Does any one in here work in IT recruitment??
Discussion
Alex said:
You do realise that IT recruiters are right down there with estate agents and double-glazing salesmen though?
So what do you do then ??
I have to be honest here, i'm getting pretty
ed off off with w*nkers on this site knocking my career choice, yes it is a career choice, been in recruitment for 10 years now, earned my reputation through the good and the bad times, always stuck with it despite crap, misinformed comments like yours. Not one of my consultants people has the traits of a DBGS or an estate agent.
If you dont like it fine, but why not put a bit of substance to your comments, if you've got something to say, say it.
I for one would love the opportunity to show you what a real recruiter can do for you, with a baseball bat if neccasary
Alex said:
You are obviously the exception to the rule.
No, there are plenty of them, quite a few on here that i'm surprised have stayed so quiet for so long...
Maybe you're just looking in the wrong place, its a common misconception of people that cannot see beyond the end of their noses.
If you have an axe to grind against recruiters, fine, but i, and i guess a few others on here would rather you didnt lob us all in to the same vein.
There a lot of cowboys out there, name me an industry/profession that does'nt have them, but i think a little unfair that we are all lowest of the low, a bit harsh, and i particulary take exception to being compared to an estate agent, good or bad
.hughesie2 said:
There a lot of cowboys out there, name me an industry/profession that does'nt have them, but i think a little unfair that we are all lowest of the low, a bit harsh, and i particulary take exception to being compared to an estate agent, good or bad
Hey! My father-in-law is an estate agent. Actually, you may have a point...
In my 15-year IT career, I have come across a handful of decent IT recruitment agents (you know, the ones that get to know the type of job you are looking for/trying to fill, return your calls, let you know if a client rejects your CV, only sends a handful of appropriate positions/candidates, don't exaggerate the salary on offer, take less than 20% commission...).
Most seem to just punch key words from CVs into a database and spam every "match".
I'd love it if once, just once, a recruitment consultant would phone up and say 'hey, I haven't actually got any work that would interest you, I'm just looking for leads. Could you give me some names please.'. I'd be so shocked I'd give them a list that would keep them going for a few weeks 
Thing is, like all professions there's good and bad people but you tend to only remember the bad.
I found that once I'd understood what the recruitment consultant actually does for a living and stopped seeing myself as the 'client' (although this is the impression a lot of them try to give you) it got easier to cope with.
>> Edited by ge2 on Tuesday 15th February 12:42
Thing is, like all professions there's good and bad people but you tend to only remember the bad.
I found that once I'd understood what the recruitment consultant actually does for a living and stopped seeing myself as the 'client' (although this is the impression a lot of them try to give you) it got easier to cope with.
>> Edited by ge2 on Tuesday 15th February 12:42
ge2 said:
I'd love it if once, just once, a recruitment consultant would phone up and say 'hey, I haven't actually got any work that would interest you, I'm just looking for leads. Could you give me some names please.'. I'd be so shocked I'd give them a list that would keep them going for a few weeks
I don't have a problem with recruiters, I use them to get the jobs i'm after and as long as I am happy with the position/wage then I don't see why I should care about their percentage.
What does amuse me are the follow up invites to lunch to see if you are getting on ok and the "one off" request during lunch to see if you can forward them the phone list from your past or current company, as they are always "trying to get their foot in the door at that particular company"
hughesie2 said:
You are obviously the exception to the rule.
No, there are plenty of them, quite a few on here that i'm surprised have stayed so quiet for so long...
Maybe you're just looking in the wrong place, its a common misconception of people that cannot see beyond the end of their noses.
If you have an axe to grind against recruiters, fine, but i, and i guess a few others on here would rather you didnt lob us all in to the same vein.
There a lot of cowboys out there, name me an industry/profession that does'nt have them, but i think a little unfair that we are all lowest of the low, a bit harsh, and i particulary take exception to being compared to an estate agent, good or bad
Fair point, well put. I also get fed up to the back teeth with people making assumptions. I run my own company now, purely set up on the basis of quality of service which was lacking in previous organisations I worked for.
I can see why people have the opinion of most recruiters being cowboys, but you should give some people the benefit of the doubt.
especially if they're PH'ers !!
obiwonkeyblokey said:
I can see why people have the opinion of most recruiters being cowboys, but you should give some people the benefit of the doubt.
especially if they're PH'ers !!
From the other thread on job interviews, it seems that hiring the right guy for the job is a real problem for most companies at one time or another. Sadly there are a few people in both recruitment and contract work that are very willing to take advantage of that. During the dot com boom, I helped interview IT 'experts' who listed diverse things such as Taxi driving and running a market stall as their recent employment. Why they even turned up, or for that matter why the agents sent them is beyond me.
For a company that does pick someone with innappropriate attitude or skills for the job it's often easiest to blame either the contractor or the recruitment guy. Those of us who depend on forming good reputations with the people they work with then face comments such as 'the last guy was useless', or 'you guys are just out to rip us off'. The highest complement is often "you're not like most contractors". Damn right, I want to get invited back.
I work in IT sales (large storage firm based in Brentford) - actually I'm Presales so I'm really a techie
The IT sales market is edging upwards again generally (although we're growing fast
). The forecast is for gentle growth over the next couple of years.
Pick your company carefully and you'll do well, but some are still struggling (like HP)...
As for recruitment consultants, I have good business relationships with one or two. It's definitely worth getting to know a few and passing CVs over etc, they'll remember you for sure when that dream role comes up! Most of them though couldn't give a toss about you and are only in it for themselves.
The IT sales market is edging upwards again generally (although we're growing fast
). The forecast is for gentle growth over the next couple of years. Pick your company carefully and you'll do well, but some are still struggling (like HP)...
As for recruitment consultants, I have good business relationships with one or two. It's definitely worth getting to know a few and passing CVs over etc, they'll remember you for sure when that dream role comes up! Most of them though couldn't give a toss about you and are only in it for themselves.
We do IT recruitment amongst other recruitment jobs.
The important thing to realise is that the recruiter is there to fill a position the client has, do it quickly and field candidates that meet the job specification and do so at a competitive salary.
In many cases the collection of cvs is there to ensure a list of contacts - perhaps the person you phone isn't interested, but they know somebody who is. What you are looking for is to put three candidates in front of the client, and any one of them should be immediately hireable.
The reason that recruiters make their money is that the best people for jobs often aren't looking for them. They don't read the classifieds every week trying to escape from their hellhole. As classifieds rarely work a recruiter will go and find the perfect fit for the job. When a colleague of a potential candidate says they may be a good fit - you find out. Now the next thing is to verify that the cv is not some work of fiction or excessively embellished. Most companies aren't really set up to do this - the recruiter sorts ot the wheat from the chaff - of which there is a lot.
Once we field the candidates and the client wishes to extend an offer we then negociate a salary and benefits package.
For jobs requiring a lot of skill there is a huge amount of work and after deducting office expenses etc the fees charged are around 30%. Local to me, fee rates have dropped, and we undercut those, because we can. It's a cutthroat business right now, but thousands of recruiters have gone bust - we haven't - so we must be doing something right.
The important thing to realise is that the recruiter is there to fill a position the client has, do it quickly and field candidates that meet the job specification and do so at a competitive salary.
In many cases the collection of cvs is there to ensure a list of contacts - perhaps the person you phone isn't interested, but they know somebody who is. What you are looking for is to put three candidates in front of the client, and any one of them should be immediately hireable.
The reason that recruiters make their money is that the best people for jobs often aren't looking for them. They don't read the classifieds every week trying to escape from their hellhole. As classifieds rarely work a recruiter will go and find the perfect fit for the job. When a colleague of a potential candidate says they may be a good fit - you find out. Now the next thing is to verify that the cv is not some work of fiction or excessively embellished. Most companies aren't really set up to do this - the recruiter sorts ot the wheat from the chaff - of which there is a lot.
Once we field the candidates and the client wishes to extend an offer we then negociate a salary and benefits package.
For jobs requiring a lot of skill there is a huge amount of work and after deducting office expenses etc the fees charged are around 30%. Local to me, fee rates have dropped, and we undercut those, because we can. It's a cutthroat business right now, but thousands of recruiters have gone bust - we haven't - so we must be doing something right.
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