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Want 30 Job Offers a Month? It's Not As Great As You Think
An anonymous reader writes: Software engineers suffer from a problem that most other industries wish they had: too much demand. There's a great story at the Atlantic entitled Imagine Getting 30 Job Offers a Month (It Isn't as Awesome as You Might Think). This is a problem that many engineers deal with: place your resume on a job board and proceed to be spammed multiple times per day for jobs in places that you would never go to (URGENT REQUIREMENT IN DETROIT!!!!!, etc). Google "recruiter spam" and there are many tales of engineers being overwhelmed by this. One engineer, fed up by a lack of a recruiting spam blackhole, set up NoRecruitingSpam.com with directions on how to stop this modern tech scourge.
Have you been the victim of recruiting spam?
Really? It's an example and all, but as developer born and raised in Detroit (the city proper) and a current resident of the city, is it necessary to kick the place even more? Any way, recruiter spam is a constant pest for me as well; one recent one was trying to get me interested in a "Live Chat Customer Service"' opportunity somewhere... I think I'll be taking a peek at NoRecruitingSpam.com .
The sharpest blade is no match for the sharpest mind.
Same thing happens with doctors and nurses, quite frankly.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I've even asked 'is this a real job? are you willing and able to hire a local?'
the look of shock on their faces when asked this very direct question is priceless.
usually, they lie. no, I'm wrong. they ALWAYS lie. and they fucking waste my time, collect my resume and my salary (a $100 data point, I'm told) and then I'm persona non-grateful (sic) to them.
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
I don't know about the "jobdiva" site mentioned at the "norecruitingspam" site, but I can certainly relate to getting too many unsolicited requests for my latest resume for "amazing opportunities" somewhere across the country. Obviously you didn't read my resume, asshole--it links to my web site, which always features... my latest resume!
Once I get more than one such email from the same domain, I just add 'em to my Postfix blacklist (surely I can't be the only engineer who still runs his own mail server?).
Sometimes I'll even add them after the first email (if there's any legit recruiter named "Satish Kumar", I'm sorry about the unfortunate coincidence).
Here's what my blacklist looks like at the moment:
Also, anyone who clearly hasn't read my resume (I know nothing whatsoever about Informatica... I just worked at a place with "Informatica" in the name) gets blacklisted. If you don't read my resume, you're lazy, and you're spamming. If you do read my resume, you'll also see the bit (in the first paragraph) about having little interest in working outside my city limits, and absolutely no interest in relocating. That alone has greatly reduced the far-away recruiter solicitations.
I used to work with big outfits like Tek Systems, but I've asked them to leave me alone (unlike the spammers, they will actually listen). Nothing wrong with them; I just decided I'd rather support local businesses. I've found two local recruiters, working for local companies (or self-employed) based here in my city. Both of them have gotten me great jobs. Any persistent out-of-state recruiters (who aren't named Satish Kumar) get a polite response explaining that I'm not looking for new recruiters. Any half-way decent company will respect that. I really don't get that many unsolicited offers anymore, and the ones I do get tend to be more interesting.
I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious. --Albert Einstein
I have over 25 years experience, and a lot of recruiters call me or email me. All the time.
For phone calls, I drive the conversation. I live in the SF Bay Area. Since I'm not willing to relocate (and it says that on my resume and LinkedIn profile), first thing I ask about is the location. If they can't be specific, are not familiar with the Bay Area, or don't live here, I tell them I'm not interested.
If the caller has a heavy accent, or has trouble understanding me, I tell them I'm not interested. If they can't communicate effectively with me, why would I want them representing me to a potential employer?
Then I ask them to be specific about the job and the company. If they are vague, or if the job is not in my niche, I'm not interested. Any contract-only position, likewise. Then comes line of business: Anything in eCommerce, banking, insurance, marketing, game development: not interested.
Then I ask about compensation. If it's below what I'm making, not interested. I don't tell them what I'm making now, or if I do I inflate it by 30%. Some stranger calls me on the phone and starts asking personal questions? None of their business.
Emails are easy to cull. Anything with a subject line intended to catch me eye or trick me into reading it (like when a stranger sends an email with subject like "long time no see") gets immediatley deleted. Anything which doesn't include the job location, or is a location I'm not interested in, gone. And anything that looks like it was sent by an algorithm (e.g. anything from CyberCoders).
Remember, there are a lot more recruiters than relevant opportunities.
I've been unemployed for 6 months and the job market in San Diego CA for electrical engineers is the worst I've ever experienced.
1. It's mostly recruiting companies doing the hiring. There seems to be a lack of direct company recruiting going on (At least in San Diego, CA).
2. If it is companies doing direct hiring, they want "new college grads" at all times of the year
3. They want master's degrees at a minimum.
4. Thay want someone who can speak Mandarin.
5. The list of skills required is so detailed and complex, it would be very difficult for someone to be a master of everything on that list, and one would have a terrible time maintaining any degree of focus to ensure a good result.
6. They whine to congress about the H-1B cap.
Fortunately for me, I have plenty of money in the bank and in investments, plus I have rental income. I'm 54, and not sure I'll ever get to be employed as an engineer again. I'm mostly keeping my self occupied with personal engineering projects and code. I'm hoping things eventually turn around, but am prepared to retire if they do not.
I had one a couple of years ago for which I expressed interest as I wanted to move to the area anyway. The guy wanted all kinds of info that was already on my resume, but also wanted my SSN, and when I refused to give him that, he wanted the last four digits. I don't know if it was an attempt at identity theft or he was just stupid, but that ended things right there.
Another one went but better at the outset but insisted that the interview had to be done over a video link. I kind of figured, OK, fine, whatever, but when I asked about Skype, he said I had to go to some particular office that was about 40 miles away and use their setup. I couldn't download software and use my camera, because it absolutely had to be done at one of the offices they contracted with, and I was to wear a suit and tie. That really broke it--there was really no need to do that when so many other options for web conferencing were available.
A friend did recruiting for a while. He's transitioned to a technical role now because he can't compete with the resume mills. I don't know what it will take to get past them and get some decent recruiters back into the fray, but it can't come soon enough.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.