With the actual competitive market and so many layoffs, do you think is better to go to a recruitment agency or doing yourself searching and applying via a job board?
I prefer many different ways to look for a job but I try to prevent recruiters.<p>Usually I don't look for "jobs" but for companies I would like to work for. If there is not a job offer, you can still apply spontaneously. I also keep a list of these companies after applying successfully, because after a few years, this list might get interesting again.<p>Some possibilities to find interesting companies are:<p>- Look through job offering sites and the according company profiles (even if the offered job is not that interesting, the company can still be)<p>- Look through the job history of my contacts in social media (linkedin, etc.)<p>- Company rating sites (by employees, like glassdoor.com)<p>- Using google maps to look for interesting tech companies in your area<p>- Keeping an eye on local advertising boards<p>- Talking to people<p>The problem with recruiters is, that the company often has to pay an extra fee to THEM, if YOU get the job. These fees are extra expensive and offer no guarantees which often leads to a denial whereas you may have gotten the job if there had been no extra fee.<p>An example: We had an interesting candidate provided by a recruiter. He seemed promising, was a perfect match for the team and showed potential, but we were not quite sure about his skills in detail and how he would develop. Paying a fee of > 10000 bucks (!) for the recruiter was too risky for our company, where otherwise hey would have gotten the job. We took someone else, who had way less potential but applied manually...
When I was younger I preferred recruiters. Now that I’m at a more senior level, I’ve found recruiters to be a net negative. The reason is that, as your salary grows, so does the commission paid to the recruiter. Companies have been much more reluctant to hire me because doing so means an instant $30,000+ expense for an unknown amount of benefit. As a result, the interviews were onerous and largely a waste of time (multiple extra rounds, meeting with outside consultants, answering the same question over and over, etc.).
* For large employers you can no longer apply directly without an inside connection to hand carry your resume to the hiring manager and vouch for you. These large employers are required to post open positions online and accept applications online for EEO compliance but otherwise ignore all incoming resumes. They are receiving too many resumes online and so now ignore them out right.<p>* Third party recruiters are expensive for everyone. Yet, they can bypass the stupidity of the prior bullet point.<p>* Developers, in most cases, are a commodity. A meaningless replaceable gear in a larger machine. Talent and skills are largely irrelevant in many areas of software now, but years of experience still appear to be tie breakers. You resume should account for these considerations if you want to achieve employment.<p>* I am noticing lately hiring is walking back from that prior bullet point because commoditization of candidate selection does not work for more senior positions. For example you cannot substitute competence for a framework and cheaply achieve security, accessibility, test automation, architecture, and so forth. Eventually making decisions becomes more important than putting text on screen. In this case your only goal is to land an interview by any means possible so that your experience can do the talking.
I’ve never truly trusted non in-house recruiters… I was once hiring for a position and working with a contract recruiter. He literally said “let me dig through my roster and see who I placed more than 90 days ago” And they’re guarantee was 90 days. Essentially admitting that he poaches staff from one customer to feed another just to get commission. Was just so ethically poor in my opinion, never wanted to work with this type of recruiter ever since. Our goals are not aligned.
The common HN response that I have trouble relating to is:<p>"Network! Go to coffee with people you worked with, offer to help people for free with their projects, and go to many founder and social events! I never used a recruiter in my life and I'm a bazillionaire founder over in the Bay Area!"<p>In contrast, never in my 20 yr career have I ever found a job like that. As charming as I am, it seems I'm always going to use recruiters (and today I'm a senior manager).<p>Recruiters and the interview process blow, but they're unavoidable in my experience. No books or startups to my name, however.
I prefer recruiters that already have a good job fit in mind. They have an 'in.' That's how I got 3 or so of my last offers.<p>Any time I've 'applied', it feels like just sending information into the void, and never hearing anything back.
First preference is to ask my network of people I've enjoyed working with before.<p>Second is to find growing companies I find interesting and contact then directly.
I’ve never met a competent recruiter. I’m not saying they don’t exist but they seem to be elusive if they do.<p>I’ve worked with multiple and they always strike me as uninformed, minimum wage, right-out-of-school, and flakey as fuck. I’ve been ghosted by recruiters, had them miss meetings then come up with absurd excuses, and generally fail to do the bare minimum. At one point I contacted a company directly after the recruiter made multiple mistakes and/or just lied (I think they lied at least) as the go between and I ended up getting the job.<p>I’m not saying I wouldn’t attempt to leverage one if I needed a job but they will never be my first pick.<p>I got my last job from a “who wants to be hired” thread here on HN and I couldn’t have asked for a better fit. I don’t know if that’s rare since I only did it once but I think I’d try it again if I was looking. That and looking through the “who’s hiring” thread. I’ve also been approached a few times about interviewing due to comments I’ve made on this site (about certain technologies or frameworks) so overall I see HN as a great resource on this front.<p>Ironically I love the _idea_ of recruiters and every time I go job hunting (and inevitable see if they have gotten any better) I think about how maybe my next job should be as a competent job recruiter since they are in such short, or non-existent, supply.
I don't even bother with responding to recruiters any more unless they're an actual employee of the company they're recruiting for. Too much noise, too little signal. I wouldn't bother with using an agency as they're still the same big ol' ball of poor communications and lack of understanding what they're recruiting for as the ones who proactively reach out to potential candidates.
Recruiter Pros: they get you through the "referrals"/"network" barrier and hype you up. Sometimes that means 1-3 less interviews. They'll also protect you against shitty companies; most good candidates will job switch every 2 years on avg so there's $$$ in maintaining good relationships on both ends.<p>Cons: All things equal, companies will favor the candidate who isn't tied to the recruiter.<p>I'll take one if I don't know the company, but if I know someone working there (and by now, I've met most people), I'd rather opt for someone on the inside. Most of the bigger companies also offer referral bonuses and highly advantage those with an internal recommendation.
Por que no los dos?<p>Really, why limit yourself? Last time I was looking (January-February), I went on Indeed, Monster, and maybe one or two others. I also reached out to a few recruiters. I don't remember which one led to the new job.<p>Note, however, that I already had a list of recruiters that I respected. I had slowly built that list over a couple of decades. When I needed a recruiter, I wasn't just randomly calling them.
I don't see why you wouldn't do both. I have always done both. I don't even make a distinction. But then I never go to an agency and say "find me a job" ... I apply for a job that the agency is advertising. Some are slippery and try to palm one of their crappier jobs on you "there is this amazing company I know you would be a great fit for..."
Neither have been effective for me. I look for posts by hiring managers on Linkedin, and go from there -- e.g., look for a mutual connection to give a warm intro, message the hiring manager, etc.