Do you believe in ghosts? - Today is National Paranormal Day! ...wtf does that even mean?!?
Hi! I believe you are one of the top 5 developers in your city! Yeah, sure..
New Year, new challenges. sent beginning of January, how original...
The Best IT Pioneers are Looking for You!
Hi! You just won a lottery ticket worth $$$ per year :facepalm
These are just a bunch of Email subjects I received in the past months from Recruiters and Head Hunters. I was pretty sure I could find more but apparently the stupidest or most boring ones went straight to the bin.
What happened to the Recruiters/HeadHunters in the past 3 to 4 years?
In the past, I was also receiving quite a big deal of offers or contact requests from recruiters but I remember them as more professional and discrete: either they were asking honestly if I was interested in their "help" in searching new opportunities, or they were directly suggesting a specific position.
I understand that the market of recruiters ( and developers ) is now very crowded and competitive, but seriously,
trying to catch my attention with such cheesy/cheap clickbait subjets is very sad.
Even though I am not actively looking for a new job, it would be stupid to not be aware of what the market is looking for or offering, so sometimes I reply and ask for more info about the position they are offering - and for which I would be - their own words - a perfect match!
That's when the recruiters start to become vague about the position they mentioned and say that before they can disclose information about company salary and whatsoever they'd like to have an introductory chat to really understand if my profile really matches ( wasn't that the reason why you contacted me in the first place?).
If you make the mistake to arrange this quick chat
(as I did more than once... I am too nice and every now and then I give a new recruiter a chance - and fall in the trap) you will be kept for about 45 minutes on the phone to answer lots of questions about your experience and skills that clearly show they haven't read your profile at all - and that they have no idea what they are talking about:
I am a Node - React full-stack dev, why are you asking me if I use Maven and SpringBoot in my daily tasks!?!.
The truth likely is, they have no position ready for you. They just want to fill up their Database of contacts to pick from for whenever they will have something.
I find this very unprofessional and disappointing.
As much as I hate when they make cold calls. If they managed to find out your phone number or have it from that quick chat happened months before, they just call you without notice to discuss your current status or ask what you think about a job offer.
Can't you realize that I am very likely at work, in my office at my current company, actually doing my job, and that could be a bit uncomfortable having such a conversation there? Just send me a quick email or message and arrange a suitable time.
Seriously recruiters, do not waste people's time, do not spam people's email with cheesy templated messages ( once I received the same email for the same position from two recruiters of the same agency - with the exact same message) and don't ask me to present myself so that I look a good catch for you to show off at the hiring company.
I have LinkedIn, I have Xing, I have a blog, everything I can say about myself to catch your ( or the company's ) attention is there, and YOU contacted me, so YOU should make the company and position appealing for me, not the other way around.
Do not waste my time. Be professional, and precise. Tell me immediately what is the job about and the name of the company.
And don't ask me for my current salary - everyone knows how knowing the salary affects the salary negotiation during the interview - so I will not let you know.
Photo by Free To Use Sounds on Unsplash
Oldest comments (54)
I already got a few messages in which I was contacted with "Dear Mr. ..."
Even though my last name may be confusing, none of them looked at my profile. My profile picture alone should make it clear that I am not a man.
oh... that's is so bad.. have you ever spent a few seconds to point it out to them?
Some of them I actually answered. One answer was that the message was definitely designed to fit my profile, and that there was only a mistake with my name… I don’t know if I should believe that :D
Normally I think that I don’t want to invest more time into it, they lost me by making that mistaken anyway.
exactly. I also try to not waste more of my time on that. but sometimes the temptation of pointing out their unprofessionality is stronger :-)
You can believe if the recruiter is Polish as they have different versions for male and female surnames. For them your surname is "male" while the "female" version is be Gawlinska.
I'm aware of that - but you could still prevent it if you take a closer look at the profile. :)
Definitely. But your case is "local". Imagine a guy named Ashley or Lindsay 😁
What about not judging by looks gender this and that rights. I would start with dear whateveryoucallyourself just to be sure. Joking aside mr and mrs could be replaced by developer/engineer and such 😁
Drugs are bad mkay. - the only valid reply to some recruiters
I've been having the exact same interactions with recruiters. It's gotten to the point where I just ask them for the employer and salary up front. If they can't give that, they're wasting my time.
that´s been my approach too lately...
I do the same of course with tact and class. I couldn't possibly do the "quick chat on the phone" with all of them every week. I have had a number of recruiters say they appreciate the upfront approach.
It's bots and template emails. I have to constantly remind myself recruiters may be casting the biggest, broadest net as fast as they can.
What's sad though is poor experiences with recruiters become a reflection on the company. So whether you are looking or not, that can impact your decision to apply to that company in the future.
I have been contacted:
I've also had a recruiter micro-manage me through interview preparation ("DO prepare, DO wear a nice shirt on the call, DO NOT talk about salary, or deviate from the number we gave them"), while he obviously couldn't be bothered to run a spell checker on his email.
So yeah...Not that I mind the attention, but it is tad unprofessional at times.
oh.. those tips are really ridicoulos, do they think they are dealing with kindergarden kids or IT professionals?
btw.. don't deviate from the number they game them!? unbelievable..
Fun update: today while looking at the list of people who viewed my profile on LinkedIn, I found this gem of a recruiter: his profile pic is him, waist up, shirtless, ripped and flexing :D
Was it Robert Half? Either way, I have had the same issue with a number of different firms. Very annoying I feel your pain.
Recruiters have really left a bad taste in my mouth lately. I still entertain them every once and a while if they have something that might be particularly intriguing, but they have really become increasingly unprofessional.
Story #1: About a year and a half ago, I was contacted by a recruiter for a position at a larger startup locally of whom he was representing. After some phone interviews and a technical interview, I really liked the product I'd be working on and the team. I received an offer and accepted.
My boss was on vacation that week, so I asked to start in 3 weeks, so I could give a proper notice. I spoke with my boss toward the end of the week and she asked if I'd be open to a counter-offer. I took the weekend to think over my options and it was that weekend that my wife and I found out she was pregnant with our second child. Monday, my boss came back with a counter offer that was not only stronger, but it gave me a promotion to a higher position with the promise of building out a team of developers under me.
Now, somewhat freaking out over the news of a child and the uncertainty of my employment, we both felt much more comfortable with me staying where I was, especially since I'd be getting a pretty large raise, so I declined the other offer. What happened over the next few days is the craziest amount of unprofessionalism I've ever experienced.
The recruiter called me at least 50 times over and over throughout the course of 2-3 days. There were ~15 emails and countless texts of him telling me I was making the wrong decision and he could get me even more money (he told me before the offer they gave me was as high as they'd go when I tried to negotiate, but then started promising me $20-30k more 🙄 - keep in mind, he doesn't work for this company). The company itself actually, very nicely, offered to pay Cobra insurance for me to accommodate the gap in coverage I'd have with their 90 day policy, but in the end, there was no way I was accepting just because of the crazy recruiter.
Story #2: I've chatted with a recruiter before and even gone out to lunch with her and really liked her and loved her approach... She contacts me for a job out of the blue and asks if I'd be interested and I tell her yes, giving her the usual update on my skills, blah blah blah. We talk about the position and I'm getting pretty excited, then she asks me to do a React assessment because I've never held a position working with it at a job.
At first, I thought her question was reasonable, but I have 5+ years of experience and hold a senior level-position. I have vast experience with Vue and have done significant work in Node and PHP and get my hands dirty in .NET if I have to. I use React on several side projects, and have used Angular 1 and it's newer variants on a few projects. If they're only interested in hiring someone who can answer useless React trivia in some outdated multiple-choice assessment, then I'm not your guy. For an entry-level person who has zero work experience at all, at an entry level position, sure, but I felt super insulted, especially coming from someone who I thought I'd cultivated a pretty good and understanding relationship with...
Story #3: I interviewed for and was offered a position at a company and offered a ~$25k raise. Up until this point, everything was great, the company was awesome (some of the smartest devs I've ever met), the recruiter was an ex developer who really knew his stuff, the company was a 5 minute drive from me and the technology they were working with was right up my alley. I distinctly remember the recruiter delivering the offer to me over the phone and saying, "I'm going to send you the offer and the benefits, definitely go over everything and make sure it works good for you and your family. At the end of the day, you have to do what's right for you." I thought this was super cool, FINALLY, a recruiter who actually cared about me.
Wrong. After looking over the benefits package, everything looked great, except the health benefits, which were twice as expensive as what I already had. The offer letter also contained a clause, which I went over with my attorney, that stated that they had sole rights to any work I did outside of the position, regardless of if it was done on company property or not (this is a no-go for me, as I freelance on the side). Moreover, they were unwilling to write a work-at-home day into my contract, which I had specifically told the recruiter was a deal breaker for me if they couldn't deliver on other fronts.
I declined the offer and the recruiter told me he was, "Sure they could make good on all my concerns, but it seemed like I made up my mind, so he wasn't going to wait for me." How they going to change the health benefits they offer everyone for one person...? 🤣
Moral of the Story: My current company is awesome and the grass is definitely not always greener on the other side.
thanx for sharing your "interesting" stories. :-)
I understand they can get pretty upset of seeing all their efforts ( and their share) vanish when you change your mind, but seeing them become annoying or rude is very sad and proof of their unprofessionalism.
I also feel kind of insulting, when in introductory chats or ( even some tech interviews ) after having discussed infrastructure design, cloud architecture, leadeadership and mentorship skills etc, you are handed over a silly coding task..
There are few I know who actually keep a good set of information about me and use that to make me feel as the most important person in the universe. It's a good feeling, I can't deny. They ask how I am, how it was on company X and why I moved to Y. Then talking about how working for Z would suits me because they have what I like (and tell me what I told them months or years ago). Some of them even gave me advice on how to write a good CV by pointing mistakes I had eventually made. They all started in the cold, but were able to build this relationship with me from day one by just treating me as a human being.
But the rule is, unfortunately, what you wrote. Most of them don't have any clue of - guess what - how to treat people like people. They learn about maximize results so... We get what we get.
There is a long way to go. All we can do for now is to refuse to talk to such people.
yes, that's why I said in the past years it was not so bad. there were a few, keeping in touch regularly, normally twice a year for a quick update. it was very human and definetely worth the time spent.
now they became like used-cars dealers. fake politeness and fake interest in you just, as you said, trying to maximize their results.
they might be spamming 100 people a day - which are left with a bad taste in their mouth about every recruiter out there - but they end up with at least a couple of preys :-)
"used-cars dealers" - hahahaha I never thought about that, but I'm gonna use it from now on! 😁
They keep offering me jobs in locations that I never even visited or considered visiting.
Hi there our client in Norway is looking for a developer and we think you might be good fit.
that's not a problem per se - I actually moved to Hamburg from Italy even though I was quite happy there. I received an offer, discussed with my wife and made a life changing choice.
It's not good when you clearly state - as I often do know ( because I have kids in school already ) - that you are not considering any offer that requires relocation.
It is a problem when I clearly communicate in my bio that I am not willing to relocate and only work remotely.
But I see your point.
3-4 years? Longer than that, I'm afraid. Basically, since the proliferation of turn-key recruitment tools (like Taleo), things have been straight-garbage (and why so many messages include "I found your info in our database").
What's really great is the proliferation of recruiting mailing lists. You start noticing that some rando, low-grade recruiter (or, more frequently, recruiting-firm) keeps sending you recruitment emails. Many, the subjects are so awful that you never actually click on the email to see that there's an "unsubscribe" link somewhere in the email ...or if you do open the email and notice such a link, you find yourself internally-raging, "why the hell should I have to opt out of this shit you're slinging??"
My very favorite interaction with a recruiter was when they contacted me asking me if I was interested in the exact position I already held at the company I already worked for. We were hiring a peer whom I would be interviewing myself. "Yes, yes I would be interested in keeping my job, thanks for asking."
ah ah ah! something similar happened to a collegue of mine. He quit and we were looking for someone to replace him. Some dumb external recruiter contacted him offering the position he left the week before... :facepalm ...