Comments on: Why the “hate” toward recruiters?

By: BBB

BBB — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:45:20 +0000

Don’t hate all of the recruiters… Some have been in your shoes (as an engineer) before, but then chose a career in recruiting. Look for these, not the ones who stumbled into a large staffing agency, who will most certainly stumble right back out in a few months / years.

As for your comment on someone staying in a job for a whole 5 years, I’d beg to differ. People changing companies every few years are bad investments, period. And, no GOOD recruiter will work with a “job hopper”. Perhaps this is actually the root of your problems….

By: David

David — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:55:25 +0000

I’m an IT professional and I used a recruiter to get me my current position. I’ll agree that there are SOME recruiters who take the time to work with and find the ideal position, however these are a VERY rare bread.

My current company is in trouble, and thus I’m going to need a new position soon, but the thought of working with recruiters again sets my teeth on edge. Instead I’m looking at applying directly to companies (quite a few now say “No Agencies!”), and working with my network on Linked in. Recruiters are my LAST resort.

By: Man

Man — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:52:31 +0000

In my experience as a job-seeker along the years, I noticed a big difference between having an interview with a ‘professional’ recruiter and someone who is an operative (I mean : your future direct boss) :

- operatives want to know if you can do the job
- recruiters want to know if you already did it

For the record, I work in engineering. Recruiters understand nothing about it.
So they are unable to judge if a candidate has the skills, knowledges and qualities for the job. So instead, they require you have ‘5 years experience’, assuming that if you did it during 5 years somewhere else, you should be able to do it for their client. True .. most of the time.

But somebody who has a good brain does not need 5 years experience in most jobs. Actually, if he stays at the same position for so long, you may wonder why.

By: Jeff Muir

Jeff Muir — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:42:09 +0000

Instead of fighting the ethics and the lies of the “so called minority” of headhunters I have written a Free Report called The Death of The Head Hunter.

A report that outlines all those things we love to hate about the Headhunters and how technology is slowly eating away at their fat commissions.

Declaration of my interest. My partner and I have developed a validated and normed psycometric test for pre employment screning called The Integrity and Values Profile. My clients love it and the recruiters hate it because it really does sort out the wheat from the chaff.

The Death of The Headhunter Free Report will be published online early march.

By: Ana

Ana — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:47:48 +0000

At IvyExec, a web-based recruiting company, we understand the frustrations that employers and job seekers have with recruiters and the traditional recruitment process. For this reason, we have revolutionized the process of matching employers and job seekers.

Employers who post on IvyExec.com include Fortune 500 companies, such as bulge bracket investment banks and top consulting firms. All of our jobs are pre-screened to ensure that the quality is appropriate for the caliber of professional we are targeting.

At IvyExec.com, we take the benefits of discussing specific desires and concerns with a recruiter and pair it with the benefits of a job board which you may review at your convenience.

By: Pip Macdonald

Pip Macdonald — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:22:14 +0000

The “Top 10 Things To Hate About Recruiters” is definitely worth remembering - as it helps recruiters pinpoint some best practice procedures. However often the limits of time, lack of available information/competition for placements (in cases of agency recruitment) may result in some of these annoyances which aren’t always in a recruiter’s sphere of control.
Just as recruiters need to step into the shoes of candidates to empathize with the emotions and frustrations wrapped up in the recruitment process - so too should the candidate step into the shoes of the recruiter and empathize with the constantly changing nature of information/role/hiring manager needs which means the amount of control and influence a recruiter has on the information provided to a candidate is often fluctuating.
Treat a candidate how I would like to be treated is always something I try to keep front of mind. I do however have competing demands of managing the needs of the client and only so much time to talk to the huge amount of talent in the market place - to invest time in every single person who puts their hand up for jobs they are not necessarily suitable for is both unrealistic and impossible - however of course wherever possible I will try to steer people in the right direction for their skill set.
Empathy and reasonable expectations on both sides will ensure an improved process across the board.

By: Jim Edwards

Jim Edwards — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:03:34 +0000

First you have to know where the jobs are before you mount a strategy to go after them. Most executive job seekers look to executive recruiters and job boards for open positions. The problem with this is recruiters get 15% of all executive searches and fill half of them, and only 1% of anybody ever gets a job from a job board.

By: Philippe Ohlund

Philippe Ohlund — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:54:09 +0000

I have never heard about hate towards recruiters, but I can understand it.

I am Swedish and live and work in Sweden.

But between April 2000 and April 2009 I lived and worked in Belgium.

In Belgium I lived in a town near the French border, called Mons, with a population of about 100.000.

Since I had worked as a salesman on commission in Sweden (I sold ads and newspaper subscriptions), I looked forward to a similar job in Belgium.

The languages are not a problem, since my mother was Belgian.

In Belgium I contacted several recruiting companies like Randstad and Manpower.

One day I was contacted and I was told they needed a telesales agent for a company.

When I got to the company they actually needed someone to unload their trucks.

I told them I had a Swedish law degree and had worked with sales all my life, I’m almost 50 years old, and that this was not the job I expected.

I thought the difference between what I had been told and what I was supposed to do was incredible.

Last new year I was on another occasion recruited by Manpower in Antwerp, Belgium’s fashion capital, to work as a salesman for Sony Style in Brussels, selling laptops and different electronic devices to the Scandinavian and French speaking markets.

But after an introduction at the company, I was told they didn’t need sales personnel, and that I was hired to receive customer complaints.

I worked with customer complaints for about a month, but I didn’t like it, and decided to move back to Sweden, where I presently successfully work as a consultant selling insurances on commission.

By: Ivan | Jobs Blog

Ivan | Jobs Blog — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:02:02 +0000

Everyone hates recruiters, and recruiters hate job board owners.

And yet they would so much like to own a job board.

I am guessing the hate raises when you pay for the service (in money or in your time) and get nothing in return?

By: Harshit Sekhon

Harshit Sekhon — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:01:06 +0000

I can relate to some of the points put forth as a candidate. My pet peeve is recruiters’ inability to filter candidates based on an assessment of their ability and instead trying to look for a 100% fit to put in the least amount of work. Would be interesting what the recruiters have to say about this article.