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Category: recruiting

When to go retained?

When to go retained?

The following is a guest post authored by Allen Ackerman.  Allen is a principal at A-List Search, and was the first recruiter to customize his out-reach and build a relationship before trying to place me.  I asked him to write a guest post because he is one of the good recruiters out there. _____________________________________________________ There two basic recruiting models when dealing Read the article >>
Linkedin Recruiter Spam and you: LinkedIn has a candidate experience problem

Linkedin Recruiter Spam and you: LinkedIn has a candidate experience problem

  LinkedIn solved a real market inefficiency in hiring.  By mapping the professional networks of millions of people worldwide in the 200s, they lowered the barrier to search for talent by skill, connection, or location in a really really useful way.  They were able to monetize the data they had on professional networks because by lowering the barrier to search for employees, they lowered Read the article >>
The Cold Outreach Litmus Test

The Cold Outreach Litmus Test

I am introducing the following litmus test to define what a good recruitment email looks like: Message is personalized (beyond first name). Sender mentions a common interest or connection. Sender clearly read my blog, or my github. Sender sounds like a human, not a corporate PR robot. Pitch is targeted towards plausible next steps in growth of my personal career (skills, experience level, Read the article >>
Recruiter Rebuttals: I dont have time to customize outreach

Recruiter Rebuttals: I dont have time to customize outreach

I push back on SPAM recruiter messages when I can.  The most common rebuttal I hear from recruiters is: "I don't have time to customize outreach" or "It would be too time consuming to customize outreach". Why it's nonsense: Let's do The Math Let's presume Recruiting is a full time job.  That means you have 40 hours a week * 60 minutes = 2,400 minutes each week. Let's liberally say a third is spent Read the article >>
What to say when a recruiter sends you a SPAM message

What to say when a recruiter sends you a SPAM message

I covered why you should stand up for yourself and other engineers when receiving a spam post from a recruiter here.  Here are some templates of what you can say to respond to a recruiters untargeted cold outreach: Template 1: Stop SPAMMING. NAME, I don't respond to spray & pray recruiter messages, and I'm not looking for work right now. You'd know that if you read my profile or customized Read the article >>
Recruitment is Good; Common Recruiter Tactics Are Bad.

Recruitment is Good; Common Recruiter Tactics Are Bad.

There truly is market value in helping folks find new careers.  Technical recruiters have the potential to be the grease in the wheel of the new economy, to help people achieve better, bigger, things with their skills;  To uplevel their salaries, to life them out of poverty.  And to help companies uplevel their teams and their products.   But if one separates the *tactics* from the *endgame* Read the article >>
Recruit A-List Engineers: What a cold recruitment message should look like

Recruit A-List Engineers: What a cold recruitment message should look like

I've written in the recent past about bad behavior by recruiters and have gotten some questions about how I would recruit engineers for my startup.  Great question, and it just so happens I have signed over 25 offer letters as a technical recruiter over the last several years.  Here's an example of how I cold LinkedIn-Message'd them a few weeks before the offer letter. [name], We're always Read the article >>
Reduce LinkedIn Spam with this Profile Headline

Reduce LinkedIn Spam with this Profile Headline

If like me, you are a software engineer, you probably also get LinkedIn recruiter spam. I don't mind getting messages from folks who have read my profile and my twitter, considered my the best fit for my talents within their clients, and crafted a message to me.  But LinkedIn messages from recruiters are not like that.  They are spray-and-pray messages dogshit from folks who haven't even read Read the article >>
Don’t use Recruiters to hire Engineers

Don’t use Recruiters to hire Engineers

A job or two ago, I was under pressure to hire up a team of engineers, but the CEO wouldn't let me use a recruiter.   While there was some short term pain associated with that directive, it was the best move in the long term.  Once I learned to recruit on my own, I found better candidates and I found plenty of them.  My CEO was right.  He made me break my recruiter-habit and I'll never look back. Recruiters Read the article >>