
Ask HN: Which recruiters do you like? - ryanmickle
Who are the most genuinely helpful recruiters (individuals), who you&#x27;ve interacted with and why? Hoping this might be a good supplement to Who&#x27;s Hiring.
======
JDiculous
Any recruiter is only as good as his/her listings. Comparing recruiters is
like comparing NYC brokers. They're pretty much all terrible (principle-agent
problem, along with tending to be the type of person who had to resort to
recruiting because they couldn't get a better job), only as good as their
listings, and inherently work to your disadvantage by making you significantly
more expensive to employers (recruiters charge employers ~20% of your first
year's salary). Again, even if your recruiter has an awesome personality and
makes you feel fuzzy inside, at the end of the day he/she is only as good as
his/her listings.

A better post would be to evaluate companies so that we can bypass the
recruiters, make our own educated unbiased decisions, and capture all of our
market value.

~~~
fecak
As a recruiter, I'd agree that many are terrible, and you're correct that many
got into recruiting because it is an easy industry to enter. Recruiting firms
pay commission-based comp packages, so the risk to a bad hire is rather low.
Give them a phone extension and a computer, maybe a premium LinkedIn account,
and they're off. Lots of C students in recruiting.

A recruiter's listings are somewhat important, but not as important as their
knowledge of the market. A recruiter could have a weak contingency
relationship with all the best companies in town, but if they don't understand
something as basic as the market value of each candidate (not to mention a
host of other things) they are doing their candidates a disservice.

Good recruiters usually have good listings because hiring companies tend to
disengage from recruiting agencies that don't act ethically.

~~~
hunterloftis
> Good recruiters usually have good listings because hiring companies tend to
> disengage from recruiting agencies that don't act ethically.

In my experience, companies that (have to) use recruiters tend to have other
broken practices as well. For example, the person in charge of recruiting
agency relationships - usually a non-technical middle manager - may neither
know nor care about sound or ethical results.

------
pmiller2
Dave Fecak, [http://www.fecak.com/](http://www.fecak.com/) and @fecak on here.
Although he's never placed me (I'm on the west coast, and he really only
recruits for NYC/Philly), he's volunteered his time to help me with some
resume issues I've had. I'd contact him again in a heartbeat if I was looking
in his backyard.

~~~
jwn
I can second Dave. He's a good guy, spends time getting to know you, your
likes, and requirements. He also ran the Philly JUG for the last 10 (15?)
years and kept it a place free of recruitment or sales pitches.

~~~
fecak
Thanks to you both for the kind words, and I do my best to provide a good
service to my candidates and clients alike. And I did run the JUG in Philly
for 15 years, resigning in February.

~~~
quaffapint
Dave - anyone you can recommend in the .NET arena in the Philly area?

~~~
fecak
.Net recruiters? Nobody comes to mind unfortunately. I don't know many
recruiters actually.

------
nlh
If you're in NYC and looking for a tech role in finance - Kate LeSaffre @
Princeton Group is spectacular
([https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=8894110](https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=8894110))

She's a close friend, does none of the "bad recruiter" things (spam, annoying,
etc.) and does all of the "good recruiter" things (interview prep, helps you
negotiate salary, knows all the hiring managers at all the top hedge funds,
etc.)

I know HN is a Silicon Valley-centric crowd, but for better or for worse, if
you're the kind of engineer that wants to make $350k+ in finance, she'll help
make that happen.

------
jbob2000
I had a good experience with my recruiter. She was independent and was good
friends with most of the HR managers at tech companies around the city. She
told me the exact questions that each company would ask and told me who would
be interviewing me and how to handle myself around them. I felt very confident
going into interviews because of her. I had two follow up meetings with her at
2 and 6 months, which was just a 10 min coffee date to see if everything was
cool (it was).

~~~
ryanmickle
May I ask who this was?

~~~
jbob2000
Ashley from Sage Recruiting in Toronto (it's her company), @SageRecruting.

------
dogan
Melissa Sezto
([https://twitter.com/mel_sezto](https://twitter.com/mel_sezto)). I meet with
her almost 4 years ago and she took her time to get to know me, what I am
looking for, my interests etc.

~~~
calaniz
I'll second this one. I've had a few chats with Melissa, she's great.

------
gameguy43
Aline Lerner! Former engineer. No bullshit.
[http://blog.alinelerner.com/](http://blog.alinelerner.com/)

------
bh13731
Has anyone from outside the US had a good experience with a recruiter bringing
them in on a H1-B / J1?

~~~
GolfyMcG
I'm not a recruiter but we tried to hire someone who needed an H1-B/J1 visa
and it was truly awful. We went through trying to make it work/expedite the
process but there was nothing to be done. He was awarded the visa and we would
have still had to wait another 4 or 5 months till they could actually start.

I'm usually quite proud of the United States but it was baffling to me how
challenging this was. We have a highly qualified person, who has an employer
looking to pay them, of which they will have taxes going to the United States,
you've already vetted them as being okay, and yet it's still going to take
nearly half a year for you to allow them to come work here.

It makes me wonder what the hell people do all everyday at the government.

To answer your question, I don't think anyone, especially a recrutier, can
make the process easier.

------
edw519
Nice guy whose been contributing here on Hacker News for years:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Peroni](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Peroni)

~~~
Peroni
Hey Ed. Not spoken to you in ages. Thanks for the kind words (as always).

------
drakonka
I stumbled across a great technical recruiter in Australia. Contacted them
saying I was considering becoming a web development contractor. Got a response
the same day asking to come in for an introductory interview. Went over my
skills and experience, recruiter got the ball rolling on a position they had
open that sounded suitable. Position got delayed by a couple of months by the
client but recruiter kept me updated and then contacted me when they were
ready.

They handled all payslips from client to myself, superannuation payments, tax,
etc on their end. Threw a Christmas party for all of their contractors every
year.

The things I enjoyed most was reach-ability, them fighting for a higher hourly
rate for me when renewals came up (at one point agreeing to forego their usual
fee in my rate increase to make sure I got the entire increase to myself), and
overall professionalism.

------
oconnore
I don't know anyone who has ever had a positive interaction with a recruiter.

~~~
calebm
Some are annoying, yes, but it annoys me when people are jerks to recruiters.
We are blessed to be in an industry where recruiters are common.

------
nkantar
Both of the two with whom I've had great experiences are in the Los Angeles
area.

Wes Putnam of Putnam Recruiting Group
([http://www.putnamrecruiting.com/](http://www.putnamrecruiting.com/)). A
former employee of his got me a great job, and when he left West personally
took over the relationship, occasionally checking in to make sure I was still
happy. They have a long-standing relationship with said employer of mine, and
it seems they operate like that in general.

Spencer Allen of Fulcrum Hire
([http://www.fulcrumhire.com/](http://www.fulcrumhire.com/)). Introduced to me
by a former colleague, Spencer works with high quality and low quantity. The
one interview he arranged for me nearly resulted in a job, and would've been a
great fit if I had had a bit more experience at the time. He placed a close
friend of mine with a company he's been very happy with for over a year, too.

I can heartily recommend both to anyone looking for a technology position in
LA.

------
jschwartzi
I've had good experiences with smaller recruiters. Generally, if a recruiter
calls you and asks for an SSN to apply for a job then just hang up because it
will be a waste of time to talk to them.

If, however, they want to meet in person, that's a sign that they're likely to
match you with jobs that you have a reasonable chance of getting.

~~~
mtmail
At which point in the process do they ask for a SSN? In the first call? I
can't even imagine what the SSN is useful for in this case.

~~~
jschwartzi
I've mostly had third-party contract recruiters for Amazon do this as a way of
filtering candidates who can't legally work in the US. You'll end up giving
them some information and then never hear back from them again.

~~~
johnward
I wouldn't even think of giving some random person my SSN. Although there
seems to be a phenomenon of recruiters contacted people and then falling off
the face of the earth. I think they just work by numbers. Send as many emails
out as possible and hope they can find a candidate. It kind of upsets me when
I get something that I'm clearly a good fit for. Then I think "maybe this
recruiter actually filters before submitting people" and then they never
respond when I reply to their initial contact.

~~~
jschwartzi
I think about half the recruiters I worked with had some good jobs that didn't
work out because the hiring manager they were working with had budget dry up
on them. I think it's like any enterprise sales position. You end up talking
to a lot of well-intentioned people without a lot of organizational backing.

Most of them talk to you to get an idea of cost and benefits so they can try
to sell it to their bosses. You never hear back from them because they
couldn't get any backing from the people above them. It's not that they
weren't sincere, it's that there's a lack of support for their initiative, and
the kind of decision they were trying to make required more buy-in than they
could get at the time.

I think recruiters end up in this cycle too. The difference is that because
you're the product you never hear about any of the actual sales work that goes
on.

~~~
johnward
Most of the better recruiters will at least tell me the position is on hold or
it got pulled. Some just completely ignore me. I guess they get a huge volume
of email too but it doesn't leave a great customer service feeling.

------
kremdela
I've had great experiences with Nancy Soni and her team at FILD
[http://www.fildit.com/](http://www.fildit.com/)

She was incredibly helpful on both a personal and professional level. She
reached out, and up an interview at a top Ecommerce company in NYC.

The company wasn't a great match for what I was looking for at the time
(earlier stage, smaller team, building the groundwork) and she introduced me
to an (at the time) much smaller company that I had never heard of.

But it was a great fit, and I loved the job for 2.5 years and used her to help
grow that team.

She was probably the first person to convince me that not all recruiters are
terrible.

------
pcbo
Willem Wijnans, check his blog here:
[http://www.sourcingmonk.com](http://www.sourcingmonk.com)

He's a tech recruiter now working for improbable.io < amazing startup in
London.

~~~
willemwijnans
cheers man :)

------
rtanaka
I don't believe there's a single recruiter that's a good fit for anyone /
everyone. If you form a good relationship with a well-connected recruiter they
can definitely be an invaluable resource for you that help you get interviews
that are outside of your network. It's also worth noting that, like most
relationships, it something that is fostered over time, not just when you are
job hunting.

Quality recruiters are very in-the-know as to who is hiring, what the going
salaries are and are able to help you back-channel and get the scoop on people
and companies.

------
mcgin
Barry Cranford of Recworks in London is one of the few good guys. He started
the London Java Community and his approach is much more about engaing with the
tech community and definitely adds value to the process.

------
lmorris84
I'd be interested to see if anyone can recommend recruiters in London.

I've had nothing but bad experiences over the last few years so tend to ignore
them now, but it'd be good to have a little list of decent ones.

~~~
Peroni
Java: Barry Cranford -
[https://twitter.com/bcrecworks](https://twitter.com/bcrecworks)

Ruby: Rhys Evans -
[https://twitter.com/rhysyevans](https://twitter.com/rhysyevans)

.NET: Adam Bolton -
[https://twitter.com/Adam__Bolton](https://twitter.com/Adam__Bolton)

Everything else -
[https://twitter.com/TeamPrimeLtd](https://twitter.com/TeamPrimeLtd)

------
kevinburke
Aline Lerner, though she is not doing recruiting any more - she's now working
on interviewing.io

[http://blog.alinelerner.com/](http://blog.alinelerner.com/)

------
zerr
Anyone specializing in REMOTE positions?

------
tmaly
I was originally going to make a SAAS for recruiters, so I did customer
interviews for about 30 of them. I came to the understanding that they all
vary in the way they organize their information. There was even one firm that
still had paper resumes on file. I think the best recruiters I talked to had a
great skill at reading you like any great salesman. The ones that I did not
like as much were fresh in the industry, and they sounded like they were
sitting in a boiler room.

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
Ugh! This is so true. I've had good experiences dealing with both Aerotek and
Development Resources Group (DRG here in the Twin Cities) both of whom found
me great prospects, one of which I accepted. They both did really a really
good job of matching me with open positions.

Beyond.com is still spamming me with openings even after I asked them to stop
and the one rep I spoke to on the phone barely had a clue what I did and just
kept trying to make my job experience fit what she was trying to push.

------
zer00eyz
The role you were hired FOR, the languages used, the industry, and the company
stage are all important details.

Some recruiting firms are very specialized and can charge a premium because of
it.

------
vosper
They're not a recruiter in the traditional sense, but I quite like hired.com -
they're low-touch, and I much prefer to browse a list of candidates once a
week than field endless emails and calls and hard-selling from traditional
recruiters.

We've hired from them, and although I think the signal-to-noise ratio has got
worse in the past year, I usually still see one or two interesting people.

------
Jean-Philipe
My favourite recruiter is an independent. Friend of a friend. Likes having a
chat every now and then, only got me interesting leads so far. Even now that I
am not interested in a new position, he's keeping good contact. James,
[http://www.thundercloudsolutions.com](http://www.thundercloudsolutions.com)

------
aj_100
I just landed a really great offer in NYC and a lot of it is because of Sarah
Chimino at Andiamo
([https://twitter.com/schimino](https://twitter.com/schimino)). She always had
a really positive attitude and I came away with it feeling like she was always
going the extra mile for me.

------
wc-
I've enjoyed working with Hired.com from the POV of the employer doing the
hiring.

~~~
abulman
My profile just opened up on there today. A very friendly 'talent co-
ordinator'. It wasn't until I specifically disavowed (as the first line of my
own profile text) the headline that someone at Hired had written about me, and
a couple of reminders, was it changed.

Beyond that, it's early days for me on Hired. Just a few views so far (one of
which I've already interviewed at).

------
brandonlipman
Does anyone have any recommendations on recruiters that focus on marketing and
growth roles? I am actively reaching out to recruiters however it is difficult
to find recruiters that are not exclusively technical.

------
mooreds
Dave Mayer at Technical Integrity was very helpful to me.

[http://technicalintegrity.com/](http://technicalintegrity.com/)

------
Thriptic
Is it worth trying to get in contact with a recruiter if I want to leave
academia and enter industry in a data science position, or better to go it
alone?

~~~
twunde
Most likely depending on your experience. If you find yourself having trouble
getting interviews start talking to recruiters. I will say that almost every
recruiter I've worked with has gotten me into interviews quickly (within 2
weeks). They may also help you in interview prep. If you're getting interviews
by yourself you probably don't need them

------
markbnj
I like the ones who at least read my resume before emailing or calling me.

------
brentis
Thought this was /jokes in reddit and was looking for a punchline.

------
romanovcode
Recruiter who has technical background for the most part.

------
danielsamuels
For those of you who don't like recruitment emails, send them this:
[http://www.rankarecruiter.co.uk/](http://www.rankarecruiter.co.uk/)

------
LouisRoR
I'm a recruiter and tbh, I'm a scumbag.

------
digitalpacman
None.

------
justwannasing
In 30 years of working in electronics and software, I have never been sent on
an interview, or even contacted by an employer, through any recruiter, despite
getting weekly calls from them all these years and rising through the ranks of
these industries in medium sized companies.

------
wilgertvelinga
None of them, they are unnecessary at best..

------
namelezz
Believe or not. None. They humiliate those who naively think they are genuine.
[https://www.pinterest.com/pin/429671620671237170/](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/429671620671237170/)

~~~
ryanmickle
Snark aside, I ask because I've met some who seriously seemed to care about
what I was interested in, and not to push. One was Barry Kwok (Scribd, Airbnb,
Coinbase), and the other was Hong Quan (worked with Thiel Foundation). I'm
sure there are some great ones out there.

~~~
ironchef
@ryanmickle:

Same. I'll PM you the main person I've worked with in the past. I've worked
with her for basically 15 years. She's probably pretty familiar with Barry;
however, I don't generally want to share her with "the general public"
(because of her position she's not compensated based on placements and I'd
rather not overwhelm her).

~~~
brandonlipman
I would love to get that contact as well if you don't mind. She sounds like
she could definitely be of help.

