[yummyfajitas]

Here is an idea for getting useful responses back - give the candidate enough info to evaluate whether they are interested. This means info on the company, detailed description of the role, ballpark on the comp. You are even more likely to get a response if your email suggests you went as far as googling the candidate.

I truly don't understand why recruiters think "unspecified opportunity at top startup in technology industry, send me your resume since I'm too lazy to google it, I want a phone conversation" is actually useful.

[lostcolony]

I like the recruiters that tell you nothing other than a bit of the technology, and even that does nothing to distinguish it. "I have a great Java opportunity in (your area); call me if you're available and interested". Yeah, I don't think so.

It's like they're trying to prevent you from going straight to the company, to where they won't get their finder's fee, but all it does is ensure they only get responses from people who are desperate.

[argonaut]

A lot of those recruiters are agency recruiters working on contingency. Meaning they don't actually work for the company they're recruiting for, they just get paid for successfully referring engineers to that company. The reason they're so vague is because they don't want you skipping over them and contacting the company directly, which would save you/the company a lot of money (and cause them to lose their recruiting fee).

[lostcolony]

Like I said, "to where they won't get their finder's fee"

I understand them wanting to protect their sources, but they have to give some details. "I have a Java backend position in the telecommunication sector, it would be on the client's (whatever team) that (does whatever). I'm looking for a developer with 3-5 years experience in Java or other static OO languages; the client uses (frameworks), and some knowledge of (tech, tech, and tech) would be helpful as well. Compensation is competitive, the pay is a bit better than average, standard benefits" would be the elevator pitch that might actually be worth paying attention to (well, no, because I don't want to go back to writing Java, but you get the idea).

In short, I want to know -something- about the job beyond "it's a bog standard development job". I can find a bajillion of those posted online, without having to call and actually -talk- to someone. Show me that you actually know what the position is about, and might be able to answer questions about it before I actually talk to the client, and I might respond.

[argonaut]

We are in agreement.

[caprad]

I used to get a lot of 'this role requires a Java expert, it also helps if you know jquery, html5, css'.