Any tech recruiters/headhunters here?

[The Heretic]

What is it with recruiters/headhunters?

Don't they even remotely know the tech they are supposed to be recruiting for?

Half the time I have to explain the tech to them - usually to tell them that what they are looking for and what I know/do are not the same thing.

They waste their time, they waste my time, they waste the employers time by sending them resumes that are total mismatches. The least they could do is look the buzzwords up on the internet.

 

[Guest]

headhunters?

Leave my penis alone.

 

[honeylick]

Re: Re: Any tech recruiters/headhunters here?

Leave my penis alone.

but i don't wanna.

-reaching-

 

[SpiceCake]

I'm hunting heads, but I am sure it's not exactly what you mean!

But just in case.....

 

[LovetoGiveRoses]

Still looking TSG? Good luck. I hope the market starts picking up soon. There seems to be jobs around Wash DC.

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Re: Any tech recruiters/headhunters here?

but i don't wanna.

-reaching-

*shivers at the sight of shining, sharp knife*

 

[The Heretic]

Still looking TSG? Good luck. I hope the market starts picking up soon. There seems to be jobs around Wash DC.

Still looking, and the recruiters aren't helping any. I seem to either run into the kind that doesn't know the difference between Visual Basic and Java, or the kind where the conversation goes like this:

"Do you know or have experience with Oracle?"
"Yes"
"Oracle 8?"
"Yes"
"Oracle 8i?"
"Not Oracle 8i explicitly, but that is just a slight variation of Oracle 8."
"Sorry, we can't use you... click!"

Now I don't know Oracle, but that is a common example; the market is so tight right now that recruiters and HR people are excluding people from even passing on their resume because they don't exactly match the requirements. The people who you would actually work with, the people who know what the buzzwords actually mean, and know that a C++ developer is not the same as VB, yet know that SQL on one system is probably as good as SQL on another system, or that Java is cross-platform so the OS experience is not as important as the API experience - they never get to see the resumes.

 

[Carp]

What is it with recruiters/headhunters?

Don't they even remotely know the tech they are supposed to be recruiting for?

Half the time I have to explain the tech to them - usually to tell them that what they are looking for and what I know/do are not the same thing.

They waste their time, they waste my time, they waste the employers time by sending them resumes that are total mismatches. The least they could do is look the buzzwords up on the internet.

That was my experience too- I met with a half-dozen tech headhunters before giving up on that path- they had no clue what I did (and no interest in figuring it out), no clue what employers were looking for. They just wanted to send my resume out to everyone, and let the employer sort it out. Needless to say, it was a waste of my time, their time and I'm sure the time of the folks they sent it to- I doubt that they emps they sent my resume to even bothered to read it, given the quality of work those idiots did.

 

[The Heretic]

I'm hunting heads, but I am sure it's not exactly what you mean!

But just in case.....

I am also keeping my eyes open for the position of being a kept man. Do you have such a position? Do you offer a 401K? Long or short term contract?

 

[Carp]

I don't think the job mrket is going to turn around until we come to some resolution about what's going to happen with Iraq- there is way too much uncertainty in the market place for most businesses to make any kind of substantial move.

Best of luck, and hang in there. Be glad you're not in Minnesota. I have a good frined whose contract expires soon, and he's thiking he'll switch careers out ot tech.

 

[sunstruck]

Tech Headhunters have minimal knowledge of tech. They are acutally hired for their backgrounds in human resourses and given lists of requirements for specific jobs they need to fill. They are a pain in the ass waste of time and the best thing you can do in a situation like the one you described is lie. lol

Not big huge lies like
"Do you have expirience with Oracle?"
Says "Yes" Thinking "What the fuck is Oracle?"

But on the 8i thing? Say yes, then get online and read up on the changes or find someone who uses it and play around for a while. Or don't. Either way, if you know you're qulaified you're looking to get the interview. The person hiring you will know the difference is minimal.

 

[The Heretic]

But on the 8i thing? Say yes, then get online and read up on the changes or find someone who uses it and play around for a while. Or don't. Either way, if you know you're qulaified you're looking to get the interview. The person hiring you will know the difference is minimal.

My problem? I am instinctively honest.

But that is not my main problem - just my problem with recruiters.

My main problem is that I am a Java developer who has little experience in web development - I worked for one of the few companies that used Java for a desktop application. Most Java development is server side web development, my experience is client side non-web development.

At one time just knowing Java was enough to get recruiters to call you unsolicited, but now Java developers, ones with years of web devo experience, are a dime a dozen. The best thing I can do is stress some of my other skills and experience that most developers don't have (QA, etc.) and try to low ball them. But either way I run into recruiters.

Nowadays most employers don't want to hear from propsective employees directly - they employ recruiters and HR people to act as a filter. The problem is that these people don't know their ass from a hole in the ground. What they need to do is hire people like me who know the tech and who can sift through the resumes - but of course they won't do that because their industry is hurting too, and because it would highlight the fact that they are ignorant paper pushers.

Maybe I should hire myself out as a recruiter to the companies - or rather as someone who knows the tech who can filter through resumes?

Nah - if they are so stupid as to think that recruiters can do this for them, why would they hire me.

The whole world is filled with stupid people!

 

[SpiceCake]

I am also keeping my eyes open for the position of being a kept man. Do you have such a position? Do you offer a 401K? Long or short term contract?

Hmmmm - yes I do!

 

[The Heretic]

I don't think the job mrket is going to turn around until we come to some resolution about what's going to happen with Iraq- there is way too much uncertainty in the market place for most businesses to make any kind of substantial move.

Yeah, one way or another that situation needs to be resolved. Personally I think we should just let it drop - but of course that would make Bush look stupid and weak, and he can't have that.

I have a good frined whose contract expires soon, and he's thiking he'll switch careers out ot tech.

He may be about to lose his job, but hell if I were him I wouldn't drop out of the tech sector just for that reason. There are a lot of people in the tech sector who have been unemployed or underemployed for quite some time. Contracts expire - get another job.

I don't know what else I would do - almost all of my recent experience for the last two decades is in the tech sector, I can't do physical work, I am not a people or management person - I'm a geek! This is what I do.

I know I have heard this from other people who were laid off in other sectors - carpenters, mechanics, loggers, etc., but those industries were fading away due to changes in the industry. The tech sector is not going away - if anything it will eventually bounce back stronger than before (although dot.coms won't be the same). I don't forsee major changes in software development taking place for several decades at least. There is an unlimited market for software out there, and it still takes a human mind to create it. I don't think automated software creation will happen anytime soon.

The problem right now is the economy, not the specific sectors.

 

[The Heretic]

Hmmmm - yes I do!

Yes you do what? Have a position open or you offer a 401K?