5 Tactics Agency Recruiters use to hinder your job search as a Software Developer (written by an ex-recruiter!)
Have you ever engaged with a recruitment agency and it left a nasty taste in your mouth? We have been conducting lots of research and these are 5 of the top tactics some agency recruiters use to hinder the hiring process.
Recruiters. The very word can send a shiver up the spine of any good developer. Which might seem weird — hell, I was a recruiter! Why would I flip over the squirming, squealing beast that is my field and expose it’s pink, sweaty underbelly? What could possibly compel me to do such a thing?
Transparency!
There’s an array of devious tactics recruiters use to ensure they’re the ones placing the role and getting the fee, and it’s vital that people know going in what to watch out for. So if you’re up for finding out exactly how recruiters might (not always, but often) be dicking you around in your search for a developer… buckle up.
The Close-Out
OK, so you’ve engaged a recruiter to broaden the search for developers. Suddenly, those applications slow right down. Why? Simple. Agency recruiters are told to close out the market. What does that mean? Basically, it means they call everyone they know in their network and sell them (close them out) on the job so the developers don’t apply directly. This means that the agency gets the commission. Which I now realise makes them sound a little bit like pimps.
The Resume Double Up
The Resume that’s been sent twice from two agencies isn’t a mistake! Clients don’t take too favourably to candidates resumes being sent to them from different agencies. Agency recruiters who are working in contingency might interview a candidate and find out they have already been pitched to the client by another agency, so out of spite, they will submit the candidate deliberately to the client with the view of hindering the candidates' chances or using the candidate for another role they may have.
The Phantom Lives
Phantom jobs! No, I’m not talking about haunted employees — hiring ghosts would be weird, scary, and would result in an excess of ectoplasm drenching your office space, which is hell to clean. Phantom jobs are fake positions sometimes put out there by recruitment agencies to see what kind of people show interest. Once these agencies have gauged interest, they might then say the “position has been filled”. This makes them utter bastards.
Taking this a step further is when agencies get wind of a role at a company and, without any permission, will start the search, even telling developers they are representing the client and thus closing out the market (see above).
So, where else are you interviewing?
Agency recruiters might be using your references, current job search and your current employer as new business leads. Know any developers? What other roles have you applied for and where are they? Who’s the hiring manager where you are now? After they’ve applied for a job through a recruiter, get them to check in with their references. They might just find that their recruiter has been flirting with those references, folding them into their network and maybe even pitching business opportunities. Again, the word “pimps” leaps to mind.
I have a great role for you….
Finally, the recruiter might know bugger all about developers. Developers are a specialized breed, with a very specific skill set. And the differences between different types of developers are vast — it’s vital that you don’t waste your time interviewing a developer who, through no fault of their own, was thrown at you despite the fact that they simply don’t have the skills you asked for. And then you have to break the heart of some mild-mannered dev, and that’s your morning ruined.
These are just some of the ways in which recruiters can throw a spanner in the works of your search for a developer. In short… be careful. Be vigilant. And if a recruiter enters the room wearing a fur coat, holding a cane and smoking a foot-long cigar… run.
