Venturing into Reddit and Blind and seeing all the hatred towards recruiters is really interesting. I mean I get some of it, being ghosted sucks or having someone reach out about a job that isnt relevant is annoying.
A lot of misconceptions though.
- Recruiters dont want to low ball you. If were agency recruiters, then we get more money the higher your salary is. If were internal, we get to fill the req (metrics like that are tracked). If you get lowballed, its either the hiring manager, HR or the compensation team. Ive had numerous battles with all of the above to try and land a good offer and often fail. Only so much I can do as the recruiter.
- If I dont want to share salary range in a message its because I dont want to scare off potentially good candidates if it happens to be low. The truth is, theres often enough room to negotiate for the right person but it depends on how well you interview. Its better to talk to you and get a sense of your experience so I can better share a range I think will apply in regards to your level. Maybe they only have 2 years of experience but theyre extremely knowledgeable. I could share the entry level lower range in a message and scare them off when maybe theyre mid level. But if I share the higher range and they dont interview at that level, then candidates expect the higher number regardless and it gets more difficult to close them
- Ghosting happens. But often its because we talk to so many people and work with a lot of managers. And those managers often dont respond to us. I have to constantly send reminders to several for feedback on resumes or post interview. This sometimes takes a week or more. Ill try and remember to get back to candidates and let them know Im waiting, or we arent moving forward. But Im human and will miss some.
- There are a lot of battles that go on in the background you arent aware of. Truth is, interviewers often dont know how to interview and pick apart really stupid things. I need to reject a candidate that everyone except one person was a yes on, simply because that one no turned everyones decision around (literally 1 out of 10 people). Ive tried to point out all the good feedback, but again only so much I can do. Job postings are also usually from HR or hiring managers. Recruiters just post them. So when you see things like 10 years of experience on something that hasnt been around that long, thats not the recruiter. I once had to argue with a manager on a tech that wasnt around for as many years as he wanted and he talked down to me like I was stupid. But he looked it up and I was correct.
Sunday ramblings. AMA else I guess