I respond and give feedback on their pitch. I find that most recruiters just copy paste things and usually I think, "even if i was in the market for a job, this would turn me off".
So I tell them what I think they should do to get better responses from the people they want to recruit. Hopefully people don't think I'm selling out my kind (whatever that is).
Here is a recent interaction:
Recruiter:
...They are an auction house that is experiencing steady growth and are in need of a hands on Director of Technology. They need someone who is comfortable handling all of the development responsibilities and knows how to delegate when necessary. Ideally they would like this person to be strong in Python, Django, PHP, MySQL and PostGre SQL but are open to seeing someone who is strong with a couple and willing to learn the others....
Me:
Thanks for thinking of me, but I'm not looking for anything at this time.
Also, advice on your pitch to other tech people that will probably improve your hit rate:
1. asking for someone who is good at python and django is mostly redundant -- just ask for django, as it is a python based framework. asking for both makes it look like "credential bingo"
2. same, asking for python and php is a little crazy for single products -- its extremely rare for small companies to be using both in any meaningful capacity as they are basically replacements. this is like asking for a chef at a restaurant that is an expert at japanese cuisine and italian cuisine. sure they exist, but its improbable that you'll use it at the same restaurant.
3. MySQL and Postgres -- same thing -- these are replacements. (a) most people who are good enough at one will figure out the other, (b) the meaningful differences here only manifest themselves at extremely deep levels, where DATABASE expertise is what you are looking for, not a CTO.
Consider it friendly advice from someone who has recruited a lot of tech folk, feel free to ignore.
Comments
I respond and give feedback on their pitch. I find that most recruiters just copy paste things and usually I think, "even if i was in the market for a job, this would turn me off".
So I tell them what I think they should do to get better responses from the people they want to recruit. Hopefully people don't think I'm selling out my kind (whatever that is).
Here is a recent interaction:
Recruiter:
...They are an auction house that is experiencing steady growth and are in need of a hands on Director of Technology. They need someone who is comfortable handling all of the development responsibilities and knows how to delegate when necessary. Ideally they would like this person to be strong in Python, Django, PHP, MySQL and PostGre SQL but are open to seeing someone who is strong with a couple and willing to learn the others....
Me:
Thanks for thinking of me, but I'm not looking for anything at this time.
Also, advice on your pitch to other tech people that will probably improve your hit rate:
1. asking for someone who is good at python and django is mostly redundant -- just ask for django, as it is a python based framework. asking for both makes it look like "credential bingo"
2. same, asking for python and php is a little crazy for single products -- its extremely rare for small companies to be using both in any meaningful capacity as they are basically replacements. this is like asking for a chef at a restaurant that is an expert at japanese cuisine and italian cuisine. sure they exist, but its improbable that you'll use it at the same restaurant.
3. MySQL and Postgres -- same thing -- these are replacements. (a) most people who are good enough at one will figure out the other, (b) the meaningful differences here only manifest themselves at extremely deep levels, where DATABASE expertise is what you are looking for, not a CTO.
Consider it friendly advice from someone who has recruited a lot of tech folk, feel free to ignore.