Knowing how to find a good job is an important part of being a programmer.
I know it's a good idea to post my resume on different sites like Monster and Dice. I also know that networking is important.
But, what I'd really like to know is how everyone feels about using a recruiter (aka headhunter). What are the pros and cons? Is it better to deal with a company directly?
Thanks!
IMO, I would say that it's almost always better to deal with a company directly. You'll get paid more, the company will have to pay less, and a lot of companies are distrustful of recruiters because they often send unqualified candidates, or they exaggerate qualifications.
Being in the final stages of a contract job that I landed through a recruiter, I can tell you this: it isn't all bad, but be sure you understand your rights and their rights when you decide to come on. Most contracts with staffing firms give the firm a great deal of power and you very little. Such contract opportunities can be great ins with larger companies (contract-to-hire is the preferred try-before-you-buy method for many big corps). Just be careful.
If you have a choice of dealing with Company A through either direct communication or a recruiter, obviously directly is far superior.
The problem is though you do not have that choice. You might be able to get in touch with companies A, B, and C directly, but you could only contact D, E, and F (or know about their open position) through a recruiter.
So now your choice is really: do you decide to remove companies D, E, & F from your possibilities by refusing to use a recruiter? Yes, recruiters will push you to take any job and take it fast, but you can refuse to play the game their way.
In my experience the more exposure the better; let recruiters find you open positions, and find others on your own. Then you have more options, and can decide for yourself what the best one is.
My wife is a recruiter and I'm in my current contract through another recruiter so here's my take from personal experience.
Recruiters get a bad rap and for some it's very deserved but they're not all bad.
Here's a link to a recruiter's blog that has some very good information Link
Others have done a good job warning you of the pitfalls. One thing I will add is that if you DO find a good recruiter, keep in touch with him/her. They are hard to find!
Unfortunately, I cannot speak highly of my experiences with recruiters. I was desperate at the time due to a recent move for my wife's job. I got hooked up with a company that I thought would be able to find me a job. Unfortunately, they were constantly overstating my abilities and putting me in interviews that I had no business being in.
For example, because I set up a server and configured a client to connect to an Oracle DB, I was suddenly going in for interviews as an Oracle DBA.
My advice, ask around. Find out from others in your industry who have found a good recruiter. It will pay off in the end. Obviously, first hand interaction with a company is better. But sometimes that doesn't work out so a recruiter is needed. Find a good one and you should be able to land that job.
You really can't avoid working with recruiters these days - some companies go through them exclusively or give them first crack at filling jobs before posting them on their website. If you refuse to work with recruiters, you are drastically cutting out potential jobs.
Good recruiters can also be extremely useful for making sure you get a fair salary. They know the current market conditions and know what rate you can command. It's like working with a real estate agent to sell your home instead of doing it yourself. Also, it's in their best interest to make sure you get as high of a salary as possible since their fee is generally a percentage of what salary you are hired at.
Like any other profession, there are good ones and bad ones. A good recruiter will listen to your past experience and future career objectives and try to place you accordingly. A bad recruiter will try to place you as quickly as possible, even if it means putting a square peg into a round hole.
If a recruiter wants to stay in business, then they need to match people to positions properly. If they don't, then the job seekers will stop using them and (more importantly) the companies will stop hiring them. New employee acquisition costs are extremely high for companies and they simply won't continue to work with recruiters who continually send them bad matches for open positions.
Just remember this: You don't ever have to take a job you don't want! It never hurts to send a resume, and it never hurts to have an interview. Also, you should never be interviewing with a company unless you know what the basic job description & requirements are up front.
The trick to dealing with recruiters is simple - keep in touch with the ones you like, and ignore the ones that you don't. I've had very good experiences with recruiters, and very bad ones. The good recruiters get a call from me when I'm looking for a new job, the bad ones don't.
I always disliked working with them, but I couldn't get a job without them. I'd say they're a necessary evil for about the first five years out of school.
Recruiters are great at helping you find a job. What they're not good at is finding the perfect job for you. They can talk to you and find out more about you, but ultimately, they're just trying to place you somewhere for the commission.
It is up to you to determine whether or not that job is for you or not.
I've had positive experiences through recruiters, the one that placed me in my current role put in legwork negotiating a significantly higher remuneration package than I was expecting (perhaps my own expectations were out of line, but she did good work, and kept in touch without being pushy).
I think it'll depend on how much work the recruiter has put in beforehand, and how much confidence you have in setting out your expectations from the company. I would've lowballed myself and unwittingly been 'out' on money.
Dealing direct has its benefits, but a quality recruiter may have a wider range of possible roles for you. Definitely try several recruiters though - some don't do anything but shuffle you around.
If you post your resume on Monster or Dice then you will likely get contacts from recruiters or apply for jobs where you have to go through a recruiter, so it is almost like a fact of life these days in some parts.
The pro is that they can be a great resource in the few cases where they are honest about how you look, how prepared you are for an interview, where you should consider applying, etc. The con is that some of them may treat you like a piece of meat or send your resume without your permission that may disqualify you if a couple of recruiters submit you for the same job.
If you do use a few recruiters, do keep a spreadsheet of where you were applied, what our status in the process is, e.g. resume submitted, intereview had, a second interview had, offer made, etc. Also, don't use more than 5 companies as most of the time they all get the same list of companies hiring and so it doesn't do any good to go too high and just hear about the same position from 3 different recruiters. That is how I've seen it here in Calgary, Alberta. If you are somewhere else then remember that YMMV.
If you do choose to work with a recruiter, here are some things to watch out for: Black Hat Recruiter Tactics.