Ask HN: Which recruiters do you like?
Who are the most genuinely helpful recruiters (individuals), who you've interacted with and why? Hoping this might be a good supplement to Who's Hiring.
77 comments
Any recruiter is only as good as his/her listings. Comparing recruiters is like comparing NYC brokers. They're pretty much all terrible (principle-agent problem, along with tending to be the type of person who had to resort to recruiting because they couldn't get a better job), only as good as their listings, and inherently work to your disadvantage by making you significantly more expensive to employers (recruiters charge employers ~20% of your first year's salary). Again, even if your recruiter has an awesome personality and makes you feel fuzzy inside, at the end of the day he/she is only as good as his/her listings.
A better post would be to evaluate companies so that we can bypass the recruiters, make our own educated unbiased decisions, and capture all of our market value.
A better post would be to evaluate companies so that we can bypass the recruiters, make our own educated unbiased decisions, and capture all of our market value.
As a recruiter, I'd agree that many are terrible, and you're correct that many got into recruiting because it is an easy industry to enter. Recruiting firms pay commission-based comp packages, so the risk to a bad hire is rather low. Give them a phone extension and a computer, maybe a premium LinkedIn account, and they're off. Lots of C students in recruiting.
A recruiter's listings are somewhat important, but not as important as their knowledge of the market. A recruiter could have a weak contingency relationship with all the best companies in town, but if they don't understand something as basic as the market value of each candidate (not to mention a host of other things) they are doing their candidates a disservice.
Good recruiters usually have good listings because hiring companies tend to disengage from recruiting agencies that don't act ethically.
A recruiter's listings are somewhat important, but not as important as their knowledge of the market. A recruiter could have a weak contingency relationship with all the best companies in town, but if they don't understand something as basic as the market value of each candidate (not to mention a host of other things) they are doing their candidates a disservice.
Good recruiters usually have good listings because hiring companies tend to disengage from recruiting agencies that don't act ethically.
> Good recruiters usually have good listings because hiring companies tend to disengage from recruiting agencies that don't act ethically.
In my experience, companies that (have to) use recruiters tend to have other broken practices as well. For example, the person in charge of recruiting agency relationships - usually a non-technical middle manager - may neither know nor care about sound or ethical results.
In my experience, companies that (have to) use recruiters tend to have other broken practices as well. For example, the person in charge of recruiting agency relationships - usually a non-technical middle manager - may neither know nor care about sound or ethical results.
I disagree, I've worked with many great tech recruiters during the past 20 years that know the market. I've never had my resume submitted without my permission. The last time I was looking for a job with a certain salary, location, and work environment, they were extremely helpful filtering out the jobs that didn't meet my criteria.
Employers rarely post salary ranges and it kept me from wasting time by just telling recruiters I won't interview for any job that pays less than $X. I had 10 phone screens with different companies and an offer within two weeks - without blindly applying for a job that would have paid much less than was acceptable.
Employers rarely post salary ranges and it kept me from wasting time by just telling recruiters I won't interview for any job that pays less than $X. I had 10 phone screens with different companies and an offer within two weeks - without blindly applying for a job that would have paid much less than was acceptable.
Is there any particular recruiter you work with?
Dave Fecak, http://www.fecak.com/ and @fecak on here. Although he's never placed me (I'm on the west coast, and he really only recruits for NYC/Philly), he's volunteered his time to help me with some resume issues I've had. I'd contact him again in a heartbeat if I was looking in his backyard.
I can second Dave. He's a good guy, spends time getting to know you, your likes, and requirements. He also ran the Philly JUG for the last 10 (15?) years and kept it a place free of recruitment or sales pitches.
Thanks to you both for the kind words, and I do my best to provide a good service to my candidates and clients alike. And I did run the JUG in Philly for 15 years, resigning in February.
Dave - anyone you can recommend in the .NET arena in the Philly area?
.Net recruiters? Nobody comes to mind unfortunately. I don't know many recruiters actually.
If you're in NYC and looking for a tech role in finance - Kate LeSaffre @ Princeton Group is spectacular (https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=8894110)
She's a close friend, does none of the "bad recruiter" things (spam, annoying, etc.) and does all of the "good recruiter" things (interview prep, helps you negotiate salary, knows all the hiring managers at all the top hedge funds, etc.)
I know HN is a Silicon Valley-centric crowd, but for better or for worse, if you're the kind of engineer that wants to make $350k+ in finance, she'll help make that happen.
She's a close friend, does none of the "bad recruiter" things (spam, annoying, etc.) and does all of the "good recruiter" things (interview prep, helps you negotiate salary, knows all the hiring managers at all the top hedge funds, etc.)
I know HN is a Silicon Valley-centric crowd, but for better or for worse, if you're the kind of engineer that wants to make $350k+ in finance, she'll help make that happen.
I had a good experience with my recruiter. She was independent and was good friends with most of the HR managers at tech companies around the city. She told me the exact questions that each company would ask and told me who would be interviewing me and how to handle myself around them. I felt very confident going into interviews because of her. I had two follow up meetings with her at 2 and 6 months, which was just a 10 min coffee date to see if everything was cool (it was).
May I ask who this was?
Ashley from Sage Recruiting in Toronto (it's her company), @SageRecruting.
arguably it's kinda uncool to tell you what questions are going to be asked.
Why? Is pop quiz ability important for the job? I'd rather of prepared candidates. If it's technical questions they'll still need to work through the problem because showing their process is the important part of a technical question.
Anything else the employee is just going to Google if they don't know it, or it's a personal/goal type question which again preparation is better in my opinion.
Anything else the employee is just going to Google if they don't know it, or it's a personal/goal type question which again preparation is better in my opinion.
Melissa Sezto (https://twitter.com/mel_sezto). I meet with her almost 4 years ago and she took her time to get to know me, what I am looking for, my interests etc.
Aline Lerner! Former engineer. No bullshit.
http://blog.alinelerner.com/
Has anyone from outside the US had a good experience with a recruiter bringing them in on a H1-B / J1?
I'm not a recruiter but we tried to hire someone who needed an H1-B/J1 visa and it was truly awful. We went through trying to make it work/expedite the process but there was nothing to be done. He was awarded the visa and we would have still had to wait another 4 or 5 months till they could actually start.
I'm usually quite proud of the United States but it was baffling to me how challenging this was. We have a highly qualified person, who has an employer looking to pay them, of which they will have taxes going to the United States, you've already vetted them as being okay, and yet it's still going to take nearly half a year for you to allow them to come work here.
It makes me wonder what the hell people do all everyday at the government.
To answer your question, I don't think anyone, especially a recrutier, can make the process easier.
I'm usually quite proud of the United States but it was baffling to me how challenging this was. We have a highly qualified person, who has an employer looking to pay them, of which they will have taxes going to the United States, you've already vetted them as being okay, and yet it's still going to take nearly half a year for you to allow them to come work here.
It makes me wonder what the hell people do all everyday at the government.
To answer your question, I don't think anyone, especially a recrutier, can make the process easier.
Nice guy whose been contributing here on Hacker News for years:
https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Peroni
https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Peroni
Hey Ed. Not spoken to you in ages. Thanks for the kind words (as always).
I stumbled across a great technical recruiter in Australia. Contacted them saying I was considering becoming a web development contractor. Got a response the same day asking to come in for an introductory interview. Went over my skills and experience, recruiter got the ball rolling on a position they had open that sounded suitable. Position got delayed by a couple of months by the client but recruiter kept me updated and then contacted me when they were ready.
They handled all payslips from client to myself, superannuation payments, tax, etc on their end. Threw a Christmas party for all of their contractors every year.
The things I enjoyed most was reach-ability, them fighting for a higher hourly rate for me when renewals came up (at one point agreeing to forego their usual fee in my rate increase to make sure I got the entire increase to myself), and overall professionalism.
They handled all payslips from client to myself, superannuation payments, tax, etc on their end. Threw a Christmas party for all of their contractors every year.
The things I enjoyed most was reach-ability, them fighting for a higher hourly rate for me when renewals came up (at one point agreeing to forego their usual fee in my rate increase to make sure I got the entire increase to myself), and overall professionalism.
I don't know anyone who has ever had a positive interaction with a recruiter.
I got my current (awesome) job through a recruiter. I never paid attention to them, except this recruiter:
* was direct and forthcoming with the kind of work, the stage and culture of the company; * knew exactly what kind of work I did; * understood the field and could answer my questions.
None of the blanket "Oh hi, are you interested in position <has nothing to do with my line of work." crap. One cold call stating directly the kind of work which was actually relevant to me, said exactly what the position was and the relevant details.
* was direct and forthcoming with the kind of work, the stage and culture of the company; * knew exactly what kind of work I did; * understood the field and could answer my questions.
None of the blanket "Oh hi, are you interested in position <has nothing to do with my line of work." crap. One cold call stating directly the kind of work which was actually relevant to me, said exactly what the position was and the relevant details.
I know plenty of folks (myself included) who have had the exact opposite experience.
Outside of large tech focused firms, your typical HR department doesn't have the specialized knowledge to do tech recruiting. Outside resources and hiring "internal" recruiters has become pretty standard in the SF bay area for small to mid sized firms.
Outside of large tech focused firms, your typical HR department doesn't have the specialized knowledge to do tech recruiting. Outside resources and hiring "internal" recruiters has become pretty standard in the SF bay area for small to mid sized firms.
Depends on the recruiter. I've got one recruiter who's a former engineer that's been great (Noah of ScopusIT). I'd also second the FILD "devops" team for good work, although they have less background. I've also worked with some car salesmen types like Talend, which I've been disappointed by (Talend has been especially bad due to their failure to keep good notes)
Both of the two with whom I've had great experiences are in the Los Angeles area.
Wes Putnam of Putnam Recruiting Group (http://www.putnamrecruiting.com/). A former employee of his got me a great job, and when he left West personally took over the relationship, occasionally checking in to make sure I was still happy. They have a long-standing relationship with said employer of mine, and it seems they operate like that in general.
Spencer Allen of Fulcrum Hire (http://www.fulcrumhire.com/). Introduced to me by a former colleague, Spencer works with high quality and low quantity. The one interview he arranged for me nearly resulted in a job, and would've been a great fit if I had had a bit more experience at the time. He placed a close friend of mine with a company he's been very happy with for over a year, too.
I can heartily recommend both to anyone looking for a technology position in LA.
Wes Putnam of Putnam Recruiting Group (http://www.putnamrecruiting.com/). A former employee of his got me a great job, and when he left West personally took over the relationship, occasionally checking in to make sure I was still happy. They have a long-standing relationship with said employer of mine, and it seems they operate like that in general.
Spencer Allen of Fulcrum Hire (http://www.fulcrumhire.com/). Introduced to me by a former colleague, Spencer works with high quality and low quantity. The one interview he arranged for me nearly resulted in a job, and would've been a great fit if I had had a bit more experience at the time. He placed a close friend of mine with a company he's been very happy with for over a year, too.
I can heartily recommend both to anyone looking for a technology position in LA.
I've had good experiences with smaller recruiters. Generally, if a recruiter calls you and asks for an SSN to apply for a job then just hang up because it will be a waste of time to talk to them.
If, however, they want to meet in person, that's a sign that they're likely to match you with jobs that you have a reasonable chance of getting.
If, however, they want to meet in person, that's a sign that they're likely to match you with jobs that you have a reasonable chance of getting.
I see meeting in person as a bad thing. The 2 times I've done it seems to be a fishing expedition where they get a ton of info from you, but every time you ask them a question they give a vague answer
At which point in the process do they ask for a SSN? In the first call? I can't even imagine what the SSN is useful for in this case.
I've mostly had third-party contract recruiters for Amazon do this as a way of filtering candidates who can't legally work in the US. You'll end up giving them some information and then never hear back from them again.
I wouldn't even think of giving some random person my SSN. Although there seems to be a phenomenon of recruiters contacted people and then falling off the face of the earth. I think they just work by numbers. Send as many emails out as possible and hope they can find a candidate. It kind of upsets me when I get something that I'm clearly a good fit for. Then I think "maybe this recruiter actually filters before submitting people" and then they never respond when I reply to their initial contact.
I think about half the recruiters I worked with had some good jobs that didn't work out because the hiring manager they were working with had budget dry up on them. I think it's like any enterprise sales position. You end up talking to a lot of well-intentioned people without a lot of organizational backing.
Most of them talk to you to get an idea of cost and benefits so they can try to sell it to their bosses. You never hear back from them because they couldn't get any backing from the people above them. It's not that they weren't sincere, it's that there's a lack of support for their initiative, and the kind of decision they were trying to make required more buy-in than they could get at the time.
I think recruiters end up in this cycle too. The difference is that because you're the product you never hear about any of the actual sales work that goes on.
Most of them talk to you to get an idea of cost and benefits so they can try to sell it to their bosses. You never hear back from them because they couldn't get any backing from the people above them. It's not that they weren't sincere, it's that there's a lack of support for their initiative, and the kind of decision they were trying to make required more buy-in than they could get at the time.
I think recruiters end up in this cycle too. The difference is that because you're the product you never hear about any of the actual sales work that goes on.
Most of the better recruiters will at least tell me the position is on hold or it got pulled. Some just completely ignore me. I guess they get a huge volume of email too but it doesn't leave a great customer service feeling.
I've had great experiences with Nancy Soni and her team at FILD http://www.fildit.com/
She was incredibly helpful on both a personal and professional level. She reached out, and up an interview at a top Ecommerce company in NYC.
The company wasn't a great match for what I was looking for at the time (earlier stage, smaller team, building the groundwork) and she introduced me to an (at the time) much smaller company that I had never heard of.
But it was a great fit, and I loved the job for 2.5 years and used her to help grow that team.
She was probably the first person to convince me that not all recruiters are terrible.
She was incredibly helpful on both a personal and professional level. She reached out, and up an interview at a top Ecommerce company in NYC.
The company wasn't a great match for what I was looking for at the time (earlier stage, smaller team, building the groundwork) and she introduced me to an (at the time) much smaller company that I had never heard of.
But it was a great fit, and I loved the job for 2.5 years and used her to help grow that team.
She was probably the first person to convince me that not all recruiters are terrible.
Willem Wijnans, check his blog here: http://www.sourcingmonk.com
He's a tech recruiter now working for improbable.io < amazing startup in London.
He's a tech recruiter now working for improbable.io < amazing startup in London.
cheers man :)
I don't believe there's a single recruiter that's a good fit for anyone / everyone. If you form a good relationship with a well-connected recruiter they can definitely be an invaluable resource for you that help you get interviews that are outside of your network. It's also worth noting that, like most relationships, it something that is fostered over time, not just when you are job hunting.
Quality recruiters are very in-the-know as to who is hiring, what the going salaries are and are able to help you back-channel and get the scoop on people and companies.
Quality recruiters are very in-the-know as to who is hiring, what the going salaries are and are able to help you back-channel and get the scoop on people and companies.
Barry Cranford of Recworks in London is one of the few good guys. He started the London Java Community and his approach is much more about engaing with the tech community and definitely adds value to the process.
I'd be interested to see if anyone can recommend recruiters in London.
I've had nothing but bad experiences over the last few years so tend to ignore them now, but it'd be good to have a little list of decent ones.
I've had nothing but bad experiences over the last few years so tend to ignore them now, but it'd be good to have a little list of decent ones.
Java: Barry Cranford - https://twitter.com/bcrecworks
Ruby: Rhys Evans - https://twitter.com/rhysyevans
.NET: Adam Bolton - https://twitter.com/Adam__Bolton
Everything else - https://twitter.com/TeamPrimeLtd
Ruby: Rhys Evans - https://twitter.com/rhysyevans
.NET: Adam Bolton - https://twitter.com/Adam__Bolton
Everything else - https://twitter.com/TeamPrimeLtd
Aline Lerner, though she is not doing recruiting any more - she's now working on interviewing.io
http://blog.alinelerner.com/
http://blog.alinelerner.com/
Anyone specializing in REMOTE positions?
I was originally going to make a SAAS for recruiters, so I did customer interviews for about 30 of them. I came to the understanding that they all vary in the way they organize their information. There was even one firm that still had paper resumes on file. I think the best recruiters I talked to had a great skill at reading you like any great salesman. The ones that I did not like as much were fresh in the industry, and they sounded like they were sitting in a boiler room.
Ugh! This is so true. I've had good experiences dealing with both Aerotek and Development Resources Group (DRG here in the Twin Cities) both of whom found me great prospects, one of which I accepted. They both did really a really good job of matching me with open positions.
Beyond.com is still spamming me with openings even after I asked them to stop and the one rep I spoke to on the phone barely had a clue what I did and just kept trying to make my job experience fit what she was trying to push.
Beyond.com is still spamming me with openings even after I asked them to stop and the one rep I spoke to on the phone barely had a clue what I did and just kept trying to make my job experience fit what she was trying to push.
The role you were hired FOR, the languages used, the industry, and the company stage are all important details.
Some recruiting firms are very specialized and can charge a premium because of it.
Some recruiting firms are very specialized and can charge a premium because of it.
They're not a recruiter in the traditional sense, but I quite like hired.com - they're low-touch, and I much prefer to browse a list of candidates once a week than field endless emails and calls and hard-selling from traditional recruiters.
We've hired from them, and although I think the signal-to-noise ratio has got worse in the past year, I usually still see one or two interesting people.
We've hired from them, and although I think the signal-to-noise ratio has got worse in the past year, I usually still see one or two interesting people.
My favourite recruiter is an independent. Friend of a friend. Likes having a chat every now and then, only got me interesting leads so far. Even now that I am not interested in a new position, he's keeping good contact. James, http://www.thundercloudsolutions.com
I just landed a really great offer in NYC and a lot of it is because of Sarah Chimino at Andiamo (https://twitter.com/schimino). She always had a really positive attitude and I came away with it feeling like she was always going the extra mile for me.
I've enjoyed working with Hired.com from the POV of the employer doing the hiring.
My profile just opened up on there today. A very friendly 'talent co-ordinator'. It wasn't until I specifically disavowed (as the first line of my own profile text) the headline that someone at Hired had written about me, and a couple of reminders, was it changed.
Beyond that, it's early days for me on Hired. Just a few views so far (one of which I've already interviewed at).
Beyond that, it's early days for me on Hired. Just a few views so far (one of which I've already interviewed at).
Does anyone have any recommendations on recruiters that focus on marketing and growth roles? I am actively reaching out to recruiters however it is difficult to find recruiters that are not exclusively technical.
Dave Mayer at Technical Integrity was very helpful to me.
http://technicalintegrity.com/
http://technicalintegrity.com/
Is it worth trying to get in contact with a recruiter if I want to leave academia and enter industry in a data science position, or better to go it alone?
Most likely depending on your experience. If you find yourself having trouble getting interviews start talking to recruiters. I will say that almost every recruiter I've worked with has gotten me into interviews quickly (within 2 weeks). They may also help you in interview prep. If you're getting interviews by yourself you probably don't need them
I like the ones who at least read my resume before emailing or calling me.
Thought this was /jokes in reddit and was looking for a punchline.
Recruiter who has technical background for the most part.
For those of you who don't like recruitment emails, send them this: http://www.rankarecruiter.co.uk/
I'm a recruiter and tbh, I'm a scumbag.
None.
In 30 years of working in electronics and software, I have never been sent on an interview, or even contacted by an employer, through any recruiter, despite getting weekly calls from them all these years and rising through the ranks of these industries in medium sized companies.
None of them, they are unnecessary at best..
Believe or not. None. They humiliate those who naively think they are genuine. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/429671620671237170/
Snark aside, I ask because I've met some who seriously seemed to care about what I was interested in, and not to push. One was Barry Kwok (Scribd, Airbnb, Coinbase), and the other was Hong Quan (worked with Thiel Foundation). I'm sure there are some great ones out there.
@ryanmickle:
Same. I'll PM you the main person I've worked with in the past. I've worked with her for basically 15 years. She's probably pretty familiar with Barry; however, I don't generally want to share her with "the general public" (because of her position she's not compensated based on placements and I'd rather not overwhelm her).
Same. I'll PM you the main person I've worked with in the past. I've worked with her for basically 15 years. She's probably pretty familiar with Barry; however, I don't generally want to share her with "the general public" (because of her position she's not compensated based on placements and I'd rather not overwhelm her).
I would love to get that contact as well if you don't mind. She sounds like she could definitely be of help.
If you think of it as anything other than a business relationship you're in for a rude surprise. Recruiters exist to do one thing: sell you to potential employers. In exchange they receive a cut of your potential salary as a commission. Thus it's both in their best interests to market you and to make sure the company they're selling you to won't fire you too quickly. If you don't have good experiences with them it's probably because they don't know how to sell you.
What do you mean by "naively think they are genuine?" What false assumptions are peopke making about recruiters?
One assumption would be that they have been personally selected after careful research by the recruiter, instead of "sent a mail-merge email after a keyword search on LinkedIn".