what do you think about IT recruitment and staffing firms in the software engineering industry, is it hurting or helping our industry? If you search a career site for anything IT related nearly half of the results are staffing companies...what is your take on this?
Personally, I feel like they are making software developers a commodity that they can "sell" to other businesses for their benefit.
I'm curious to what others in the industry think...
I usually use the term "pimp". They want to get their fee, and I've had arguments from one when a team member was about to leave inside the three months. Ok, "pimp" is a little strong (but only a little).
On the other hand the (somewhat) matching of candidates to positions is valuable. Most organisations are not like Joel and do not directly attract candidates.
I wouldn't mind a staffing firm looking for a better job for me while I stayed with a less fun job to pay the bills. I'm glad to say I'm not in that position though. I wouldn't like the prospect of paying them to do it, unless it were reasonable.
As a prospective employee, I can't stand ads placed by recruitment firms. They lack enough tech info, often never say which company it is so I can do my own research. Plus there is the added possibility with contracting firms that your pay is cut to pay for your employment.
Just like anything, I bet some firms are better than others.
It depends on the company but many recruitment agents are just like any other company that will do what they need to make the sale. So, like many estate agents, they try and convince the candidate that the job they happend to have in the database is the best for them and at the same time they try and convince the company the candidate is the best. They don't really care if the fit is what both are looking for as long as the get the placement and their fee.
This has been my experience and it is really annoying. How many times have you heard "Go for the interview just to see what they got, you never know". Thats how they roll.
If you know how to deal with recruiters then they can be very helpful and reduce the amount of work you personally have to do when looking for a new job.
They track down job openings for you, they talk to the companies for you, and negotiate salary for you, etc.
The downside is that they can be very pushy and annoying. The nice part is that there are SO many recruiters/agencies out there that you can afford to just stop talking to anyone that irritates you or is doing a bad job of finding positions for you.
The whole key to dealing with recruiters is not to let them push you around. Don't be afraid to say no. Don't accept interviews for positions you have no interest in and definitely don't accept low ball salary offers. If they don't like it, screw 'em - there's thousands of other recruiters out there who will trip over themselves to find you a job.
I've worked with a lot of recruiters over the years, and like any other industry there are good people and bad people out there. You want to continue working relationships with the good ones and ignore the bad ones.
Honestly, I think any respectable developer dislikes working with companies that exist solely to put you into a position.
Then, as soon as you need a job but can't find one through the means you'd prefer (friends, former co-workers, "respectable" agencies), you're happy to welcome them into your trusted circle of networkers.
They're a necessary evil, but you can make them work for you when you need to. They run the gamut from "I copied a job description from a company website" to "I'm actually interested in what you want to do. How can I help?" If you can find one of the latter examples, hold on to them with all you've got and let them do the legwork for you ;-)
There is no doubt in my mind that it's best to keep a distance from certain headhunter groups, but there are probably some goods ones out there. I'm thinking in particular of companies that provide contract-based work. I've heard (from a reliable source) of guys who did really well on their contracts and were recruited for full-time positions.
I've worked with 1 good recruiter. She placed me in one place- they spoke highly of her as well. Other than that they have the (somewhat deserved) reputation of trying to place you by matching resume acronyms.
Looking around recently, everything a recruiter found for me was stuff that I'd already seen on craigslist or one of the other job boards. Acting on the assumption that many recruiters are just trolling other job boards, I've actually found (public) job boards I wasn't aware of by googling the specific text in recruiters ads. Personally I'm not too thrilled with the idea of someone scraping an ad off a public source and then trying to sell me to them.
I'd be interested in hearing from any employers as to whether they'd be more or less interested in hiring someone who came through a recruiter rather than a public posting.
I hate them, and I'm unfortunate enough to live in a job market where 99% of everything posted is from some staffing company recruiting for their "established client" with nothing but vague details and a laundry list of skills.
What bugs me the most is when I see the same job posted from 3-4 different recruiters, or when I get unsolicited calls from someone who came across my resume but evidently didn't bother to read it or they'd know that I don't have any experience in Technology X.
I honestly think that recruiters are the single worst thing to happen to our industry. They act like used car salesmen and are utterly ignorant of anything we do, they just play "buzzword bingo" and collect a fee for doing nothing.
They can be quite helpful, for both employers and employees, particularly when working with hard-to-find skillsets.
However, you have to be careful, and realise what their incentives are. They make no money if you decide an offer isn't good enough, or isn't for you, and you stay where you are. So they will push hard on you to accept any offer you get, no matter how crappy. I've even heard horror stories of recruiters calling up people's current employers and telling them their employee is leaving before the person had made any such decision, just to help push them along.
I've found your best bet is to find one you trust who specializes in your fields, and keep in touch with them every year or so.
I personally hate them but use them a lot. If you get a good recruiter it can take a lot of hassle out of it and they have access to a lot of roles that I probably wouldn't hear about myself. HOWEVER in almost every case it ain't worth the margin they get. 30% - 40% is a horrific margin to steal and I'd prefer to offer my clients better value.
Next time i'm gonna hit the phones myself.
I think they can be a great help! To me it would be fine to pay someone to do the "cooking" (most time consuming screening process) and skip straight to the desert (interviews).
I got my current position through a recruitment agency and they have been professional all the way.
IT recruitment and staffing firms both hurt and help the industry, IMO. They hurt in that those that are the incompetent twits that don't get various technologies will go ahead and try to find insane things like, "5 years experience with Visual Studio 2008," which should seem non-sensical to most. They help in that those that do understand technology and how some companies want to have their IT department set up through some contractors, it works well for most involved.
On a personal level, I find that dealing with more than a few agencies can be tricky if not outright frustrating as the same job will appear on mulitple sites and you have to know which company sent your resume for that position as if someone else also applies you, it can take you out of consideration. Thus, one has to have a spreadsheet and usually there isn't any feedback which just makes the whole cycle annoying.
There is a bit of a paradox to these firms in some cases if you think about how they would maximize their profit in placing permanent employees. Those placed have to stay with the company past a probationary period, but then after that they should move on so that the position can be filled again. This is where in a way that want someone good but also someone that will move on soon.
There is also the potential "meat market" feel that some recruiters give me that tends to be something that makes me not really want to work with them. These are the cases where they are trying to fill out your stats, e.g. x experience in a or y experience in b, and then fire your resume everywhere and see what sticks. No thanks, I am already trying that and don't need others to do that for me.
Other places can be interesting to revisit them from time to time and do a kind of passive job hunt, where if something great comes along I may take it, but otherwise I'm happy where I am.
A good recruiter is worth their rate in gold LOL both for the employer that hires them, and for the candidate that needs their services. Bad recruiters on the other hand can drive you to drink.