[evanelias]

I feel like the quality issue is only getting worse over time. Yesterday I received a LinkedIn message from a recruiter that began with "I wanted to reach out as it is almost the end of the year" ...

The same recruiter previously emailed me in December and did not use that phrase, so it's not like he always copy-and-pastes the same thing. However, in his December message, he misspelled my name (which is only 4 letters long), and never even mentioned which company he is hiring for -- it was only apparent in his signature line.

This was a Google recruiter, hiring for staff+ level SWE roles.

[gspencley]

My personal pet peeve is when recruiters talk about the qualifications and tech stack at length but completely leave out what the product / company is.

I know there are a lot of devs out there, particularly junior and intermediates, who are looking to work with their favourite tools or something they've not worked with before. But after 25 years in the industry, having worked with several "stacks" and programming languages and worked through many popular paradigm shifts, I care far more about what I'm building than I do what tools I'm using to build it.

So yeah, I ignore those recruiters.

[nikita2206]

I find this is much more often emphasized by developer interviewers.

[DoubleGlazing]

A really common one I get is emails about Java jobs where the recruiter praises me for all my Java skills and experience and talks about how I would be the perfect candidate for the job they have. The thing is nowhere in my profile does it say I have Java experience (I'm all C#/.Net), however it does mention JavaScript in a few places. They couldn't be any more obvious with their laziness.

[jliptzin]

Yea that's the best, when they start out saying how they went over your profile and all the amazing things you've done in XXX language even though that's not listed on your profile at all!

[wizzerking]

That is why I have a NO JAVA Gmail template that tells the recruiter to learn to properly use their search engine https://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/20-tips-use-goo... https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/topics/googleapps/

Since it is a template it takes 20 - 30 seconds to respond

[ojl]

I sometimes get messages where they are searching for candidates with C# or Java experience, also telling me that I seem like a perfect candidate. I do have a little bit of that but for the past ten years I have only been working with embedded sw development (C and C++) so obviously they didn’t read very carefully. I have gotten good contact with good recruiters using LinkedIn as well though so it varies quite a lot.

[908B64B197]

I think we have this post every few months on this site, so let me explain how recruiting works. There's 3 types/market for recruiters and they almost never overlap.

The first are "body shop style" recruiters. It's basically a numbers game where they try to cold-call as much people with githubs/linkedin or blogs that reference programming. They don't know programming (not even what's the difference between languages or front-end/back-end) and are looking for a list of buzzwords. They'll send copy-pasted messages (you can tell because it references tech you never used or never even claimed to have used). If you respond (and really you shouldn't) you won't be able to get any relevant information about the position because... they don't have it. These recruiters are often contracted by external firms in "best value countries" and are given canned response to message you. That's probably what the author encountered.

Second type are professional recruiters. Their salary is by commissions will often be a percentage of your salary. They are knowledgeable about programming and tech (often former engineers who wanted a break from coding!). They typically are looking to match specific profiles to specific jobs at client companies. This goes all the way to recruiters specialized in C-Suite executives (and you can picture the commission finding a CEO will bring in). Their messages will be personalized and you shouldn't hesitate to reply back even if you aren't looking for a job. They know that most great software engineers are almost never openly looking for a job so their goal is to be on good terms with a large number of talented developers so that the minute they start looking for a job they can match them with positions. You'll know when you encounter one.

Third type is basically referrals. A players attract A players, smart companies know it. Make sure your referral bonus is a percentage of total comp. It's probably the most effective way of recruiting (it has an insane signal to noise ratio). But you only get access to that type of network by... bringing value and being part of it in the first place!

[evanelias]

My point was more that even Google -- a company with a 1.9 trillion dollar market cap -- is now relying on cut-and-paste-error recruiters, even when sourcing for roles which pay $500k+.

I've seen a lot of cringey recruitment communications over the years, but rarely encountered it for very senior roles at top companies in the past. Seems way more common now.

[pavel_lishin]

In my experience, Google and Amazon recruiter emails tend to be the most poorly written, confusing and unprofessional emails I receive from recruiters.