Responding to Recruiting Emails?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4546534

by mdonahoe • 14 years ago

7 5 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I am not looking for a new job, but I keep getting emails from recruiters and startups.

I have been treating them as spam and ignoring the emails, but that just results in follow-ups.

Should I respond to all of them? Any advice?

jem_nz• 14 years ago

If the company exists (a quick google search should show this) then they typically stop and remove you from their lists if you respond. It can also be a slightly kinder thing to do IMO.

I sometimes respond, but only if I'm in a good mood.

orangethirty• 14 years ago

Keep a pre-written email and send it to these people. Be nice to them and decline politely. Its best to leave doors unlocked for future opportunities.

rogerbinns• 14 years ago

My resume/CV/linkedin includes a prominent "note to recruiters" link which makes it clear what kind of a fit I'd be and vice versa. (eg I'm the kind of person who is far better at being employee #6 than #60,001) It mentions other things as well (eg getting a copy in Word format) and most importantly it says to give the company name and explains why.

It is very apparent from the recruiter emails that come in which ones have actually even bothered to read the note. The vast majority haven't which is a good indication they aren't diligent with their clients either. The rest often thank me for having it, or make other statements and are obviously showing signs of competence so I respond back to them.

Since I run my own mailserver I then add the bad recruiters to a block list so email from their domain is rejected at the SMTP level. The reason for blocking the domain not the individual is that recruiters are in the recruitment business - if they can't hire good people for their own business in a field they specialise in, why should they be trusted for IT?

sherm8n• 14 years ago

Oh I love responding to recruiters who have no idea how to approach a programmer.

For really vague/template type emails I email the CEO of the company to give them feedback about their recruiters. Generally, they appreciate it.

For competent recruiters, I tell them to have the founder(s), ceo, or whoever is hiring to call me directly at XXX-XXX-XXXX. I like to cut directly to the chase.

That being said you should totally respond to interesting companies, see what they're working on, and then decline politely.

vinjay• 14 years ago

I perfectly agree with you that most of the portals out over there does not respect the privacy of the Professional. Also if you see, in most of the portals, a Professional dont have a Choice about when he should receive a call from a recruiter [I mean this in the Indian scenario]. Based on these cues we have build portal azzist.com where the benefits for Professionals is "Privacy". We have a "Do Not disturb" privacy option which helps Professionals to protect their privacy. Any feedback about azzist.com is welcome so that we can make it as a perfect platform where the Privacy is protected.

Responding to Recruiting Emails?

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