DEV Community: kevin_kevin

Recruiters mess up all the technologies. Should we show them their mistakes? Or... laugh?

kevin_kevin — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 11:39:43 +0000

Alright, how about this? One more job proposal I got this week (I use my Reply.id bot for recruitment letters).

Should we explain to recruiters that it's not possible? That's funny in some way, but we r all tired of job descriptions like that. And maybe our dev community should somehow explain to recruiters what the hell is going on with tech stack, frameworks, etc. Just not to be confused by this kind of job proposals. And save their time.

Have you ever pointed to recruiters' tech mistake?

8 things I hate in recruitment letters [add yours, it's kind of research]

kevin_kevin — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 12:08:50 +0000

I am still making kind of research of the relations between recruiters and candidates. Here are 8 things that make me sick in recruitment letters.

And what bothers you in the emails with job proposals?

My name is not {first name}.
I am not willing to answer the letter that has "urgent" in the topic. That's not only unpolite, but also weird. Like I'd write them back: URGENT RELEASE PLEASE HELP FIND DEVELOPERS.
Recruiters worry about me and my health (not true at all). That's why they all start their letters with "I hope you are doing well". Why they disappear when I am really sick and need some lemon? :D
"Opportunities" everywhere. Almost all of them are unique.
I am not a rockstar.
Not a ninja.
No, not even a jedi.
And more important: Java and JavaScript ARE NOT THE SAME THING.

Remember my review of the tool called Reply.id? Still use it and my personal bot. Still works pretty well for me (and it's free, not like Chatfuel that I used before).

How I tested a new tool for recruiting letters

kevin_kevin — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 14:11:49 +0000

A few days ago I wrote an article about the bot I made for sorting job proposals. I received a lot of comments even though it was my first post here. As I got it, the topic is pretty hot. And seems I am becoming like "anti-recruiter blogger". Ha-ha, no! I like them all, just a bit bored...

So I've decided to test the tool I was talking about lately (found it on Product Hunt Upcoming). It's called Reply.id.

What's that?

AI Gmail filter + Bot that talks to recruiters

Now all the tools are AI MACHINE LEARNING BIG DATA (you know). But let's see, what do they mean.

Onboarding staff

You choose your skill set and level. You sign in with Gmail account.

Set up the questions a bot will ask recruiters.

Here is the bot I've made on Reply.id just in a minute or so. And remember
my bot on Messenger?

How it actually works

I've chosen to allow integration between Reply.id and Gmail account. When I received a letter from the recruiter, some new folder called "Job proposals" appeared.

So, the algorithm sees recruiters letters (so-called "AI Gmail filter") and sends them to a different folder. Alright. Afterwards, the tool automatically responds to all these letters with the link to bot and explanation (with the template I've chosen already during onboarding, so there are few of them).

That's how you see in "Sent":

If recruiter talks to bot, you'd see just the answers in a kind of spreadsheet. You can also open it up and see all the answers to the questions. Questions can also be added manually if needed.

So, it's a good tool for

those who really struggle from recruiters;
those who somehow are ready to talk about new career opportunities (then just put the link to a bot on social media and Github);
those who want inbox empty and structured.

Nice.

Have you ever been hunted by recruiters on Tinder?

kevin_kevin — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 10:20:41 +0000

My story about the bot for job proposals and the reaction on it made me feel that I am not the one who struggles. Some collegues of mine even told me that they are being attacked by recruiters on Tinder. What do you think about it? Maybe we should talk about it more. Like... where the borders are?

I created a bot that talks to recruiters for me (and it's sooo good!)

kevin_kevin — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 14:45:16 +0000

My name is Kevin, and I’d like to tell you a story about an easy way I stopped recruiter spam.

I am a Front End Developer, I have a good job, and I lead a team of 7 developers. But I receive so many letters from recruiters that sometimes I just don’t want to check my inbox. I know that they are there saying, “Hope you’re well!” and asking, “Would you like to have a chat?” No. I would not. I want to be alone with my tasks and my real job.

Sometimes recruiters even try to attack me on Facebook. Look at the Message Requests:

That’s how I decided that I would rather have a bot than read all these annoying letters again. I’ve decided to use the Messenger platform for my bot creation, because all recruiters use Facebook, and it will be easy for them to chat with my little digital brother.

There are tons of useful tools for bots, and, of course, you can do it yourself using no constructors. I’ve decided to stay on Chatfuel. It was easy to use it, especially when you understand the logic. I spent a few hours creating my bot, and here it is here it is, shining bright!

What was important to me?

As I get a lot of proposals every day, I know exactly what is important and what is not. I am a rockstar (hello, recruiter!) at finding the information I need from these huge and stupid letters:

Location: I currently live in Chicago, and I would prefer to stay here as long as possible. Therefore, I am not interested in relocation (only if it’s like… Bali). That’s why I added the question for recruiters about job location. This way, no matter where the jobs were coming from, I could just filter proposals later.

Skills: Seriously, recruiters, stop asking me about Java. I AM NOT A JAVA DEVELOPER. I wanted to add a small test or comment on the difference between Java and Javascript. I think that would be good for me… and for the recruiters also. See, I’m not evil. Something else about me — I am really interested in cool projects that can help me improve my React skills, which was another reason I added this question.

Experience: I have 4 years of experience, so it’s weird when I receive letters with 5 YEARS written in black and white. Stop using this as a criteria, or know exactly how many years of experience you need.

Salary: One more important thing. I added a filter at first, but it seemed impolite, so I got rid of it.
That was all it took to set up my bot — easy to use and hopefully setting me free from a garbage storm in my inbox.

But how to make recruiters use it?

I took the link and put it wherever I could — on my LinkedIn page, on GitHub, on Facebook, on Slack, on Instagram. I also made a Gmail template which answered recruiters something like this:

“Hi, dear recruiter!
Thank you for your interest.
If you want to tell me about some career opportunities, please use this bot:
It’s nice for both of us: I receive useful and structured information about your job proposal and you don’t have to spend hours writing letters and trying to find personal details that will make me open your letter.
Thanks,
Kevin”

Afterwards, I started to receive the first job proposals via bot.

This is how it looks on Chatfuel:

Inside it looks like this:

What is the best thing about receiving job proposals like this?

I can receive job proposals and job descriptions the way I want them. As you can see from the screenshot, on Chatfuel you can sort by the fields you want to see.
My inbox is less attacked by recruiters.
I can mass-message them! And leave everyone with feedback.
It’s now much more likely that the recruiter won’t disappear, because I have his or her Facebook profile, and I can see if we have some friends in common.
After a month of testing, I analyzed what had changed:

I am not as annoyed as before by recruiters. I have my work email and sort letters there as I want.

I received 4 interesting proposals.

I now know much more about the job market, skills needed, salaries, and so on. I have the stats of what recruiters offer me.

It’s kind of fun! Recruiters told me that they loved the way I solved the problem.

Could I live without it?

Of course. But it makes my life better. Details and time matter, so I definitely recommend you do the same.

P.S.

Later I found Reply.id on ProductHunt Upcomings and seems to me these guys made the tool for people like me. Maybe will try it later.