[LRUG] Fwd: ADVICE

Fri May 24 03:24:08 PDT 2013

Sent this off list originally, but as this is becoming a discussion,
here's my response:

Hey Rob,

As a quick summary as to why ppl (employers and employees) don't like
recruiters, in my experience 90%+:

* don't work in the best interests of anyone but themselves and their commission
* make work for the employer, rather than reduce it
* charge very high rates
* indulge in unethical practices

I could go on, but I won't. Google for as much recruiter flaming as
you're keen on hearing.

In my personal experience alone, I've come across recruiters who have:

* had no understanding or personal experience of the space they're
working in, at all
* called companies pretending to be from HMRC doing a staff audit, to
then poach staff (pre linkedin)
* sent over numerous incorrect CVs wasting clients' time (I've even
heard of double figures!)
* found out where a candidate is on interview, and then sabotaged the
interview so they can place them with their clients
* sent CVs to clients they had no clearance from the candidate in
doing so creating all sorts of bad
(http://www.team-prime.com/blog/why-candidates-should-always-know-who-sees-your-details/)

... and more and more and more.

Sadly, it's an industry that people can make big bucks regardless of
their morals and ethics and smarts, because companies can get
desperate when they need to expand and will work with folks who appear
to be able to help, without doing too much research into what that
recruiter is really like, and so the problem persists.

Good luck though: being a good recruiter in a sea of mostly bad is very very
hard work, but achievable. I've been a sole female programmer
in large teams of men, and a woman in technology all my life and found
nothing as soul destroying or hard as when I was a "traditional"
commission based recruiter (I managed a year in my early twenties).
For me, mixing it up and basing my niche around building teams and
never pitching for business (everything we do is from referral or
request) means we never have to worry about how to sell, and also
means folks want to work with us from the get go. Which is nice.

Also if it's useful for you to know, we work 95% on _non commission_
based models (so, like a partner), only using commission if a client
will only work in that way. It's my least preferred way of working.

Lastly, I wrote a post asking the community to highlight good tech
recruiters, if it's useful for anyone on list for your PSLs:
http://thayerprime.wordpress.com/2012/11/22/who-are-the-best-technology-recruitment-agents-in-london/

Thayer

On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 11:18 AM, Buford Taylor <buford at rentify.com> wrote:
> Here's why Rentify does use recruiters.
>
> On May 17th, I met with this recruiter to talk about some candidates he had,
> and on THAT morning, one of my devs got this:
> http://content.screencast.com/users/bufordtaylor/folders/Jing/media/a183b21c-50b3-4956-8754-d5bd316fa554/00000004.png
>
> Recruiters are just in it for the money.
>
>
> On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Steve Buckley <steve at hackerjobs.co> wrote:
>>
>> Hey Rob
>>
>> I'll try and simplify it for you.
>>
>> There are two primary factors at play:
>> 1. The extortionate costs in exchange for a poor service.
>> 2. The deceptive and underhanded tactics practiced by the majority of
>> recruiters in the agency industry.
>>
>> If you want to explore those two points in a bit more detail then I
>> suggest you read one of my older blog posts "All that's wrong with the
>> Recruitment industry" -
>> http://hackerjobs.co.uk/blog/2012/6/15/all-that-is-wrong-with-the-recruitment-industry
>>
>> - Steve
>>
>> From: Rob Beattie <RBeattie at recruit360.co.uk>
>> Subject: [LRUG] ADVICE
>> Date: 24 May 2013 10:29:47 BST
>> To: "chat at lists.lrug.org" <chat at lists.lrug.org>
>>
>> Morning all,
>>
>> I hope you are well.
>>
>> I appreciate this might be opening a can of worms but I’m keen to get your
>> thoughts and ideally some advice.
>>
>> I signed up to LRUG a month or so ago in order to try and gain a better
>> understanding of the Ruby market in London.  I’ve had a positive response
>> from a few candidates but generally speaking I see antipathy towards
>> recruitment consultants / agencies.
>>
>> I know there’s a stigma attached to our industry but I can assure you we
>> aren’t all bad!
>>
>> What I’m trying to understand is why employers, and to a certain extent
>> candidates, are so against working with agencies?  Is it because of fees?
>> Have you had bad experiences?  If it’s company policy, why is it company
>> policy?
>>
>> I appreciate there are a lot of companies who now operate a direct
>> sourcing model and simply don’t need to use agencies.  I get that and I
>> understand your reasoning behind this, but for companies who are struggling
>> to find good candidates, and don’t have the resources in place to spend the
>> majority of their day sourcing candidates, why won’t you use agencies?
>>
>> For those of you who are open to working with agencies, what do you feel
>> is the best way for me to approach your company?
>>
>> I’m open to suggestions, although things like die, rot in hell and get out
>> of recruitment aren’t options I’m afraid :-)
>>
>> I take pride in what I do and so it would be really helpful to get your
>> thoughts.
>>
>> I don’t want to clog up the mailing list so if you have any thoughts /
>> advice, I’d be extremely grateful if you drop me an email or alternatively,
>> feel free to give me a call.
>>
>> I look forward to hearing from you.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Rob
>>
>> Rob Beattie – Recruit360
>> Tel - 08450 310 360
>> Direct line - +44 (0) 117 906 0146
>> rbeattie at recruit360.co.uk
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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-- 
Thayer Prime
--------------------
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Team Prime Ltd
http://www.team-prime.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/thayerprime
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