Re: [ljc] Advice, please, for a new RecWorks recruiter
| From: | Darren B. |
| Sent on: | Thursday, March 17, 2016, 8:13 AM |
Hi Byron, RecWorks,
I have been trying to keep up with all the responses and if I am honest, the frustration is approaching 'recruiter spam' level. The irony of it... that I am adding to.
Is there not a better medium for this kind of conversation?
TL;DR
Avoid automated matching and lead generation systems. They upset everyone.
Someone suggested an affinity map, which is an awesome idea +10
Reiterating, air-time is expensive, so do not waste it; do your due-diligence and research your clients and candidates and do not withhold information they have requested by email.
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Going into detail (apologies all for the very long contribution)
Most of my peers here have said many interesting things and every contractor I know grumbles about the same.
It sounds like you are in good hands with RecWorks. I think a lot of the problems discussed will likely be dealt with at the RecWorks level, so striving to work to the high standards there will get you a lot of mileage.
A CTO here talked about the working relationship they have with RW and the problems they had with a couple (of many, presumably) other recruiters; I would encourage you hiring managers to name and shame those problematic recruiters in the hope they will lose business and disappear.
Both clients/employers and candidates suffer when recruiters are poor.
Is Glassdoor appropriate for that?
Forgive me if it has been pointed out, but a lot of these problems are seeded by the use of automated, keyword-matching software; do not use such things.
It has happened that I have been placed in a contract and in the first week been spammed on an old email address by the same agent that placed me... pretty sure a few clicks and searches would have revealed I was already on placement, but without the human touch that will not happen. Furthermore, I had confronted the agent by email about the higher-rate (than what I was on) and the exciting technologies (that I was not working with) touted, but had to follow-up days later by text (SMS) to find they were not even aware the email went out or that I replied to it.
Awkward.
Automation is useful for 'low-variance processes' that are prone to human error. It does not apply here; a candidate trying to find a job and pay their mortgage and/or feed their kids is not a 'low-variance process'.
That said, a system I would like to see is one that provides transparency and useful client-candidate engagement at the early stage.
A lot of bigger companies use portals but often they are for internal use only; it would be useful for a candidate to get a limited view.
A candidate could login and monitor their application and thus have some guarantee that their CV was submitted. In the event of a rejection, the same system would be used to ensure feedback is provided to the candidate, bypassing the agent who has long since shifted focus back to cold calling.
In-lieu of that, strive to obtain quality feedback from clients for both rejection and next-stage progression cases to keep the candidate informed. Good feedback is the best way for a candidate to improve themselves and/or prepare and better their chances of securing the role they really want.
I have alluded to a problem of CV hoarding or 'shortlisting' as a practice and a disparity between 'permission to represent' and actual representation, as in, applications made. I really feel there is an awful opportunity/conduct there of some really bad anti-competitive behaviour amongst agents, to the detriment of the candidate, mostly, but also to the client.
Do not take a fourth candidate's CV if you are only allowed to submit 3 CVs to your client.
It is definitely worth being respectful of candidates' (also your clients') time.
Know the domain of the role you are covering or at least do not pretend to know:
Do not tell a Scala Dev that Scala is not being used anymore because Java 8 is being used. With such or similar statements, be prepared to explain why it is or should be the case. Better to not offer an uninformed opinion and just keep it simple.
Do not ask a candidate applying for a Big Data role what it is they like about Hadoop or Spark as if it were some sort of test... unless you actually do know what Hadoop or Spark are and do (differently). Better to leave that to the client i.e. the interview.
Do not tell a candidate East Croydon is one stop on the tube from London Bridge, one stop being a walkable distance, which is not the case for one stop on an express train. Basically better to not be laughed at down the phone, memorise Zone 1 of the TFL tube map if you yourself are not a Londoner. Better yet, visit your client.
All these are quite specific conversations I have had with recruiters, but I am sure many here have had similar experiences.
My point is, you do not want to lose the faith and trust of a candidate or make the wrong first impression when they have a dozen other agents queuing to talk to them.
On that note, many agents cover the same roles. Save your time, by doing your due diligence on the candidate, and your candidates' time further by being forthcoming with role information:
- Who the client is; the candidate may already have representation
- What the (near exact) location is; the candidate wants an idea of their possible commute
- The rate/salary; just state what the client is offering as they will likely have a relatively fixed budget.
- Perm or contract, if the latter, for how long
On rate/salary disclosure, there is really no point inflating this or advertising a crazy wide band e.g. '£60-£120k doe', next to a fixed set of skills and technologies. It reflects you do not know what your client wants or rather that you are too lazy to communicate that effectively to the market.
Also, I use rate/salary to gauge what is expected of me as a candidate and to what standard and rigour I can hopefully expect from the team I will be joining; when I am hiring, flip all that around.
I have rabbited on a bit and my soap box looks like it's ready to break.
Do everything you can to foster good working relationships and sincere engagement. And try not to sound like a car salesman or that you just finished a course in NLP :)
Sent from my iPhone
On 15 Mar 2016, at 10:46, Maggie Cranford <[address removed]> wrote:
Hi guys,
I’m writing today with a message from one of my RecWorks colleagues, Bryon,"Barry suggested writing to you to get your thoughts and advice on something. My name is Byron Donovan, I am the newest recruiter of the RecWorks team. I am quickly learning and understanding Java from some of the seniors here but I’d love to get some advice from Java developers in the industry on what to do and not to do as a new recruiter entering the tech industry. The guys at RecWorks have told me that typically recruiters have a bad reputation, so I’m keen to understand what I can do to make sure I can do things well.
If any of you have any advice please contact me directly or just reply to the group. I’ll be along to a few LJC events soon so if you see me please come and say hi!
Thanks,
Byron”
As Byron says, he’d be happy to receive feedback via the list - or feel free to send comments off-list using my email as I’ll be happy to relay them to Byron.
Many thanks!Maggie[address removed] |
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