When contacted, do you always speak to the technical recruiter?

Do you sometimes/always proceed to do an interview when contacted by a technical recruiter even if you aren't really interested in the position?

I assumed that people would just reply that they aren't interested or ignore it, but yesterday a colleague told me that he did an interview for a position he wasn't even interested in. Is that typical?

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Comments

[Deleted User]

I think some people may go to an interview if they might be remotely interested in it. Maybe he went to the interview and found out that it wasn't really a job he wanted? I've heard of people who might go on an interview just to chalk it up to experience but I don't know anyone personally that has done it.

dynamik

If nothing else, it's good practice. I wouldn't string them along unnecessarily, but I don't think there's any harm in a brief discussion.

earweed

I've personally gone to interviews that if offered the job I wouldn't have taken it. I've even turned one down (non-IT) when they wanted me to do a second interview. I personally think that the more interviews you do the more relaxed and confident you will be at subsequent interviews. Just do it for the practice.

Ryan82

earweed wrote: »

I've personally gone to interviews that if offered the job I wouldn't have taken it. I've even turned one down (non-IT) when they wanted me to do a second interview. I personally think that the more interviews you do the more relaxed and confident you will be at subsequent interviews. Just do it for the practice.

Interesting...not a bad idea now that I think about it.

loxleynew

I went to an interview 2 weeks ago where I knew within 5-10 minutes that the job was not right for me and I would have turned it down. I finished the interview for the practice and later declined the job when offered.

It helps give confidence for your next interviews at least for me it did.

erpadmin

A few months ago, I got called by the headhunter...every now and then I will get calls. I used the interview he set me up with to talk to this guy for over an hour. The interview was going very well, but when I saw where this place was and what it did, I passed. It seemed a bit "rinky-dinky" and I had a feeling the salary would not have been what I wanted.

Headhunters are like the sloppy chicks you meet at college parties, you will use them, but they (may) not be the ones you will end up with...they're more like practice for the big game.

[Deleted User]

erpadmin wrote: »

A few months ago, I got called by the headhunter...every now and then I will get calls. I used the interview he set me up with to talk to this guy for over an hour. The interview was going very well, but when I saw where this place was and what it did, I passed. It seemed a bit "rinky-dinky" and I had a feeling the salary would not have been what I wanted.

Headhunters are like the sloppy chicks you meet at college parties, you will use them, but they (may) not be the ones you will end up with...they're more like practice for the big game.

Haha Wow +1

dynamik

erpadmin wrote: »

Headhunters are like the sloppy chicks you meet at college parties, you will use them, but they (may) not be the ones you will end up with...they're more like practice for the big game.

What are you trying to achieve where herpes is considered practice?

erpadmin

dynamik wrote: »

What are you trying to achieve where herpes is considered practice?

Whoa dude.....never advocate no protection. I'm talking about when one is young, drunk and indestructable (BUT ALWAYS SAFE AND COVERED). And to this day, herpes and std free.

Most guys have hooked up with a drunken sorority slut at some point in their lives. Some guys I know even married her. LMAO.

The point though was headhunters are never to be used as a serious way of getting a job and to this day, I have never gotten a job through one. But I have been close a couple of times, that last example I gave was one of them.

dynamik

I can't even begin to describe how much more information that was than I wanted. I was just teasing.

Countryboi

Is this is another reason why i dont like recuiters....cause they feel like its a attack against them if you dont like the crap job they are trying to sell you on....when i was unemployed and really hunting I would bite on everything even if it sucked cause i wanted them to keep sending jobs my way and just keep my fingers crossed i didnt get them....just to show how bad it was they once sent me on a interview at major corp for a desktop support role for get this 9-10 dollars a hour! I was happy when i didnt get it but confused when they said it was cause they found someone with more experience who are these mystery people?

erpadmin

Countryboi wrote: »

Is this is another reason why i dont like recuiters....cause they feel like its a attack against them if you dont like the crap job they are trying to sell you on....when i was unemployed and really hunting I would bite on everything even if it sucked cause i wanted them to keep sending jobs my way and just keep my fingers crossed i didnt get them....just to show how bad it was they once sent me on a interview at major corp for a desktop support role for get this 9-10 dollars a hour! I was happy when i didnt get it but confused when they said it was cause they found someone with more experience who are these mystery people?

Here's a secret: recruiters do not give a ---- about you! You are only $3k-$5k bonus to them if they get you (or whomever) a job.

Your best bet is to always use job boards, contacts and heck, even linkedin (sans the headhunting ilk that plague it)!

Countryboi

erpadmin wrote: »

Here's a secret: recruiters do not give a ---- about you! You are only $3k-$5k bonus to them if they get you (or whomever) a job.

Your best bet is to always use job boards, contacts and heck, even linkedin (sans the headhunting ilk that plague it)!

oh yea know they dont care about me but they can be useful... when your unemployed its best to keep all your options open even the recruiters

Michael.J.Palmer

erpadmin wrote: »

Here's a secret: recruiters do not give a ---- about you! You are only $3k-$5k bonus to them if they get you (or whomever) a job.

Your best bet is to always use job boards, contacts and heck, even linkedin (sans the headhunting ilk that plague it)!

Problem with using job boards is that about 80% of all jobs posted are linked to a staffing company that will eventually put you into contact with a technical recruiter. Almost nobody does a direct hire anymore, at the very least you'll be looking at a contrac to hire in most cases so it's almost impossible to avoid a technical recruiter.

Me personally to the original topic, I've accepted every interview I recieved from a recruiter. But mainly due in part to the fact that I was unemployed for the past four months. I'm working now, but it's almost like I'm not getting ahead, I'm just too far in debt so I'm still looking. I had a promising interview yesterday so hopefully I'll be hearing something back about that job soon.

erpadmin

Countryboi wrote: »

oh yea know they dont care about me but they can be useful... when your unemployed its best to keep all your options open even the recruiters

I have tasted from the fruit of unemployment and it sucked. However, I was still able to avoid a job from a headhunter. Hopefully, you'll get a job from one, and hope you won't hate it so much that you'll quit before you find a job you'll tolerate.

Keep your options open, sure, but don't have it be your main one. That's all I'm saying.

erpadmin

Michael.J.Palmer wrote: »

Problem with using job boards is that about 80% of all jobs posted are linked to a staffing company that will eventually put you into contact with a technical recruiter. Almost nobody does a direct hire anymore, at the very least you'll be looking at a contrac to hire in most cases so it's almost impossible to avoid a technical recruiter.

Me personally to the original topic, I've accepted every interview I recieved from a recruiter. But mainly due in part to the fact that I was unemployed for the past four months. I'm working now, but it's almost like I'm not getting ahead, I'm just too far in debt so I'm still looking. I had a promising interview yesterday so hopefully I'll be hearing something back about that job soon.

You said anymore....unfortunately, I haven't been actively looking so I don't know for sure if direct hiring is taking place. But from the jobs I've seen, I still see names of actual companies for positions. Also, geographic area, no doubt plays a big part. I just think recruiters are slime! LOL.

Michael.J.Palmer

erpadmin wrote: »

You said anymore....unfortunately, I haven't been actively looking so I don't know for sure if direct hiring is taking place. But from the jobs I've seen, I still see names of actual companies for positions. Also, geographic area, no doubt plays a big part. I just think recruiters are slime! LOL.

It'll probably differ from area to area, around here there are virtually no direct hires. I did have one interview that would have been a direct hire but they went with another candidate. I've had one other interview now that I think about it, but funny enough I got in touch with that company for the first time through... you guessed it, a recruiter.

BTW, notice I said 80% are staffing, the other 20% are direct hires. The problem is, most of the direct hire listings I see are for SharePoint Developers or high end server administrators. Anything else for us grunt workers is at best a 6 month contract through a staffing company.

N2IT

If the recruiter is from IBM, Oracle, etc, then yes I will.

If the recruiter is from Robert Half, TEK Systems, Fast, Vantage Links, etc, then I won't.

erpadmin

N2IT wrote: »

If the recruiter is from IBM, Oracle, etc, then yes I will.

If the recruiter is from Robert Half, TEK Systems, Fast, Vantage Links, etc, then I won't.

I probably should have made a difference between a in-house recruiter and the headhunting kind when I expressed my hatred of the headhunter.

I definitely agree with this.

Paul Boz

erpadmin wrote: »

Here's a secret: recruiters do not give a ---- about you! You are only $3k-$5k bonus to them if they get you (or whomever) a job.

Your best bet is to always use job boards, contacts and heck, even linkedin (sans the headhunting ilk that plague it)!

I’m not going to say you’re wrong, because I know that there are many crummy recruiters out there, but in my experience things were different. I have a great relationship with my recruiter and she continuously stays in touch with me to make sure I’m fitting in well, that the job is what I expected, and just in general following through. She made some serious effort to get me my job. I think that there are two types of recruiters. Those that fill lower level jobs and those that fill higher level jobs. I think the negative rep of recruiters comes largely from the lower-level recruitment because they generally just try to flip as many candidates as possible and don’t concentrate on business relationships. I never worked with that type of recruiter though so I can’t speak on that type of experience.