I see recruiters as a necessary evil for people breaking into an industry. They don't have to be an evil at all.
There would be less of a distaste for them if they'd stop taking the lazy route of scanning LinkedIn for keywords and sending communications to people based on that software keyword hit alone. The recruiter's sole job is to find matches and facilitate connections. The software only helps them find people that fit the requirements. But they literally need to read the person's CV and whatnot to decide whether they actually even would be interested in the role that you as a recruiter are sending them. It's so lazy to just spam everyone with a keyword to see who bites. It is very frustrating when 90% of communications with headhunters is unvetted/unsuitable spam.
A second issue, is when a recruiter who hasn't gotten the candidate a gig still continually asks their list of potential candidates "Here's a job description. Do you know anyone who fits this?" The recruiter's job is to get the candidate a job, and not to turn potential candidates into head hunters doing their job for them. These people are looking for a paying gig through recruiter services, and instead are getting stiffed with doing the recruiter's work for free. Not cool.
Ask HN: What's Your Perception of Recruiters? · HackerTrans
There would be less of a distaste for them if they'd stop taking the lazy route of scanning LinkedIn for keywords and sending communications to people based on that software keyword hit alone. The recruiter's sole job is to find matches and facilitate connections. The software only helps them find people that fit the requirements. But they literally need to read the person's CV and whatnot to decide whether they actually even would be interested in the role that you as a recruiter are sending them. It's so lazy to just spam everyone with a keyword to see who bites. It is very frustrating when 90% of communications with headhunters is unvetted/unsuitable spam.
A second issue, is when a recruiter who hasn't gotten the candidate a gig still continually asks their list of potential candidates "Here's a job description. Do you know anyone who fits this?" The recruiter's job is to get the candidate a job, and not to turn potential candidates into head hunters doing their job for them. These people are looking for a paying gig through recruiter services, and instead are getting stiffed with doing the recruiter's work for free. Not cool.