[ChuckNorris89]

Happens in European private sector a lot.

HR and internal recruiters are clueless about how software engineering knowledge and experience works and just filter based on keywords. Most have no idea what's the difference between C & C++, Java & JavaScript so you have to tailor your resume for each application to include all the buzzwords they want to hear if you want your resume to reach the technical staff.

An external recruitment company in Germany got me to fill in a spreadsheet rating my knowledge of several technologies including among other things, I quote: "Fox Pro, Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista, MacOS, Adobe Flash, OS/400, MS Office, Lotus Notes, WLAN, Outlook, Backup, Cisco, Alcatel".

I've never facepalmed myself so hard in my entire life.

Now I understand why lots of top companies here employ external recruitment agencies from the UK. At least there's some tech savvy people among them who can understand what the company needs and what potential the employee has to fit the requested position.

[jen20]

> Now I understand why lots of top companies here employ external recruitment agencies from the UK.

One of my favourite blog posts of all time is "Don't Feed The Beast - The Great Recruitment Agency Infestation" [1] which describes behaviour very familiar to those who have had to deal with external recruitment agencies in the UK.

Sadly the original post appears to have gone but there is a mirror.

[1]: https://hackerfall.com/story/dont-feed-the-beast--the-great-...