Since you asked, this is it, copy/pasted from LinkedIn:
Dear recruiters,
I'm a software developer, and I signed up to LinkedIn, probably like many others - I'm not actually actively looking for a new job. I like my current job. That said, my employer knows that I'm not silly enough to turn down a better opportunity, if one comes along.
I also signed up to LinkedIn, knowing that I'm essentially "The Product" - we all know recruiters get paid a finders fee by a new employer, and I'm aware that LinkedIn charges for some of their services.
In my job, I write systems that interface with other systems, and I take personal responsibility for not overloading 3rd party systems, and generally for writing clean, efficient, optimised code. I work in an Agile environment, and as part of my job, I'm involved in Discovery and post deployment Support phases of the Development Lifecycle. That is, I don't just "throw code over the wall." (We've all seen the "DevOps" meme's.)
I'm genuinely open to approaches by recruiters (and I'm writing this, expecting that I might alienate some of you, I apologise in advance).
I only ask one simple thing of you.
Don't spam me. Don't send me mail-shots from LinkedIn's InMail system (though, do use InMail for personalised messages, if you wish). Don't just call my number out of the blue.
If you genuinely care about your clients (the employers), view my profile (before sending me a connection request, ideally). Skim read by all means, and if you think my skill set matches what your client is looking for, get in touch. I'll be able to tell if you've taken the time to get the feel of my skills before contacting me (LinkedIn provide a number of notifications), and if you have, I promise I'll take the time to reply with my honest thoughts.
Sure, I'm asking you to do more work. I get that. But I also know that I'm The Product, and without The Product, you don't get paid by the client. By all means, find an automated way to list potential candidates, then filter through those manually (heck, talk to a Developer... maybe LinkedIn will have some sort of API exposed...)
If you insist on spamming me, then depending on my mood, I will either ignore your message, or I'll reply to tell you that I don't want to talk to you, purely because you just spammed me. If I do reply to any spam, feel free to continue the conversation with righteous indignation. At least you'll have made me laugh for a few seconds before I carry on my day.
(And for those that are curious, yes, this post is in response to the latest bit of righteous indignation - but no, I won't be naming the recruiter responsible. In future, I might just reply with a link to this post.)
I am curious to see yours..
Since you asked, this is it, copy/pasted from LinkedIn:
Dear recruiters,
I'm a software developer, and I signed up to LinkedIn, probably like many others - I'm not actually actively looking for a new job. I like my current job. That said, my employer knows that I'm not silly enough to turn down a better opportunity, if one comes along.
I also signed up to LinkedIn, knowing that I'm essentially "The Product" - we all know recruiters get paid a finders fee by a new employer, and I'm aware that LinkedIn charges for some of their services.
In my job, I write systems that interface with other systems, and I take personal responsibility for not overloading 3rd party systems, and generally for writing clean, efficient, optimised code. I work in an Agile environment, and as part of my job, I'm involved in Discovery and post deployment Support phases of the Development Lifecycle. That is, I don't just "throw code over the wall." (We've all seen the "DevOps" meme's.)
I'm genuinely open to approaches by recruiters (and I'm writing this, expecting that I might alienate some of you, I apologise in advance).
I only ask one simple thing of you.
Don't spam me. Don't send me mail-shots from LinkedIn's InMail system (though, do use InMail for personalised messages, if you wish). Don't just call my number out of the blue.
If you genuinely care about your clients (the employers), view my profile (before sending me a connection request, ideally). Skim read by all means, and if you think my skill set matches what your client is looking for, get in touch. I'll be able to tell if you've taken the time to get the feel of my skills before contacting me (LinkedIn provide a number of notifications), and if you have, I promise I'll take the time to reply with my honest thoughts.
Sure, I'm asking you to do more work. I get that. But I also know that I'm The Product, and without The Product, you don't get paid by the client. By all means, find an automated way to list potential candidates, then filter through those manually (heck, talk to a Developer... maybe LinkedIn will have some sort of API exposed...)
If you insist on spamming me, then depending on my mood, I will either ignore your message, or I'll reply to tell you that I don't want to talk to you, purely because you just spammed me. If I do reply to any spam, feel free to continue the conversation with righteous indignation. At least you'll have made me laugh for a few seconds before I carry on my day.
(And for those that are curious, yes, this post is in response to the latest bit of righteous indignation - but no, I won't be naming the recruiter responsible. In future, I might just reply with a link to this post.)
This is way more proffesional than mine.. I like it man...
Feel free to steal bits etc - I'm happy to view it as Open Source ;)