A recruiter called me at my employer’s number. My local isn’t well known so the call got transferred to another location and my colleague answered it.
Ms. Recruiter asked, I got your name through “Link In” website - realized after a while it was LinkedIn. Instead of contacting me through LinkedIn, she probably searched for my employer’s name and got their website, where the number was posted.
“Are you interested in technical architect positions in” … I forgot the company. I just kept answering with “no,” without specifics, since I didn’t want to say anything within earshot of my colleagues. “Could I refer someone?” I said no. Maybe I could think of someone, like people in my orgs, but since she interrupted me, I could not switch contexts easily and answer her question.
Her last question was, could she get my email? I told her it should be in the profile, but she said it was not. Oh yes, LinkedIn does not have email addresses of course. I figured it should be on my blog, so I said “just search for it.” She said she couldn’t. I said, sorry you didn’t search hard enough. I guess she got the idea I did not want to talk to her so she said bye.
I checked a google for my name. If you open the 3rd link my email is there. OK sorry if it was not in the first link you clicked. So much for SEO, I thought I knew it.
I hate to sound arrogant, but all the jobs I’ve had were through referrals and recommendations. I have no plans of changing that.
November 28, 2006 at 11:46 am
What a bitch. Recruiters make as little as PhP 8,000/month; HR firms can’t exactly get geniuses on that kind of salary.
November 28, 2006 at 11:56 am
So they work on commissions? Maybe that’s why they need to fill the quota.
November 28, 2006 at 3:50 pm
[...] Miguel Paraz: I am not looking for a job One of the dangers of certain jobsites- you might get a call at work!: “Ms. Recruiter asked, I got your name through ‘Link In’ website - realized after a while it was LinkedIn. Instead of contacting me through LinkedIn, she probably searched for my employer’s name and got their website, where the number was posted. ‘Are you interested in technical architect positions in’ … I forgot the company. I just kept answering with ‘no,’ without specifics, since I didn’t want to say anything within earshot of my colleagues. ‘Could I refer someone?’ I said no. Maybe I could think of someone, like people in my orgs, but since she interrupted me, I could not switch contexts easily and answer her question.” [...]
November 29, 2006 at 4:50 am
[...] I was reminded of my own encounters with several headhunters in the past when I read Migs’ post on “I am not looking for a job“. [...]
November 29, 2006 at 5:27 am
Migs: yup.
November 30, 2006 at 10:06 pm
[...] Spam is bad enough. Spam that divulges even a modicum of personal info is way beyond. It’s not too hard to handle, though. A quick delete here, a filter there, and you might have at least one less recruiter to deal with. It’s when the telephone comes into play that things can turn ugly in a hurry: “A recruiter called me at my employer’s number. My local isn’t well known so the call got transferred to another location and my colleague answered it. ‘Are you interested in technical architect positions in”…I forgot the company. I just kept answering with ‘no,’ without specifics, since I didn’t want to say anything within earshot of my colleagues. ‘Could I refer someone?’ I said no. Maybe I could think of someone, like people in my orgs, but since she interrupted me, I could not switch contexts easily and answer her question. Her last question was, could she get my email?” (From Miguel Paraz/Migs) [...]
December 1, 2006 at 3:21 am
I’ve recruited great people that I identified using linkedin, peer referrals and many other research options. Sometimes referrals are good, other times they are bad. I hope that you decide to shoot the messenger just because of less than superior delivery on the part of one recruiter that could have been a result of inexperience or a missed mocha.
December 2, 2006 at 12:38 pm
A missed mocha? Hehe.
Well maybe I shot the messenger, but I was pissed when I made this post.
Thanks for the comment - another blog to read!
December 3, 2006 at 4:11 am
Hi Miguel,
I agree with your take on recruiters, they can be pretty annoying. However, I’ve not had any bad experiences with them via LinkedIn and as a matter of fact one of them helped me with a job on one occasion.
Maybe you just answered a phone call from the wrong recruiter!?
My favorite three job sites will always be craigslist, simplyhired and linkedin jobs.
Your take on them?
December 3, 2006 at 4:22 am
Hi Mario,
I haven’t used job sites since I have never really gone “job hunting.”
I’m in the Philippines, not in the US, so these sites don’t really apply.
We have our own ecosystem (e.g. JobsDB, Jobstreet)… come to think of it, someone in the market should start writing about this.
December 8, 2006 at 12:07 pm
I’m beginning to regret making my resume on LinkedIn public. It’s not meant for recruiters. I just want to put my record “on the record.”
At least I got this one via email, so I’m not very annoyed.
Hi Miguel,
My name is (name) of RCG IT (Phils.), Inc. our company is the Offshore Delivery Center of RCG IT USA.
I am writing to cordially invite you to our current search of Sr. IT Professionals to join our on-going and up-coming projects. I’ve read your brief profile at Linkedin and was very much interested in the area of software architecting. I hope that you would give me the opportunity to discuss with you what the opportunity is about and what our company can offer.
I am looking forward to hearing from you at your convenience. You can reach me at (number) or thru this email address. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and consider our invitation.
Sincerely,
(name)
RCG IT (Phils.), Inc.
39 th Floor Philam Towers ,
Paseo de Roxas, Makati City
December 12, 2006 at 12:13 pm
[...] While I’m not looking for a job, recruiters keep on bugging me. Two recruiters from a certain local outsourcing company contacted me: one through the BrainBench “leave a business card,” and another through my cellphone. I verified that the call was also through BrainBench. [...]
January 24, 2007 at 2:53 am
[...] Link to his post: http://paraz.com/46/i-am-not-looking-for-a-job [...]
January 30, 2008 at 10:04 am
Just because you’re not looking for a job does not give you the right to bad mouth these recruiters. We all make mistakes. I just hope you don’t find yourself jobless and in the end beg these recruiters to help you find one.
It’s okay to be confident but not too confident you lose sense that you are after all human. Like everybody else.
January 30, 2008 at 10:19 am
Hi eag,
I am not badmouthing these recruiters. I have nothing against them personally. I just hope they do their job properly because it looks bad on their profession.
January 30, 2008 at 10:24 am
LOL, maybe eag is a headhunter.
January 30, 2008 at 10:31 am
heya.. just wanna say that your blog post and comments of readers are so fun to read.. ang daming na hihighblood ang dami rin nalolowblood..yun lang period. hehehe
January 30, 2008 at 10:16 pm
That’s right. I don’t post that much, but I attract the most interesting commenters. Thank you all!
July 22, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I think you touch an interesting subject - that hapens to my wife to - she sent alot of resumes around 600 and when answers on this mail came - we were installed spam filters to filter all that answers and at the final she get5 interesting answers.