Recruiters have gotten strangely more persistent and aggressive recently. Somehow my corporate work email (@google.com) got into some leads database recruiters use and I get emails about once every two weeks from recruiters, which I usually ignore (or tell them to remove the address as it's for work, not personal stuff). Several that I have ignored have sent multiple repeated emails ("Just following up in case you missed it") and so on.
I used to get recruiter cold emails once every 6 or 7 months. Now it's at least once a week. I got two the other day in the same day from two recruiters at the same headhunting company with 90% of the same boilerplate text in common. Inconsiderate, I think?
I don't feel bad about not responding.
Actually if it reminds me of anything, it's 1999/2000 right before the .COM crash. That's the last time I remember it being this crazy. I remember a day in 1999 when I worked at a startup where everyone's phone (yes, we had desk phones then) all rang in sequence one after another as a recruiter made their way one by one through the company directory.
They are just playing the numbers. The dev interview gauntlet is tough, and even the recruiters know it. I made it past some tough technical screens, and the recruiter for a newly ipo’d (well known company) was happy I got that far and flat out told me ‘I have to fill 30+ roles, I have no idea where I’m going to find these 30 people’. I didn’t make it any further, and apparently I made it further than a lot his other prospects. So imagine their frustration. They are trying to throw as many candidates against the wall because very few ever make it through.
I don’t hold anything against these recruiters anymore. They find decent people with good work experience, but even that is not enough for these companies anymore. I try to be as cool as I can with them because for better or worse, they might be the only person in that entire process that succeeds if you succeed (your only friend, believe it or not).
I agree. In big tech companies the recruiter is incentivized to make sure you win. If you win, they win and if you lose they basically lose financially too.
They really are your only friend in the hiring process. Knowing this gives you a lot of leverage.
I used to get recruiter cold emails once every 6 or 7 months. Now it's at least once a week. I got two the other day in the same day from two recruiters at the same headhunting company with 90% of the same boilerplate text in common. Inconsiderate, I think?
I don't feel bad about not responding.
Actually if it reminds me of anything, it's 1999/2000 right before the .COM crash. That's the last time I remember it being this crazy. I remember a day in 1999 when I worked at a startup where everyone's phone (yes, we had desk phones then) all rang in sequence one after another as a recruiter made their way one by one through the company directory.