "given that another recruiter has already reached out to you on this position, it will be an overlap on my part. Will keep you posted on other suitable positions.” I get triggered and answer back indicating that this is an example on why I hate recruiters. I had to ELI5 that I never agreed to anything with previous recruiter and therefore her comment did not make any sense. She then replies with “send updated resume, your expected compensation, and your current one”. That is all I need to know to move on and add her to the wall of shame.

Recruiter 3 and 4 reach out with same job. Immediately ignore them because of multiple typical red flags.

Recruiter 5 reaches out. I tell him upfront I have received this exact same role from now 5 recruiters all claiming to be preferred vendors for the hiring company. I tell him sorry but coming off strong and that I am interested in the role but refuse to work with non-transparent agencies that give recruiters a bad name. He says he understands and even gives me names of people he has placed in the hiring company. I recognize two so he gets point in his favor. This guy seems like the real deal. I ask him about next steps if interested. He then tells me he got more info from the hiring manager and gives me this "Application security focus. Develops App Sec strategy, contributing to the broader security strategy." There’s a small problem: this role has zero to do with AppSec. I question him on this and he stands by it and says it came directly from the hiring VP. Weird. I then ask about next steps. He says that he “tried submitting someone today into the job portal but it said they weren’t accepting additional candidates, submissions may be resumed later. I’ll let you know what I hear”. I then go to the company’s portal directly and see that there’s no issue applying for that specific role. What the heck!

At this point I’m losing all interest. You may ask, why I didn’t apply directly to the company? Well’ the Infosec leadership at this company came from my current company. I know that in the past they have reached out to my current leadership to inquire about candidates that work/worked for us and were looking to move over there. I’m not ready for that call to happen since I’m only in an exploratory phase to see if the role is a good fit so my hope was that a good recruiter could relay this to the hiring manager before a formal application is submitted.

TLDR: Recruiter suck and always will!

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Comments

Magmadragoon

I keep on getting recruiters contacting me for Oracle Developer jobs. My resume has 5+ years system administration experience except for a short project I did as an Oracle Developer for 6 months. The funny part is all the jobs they call me for are located more than 8 hours driving from where I am located. I have no interest in being an Oracle Developer for my career.

blargoe

Anonymouse wrote: »

I don't know about you guys but I've had really good luck with recruiters who are local to me.

Same here. Not all of them, but many who are networked in the local market, are invested in having a solid reputation, and have actual relationships with hiring managers are well regarded by most. They are, at the end of the day, still salespeople, though, and not your friend.

MeanDrunkR2D2

Oh Prajesh from Artech. I am not a chemist and am definitely not looking to move 5 hours away to a god forsaken wasteland in Kansas to do a 12 month contract for a position I'm no where near qualified to do because it's in a completely different field of work than I'm in.

Anonymouse

Another problem with a recruiter not being local to me is that I'm getting bombarded with emails, calls, and text messages regarding jobs that are in California but nowhere near me. These recruiters should probably look at a map before blowing up your phone. Note to recruiters: California is a very very very big state.

stryder144

I received an email last night, to my work email no less, reminding me that I had a phone interview with a recruiter...for a recruiter position. Let's see...I am an IT instructor, not a talent representative.

NetworkingStudent

I'm getting more picky when working with recruiters.

1)
If the position doesn't line up with my career goals, then I really need to think about the position. I met a person in IT that gave me that nugget of advice.
Always take a position that will move you closer to your career goal, not unless you really need the money.

2)
If they have a role that's only weekends, then I'm out.

3)
The position has no end date, or is not contract to hire. The position could go on for eternity.
I'm probably out on this one too.

Basic85

NetworkingStudent wrote: »

I'm getting more picky when working with recruiters.

1)
If the position doesn't line up with my career goals, then I really need to think about the position. I met a person in IT that gave me that nugget of advice.
Always take a position that will move you closer to your career goal, not unless you really need the money.

2)
If they have a role that's only weekends, then I'm out.

3)
The position has no end date, or is not contract to hire. The position could go on for eternity.
I'm probably out on this one too.

I've taken a job in the past with no end date unless it was end of contract but that wasn't known when. The job was complete hell and management were amongst the most degrading ones I've ever worked for. They will always cater towards the client and treat you the contractor as 2nd class citizens. Now a days I'm looking for contract to hire or direct hire if I were to work for a recruiter again unless it's I really need the money than I really can't be picking and choosing.

Basic85

Skyliinez92 wrote: »

I hate recruiters. After spending some time looking around for various roles and 'making myself available' on LinkedIn and various recruitment sites, I can honestly say that I am sick and tired of all these calls offering me a 'fantastic opportunity'.

Every call literally starts with 'I've come across your CV online and thought his position might be of interest blah blah'. The problem I have is if I say no because the job doesn't sound appealing at all, they will literally try and sell it to me for the next 10 minutes. "Are you sure?"... "How about I put your details forward?"... "What if you speak to the company"... NO! Stop selling this to me!! They are literally just like salesman and only care about the commission they get.

With my current job they actually had an internal recruitment team who works for the same company which I found to be so much better.

Exactly all recruiters are used car sales people and how much do you trust a used car sales person? Some of them can get really aggressive to the point of stalking you so becareful and report them accordingly (police, there management, etc).

yoba222

MeanDrunkR2D2 wrote: »

Oh Prajesh from Artech. I am not a chemist and am definitely not looking to move 5 hours away to a god forsaken wasteland in Kansas to do a 12 month contract for a position I'm no where near qualified to do because it's in a completely different field of work than I'm in.

A couple of years back I got hired for a DoD position. I got the inside scoop afterwards that they had seen my resume before that and had wanted to hire me, but they were unwilling to do business with Artech based on their past business practices. I guess Artech is considered too sleazy even for some hiring companies.