

Ask HN: Using Technical Recruiters to Hire Engineers - lgsilver

We're a profitable early-stage startup in SOMA, scrambling (like everyone else) to find talented Python devs who can help us build V2 of our web-based social marketing platform.<p>We've been rolling around the meetup circuit, posting online, and pushing the roles out through our networks, but still haven't met the caliber of innovators we're looking for. Since we have some cash for this, we're now thinking about working with a recruiter(s).<p>Are technical recruiters worth it? Should we try to bring someone on in-house, or outsource? Is contingency okay? Any thoughts on this would be hugely appreciated.
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Peroni
Former Tech Recruiter with an agency, currently inhouse Tech Recruitment
Manager for a large dev company.

If you know of someone with proven experience in the area you are hiring for
and you know of organisations that have used them successfully then go for it.
Otherwise, don't waste your money.

Recruiting is an incredibly difficult challenge that requires patience and
persistence. If you are struggling to find people I can guarantee it's for one
of the following reasons:

1\. You aren't paying enough

2\. The job description isn't appropriate to attract the right folk

3\. You are looking in all the wrong places (highly doubt this is the reason)

4\. There are no suitable candidates on the market.

I would be amazed if points 3 or 4 were the crux of the issue. If you want you
can send me the job description along with the details of the package and I'll
happily give you my opinion.

In the mean time, some reading material:

1\. Why you should avoid recruiters at all costs -
[http://hackerjobs.co.uk/blog/2012/6/15/all-that-is-wrong-
wit...](http://hackerjobs.co.uk/blog/2012/6/15/all-that-is-wrong-with-the-
recruitment-industry)

2\. Recruiting advice for start-ups -
[http://hackerjobs.co.uk/blog/2012/11/5/why-should-i-join-
you...](http://hackerjobs.co.uk/blog/2012/11/5/why-should-i-join-your-start-
up)

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mchannon
If I was in your shoes, I'd become your own technical recruiter, pick a far-
flung college town or city with a good CS program, and try to relo a
crackerjack Python dev out of a batch of a dozen you contact. Fly yourself out
to Podunk City to seal the deal.

Only so many devs come out of bay area schools, and only so many devs relocate
out to SF before they have guaranteed employment. There's a lot of pent-up
supply of $100k-grade talent pulling in $40k in flyover country.

You're going to find and keep those people far easier (and cheaper!) than
barking up the same trees (recruiters and H1B) that your contemporaries are.

~~~
noahc
Just wanted to point out that in fly over country a first time developer can
get close to $70k from recent experience, so I wouldn't expect the $40k number
to stick.

Although, I will say that it is easier to under price your self in fly over
country because your cost of living is much lower.

~~~
mchannon
Exactly. "Can get" and "are getting" are two completely separate things.

Even still, $100k at your SOMA startup seems like it would sound a lot better
to someone earning $70k in the middle of nowhere than someone earning $100k at
an existing job down the street.

~~~
noahc
I dont want to give away too much but moderately sized metro areas are paying
70k for first time developers.

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mingpan
Not that there aren't good third-party recruiters out there, but the majority
I've encountered while personally looking for work were disappointing. They
seem to scrape resumes from the Internet, perform rudimentary keyword-
matching, and cold-call for candidate volume rather than candidate quality.
Part of the issue is that it's in their best interests not to find a best fit
for either party, but rather to maximize their own overall throughput. If you
decide to use a third-party recruiter, then please, for your own sake and
those of your potential hires, vet them thoroughly.

~~~
lgsilver
Yeah, that's the feeling I've gotten. There seem to be a group of recruiters,
and a group of serial contractors, that cycle around SV. In this market, it's
almost just a matter of manpower and positive outreach. I guess that's what
dev advocates are...

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xoail
Sometimes hire fast, fire fast really works. If you find someone even matching
50-70% of caliber you are looking for, it might be worth taking a risk. If you
are concern is his/her code quality, then ask for code references and if your
concern is culture fit related, then you'd know in 2-4 weeks. Keep the
conversation transparent though. As an early-stage company, i'd avoid going
through a recruiter.

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calbear98
Read this before deciding <http://www.ewherry.com/2012/06/the-recruiter-
honeypot/>

~~~
lgsilver
Calbear, Thanks. This article was awesome! Elaine had great ideas about hiring
at the start, and her (or her fictitious dev's) experiences are exactly in
line with my own. Just hoped that maybe there was something else besides
LinkedIn out there...

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calbear98
A good recruiter might be even harder to find than a good developer. You
probably need a recruiter if you really need to scale or are in a desperate
time crunch.

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jpd750
Recruiters are pretty worthless.

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truebecomefalse
The bulk of my experience with recruiters has been quite negative.

