What does an IT recruiter do?

sizeon

I have an interview tomorrow with an IT recruiter. What should i expect?

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WafflesAndRootbeer

sizeon wrote: »

I have an interview tomorrow with an IT recruiter. What should i expect?

It depends on whether or not they are a technical person or just another HR drone. A technical person will ask you specific questions about your experiences and abilities and an HR drone will just go through the pre-scripted motions, trying to get you to sign on the dotted line for the least amount of money if they like what they see and need a warm body.

sizeon

They are a technical recruiter.

schmalz2

Look at the company on glassdoor.com. That should help you out with what to expect or maybe even questions they might ask.

WafflesAndRootbeer

sizeon wrote: »

They are a technical recruiter.

Technical Recruiter = A Recruiter for technical jobs.

That is all. It doesn't mean they are someone who is knowledgeable about the stuff you are being recruited for. It means they are someone who finds potential hires only for technical job openings be it Electrician, Network Engineer, or Sanitation Technician. The person you talk to after them will probably be the technical person.

sizeon

ahhh wtf. I actually got happy and thought it was actually a legit interview. So you are telling me they are trying to recruit me for some other company?

WafflesAndRootbeer

sizeon wrote: »

ahhh wtf. I actually got happy and thought it was actually a legit interview. So you are telling me they are trying to recruit me for some other company?

Well, I don't know anything about the person you are supposed to meet but, yes, it is possible you are meeting a middle-man. Companies do have in-house technical recruiters but as we all know, many technical companies rely primarily on staffing and recruitment agencies to find potential hires for them. You'd have to post more information for anyone here to give you a straight answer based on what they know about who you are dealing with.

sizeon

ICS | The Staffing &Consulting Experts

That is the company. I will be going tomorrow for an interview. Im hoping i get something.

WafflesAndRootbeer

sizeon wrote: »

ICS | The Staffing &Consulting Experts

That is the company. I will be going tomorrow for an interview. Im hoping i get something.

Yeah, that's as middle-man as it gets. Whomever you deal with after them is the technical interview, assuming there is an actual job somewhere in this. The person you are meeting just wants to get you to sign on the dotted line to add you to their hiring pool. They may or may not have an actual job for you, but it's not unheard of for them to make fake job postings to get fresh meat into their system.

sizeon

So you think its worth it to go? Do you think they are trying to do something fishy?

WafflesAndRootbeer

sizeon wrote: »

So you think its worth it to go? Do you think they are trying to do something fishy?

You have nothing to lose but don't give them anything you feel uncomfortable giving. Just go and listen to what they have to say and don't take anything they throw at you as an absolute truth as their goal is to make money off of your work. I'm not intimately familiar with them so I can't offer anything more than that.

sizeon

what do they do with your info?

WafflesAndRootbeer

sizeon wrote: »

what do they do with your info?

They write it down on napkins and then soak them in plaster before adding them to a giant wad of napkins with other people's information rolled together in the shape of a sphere. which they will roll down a busy street during rush hour once it reaches a gross weight of several metric tons or they put it into their database that allows them to sort you by keywords and whatnot. Maybe they do both of those things. I've never dealt with them so I can't say for sure.

colemic

WafflesAndRootbeer wrote: »

They write it down on napkins and then soak them in plaster before adding them to a giant wad of napkins with other people's information rolled together in the shape of a sphere. which they will roll down a busy street during rush hour once it reaches a gross weight of several metric tons or they put it into their database that allows them to sort you by keywords and whatnot. Maybe they do both of those things. I've never dealt with them so I can't say for sure.

Dude you are WAY off... they don't actually use databases!

WafflesAndRootbeer

colemic wrote: »

Dude you are WAY off... they don't actually use databases!

Tell us oh Enlightened One, what do they use?

Slowhand

Working with IT recruiters is kind of like making a deal with the Devil. . . except, in rare cases, you get to keep your soul.

Yes, they tend to screw you out of your money or often times never get you a single job interview, but if you're willing to jump through enough hoops they can sometimes be exactly the kind of business-connection you need to get your start in IT. . . if you're both smart and willing to work for it. It's a delicate balance of seizing opportunity and learning just which pound of flesh to offer up.

To illustrate what I mean, let me post a rather long wall of text:

My roommate is an exceptionally bright guy. In 2010, when he was just about to turn 18, he studied for and earned his CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ certifications. Given, he had a little help from someone with a bit more experience in the field, (ahem,) but he did in fact blast through the books and the lab-work I gave him to do in a frighteningly short amount of time. Then, there was about 8 months of a whole lot of nothing while he searched for work and I cracked the whip on him to continue studying Windows 7 and some Cisco IOS basics.

Eventually, one of the larger IT recruiting firms out there today got back to him and set him up with an interview. He spent an entire day doing a working interview with one of the most recognizable companies on the planet, and his soon-to-be boss decided to give him a chance. He had no work experience to speak of, the recruiter had pitched him as having "6 months experience and extensive skills with Windows 7 and both desktop & laptop hardware", which was a complete load, but they hired him nonetheless. Of course, the trade-off for this opportunity was that the recruiting company would take half his paycheck while he worked, putting his salary at just above what a barista at Starbuck's makes.

Now it's another 8 months later, and my roommate still works for the same company. In this time, he's worked his butt off and learned a LOT. He's learned so much that the management decided to put him in charge of IT inventory and ordering, as well as doing random tasks in the level-2 and level-3 helpdesk territory. He's started studying for the MCITP: Enterprise Administrator certification, and he's finally beginning to hear back from other companies about his resume. This week, he's had two separate interviews for positions that range from level-3 helpdesk to full-blown sysadmin work and he's got more lined up next week. These companies understand that he's got plenty of learned skills but is short on experience, but since his current employer is a monolithic corporation that was willing to take a chance on him, they are too. It also looks like most of the hiring managers he's talking to are fairly open to the idea that he wants to return to school in the next year or so, and have suggested flexible and even truncated hours to accommodate him.

Here, at the other side of the looking-glass, he's got a very good chance of moving to a bonafide sysadmin position with some other company very soon, (probably for something like $55,000 per year,) with the distinct possibility that he can get back on track with school by the time he's 20 years old in order to pursue that physics PhD he likes to ramble on about. All it cost him was a ton of hard work up-front, taking a hit on his salary (and dignity) for two-thirds of a year while he built up his experience, and a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out some new task for work.

IT in our area is notorious for being competitive to the point of being cut-throat, and without the initial opportunity provided by that recruiter. . . he'd either be flipping burgers or, at best, puttering around Best Buy in a short-sleeved shirt and clip-on tie given to him by Geeksquad while burying himself deeper in student-loan debt.

NOTE:
I decided, after re-reading my post, to exclude the names of the companies involved.
Since he's a member of TechExams, I'll let the man himself decide if he wants to advertise to the world or not.