OT! Recruiters

Hey all.

Quick question about recruiters.

Has any of you used responded to their calls / emails and have any of you actually pulled a good job out of them?

I'm continuously getting more offers from recruiters but they are always dodgy and cant seem to answer specific questions about the jobs they are advertising. Is there a catch to these guys/gals who are offering jobs and salary's that seem almost "too good to be true".

Some of them are from LinkedIn and simply message me, but a lot of them are not from linked in and actually call me. When asked where they get my contact info one said that it was passed to them from "an OEM that I worked with" and one said she got it from "a market research firm". Just odd things to say.

I have always got my jobs the old fashioned way, applying to a want ad, never through a recruiter.

Perhaps I'm over critical of these folks but Iv learned to trust NOBODY on the internet. What's the catch??

I consider all the offers I get Scam/Spam.

They always want paid by you, not like real recruiters that are paid by the employer.

If they did have a real employer looking for a specific talent they would have the minimum requirements the employer wants, and a list of duties the employer specifies.

Aabeck said:

I consider all the offers I get Scam/Spam.

They always want paid by you, not like real recruiters that are paid by the employer.

If they did have a real employer looking for a specific talent they would have the minimum requirements the employer wants, and a list of duties the employer specifies.

Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly! It bugs me that they are calling my company provided phone, its supposed to be free of that ****!

PLC Pie Guy said:

Hey all.

Quick question about recruiters.

Has any of you used responded to their calls / emails and have any of you actually pulled a good job out of them?

I'm continuously getting more offers from recruiters but they are always dodgy and cant seem to answer specific questions about the jobs they are advertising. Is there a catch to these guys/gals who are offering jobs and salary's that seem almost "too good to be true".

Some of them are from LinkedIn and simply message me, but a lot of them are not from linked in and actually call me. When asked where they get my contact info one said that it was passed to them from "an OEM that I worked with" and one said she got it from "a market research firm". Just odd things to say.

I have always got my jobs the old fashioned way, applying to a want ad, never through a recruiter.

Perhaps I'm over critical of these folks but Iv learned to trust NOBODY on the internet. What's the catch??

Click to expand...

I routinely receive calls from headhunters that can answer questions and seem reputable. They tell you the position has been vacant for two years, and then they tell you the offered salary. Then you know why the position has been vacant for two years...

Plenty of messages via Linkedin....

"saw your profile, you seem a good fit for an opportunity we have..."

basically searched keywords like "PLC", "SCADA", "Rockwell" etc and thought -he will do!

I respond to some of them. Usually they are preceded by a connection request, you look at the profile, then decide whether you accept or not.

One I did accept a few years ago, they got my CV, set me up for an interview, which I went to, got some odd questions about timeline at the interview.
Turned out the recruiter had taken my CV (I sent as a pdf) and tried to edit it, which ruined the format, plus took away the clear headings of different jobs I had done, which then confused the interviewer.
Even though I cleared up the issue, I did not get the job, and when the recruiter phoned me afterwards, I complained about the way she had butchered my CV.

Another thing about LinkedIn finds -

If anyone actually read my profile page they would probably not offer me a job.

{Things like patents from other planets, books about interacting with native Earthlings, etc..]

Ever thought about that Star Trek Career?

Until I made it clear on my profile that I was looking for only second shift jobs in my local area due to attending an EE program, I received 2-3 messages a month asking if I was interested in opportunities. Twice I decided to check things out and go to interviews.

The requirements for the first job involved robotics, SCADA systems, PLC's, process control, troubleshooting, instrumentation, etc. I get to the interview and get told that they decided their "new director of maintenance knows how to program PLC's, so they don't have an instrumentation spot open, but are willing to put me in as a maintenance lead, and possibly move me over later." Oh, and he also quite frankly said, "I'm a dictator. I want things how I want them." I considered their offer, but I have no interest in being micro-managed. Tell me what you want, and I will figure out how to get there on my own.

The second time, the first questions I was asked in the interview were, "How do you feel about overtime, and how do you feel about unclogging toilets?" I replied, "You have PLC-controlled toilets? Cool." The interview didn't last long, and I'm not above unclogging a toilet if need-be, but the position was intentionally misrepresented. Not the kind of company I want to work for.

NEVER have I been called by one, but I also don't post my phone online in social media or any other platform, and make it clear in the phone interview with HR that I want clear representation of the position, and I will not travel more than an hour without reimbursement. That being said, no industry around here, so I'm doing new construction to get through school. It is a real shame, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

sparkie said:

Until I made it clear on my profile that I was looking for only second shift jobs in my local area due to attending an EE program, I received 2-3 messages a month asking if I was interested in opportunities. Twice I decided to check things out and go to interviews.

The requirements for the first job involved robotics, SCADA systems, PLC's, process control, troubleshooting, instrumentation, etc. I get to the interview and get told that they decided their "new director of maintenance knows how to program PLC's, so they don't have an instrumentation spot open, but are willing to put me in as a maintenance lead, and possibly move me over later." Oh, and he also quite frankly said, "I'm a dictator. I want things how I want them." I considered their offer, but I have no interest in being micro-managed. Tell me what you want, and I will figure out how to get there on my own.

The second time, the first questions I was asked in the interview were, "How do you feel about overtime, and how do you feel about unclogging toilets?" I replied, "You have PLC-controlled toilets? Cool." The interview didn't last long, and I'm not above unclogging a toilet if need-be, but the position was intentionally misrepresented. Not the kind of company I want to work for.

NEVER have I been called by one, but I also don't post my phone online in social media or any other platform, and make it clear in the phone interview with HR that I want clear representation of the position, and I will not travel more than an hour without reimbursement. That being said, no industry around here, so I'm doing new construction to get through school. It is a real shame, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

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I too, never put my phone number out there, which is why its alarming me that somehow the number is floating around.

As for the fact that you did go to an actual interview suggests actually the recruiter was legit.. Perhaps misinforming but it wasn't a "scam" of sorts.

JohnCalderwood said:

Ever thought about that Star Trek Career?

Click to expand...

They couldn't guarantee my private secretary would be green

I get so many phone calls now on my cell I have it set to "do not disturb" it will only tone when someone on my contact list calls or text

It started about a year ago getting real bad and a lot of them were recruiters, not sure how I got on the list but wish I was not... I get about 5-10 calls per day and 90% are robocalls, they also change their numbers to a local numbers so it looks like someone down the street calling

I haven't been approached by a recruiter that wanted me to pay him to get me a job yet... but I know these exist.

The job I'm at now was through a lovely recruiter (oddly, they are an IT specific company but hired an automation engineer), but she was definitely not the norm and actually helped out by giving me a bit more detail on how the company conducts interviews and reading material to prepare myself.
The majority have no clue what they are talking or recruiting for and like others said, just search on Linkedin for keywords and call you.
I also find it weird when they are trampling each other over a certain opportunity... A certain company wanted an automation engineer, I applied and was turned down because of lack of experience in a certain smart relay manufacturer (read Rockwell). Over the course of another 3 weeks I'd get calls from different recruiters all trying to get me hired for that same position. I had time so I told them to go ahead because it was my dream job. Should have been interesting to see at the other company how every recruiter walked in with my CV in their hands.

The worst one was about a month ago when he sent me an email to my work address. I just replied that this is my work email to deal with work related subjects. If he managed to find this address he will surely know how to find another contact for me and I can address his request then.

At the end of the day the reality is that there are lots of cool opportunities popping up and it would be a shame to miss out on them. One thing I will do is not give any personal detail until I see everything related to the job, company, position, description, location, etc... as the recruiters are only interested in a warm body to go through a door.

sparkie said:

The second time, the first questions I was asked in the interview were, "How do you feel about overtime, and how do you feel about unclogging toilets?"

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I hope you replied back asking him how he felt about paying for it... I tend to immediately write off any company where people say that there is no paid overtime, but they don't like people looking at the clock or at times you have to go the extra mile.
I completely lose any respect I had for them in the first place.

PLC Pie Guy said:

Has any of you used responded to their calls / emails and have any of you actually pulled a good job out of them?

Click to expand...

Early in my career I did, at the time I wasn't real happy where I was and was starting to look and a recruiter happened to call me at work so I had the conversation. Overall positive experience, downside was just after I turned in my resume I found the company she was recruiting for. 24 hours and I could have eliminated the middle-man. Lead to a really good career move for me.

PLC Pie Guy said:

Perhaps I'm over critical of these folks but Iv learned to trust NOBODY on the internet. What's the catch??

Click to expand...

The catch, well one they need to earn a living so always remember you are $$$ to them. I've had great conversations with a few about my career goals and they are pretty respectful of what I'm looking for. One or two keep yearly tabs on me, but not much pressure.

They will not give you the company specifics until you're working with them, else you could just go direct to the employer thus they won't get paid. Free reference basically. Same reason I don't give recruiters references. Pro Tip - copy the job description they send you, and search google. You may find the company name.

Once you hand over your resume, who knows where it goes. I'm not sure I always trust that it doesn't end up on some recruiter network which could be bad if your employer happens to find your recently updated resume out there.

Employers should be paying the commissions, and as a result the employer may ask you to stay a minimum period of time to ensure they get something out of the investment. Your employment may have stipulations that you repay the employer recruitment costs should you choose to leave. Mine happened to be a 3 year pro-rated deal.

If they place you, expect them to call you back testing to see if they can cycle you to other jobs --> returning customer.

sparkie said:

"How do you feel about overtime, and how do you feel about unclogging toilets?"

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Way back when... I lived in the bay area and was working for a circuit board manufacture, we had a toilet that overflowed so my boss and I grabbed a bucket and mopped it up, the plant manager walked by... "Great not only do I have the two highest paid maintenance men in silicon valley now I have the two highest paid fu%*&ing janitors here also" then put his head down and keep walking

Funny how some people see things, I thought we were going above and beyond our duties, we had a few minutes to spare so I thought it was a good thing...