Former recruiter here: recruiters get paid based on the fact that they submitted the candidate first. They do not get paid if the candidate came to them previous. I once got someone multiple rounds of interviews at a hedge fund, only to find out that he'd applied and been rejected three months earlier (apparently luck plus a good cover letter radically improves your odds).
The recruiting fee on a software developer is likely to be $20K+. Half or so would be the recruiter's bonus.
How often do you put a stranger in a position where he or she can casually cost you $10,000 with no repercussions?
I can totally understand where the average developer is coming from, here. But most recruiters run the numbers and decide they'd rather work with the folks who don't need to know the company name. There's room for people who do both, but the behavior this letter decries is normal for a reason.
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Former recruiter here: recruiters get paid based on the fact that they submitted the candidate first. They do not get paid if the candidate came to them previous. I once got someone multiple rounds of interviews at a hedge fund, only to find out that he'd applied and been rejected three months earlier (apparently luck plus a good cover letter radically improves your odds).
The recruiting fee on a software developer is likely to be $20K+. Half or so would be the recruiter's bonus.
How often do you put a stranger in a position where he or she can casually cost you $10,000 with no repercussions?
I can totally understand where the average developer is coming from, here. But most recruiters run the numbers and decide they'd rather work with the folks who don't need to know the company name. There's room for people who do both, but the behavior this letter decries is normal for a reason.
Are developers so dishonest that, when asked if they were contacted by a recruiter, they'll say no?
Developers are people. So yeah, some of them are that dishonest. Especially when desperate and in need of work.