

Ask HN [Developers]: Recruiters on Linkedin - jpd750

When recruiters contact you on linkedin with a job opportunity - what do you do?<p>Additionally, if they ask to forward along the job to someone you "might know who would be a better fit" if you dont fit the job description - what do you do? Do you ever refer?<p>What are your thoughts on this approach by recruiters on LinkedIn ? Do you find it effective or aggravating?
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codegeek
YMMV but you should have a few specific requirements to respond to a recruiter
if they approach you.Mine are:

■ Make sure you are ready with as detailed information on the client as
possible. This includes client name, , location, salary/rate information,
contract type (W-2, C2C etc.) at the minimum. If you do not give out at least
some of these in the first call, don’t bother calling the candidate. Remember
they do not need you as much as you need them.

■ If you do talk to the candidate, be honest and specific. If you don’t have a
piece of information that is asked for, tell them you will follow up and do
exactly that.

■ Do not tell the candidate that this position is so urgent that you need
their Resume by tonight or the deal is gone. Top candidates do not like to be
pestered. If they think it is worth it, they will send you the Resume without
tantrums. If you absolutely need to express urgency (client is interviewing
your competitors candidates and wants to decide quickly etc.), please mention
that politely. Top candidates know that there is no such thing is URGENT
REQUIREMENT that must be filled overnight. Hiring managers do not mind waiting
for the right candidate usually.

■ If the candidate decides to send you their Resume, you have done a great job
at convincing them that the opportunity is worth exploring and you are worth
trusting. But this is half battle won. The candidate expects a lot more from
you from here on.

■ Keep the candidate updated with any progress etc. If you sent the resume to
client/hiring manager, let the candidate know. If the hiring manager is
waiting or sitting on it, let the candidate know. Top candidates like to be in
loop even though they might not be desperate for that job and can wait for
months if hiring manager is sitting on the resume. But for the love of god,
update the candidate at least once every 7-10 days. You can drop a 1 liner
“hey the hiring manager is still sitting on it

■ Do not just take the Resume and then stop existing for the candidate which
means you never get back to them afterwards. This is the worst thing to do
ever. If you are not interested anymore in working with the candidate or the
client is not interested,let the candidate know asap. Remember, they do not
really need that job as much anyway. The reason is that if you do need to work
with them in the future, they will not consider you again. Top candidates are
always in demand by many clients.

■ Treat the candidates with respect. You might be experience in what you do
but remember that top candidates are also great at what they do. If you don’t
respect their time, they will not respect yours.

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codeonfire
If it's not interesting I don't respond. If it's interesting I check out the
web site and filter out any hipster shops, open floor plans, mandatory pair
programming, Microsoft stuff, frat shops, body shops, H1-B shops, etc, etc.
Then I look at pictures of people posted on those sites. Do I fit the
demographic of the company? Am I going to be the odd person because no one
there is over 20? Then I consider if the place would pay more than my current
job. I check several salary sources, read the negative reviews, etc.

If its a big company, I read about the executive management and try to look
them up on LinkedIn. If its a small company, I read their management bio pages
and look them up on LinkedIn. I consider if any of the owners/founders were
actually ever developers or know anything about software. Do the founders seem
douchey or dumb? I try to find youtube interviews to get a feel of their
personality and values. Finally, I give up and don't respond. The truth is I
don't want to work at your job. I worked there or someplace like it a decade
ago and I'm not going back.

Recruiters who want to know why or why not someone might respond need to
consider if their opportunity is really a good fit for the person before
sending it. Its really not my dream to be a JEE/JSP developer for acme
whatever company. And I don't refer anyone because everyone I know likes their
job or lives somewhere else.

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gamechangr
You're smart for a recruiter (looking for advice on HN), so I will give you an
answer.

I get maybe 3-5 emails from recruiters a week. I usually write back a quick
"no thank you".

Some of the problem is out of your control, like the fact that there is ten
jobs for every available developer. Not good odds anyone would be interested
in any job from a third party.

Some obstacles you could manage, mostly by being more specific.

WORK: Don't look at things I did ten years ago and reference them. YOu don't
have to cover everything you are looking for in your first email. "looking for
a backend Ruby developer" is specific enough. Try to describe who I would be
working with (vs some weird perk like "we play pingpong on thursdays)

MONEY: I hear "exceptionally well paid position" or "top of the industry
salary range" consistently, but rarely do I hear "$250-300k plus options".

Referral: Unless my friends are looking, it's very difficult for me to forward
anything. Mention what the founders have worked on in the past would increase
my chances.

Hope that helps.

~~~
jpd750
I'm not a recruiter (thank god) - I'm a dev myself ;)

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jyu
If you haven't read these posts by Elaine Wherry, you should stop what you're
doing and spend 10 minutes to go through it. It's a great piece on her setting
up a fake LinkedIn profile, and analyzing all the recruiter messages she got.
It then gives insights into how to message developers to get a good response
(hint: tailored, personalized messages go a long way).

<http://www.ewherry.com/2012/06/the-recruiter-honeypot/>

<http://www.ewherry.com/2012/08/the-best-recruiters-followup/>

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andymoe
If the job is for what I'm doing now (iOS development) vs something I did five
years ago I'll respond with a quick "I'm not looking to make a move right now
but check back in n months or years." It takes about a minute and it does not
hurt to have a pipeline of people with opportunities. It's also a good way to
weed out the crappy recruiters because if they have their stuff together at
all you will usually hear from them again in n months.

I also do this so I have a record of who contacted me and if I think they are
at all interesting. I usually don't refer them anyone and I usually don't
connect with them unless I've worked with them in the past.

~~~
jpd750
Good points here - thanks.

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stmfreak
I find that the request is rarely a fit for either a job I'm interested in
(they're looking at my resume from ten years ago) or any job that anyone I
know might be interested in (because my network is rarely looking and when
they are, rarely for 'that' job). It seems like really low-efficiency spam.

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logn
Historically I never replied to anything. I don't know why anyone would bother
replying to unsolicited email of no interest.

Lately I've been freelancing so I reply saying my hourly rate and that I
prefer remote work.

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shail
90% ignore, because they should be. 10% read/fwded if worthy.

~~~
jpd750
What motivates you to fwd <= 10% that you fwd to others?

~~~
shail
a good fit and some knowledge that a friend of mine is looking.

~~~
jpd750
What would you say is a "good fit"?

