[LRUG] What do people want to do with their career?

[Paul Robinson]

On 22 Mar 2012, at 09:08, Adrian Sevitz wrote:

> One problem occurs is that it's hard to find developers, because there's no central place developers all are. Which means you either have to do a lot of cross posting or go via recruiters. Or mainly go via recruiters, since sometimes thats the only way to find developers. 


In your email you say the difference between code monkeys and developers is the core difference of simply "knowing" technologies, and those who can adapt and learn to develop solutions to problems. All well and good. Here's my problem:

In my experience, recruiters are terrible at finding developers with problem solving skills. 

I've been on both sides of the fence, and I realise that the vast majority are playing buzzword bingo. If as a candidate I explain to a recruiter "this is what I can do, what's my market worth?" they have *no* idea. The vast majority of recruiters don't understand the jobs they are recruiting for, the people who best fit them, or the culture that exists inside a company.

There are exceptions, but they are remarkable in their extreme focus towards Ruby, our community and even their reading of posts on this list to help better understand the developers they're dealing with.

This makes them pretty much useless. I know how to find CVs and grep helps me play buzzword bingo quicker than they can. What is valuable is knowing that somebody with problem solving skills has asked some problem solving questions of the person they're proposing and been impressed.

I don't like bashing anybody for doing their job, but the reality is that most recruiters offer *very* little value for *very* high margins. What is keeping them from being obsolete? People who are too lazy to go out and find developers, talk to the community, learn about what the culture is like decide to instead just pay some bloke called Gavin who has a 2:2 in English Lit 20% of gross salaries to build their technical teams.

Those companies are thankfully going to be the first to get culled when the current investment bubble slows/bursts. Those who remain will have invested in the culture and the people around them.


> I also field 10 calls a week from recruiters who all give exactly the same pitch.


STOP TAKING THEIR CALLS.

Seriously, you're encouraging them. You are like the 1 person in a million who buys viagra pitched in an email or engages with a "Nigerian diplomat" that results in the rest of us receiving hundreds of spam a day because their numbers make hassling everybody a worthwhile pursuit.

You should make it clear - as I do - that if you want a recruiter, you will find one.

Fielding unsolicited pitches via phone or email slows me down, and as a CTO of a startup, I find it completely and totally socially unacceptable for other CTOs to field and take seriously unsolicited phone calls from recruiters: you are actually harming my workflow by giving them statistical success meaning they think it's acceptable to disturb me. If you take their call and hear their pitch, you've basically just slowed down 50 other CTOs that day...

Please, please, please stop.


> The advice below is good. If you're looking for a role, find companies you like and look at their jobs page. Even if they're not looking, contact them directly, and ask them to consider you next time they are.


I have a very short list of 3-4 people I want to talk to next time we hire more developers. I would love to hear from people who want to be added to that list. I think all CTOs do this.


> Also remember going directly to a company you come with no fees. If you're head to head with a similar candidate, the fact you don't cost 15-30% more in recruiters fees makes you more attractive and this can translate into higher salary or being offered the job.


Total cost of employment is a major factor in hire/reject decisions, especially for startups. Can't stress this enough. If as a candidate you go via a recruiter you are about 50% more likely to either receive a lower pay offer than if you didn't, OR you are just going to get rejected as too expensive, not because your salary demands are too high but your total cost of employment including recruiter fees are too high. Some firms can manage to absorb the cost, but it's becoming harder and harder to justify.


> Please not I'm note trying to bash recruiters here. I've used them with successes as well, and the good ones, are good. But sometimes it seems there are more recruiters than candidates in the market. 

Paul

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