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>I have a very different experience with recruiters. They usually start off
>by giving me a brief description of the position and tell me what city it
>is in, then ask me if this sounds as if it might be of interest to me.
Same here. At least I know that this is standard operating procedure. This
is also the point in the conversation where the recruiter asks if I'm
currently working and that the resume they have on file is very out of date.
>If I tell them yes, they tell me the name of the company and ask if I know
>anything about it, whether I've applied there previously, etc., and then we
>move to the final question of whether I want them to submit me.
Again, the same here. This is about where they slip in the question about
what I'm currently making, or what I made during my last contract. I also
get questions like: Are you looking for contract or full time? Do you
think the commute will be too great? Can you highlight the bulleted items
on your resume that reflect these job requirements?
>I don't think I've ever had a recruiter decline to reveal the client
>company's name once I've told them I would like to know more about the
>"opportunity."
Hmmm...I've actually had a couple of recruiters describe the job in depth
only to tell me afterwards that they have to get back to their office to
determine who the client is.
>This is probably because I generally only send my resume to the same
>recruiters I also work with as a hiring manager, so any recruiters I don't
>know who contact me out of the blue are responding to one of my anonymous
>online profiles and at the time they email me don't even know my name.
Oh yeah. Although I haven't yet looked, I'm betting that there are at least
two emails in my inbox from recruiters who are looking for C+ developers,
etc. These emails usually start off with "Your resume was a prefect match!"
As for working with the same recruiters, I find this interesting since you
and I are both in Los Angeles. In all the years that I've been doing this,
I've only spoken with two recruiters on a repeat basis, and the second time
around did not result in getting hired. This is sometimes disappointing
since some of the recruiters that I have worked with have been outstanding,
but they usually end up quitting the business for various reasons. For the
most part, I just don't see the same recruiting firm advertise for multiple
tech writing positions throughout the year.
>I can't recall ever, at any time in my careers as either an engineer or a
>writer/pubs manager, applying to a recruiter's ad cold and having it result
>in a real job opportunity.
This statement made me think long and hard. I don't think I have either.
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