The power of recruiters

I have a problem with recruiters. They ask all these tricky questions, and God forbid you reveal your true flawed self, even in your voice. One recruiter asked me once "what would you like to change about yourself?" Sure I would like to change many things, but I am sure if I mentioned one of them it means the end of my application then and there. So, you have to fake, and fake well.

In the training I took at the employment agency they train you how to answer as the recruiters want to hear, and to change your story. For example if you were fired from your last job, don't say they fired me, but the position wasn't a good match for me, and they let me go, which I am glad they did. Right, that's why they waited until they were fired!! I found myself creating stories just to please recruiters.

Recruiters make a decision about you in 10-15 mins conversation. That's if they pay any attention to your application in the first place. Recently a recruiter posted on LinkedIn a list of positions and said if you are interested in any of them reach out to me. I reached out to her for a position I am interested in with my resume, and she hasn't acknowledged let alone replied to my message, while she keeps posting about other positions!! We applicants are not humans apparently. You have to please recruiters. To keep messaging them. To make them feel important. To read their mood when they call you. Some of them are casual, some are very serious. I've encountered both types. The last phone interview I did ended before it started. I felt it. She didn't like how I opened the conversation ... casually.

The only time I did an on-site interview is when I skipped the recruiter phase (i.e., phone screening) directly to the staff engineer for a "mini-technical" interview over the phone, who then decided to move forward with me for the on-site interview. Granted I didn't receive an offer, but this was the only technical interview I have done in the last 5 years since I graduated!! One probably needs to do like 10-15 technical interviews if not more to receive one offer.

I apologize if anyone here is a recruiter, but I am saying things from an applicant's perspective, who struggled a lot to land a job, and recruiters in my experience have been the barrier and the most difficult part of it.

Hang in there buddy! I agree with you about how we have to fake it to make it with recruiters and basically lie our faces off just to get an interview with a recruiter. It's sad that recruiters aren't interested in authenticity anymore.

I don't know how to lie. If I don't know something (well), I say so, but I usually follow it with I can learn or improve, for example. But these answers don't impress recruiters, I feel. In the last phone interview I rated myself as 6/10 on a skill (programming language) they needed for the job and I justified it because I didn't use it all the time in my last position, but that I know how to use and I can improve. No wonder she decided not to move forward with me. She told me the hiring manager decided not to move forward, but I am 99% sure my application didn't reach the hiring manager, and she tossed my application in the garbage after the phone interview.

Another recruiter asked me if "I called your last supervisor, what do you think he would say about you or what he would rate you from 1 to 10?" What is the goal of that question? I wanted to tell her why don't you call him and ask him, but I thought maybe that sounds rude.

Recruiters have one goal: fill their open orders at whatever cost to the candidate they can. That recruiter now won't respond to my voicemails or emails -- the one who ambushed me about a direct hire position that was 100% opposite of what I am looking for; when he lied to me over the phone about what it was, to get me to come to the agency office to prep for the interview. Once I found out what the reality of the role was, I said NO WAY on the spot. As punishment, I assume, he won't return my voicemails or emails. Pfft.

Recruiters. They're like dandruff. Scaly and irritating and the only way to get rid of them is to use your Head & Shoulders.

The strangest question of all that I have received from a recruiter was "why do you wake up in the morning?" Maybe because I want to change the world

I went only once to a recruiting agency. The recruiter I met told me I usually screen the applicant over the phone first. So, why didn't you call me? I guess he tried to imply that he doesn't respond to anyone because he is important. OK, and when I arrived, apparently there was an electronic system to call him, and there was no receptionist at the front desk. He didn't mention this in his messages, and it took me awhile to figure out how things works, and there was no one to help me. And when I sat down with him, he told I have no "industrial experience", and that he knows an employer who offers courses and I need to pay for them to gain this experience, and they are expensive. I told him I will think about it, and I haven't seen or called him again!! They don't care as long as they are getting paid from employers and not from applicants.

I personally think the hiring managers should check the resumes not non-technical recruiters. The recruiters block many positions from being filled because of their tricky behavioral questions and the lack of understanding of the field they are hiring for. Hiring managers can sense any serious flaws besides their technical ability to understand applicants' background. Once a recruiter asked me "what is the most important work you have done?", there is no way not to get technical in answering this question at least using specialized terms and concepts, and she wasn't technical Sure I can say I solved ... optimized ... published ... but this cannot be said without any technicality. Weird questions!!!!!

I got a message on LinkedIn from an HR rep at a machining and tooling company requesting my resume. I'm not sure why since there were no openings for apprentice tool makers. I sent her a few questions first, because I don't like sending personal information without a valid reason. She never replied, so I didn't bother. About a month later I saw her at a community college, where HR reps from machining and tooling companies in the GTA and southwestern Ontario met with general machining and tool making students. She was with the company's manufacturing manager. They had no positions open to students. This perplexed me. The entire meeting seemed pointless, because most of the companies there were not interested in hiring students without shop experience. My point: they just want to let people know of future options, after the students have completed their apprenticeships.

Job recruiters are paid to procure resumes. I suspect they must meet a quota.

The best way to get a resume reviewed by HR and passed on to the appropriate manager is to submit it through a personal referral. My workplace does most of their hiring this way.

I don't think in the US and Canada there are real apprenticeships like in Germany and Switzerland. Internships aren't considered experience by many if not most employers. Apprenticeships on the other hand are considered real experience and it can equip you with the necessary skills to find a job and start immediately, unlike a college degree because of the gap between the academia and the industry where many new graduates are humiliated by doing unrelated low wage jobs before they can find a decent job (if it ever happens).

Recruiters just subscribe to the entrenched system, and follow its rules. But they can be more humane and respectful, I think. They treat us with respect when they want something, but then once they know you are of no use to them, they ignore you. A couple of days ago, a recruiter contacted me with all these words ".. we liked your profile on LinkedIn ... and think you have excellent background and skills ... " and whatnot, and when I told her I am not interested because I don't think my qualifications match those required for the job, she disappeared. I could have not responded in the first place, but I thought it is not polite not to acknowledge her message and reaching out for me. But obviously, only I think that way. Would it have killed her to say "thanks for you reply, and I will let you of other opportunities"? Of course not, but she realized I am of no benefit to her, so, she moved on to say the same words she said to me to someone else. We live in this robotic system. No one's feelings have a place. Only personal interest drives society these days. Sad