To use a recuiter or not?

Success101

I'm curious if others are having the same experiences as me when dealing with recruiters?

First, they email or call you about a job that has little to do with your skills. Many of them will tell me "oh yeah I know the hiring manager and he'll listen to me" or something to that effect. Okay, I'm interested and they say they will send your resume to the "client, company, etc"... 4 weeks pass and you don't hear back from him/her.

Point is why waste time using a recruiter? I'm at the point now where I just delete all emails from recruiters and don't return phone calls.

kohr-ah

There are useless ones and useful ones.

The useful ones the catch to it is if they present you with a job that is a fit for you they are a direct connect to the proper person in that company a lot of times and then your resume isn't just one in 400 that was submitted online today. You go to the front of the stack. The other catch is a lot of times they get told to go find work for positions that aren't posted publicly.

The useless ones are just trying to make their quota and I wont deal with them either. If they contact me not that they can "find me a job" but already have one and want to see what i think about it I will play ball.

devils_haircut

I filter out the ones that don't have offices in my city, but I live in a fairly large metro area that has options like that. If a recruiter calls me from out of state, or even worse, from outside the U.S. on a Google Voice line so it looks like they're in America, I screen the call. I've worked with a couple recruiters in Indianapolis that have been pretty good at reading my skills and qualifications and actually finding jobs that fit my skillset.

networker050184

I've gotten some very good jobs through recruiters. Sure, a lot of it may be a waste of time and unrelated jobs, but it would be foolish to just rule them out completely IMO.

Dieg0M

Recruiters can be very useful. They will help you sell yourself to the client. A lot of people are very good technically but are bad at selling themselves and never get to the interview process.

Akaricloud

A lot of time is "wasted" while looking for a job. Pretty much every place you apply or interview at except the one you accept could be considered a "waste".

My point is, don't just stick to one method of job hunting. Look for positions yourself, work with recruiters, network with local tech professionals and increase your chances. Market yourself in every way possible and realize that just because only one method will work, that doesn't mean that any of them were a waste.

DirtySouth

I hear you and I'm sure you've had some bad recruiter experiences. I have been fortunate to work with some very good recruiters who did a good job. Recruiters are basically selling a product and they are not all equal. If you're not happy with some of them, I would ask them to stop contacting you. There are many job opportunities that you may miss completely if you don't hear about them through a recruiter. Make it clear to them up front that you do not want your resume spammed out to every company within 50 miles. They should be selective on who they send your resume to and who they put you in front of.

Bryan0530

I've spent time with a recuiter in that last year, although she didnt help me find a job I would contact her in the future if I were in the market. You can never rule anyone out if your looking for a job. I have heard of recuiters being really useful if you establish a good relationship with them, but I've never been in that position.

slotzero

Last time I was looking, I identified geographical areas I would like to work, and found good recruiters I respected in those areas. For me, that was Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, and Indianapolis. For each area, I worked with that one recruiter exclusively, and I let them know that.

In addition to that, I became my own recruiter (this was during the late 2008 slump), and in each city, identified companies where I would like to work. I did this by using Chamber of Commerce sites and DnB to find companies that were the appropriate size to have the qualities and culture I was looking for.

After identifying the companies, I used sales tools like Jigsaw to identify contacts within those companies.

I was able to make contact with hiring mangers and other decision makers, and had many lunch meetings to talk about their needs. I helped solve issues for some, and some of them I pointed in the right direction. Several of those turned into interviews, and there weren't even job postings.

The key here is to take risks, solve problems, and create value. This helps you whether you're looking to become a fulltime employee, a contractor, or just looking for good contacts for your network.

This is what the recruiter does. At least the good ones. The good ones do this better than you can do it yourself.

If you do it yourself, you can show your passion, ingenuity, and innovation. And companies can't get enough good people like that.

Good luck on your search - if you put the time in, you'll find the right position. Or someone will create the right position for you.

roch_greg

I've had pretty good luck with recruiting and staffing firms.

It always pays to know who you are dealing with. You can always tell from the initial contact (phone or email) if the recruiter has taken the time to read your resume and bounce that against what their client is looking for.

As we all know, recruiters get paid from filling the posting. If they keep presenting candidates that don't match what their client is looking for, they will lose the contract to represent that client.

Also a lot of times jobs will be sent to a recruiter to fill before being posted on a job board. Esp. if that recruiter has been successful for the company before.

If your looking for a job, any and all help you can get will only help. Just use your head and check if things "feel" right before agreeing to anything.

N2IT

There are useless ones and useful ones.

Choose wisely

bklg1504

Can you provide some good ones to check out?

dave330i

bklg1504 wrote: »

Can you provide some good ones to check out?

Good ones are those that actually read your resume and know what type of job you'd be interested.

kohr-ah

dave330i wrote: »

Good ones are those that actually read your resume and know what type of job you'd be interested.

This. Ones that know your skills and contact you about them and not just "I see you are looking for work"

bklg1504

Are there sites online that are recommended or anything?

jvrlopez

I wouldn't recommend it based on my experience a few months ago.

Guy called me in and told me to come in business dress. I rock the suit and tie. He shows up late and wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

He spends more time talking about his time in the military than anything else. At the end he says he will rewrite my resume (there's nothing wrong with it, I get calls all the time), send it to me "by the time I get home" (I live 10 minutes away), and mentions that he forgot the offers and paperwork from the employers that were interested.

He added me on LinkedIn before bothering to send me my revised resume, which he never did.

He called me a few weeks later saying he had some offers for me that he had to compile. I had got other opportunities by then and gave up on him.

kohr-ah

bklg1504 wrote: »

Are there sites online that are recommended or anything?

I fixed my resume up a lot and put it up on dice and indeed.com.

Used my Google number as my phone number and waited. Started getting calls an hour later. The ones I will talk to are the ones you can tell took time and actually read the resume and the desired position you listed on the site. (I just did this as of this week)

Priston

Someone, somewhere has a job for you doing exactly what you want to do. If you really want a new job follow all your leads. If 1 out of 100 recruiters has the right job for you and you don't return that one phone call, you just missed out on a new job.

I got my current job through a recruiter.
I'm not exactly sure where they saw my resume since I hadn't updated anything or posted anything in months. They called me and asked me what kind of job I was looking for, I told them what I wanted and a few weeks later they got me a job doing exactly what I wanted and where I wanted.

Iristheangel

I haven't had a negative recruiter experience yet. My last two jobs were found by recruiters or, more specifically, they found me when I posted my resume online. After contracting for 8 months to a year, they both turned into FTE positions. I've heard enough stories on here about bad or just greedy recruiters and I'm sure I'm out there but I'd never disregard a job just simply because a recruiter presented it to me. Many large companies refuse to direct hire and will try before they buy. This may not be a policy you agree with but if everything else is desirable about the position and the company, it's worth overlooking to get your foot in the door and eventually land that FTE position.

If you do go the way of recruiter, be prepared to be a contractor for awhile. It can take some time for them to evaluate your work, get budgetary approval and the HR process to complete before you become a FTE. In the case of my last position with a health system, the manager knew he wanted to hire me after 3 months but it was a total of 8 months after my start date before I was an FTE. In my current position, both the US Director of IT and the CIO of the company both said they wanted to hire me as a FTE after 4 months of being here but I didn't officially become a FTE until around my year date here. As long as both those processes were, I can wholeheartedly say it was worth it in both cases.

Anyways, to each their own. The above has just been my experience as of yet.

LarryDaMan

Just like anything else, there is good and bad. Even huge companies often outsource hiring to recruiters and staffing firms, so it is a necessary evil. There have been times when I've become aggravated by idiot recruiters, but the good ones can make for great networking contacts.

goldenlight

YES>>>yes>> and Yes. I have no experience in IT . So My experience has been horrible. Nothing but time wasters entering your information into a database. They just want a warm body to send on a gig. Did I mention the pay is low. I'm currently employed Full Time there is no way I would use a 3rd party recruiter. I rather deal with a company recruiter way better experience.

Tremie24

Tread lightly my friend. I haven't had good experience with recruiters, similiar to you, I meet with them they tell me they have jobs and that they'll start submitting my resume and then I never hear from them. If you don't have a lot of IT experience, like myself, most don't want to deal with you. I think the problems is, is that a lot of recruiters don't know much about IT jobs other than the requirements that are given by the company. Like others have said most don't even look at your resume.

The best was when I had been working with this one recuriter and he wanted to put me on this 6 month contract for a job that wasn't even IT related. There are some good ones thou, I've gotten a few short term contract jobs from recruiters. This has helped build my resume. I definetly would meet with them because you never know. But yes, I would make it clear on what you want, and what you don't want. Oh and if they tell you they want you to dress professional or whatever, I wouldn't, just look halfway decent.

Iristheangel

Tremie24 wrote: »

Oh and if they tell you they want you to dress professional or whatever, I wouldn't, just look halfway decent.

I truly hope you were joking with that comment...

olaHalo

Ive been contacted by them and talked on the phone with them but I have never obtained a job through a recruiter.
I had one tell me I really didnt want to be in networking and should take a web programming job...
I would not count them out. Just use your best judgement. If they seem like a douche or didnt read your resume clearly then ignore them.
If they seem legit then give it a shot.

jvrlopez

Tremie24 wrote: »

Oh and if they tell you they want you to dress professional or whatever, I wouldn't, just look halfway decent.

After my experience (detailed above), I definitely laughed at this.

WafflesAndRootbeer

Iristheangel wrote: »

I truly hope you were joking with that comment...

I've never been to any interview for an IT job - informal or otherwise - where dressing up was a good idea despite the prodding of a recruiter. Just showing up in clean jeans and a nice polo shirt is good enough for most companies around here because that's what they wear on the job.

Iristheangel

Ironically, its the exact opposite for me. Ive seen my bosses turn people away for being dressed too casually on interviews. My previous two jobs required at least slacks and a collar (health system and MSP) and my current job is in a huge corporate office so we're required to wear business suits except on Friday's or if you're going out into the field and expect to get dirty. Different corporate cultures.

linuxlover

If some day I will be managing my own company, I will forbid suit and a tie and make it clear in a job ad. Anyone who shows up wearing anything other than what they're most comfortable in will be told to leave before we even start the interview.

Tremie24

Sorry there might be some confusion with my last comment. I meant when meeting with a recruiter I wouldn't get all dressed up.

Iristheangel

Ok, that makes a bit more sense, Tremie

MSP-IT

linuxlover wrote: »

If some day I will be managing my own company, I will forbid suit and a tie and make it clear in a job ad. Anyone who shows up wearing anything other than what they're most comfortable in will be told to leave before we even start the interview.

That also seems a bit extreme.