HollywoodBQ said:
Sorry you're on the sidelines for a bit.
It's funny, I've gone through about 7-8 "technical" recruiters in the past 2 years.
The only one who was any good was a white guy who was about 55 y/o.
All the young females were usually fun to talk to but they just couldn't understand what kind of profile we were trying to hire. They could barely even do keyword searches to find resume matches. And the Indians were the worst. Hiring for 1 project manager job in India, I had 3800 applications. How do you sift through that pile of resumes?
Conversely, for 1 technical customer facing job in the USA, I might get 60 applicants of which maybe 12 were even worth reviewing. My 55 y/o recruiter realized we weren't getting what we needed so I gave him an ideal match profile and he went out on LinkedIn and started recruiting. This was a great tactic and definitely improved the quality of our applicant pool.
I guess it all comes back to - you get what you pay for.
Yep, that's me though I'm not quite 55 just yet.
Most of the young recruiters and especially the young female recruiters are focused on process and not understanding the actual position and what is needed. They are looking at buzzwords and trying to put up metrics but looking for the wrong things. Essentially they become glorified Admins.
Best thing that happened to me was in the first year I was in the business was pre job board internet/pre email. We are a rare breed now. You had to learn how to network because you couldn't just click to an endless supply of resumes and put up a job post in 2 minutes on an ATS and wait for it all to come to you. Love all that stuff and it makes me much more productive but the "old school" skills are invaluable.
While I am not a technical person I learned how to know "just enough to be dangerous" and "be a few inches deep and a mile wide". I can grasp how the technologies work together and what are the signs to look for and keep a good conversation going, just don't ask me to do a tech screen on the inner depths of their C++ or Python knowledge beyond the basics. The key is understanding how to look at the cultural fit as well and of course understanding how to negotiate and sell the opportunity.
From a screening perspective the real value is looking at that pile of 80 resumes and knowing which are the 6 to focus on and going after them HARD. Most of these other young recruiters will spin up a lot of activity but they don't know what is a piece of silver vs gold vs a diamond. You just don't learn that without a LOT of experience. I swear some of my hiring managers almost cried when I told them my contract was ending, they knew what awaited them...
If you know of anyone looking for an old school guy either for full time, contract, or even individual hires though give me a PM!
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Ronald Reagan