Why many people in IT don't like to be contacted by recruiters

Why many people in IT don't like to be contacted by recruiters

Let's get one thing straight right away: This is not intended to be a post that puts recruiters in a bad light.

But what is this really about? I would simply like to show my side and my experiences, so that I can possibly reach one or the other recruiter to think a little more before a first contact / to look more closely.

I often get the feeling that recruiters don't invest more than 10 seconds to look at a profile. Often the profiles of people on LinkedIn, XING, whatever, are very good. It even says very precisely what the people have done in the last few years. But obviously, I have a feeling that recruiters don't really appreciate that. Well, I can imagine that recruiters are also under a certain pressure. But is it the right approach to throw out a fishing net, to fish and to hope that the right catch might be there? At the end of the day, I don't really understand it, often the recruiter just burns his own time - which he would rather have spent on a closer look at the profile before contacting someone.

First contact experiences

I can also speak directly from my point of view. Well, I have a specialization that probably not many people have - I'm an Azure DevOps Admin (which of course is also in my profile). What often comes across to recruiters is: ouh, this person is doing DevOps towards Azure. But what about the word "Admin", this word is not questioned, maybe even read over. And often the initial contact goes like this:

Recruiter: Hey, I'm looking for someone who can do DevOps....

Me: What exactly do you mean by that? Azure DevOps Admin, DevOps towards Azure or more generally speaking a developer who has the DevOps mindset?

Recruiter: I'm looking for someone with DevOps background.

Me: Okay, my question is not really answered....

Usually it then goes on that I first explain at length that Azure DevOps is a service (an ALM), this usually drags on for 10-15minutes. After another 5 minutes it is then usually clear that the recruiter has contacted me by mistake.

In the meantime, I have also asked some of my colleagues in the IT industry how it works for them (often they are developers). Their statements are the same as mine. Quite often I hear something like "my profile says C#, I get offered jobs as a C++ developer).

In defense of recruiters

Okay, in defense of recruiters, often they probably have no IT background at all, and I don't see that as a problem with the recruiter, but much more as a problem with the company where the recruiter is employed.

But why is the problem with the company? People without IT backgrounds are sent to people with IT backgrounds where you just read buzzwords and think that might be a good fit.

But I just argue that it would be much more effective and better for the recruiting company to build up the knowledge of the employees, because that would mean that the company could save their employees and therefore other people unnecessary time. Also, the recruiter would come across much more professional.

What are the negative effects of this?

Again, I asked some of my friends and colleagues. Many people stop writing recruiters back, often the argument is "You didn't take the time to look at my profile in more detail, so why should I take the time to explain it to you in more detail?"

Personally, I think this is an unattractive trend and I actually have to admit that I've also not written a response here and there, but for me personally it just feels wrong. I was just raised by nature to show respect to other people, and this right here is a matter of respect. Okay, now here you could argue against a recruiter, because you could say that it's also a lack of respect to just write someone up without first checking to see if that might even be the right person. - But again, I personally don't think it's the recruiter's fault, but rather the company he's employed by.

A simple calculation

I am contacted between 5 and 10 times a week, if I now give everyone an answer (and I actually want to do that because of the respect), and it always works like in the chapter "First contact experiences", that's per week between 50 and 100 minutes (we're assuming an average of 10 minutes) burning my free time. And quite often the recruiters simply burn their working hours.

Therefore an appeal to the recruiting companies: Invest some money for your recruiters so that they get a little more background. In this way you can save the time of your employees, and therefore also money. And beyond that also the time of the contacted people. At the same time it's good advertising for you, because people talk to each other about which recruiting companies are good and which aren't.

A few words at the end

I want to make it clear again that this is not meant to be a post to make recruiters bad. Personally, I’m really happy when I’m contacted, because it shows that you haven’t lost value in the market.