:
 

Another Year, Another Reason to Hate Technical Recruiters

Home » Miscellaneous » Another Year, Another Reason to Hate Technical Recruiters

Another Year, Another Reason to Hate Technical Recruiters

Posted on by Eric Shupps

Here it is, almost 2009 and I’ve gone nearly the whole year without ranting about recruiters but I just can’t take it any more. Way back in 2006 I penned an Open Letter to SharePoint Recruiters, begging them to stop trying to combine a developer and architect into a single position. A bit later, my good buddy Adam Buenz shot some arrows at the general recruiter community for not understanding anything about the positions they are trying to fill. Sadly, it seems that most recruiters have completely ignored our pleas and have actually managed to make themselves look even worse by completely ignoring the general business rule of "know your product before you try to sell it".

Here’s a case study to illustrate what’s got a burr under my saddle today. This little gem cropped up in my daily email alerts from Dice (please note that I’m am NOT linking to the original job post in order shield the recruiting firm from the scorn and shame that they rightfully deserve):

Job Description:

Play the role of Subject Matter expert in the Clients SharePoint COE team

* Solid knowledge in the MOSS capabilities & integration wih third party technologies like SiteMinder
* Experience with SharePoint permissions and permission level
* Experience establishing and managing technical governance
* Interacting with the Client and translate business requirements into SharePoint solutions
* Experience with Nintex workflow tool is a plus

Required Qualifications

* Developing Custom Master Pages and overall branding / customization, Custom Site Definitiions / templates, List Definitions, Site Columns, Content Types
* Advanced search properties
* Custom web parts / web controls
* Feature Stapling
* Event Handlers
* Event Receiver Assembly Features
* Solution Deployment packages (WSP)
* MOSS / WSS Object Model
* InfoPath forms development
* Custom Workflows using SPD as well as VS.Net
* Dual Authentication using AD/LDAP
* Thorough knowledge of ASP.Net / ADO.Net preferably using C#
* Moderate knowledge of SQL Server

Sigh – where do I even start? To begin with, the post title reads "SharePoint Developer…" and the first six items have nothing whatsoever to do with development. Experience managing technical governance? From a developer? Does this person even know what "governance" is? That’s an Architect’s job, not a Developer’s job – proving that they never read my original post on this topic (which isn’t hard to find – Google "SharePoint recruiter" and it’s the first link).

Furthermore, it’s obvious that whomever gave the list of qualifications to the recruiter was throwing in every SharePoint term they ever heard of without any real knowledge of what they were asking for. just what is an "Event Receiver Assembly Feature" as opposed to an "Event Handler", I wonder? Or "Dual Authentication using AD/LDAP"? And could someone explain to me how "Advanced search properties" is considered a programming skill?

But wait – it gets even better. The real coup de grace comes when I scroll down and read the pay rate – $45 – $53 an hour for a 1099 or W2 contractor. Ok, for the love of all that is good and holy, even if you are technically incompetent, shouldn’t you at least know what the market rate is for the type of position you’re trying to fill? Isn’t that what recruiters get paid for?

I would like an itemized explanation of exactly what the client is getting in return for whatever ridiculous fee they’re paying this scam artist. They don’t know anything about the technology, they don’t know the market, and they don’t know what position they are hiring for. Where is the value add? Where’s the ROI for the 25%/30%/WhateverInsanePercentage these fools are charging?

I get calls from recruiters all the time who get offended when I tell them I won’t do business with their ilk because they don’t understand our sector. Well, tough – the truth hurts. If you’re going to play in this market, start by trying to understand what it is you’re selling. If you want to make money shifting SharePoint people around, I would think that your first step would be to get some familiarity with the product. There are all kinds of workshops, seminars, and community events that offer free information – take advantage of them and go learn something before you waste everyone’s time. I would never think of entering any business without learning something about it first – isn’t that just common sense?

Worse, these morons make our jobs even tougher and do damage to the SharePoint community as a whole, not to mention the disservice they are doing for their clients. Somebody should have told the customer that they can’t get what they want for $45 an hour before putting that post on the Internet. For Pete’s sake, help your client by educating them on the market so they have reasonable expectations – don’t send them people who fit the salary range but don’t meet any of the qualifications. They won’t appreciate it and they’ll never do business with you again. And now I have to be the bad guy and tell these people at user group meetings that you, Mr. or Mrs. Recruiter, sold them snake oil and they can’t get what they want at that price. That’s not my job, it’s yours – you get paid for it so do the right thing for once.

To be fair, not all recruiters fall into this trap; I know some stand-up people in the recruiting business that are willing to tell the customer how the cow eats the cabbage. I’ve given lunch-n-learn seminars to recruiting firms free of charge who have an honest desire to do the right thing – if you want help, it’s out there (in fact, if you buy me a good steak I’ll talk to your people until their ears bleed so be careful what you ask for). But there are so many resume flippers out there that it’s becoming an epidemic. Please, do us all a favor, if you don’t know SharePoint then stay out of this business – you’re a parasite leeching off the lifeblood of the community.

Great, it’s not even noon and now I need a drink. Sheesh.

14 Comments

  • Terrific post. Unfortunately, something I never see changing because of the way that recruiters are trained in order to procure resources. It’s quantity over quality thing in the IT recruitment filed.

  • Isnt this about the time we first met? Take a look at the replies 🙂

    Funny things just never seem to change with recruiters. We will be writting the same thing in the years to come.. not just SharePoint Related either. … anything technical 🙂

  • Isnt this about the time we first met? Take a look at the replies 🙂

    Funny things just never seem to change with recruiters. We will be writting the same thing in the years to come.. not just SharePoint Related either. … anything technical 🙂

  • Let me guess, this comment came from a technical recruiter who didn’t want to leave their name. Allow me to give you a clue in order to help you get off on the right foot for the new year – everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, who has been doing SharePoint for any length of time is frustrated by the same thing. It’s not just my opinion, it’s EVERYBODY’S OPINION. The common denominator here is recruiters doing a piss-poor job; if you don’t like, or that offends you somehow, THEN FIX IT!!!! Educate yourself on the industry you’re trying to represent, don’t jump in with both feet and expect us to welcome you with open arms while you blunder around making a mess of things.

    I remember back in the late 90’s when SAP was the hot ticket. Recruiting firms sprang up overnight to pimp SAP talent. Difference was, most of them were started by former SAP consultants so they actually had a clue what they were about. They could match people to requirements effectively because they knew something about the technology. Those that didn’t went out and hired SAP expertise immediately. NEWS FLASH – all IT positions are not the same. Niche products like SharePoint require you to adjust your business if you want to play in this space. Don’t want to learn something new? Then get out of our sandbox, you’re not welcome here.

  • I think what happens in cases like this is recruiters just blindly copy-paste what is emailed to them by the hiring manager at the company who needs the consultant. The hiring manager’s list is often a wish list compiled by the Tech Lead and sometimes one or two of the senior developers. The manager then adds in a few buzzwords like “governance”. Sometimes the Tech Lead or developers intentionally load it up with impossible demands to prove in an indirect way how difficult/impossible their job/project/SharePoint is to the hiring manager. Then the recruiters just gets the list, and posts it at the same capped rate the hiring company uses for all positions. Then the hiring company wonders why they get poor candidates and it takes months to fill the position. It would be like going to the butcher counter with $1 and demanding a pound of steak. You will end up walking away with 1 pound of hot dogs or nothing.

  • Excellent post – I depair everytime I need to go to an agency for contract people and always limit myself to working with one or two people who understand exactly what I’m looking for. It took me a long time to ‘cultivate’ those agencies and it would take a series of disasters for me to break with them for this reason alone…

    I get tens of emails per day from companies looking to place anybody with me, irrespective of what I am actually looking for. I respect the right of technical recruiters to earn a living – I am appalled at the way they just spray buckshot around in the vague hope that some of it connects. Its great to hear somebody standing up to this worthlessness

  • Excellent post – I depair everytime I need to go to an agency for contract people and always limit myself to working with one or two people who understand exactly what I’m looking for. It took me a long time to ‘cultivate’ those agencies and it would take a series of disasters for me to break with them for this reason alone…

    I get tens of emails per day from companies looking to place anybody with me, irrespective of what I am actually looking for. I respect the right of technical recruiters to earn a living – I am appalled at the way they just spray buckshot around in the vague hope that some of it connects. Its great to hear somebody standing up to this worthlessness

  • …by the truth in this article. You mean you don’t want to pay us huge fees because we have a Monter and Dice account? What do you mean this guy is not a fit, he has ‘Sharepoint’ on his resume a dozen times! Here’s how to filter out the recruiters from the re -screw-ters:
    1) Tech them out: No we can’t code. But if you ask your recruiter a few exploratory questions you may actually get a few architect resumes instead of adding to your stack of MOSS admins.
    2) Go specialized: I don’t know how you guys do it, I can barely keep the acronyms straight, let alone actually learn to use these new technologies. That’s why I’m a .NET headhunter, it’s easier to own one platform than scattershoot all over IT. All I do is find MS engineers, if you need an SAP guy or a Java developer, I will happily refer you to another account manager.
    3) Make them earn it: How are your recruiters comped? Most have a base and get ‘bonus’ money for filling jobs. How is doing your job well a bonus? If I don’t get my apps mgrs what they need, I don’t eat…It’s good motivation.
    4) Region specific: You have an opening in Portland? Santa Clara? Maybe Mumbai? Can’t help you. Like tech expertise, you need to specialize. DFW is a big place. If you want to build a network of candidates you need focus on ONE good market. Especially since Dallas gets a huge share of relos.
    5) Stay away from job boards: You know that girl’s number you saw written on stall #2 when you were taking a piss at that bar you hit after work? Probably not gonna call her. Job board candiates are way too over exposed, the real deal engineers get jobs through referral from OTHER real deal engineers.
    6) Don’t be a dick: It’s true, 90% of recruiters are a waste of skin, but making sweeping generalizations over all of us won’t help you when you actually do need some help. Just like I’m sure all of you aren’t nerds playing WOW in Mom’s basement, leading raids with your blazing fast Cheetos orange colored fingers, it’s the same with us. Sure, I haven’t written a line of code since my Turbo Pascal days in highschool, but I love what I do and I’m very good at it.

    Wicked good blog Eric. I’m off to wallow in my uselessness…

  • …by the truth in this article. You mean you don’t want to pay us huge fees because we have a Monter and Dice account? What do you mean this guy is not a fit, he has ‘Sharepoint’ on his resume a dozen times! Here’s how to filter out the recruiters from the re -screw-ters:
    1) Tech them out: No we can’t code. But if you ask your recruiter a few exploratory questions you may actually get a few architect resumes instead of adding to your stack of MOSS admins.
    2) Go specialized: I don’t know how you guys do it, I can barely keep the acronyms straight, let alone actually learn to use these new technologies. That’s why I’m a .NET headhunter, it’s easier to own one platform than scattershoot all over IT. All I do is find MS engineers, if you need an SAP guy or a Java developer, I will happily refer you to another account manager.
    3) Make them earn it: How are your recruiters comped? Most have a base and get ‘bonus’ money for filling jobs. How is doing your job well a bonus? If I don’t get my apps mgrs what they need, I don’t eat…It’s good motivation.
    4) Region specific: You have an opening in Portland? Santa Clara? Maybe Mumbai? Can’t help you. Like tech expertise, you need to specialize. DFW is a big place. If you want to build a network of candidates you need focus on ONE good market. Especially since Dallas gets a huge share of relos.
    5) Stay away from job boards: You know that girl’s number you saw written on stall #2 when you were taking a piss at that bar you hit after work? Probably not gonna call her. Job board candiates are way too over exposed, the real deal engineers get jobs through referral from OTHER real deal engineers.
    6) Don’t be a dick: It’s true, 90% of recruiters are a waste of skin, but making sweeping generalizations over all of us won’t help you when you actually do need some help. Just like I’m sure all of you aren’t nerds playing WOW in Mom’s basement, leading raids with your blazing fast Cheetos orange colored fingers, it’s the same with us. Sure, I haven’t written a line of code since my Turbo Pascal days in highschool, but I love what I do and I’m very good at it.

    Wicked good blog Eric. I’m off to wallow in my uselessness…

Leave a Reply