# Screw headhunters! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 12, 2014, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255 "2014-05-12T07:06:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/41 "2014-05-14T19:25:37Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Or they could not be illiterate baboons. > > It’s reassuring to me that headhunters are just jumped-up temp agents - my agents do all these things, too. I’ve had good ones over the years, but they are far outweighed by the melonheads. Headhunters I know are the biggest critics of supposed headhunters who pull some of these games. The question isn’t whether there are stupid, dishonest and incompetent headhunters - of course there are. But if one gets taken advantage of again and again, we can only wonder. This thread is the moral equivalent of one where someone whines about people being so corrupt because they sold him the Brooklyn Bridge - three times. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/42 "2014-05-14T19:31:42Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Headhunters and recruiters are equally useless in the skilled trades/planning/scheduling fields. They call almost constantly offering jobs at wages below what someone would make staying near their house for jobs in cities ( looking at you Cleveland) that people are fleeing. Then when you reject their “generous” offer, the first thing tht they ask is if I know someone who would be interested. > > Yes…I recommend a crappy job that I wouldn’t take to a person who I considered to be a friend. That sounds like a way to keep friends.:rolleyes: When they ask me if anyone in my company would be interested, I just ask them why I’d want to make my life harder by doing something that might make someone competent leave. On the other hand, you could build a list of the biggest losers you know - and give the headhunter those names. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/43 "2014-05-14T19:43:31Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Point taken. Still, engaging these clowns at all with anything other than “LEAVE ME ALONE” is just setting yourself up for some serious annoyance. > > I’ll drop my hijack with an old timer story. Why would you put your resume on-line? Job sites are totally useless. I have a fairly big on-line presence in my specialty - the reason for me asking the headhunter what he thinks I do is to see if he was just culling names or if he actually found me through research. I like your story. When my daughter was in high school, she had a job working for a particularly slimy headhunter. What she did was chain dial through extensions for Silicon Valley companies, looking for people who left their name on their voice mail message. (This was done at night.) Then they’d look up the home numbers of these people and call them - using a fake name. The wives of these guys were not happy! I have run across a few headhunters who actually had a clue - but it’s been about 5%, and since I’m not looking I’m probably overestimating that number. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/44 "2014-05-14T19:47:24Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > That’s a good one. 😃 > > My main complaint with these buffoons is that they can be incredibly invasive. I have a profile on LinkedIn (as does nearly everyone in my industry) which if you’re not familiar with it is basically the resume/CV version of a social network. > > Recruiters constantly troll LinkedIn profiles looking for keywords in resumes and just spam everybody they find, no matter how tenuous the connection or remote the qualification. The barrier to entry is low, as with all spam, so why not? You can block and report the abusers, which I do, but it just makes work for me. That’s exactly why my LinkedIn profile is kind of scant. If I were looking for a job I’d beef it up, keeping it thin avoids the idiots. However, the recruiter I’m working with did look through LinkedIn for a highly specialized job. The problem is that the chance of finding someone who is actually qualified and interested in moving is kind of small. Dice is a lot more useful, since those who post on it actually want to find jobs. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/45 "2014-05-14T19:49:53Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Headhunters I know are the biggest critics of supposed headhunters who pull some of these games. The question isn’t whether there are stupid, dishonest and incompetent headhunters - of course there are. But if one gets taken advantage of again and again, we can only wonder. > > This thread is the moral equivalent of one where someone whines about people being so corrupt because they sold him the Brooklyn Bridge - three times. Who is being taken advantage of? We’re saying head hunters are annoying idiots and should stop. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/46 "2014-05-14T21:39:42Z")
Personal Favorite: “…errr…The job requires … computer…savvy… Do you have experience in Savvy? How many years? Was it the whole lifecycle? Can you put it on a revised copy of your resume?” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/47 "2014-05-14T21:44:29Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Who is being taken advantage of? We’re saying head hunters are annoying idiots and should stop. And someday it will rain soup. Anyone who has a resume distorted, or goes to a pointless interview is getting taken advantage of. There are plenty of good headhunters out there. There are more jerks. If someone can’t tell the difference they should learn how and quit kvetching about it. When I used to hire contractors, we used a body shop which despite clear directions on the resumes we wanted to see, dumped hundreds on us - all uniformly and badly formatted. This was back in the days of paper. We got some good people out of the stack but it took some work. Life ain’t easy. If you blindly expect some bozo who calls you to find you the job of your dreams you’ll wind up with situations like in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/48 "2014-05-14T21:59:29Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > And someday it will rain soup. Anyone who has a resume distorted, or goes to a pointless interview is getting taken advantage of. > There are plenty of good headhunters out there. There are more jerks. If someone can’t tell the difference they should learn how and quit kvetching about it. We \*can \*tell the difference. We’re bitching about the bad ones. This is the entire point of this thread - what thread are you reading? Are people not allowed to complain about idiotic behavior because it’s not going to stop? Go sit down. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/49 "2014-05-15T03:40:25Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Forgive me. I’m an old engineer who has been assaulted by headhunters in the past. Oddly enough some of my other old guy engineering friends go with that definition too. That is, somebody you engage is a recruiter and somebody who seeks you out is a headhunter. Ah, I think this is where the confusion steems from. That the headhunter has our CVs doesn’t mean we engaged them: it means that they asked for the CV and we sent it, they got it off LinkedIn, or they got it from a colleague (in one of those rare firms where people do not work on pure commision and therefore do share data). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/50 "2014-05-15T05:34:35Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > We \*can \*tell the difference. We’re bitching about the bad ones. This is the entire point of this thread - what thread are you reading? Are people not allowed to complain about idiotic behavior because it’s not going to stop? Go sit down. I am sitting. 😛 The thread about how some headhunters are assholes I’m good with. The thread about how the mean old headhunters forced him to talk 20 minutes in front of his bosses or go to a useless interview or did not know his little specialty, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/51 "2014-05-15T07:17:36Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I am sitting. 😛 The thread about how some headhunters are assholes I’m good with. The thread about how the mean old headhunters forced him to talk 20 minutes in front of his bosses or go to a useless interview or did not know his little specialty, not so much. Listen here, moron. MVC is not my “little speciality.” It’s an architecture pattern that is pretty much used nowadays in most web development across multiple platforms. The fact that you don’t understand this shows how illiterate you are when it comes to software development. You’re like an art major talking about he’s never heard of cubism. You are so ignorant, that you don’t even understand how ignorant you are. You might as well have come into this thread saying you’ve never heard of “SQL” or “TCP/IP” or “SOA” or “Big Data.” You should go ask Devry for a refund. As for all this “victim” bullshit, this is the pit, and I’m pitting unprofessional headhunters. Although I’m sure if the infamous telemarketer thread had been started today, you would be in there lecturing everyone about how it’s their own fault that telemarketers are assholes. ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/52 "2014-05-15T07:27:28Z")
Oh, and just to add, nobody has forced me to do anything, dickhead. I never said that. What I’ve said is that there is a wide-spread practice of expecting people to do this. **Voyager** apparently has the same reading comprehension problems as the headhunters do. ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/53 "2014-05-15T07:42:36Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Ah, I think this is where the confusion steems from. That the headhunter has our CVs doesn’t mean we engaged them: it means that they asked for the CV and we sent it, they got it off LinkedIn, or they got it from a colleague (in one of those rare firms where people do not work on pure commision and therefore do share data). He’s just being a pedantic moron. You’re correct. ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/54 "2014-05-15T09:03:24Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > God, this rant is perfect. I was preemptively snarking mentally because pitting recruiters is such weak sauce, but they are just so awful and this rant was just so spot on start to finish. > > Why is it always with the “great opportunity” with no specifics whatsoever, and the half hour of asking questions a baboon could have answered by just glancing at my resume peripherally? I do not have time to go to your downtown office so I can meet with five other idiots who never bothered to look at my resume either and literally answer the same handful of facile questions repeatedly. Can these people at least pretend to try? I love how skittish they get when I ask them direct questions about the “opportunity” and how badly they try to avoid giving real answers. Call me back when you have a real position, and the not imaginary one you created to waste my fucking time getting me into your dingy ass office so I can be interviewed by some 23 year old who’s only here because this is the only job she could get right out of college. > > “I found your resume on XYZ” to me is more or less akin to “I’m leaving you.” Don’t say those words, man. They hurt. > “Oh, you’re in the same state as this position? Close enough.” I also love when they found whatever keywords they were looking for, then tell me about a position that clearly does not match my resume. “Must have 10+ years of IT Project Management experience.” Uh, I don’t have 10 years of any experience at all; I graduated less than 10 years ago, and I have _zero_ IT experience. Why would you even…? God, I have such hate for head hunters. Hate. Seriously. You get what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/55 "2014-05-15T11:16:24Z")
Some random recruiter sent me a message on LinkedIn about a job that I highly doubt even exists. One of the selling points (other than the “six-figure compensation package,” which first I don’t believe, and second I assume totals up the cash value of every benefit they could think of) being that the hospital is “Joint Commission accredited.” I was struggling to find a way of telling my husband how underwhelming of a quality that was, and said it’s nearly like trying to recruit a hot chef to come to your restaurant with the enticement that it passed the health inspection. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/56 "2014-05-15T12:49:11Z")
> [@BrightNShiny](#): > > Seriously. You get what I’m talking about. Well that’s one. And maybe two more. The rest of us are just enjoying your little temper tantrum against something you seem to have helped create. Cuss some more. Makes you look smart and tough. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/57 "2014-05-15T15:41:18Z")
I endorse this Pitting. The OP isn’t saying that anyone is forcing him to do anything he doesn’t want to do; he’s saying that headhunters are dicks because they refuse to do their jobs better, instead being happy to do a ridiculously bad job that puts all the onus for making some effort on the people they’re trying to recruit. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/58 "2014-05-15T16:25:19Z")
> [@BrightNShiny](#): > > He’s just being a pedantic moron. You’re correct. If you don’t want headhunters pulling your resume off of LinkedIn, don’t put your resume on LinkedIn. It’s that simple. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/59 "2014-05-15T16:30:21Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > They are the worst people in the world, and the reason why the first sentence in my LinkedIn profile reads “THIRD PARTY RECRUITERS WILL BE SHOT.” Stolen, paraphrased, and added to my own LinkedIn profile. Thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255/60 "2014-05-15T16:36:20Z")
> [@BrightNShiny](#): > > As for all this “victim” bullshit, this is the pit, and I’m pitting unprofessional headhunters. Although I’m sure if the infamous telemarketer thread had been started today, you would be in there lecturing everyone about how it’s their own fault that telemarketers are assholes. Only if the OP of that thread gave login access to the “Windows Company” and then complained about telemarketers. I have no trouble pitting incompetent headhunters. BTW I know SQL fine. But I don’t expect my recruiter to know about it. She will no doubt move from a job where people knowing it get hired to a totally different one. What she does is screen people, to make sure they are actually looking for a job. Then I talk to them on the phone to check out their technical credentials. If a hiring manager didn’t know what MVC was, then you;d have a reasonable complaint - but you’d also be an idiot to waste any more time with them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-headhunters/688255.md?page=4)