What's Wrong with Indian HeadHunters?



  • I found a new job, but the agent tried to pull a fast one on the terms of the contract; I walked away and resumed my search.

    It seems that 100% of the messages I get from Indian sounding names are for jobs with the wrong skill sets, skill sets that have such a mild overlap with my skills it's laughable (e.g.: one ancillary skill matches), the right skill set but way too far to commute (sometimes 3000 miles away) - even though my profile clearly states NO RELOCATION.

    Don't these idiots realize that you can apply a where-clause like filter to only pull in names of potential candidates that a) have the right skills, and b) have a remote chance of commuting to the job? While this isn't unique to Indians, it's seems that a huge percentage of that particular group seems to not understand basic filtering.

    To all you idiots out there misusing and abusing the internet job boards:

    STOP THE SPAM - IT'S RUDE!!!

    LEARN HOW TO USE THE INTERNET PROPERLY - OR WE WILL USE OUR MAGIC CODEZ

    TO USE YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION TO TRANSPORT YOU BACK TO INDIA!

    </rant>

     



  • I figure it's because they get a commission for each referral.  So it's in their interest to declare you a suitable candidate to... everybody.

     



  • Monster has trainers on staff to go out and teach recruiters how to use the AND, OR, NOT and NEAR keywords in their search in day long training sessions. If US recruiting firms that spend on training need that I wouldn't hold out much hope for outsourced places in India knowing a where clause from bear claws.


  • 🚽 Regular

    Back when I was job hunting I got a call from someone who managed to hit all the points you described. It was for a skill set I had no experience in, was for a city in the middle of nowhere thousands of miles away, and was a 3-month contract (I specifically said that I was looking for a full-time salaried job).

    I started out as cordially as possible, politely telling him that nothing really piqued my interests and thanked him for his time. He proceeded to harass me further, saying it was a once-in-a-lifetime offer that I'm giving up, and that I should reconsider. He said, (and he was serious) that if the commute bothered me, I could fly home for the weekends. I told him the many reasons this wouldn't work, and he wouldn't budge. After a few minutes of him badgering me and me getting more and more irritated, I was just short of screaming obscenities at him and finally hung up.

    He called back the next day as if the previous call never occurred and gave me another job that at least had a manageable commute, but still lacked most of the skill sets the job required. This time, I only took a few seconds of badgering and hung up sooner.

    Some recruiters seriously are as harassing as aggressive telemarketers, and I treat them as such. I don't feel like I'm burning bridges because frankly with most recruiters you could say you once microwaved a kitten and they'd still ask you to add them to their Linked In network.



  • @RHuckster said:

    Back when I was job hunting I got a call from someone who managed to hit all the points you described. It was for a skill set I had no experience in, was for a city in the middle of nowhere thousands of miles away, and was a 3-month contract (I specifically said that I was looking for a full-time salaried job).

    I started out as cordially as possible, politely telling him that nothing really piqued my interests and thanked him for his time. He proceeded to harass me further, saying it was a once-in-a-lifetime offer that I'm giving up, and that I should reconsider. He said, (and he was serious) that if the commute bothered me, I could fly home for the weekends. I told him the many reasons this wouldn't work, and he wouldn't budge. After a few minutes of him badgering me and me getting more and more irritated, I was just short of screaming obscenities at him and finally hung up.

    He called back the next day as if the previous call never occurred and gave me another job that at least had a manageable commute, but still lacked most of the skill sets the job required. This time, I only took a few seconds of badgering and hung up sooner.

    Some recruiters seriously are as harassing as aggressive telemarketers, and I treat them as such. I don't feel like I'm burning bridges because frankly with most recruiters you could say you once microwaved a kitten and they'd still ask you to add them to their Linked In network.

    You, sir, are far too nice to people talking to you on the phone. :)

    Remember, there's a button to make them go away. :b


  • Garbage Person

    Well, look at it this way: At least the agencies bother to call you. (Anyone know any decent ones in the Baltimore/DC/Harrisburg/Philadelphia/NoVA region?)



  • @Weng said:

    Well, look at it this way: At least the agencies bother to call you. (Anyone know any decent ones in the Baltimore/DC/Harrisburg/Philadelphia/NoVA region?)



    Didnt you read the other posts? Doesnt matter where you are, you'll get offers for jobs that are 3000 miles away :)

  • Garbage Person

     Bonus: 3000 miles away is a place I wouldn't mind working.



  • @Weng said:

     Bonus: 3000 miles away is a place I wouldn't mind working.

    Me neither, if it was a burger chain.



  • Don't know about Indian headhunters specifically, but my experience with headhunters in general is that they're pretty clueless as to when it comes to candidates. But you have to remember that you're not their customer, you're their product. And the easiest way for them to make a buck is brute force.

    The funniest offer I got was to go to Germany (I don't speak german, and would require relocation which I said I won't do), coding Symbian (which I expressly mention in my CV that I won't do) for Microsoft (which would be a pro or a con, depending).

    All that said, it's been ages since I got a call from a headhunter. Maybe I'm a has-been now. =)



  • Ring -Ring

    "Hello"

    "Hi, It's a head-hunter. I just saw your profile on monsterboard and have a job offer."

    "Ow, I'm sorry. I've just found a job. Must've forgotten to disable my MB entry."

    "Well here's the offer anyway: Coding JAVA a 160km  (that's a 100 miles for you imperial pussies) away from home."

    "No thanks, my new job is closer to home and it's coding in .Net, the language I already have experience in."

    "But it'll pay XX a month"

    "That's less then I make now."

    "And you'll get JAVA training in Kuala Lumpur. You'll be there for two months."

    "I don't want to travel."

    "Did I mention the training in Kuala Lumpur."

    -- That's when I hung up the phone...



  • @Weng said:

    Well, look at it this way: At least the agencies bother to call you. (Anyone know any decent ones in the Baltimore/DC/Harrisburg/Philadelphia/NoVA region?)

     

    I've had good contracts with TekSystems in Baltimore. However, they are a pretty big company, and I suspect your result can vary wildly.



  • @snoofle said:

    It seems that 100% of the messages I get from Indian sounding names are for jobs with the wrong skill sets, skill sets that have such a mild overlap with my skills it's laughable (e.g.: one ancillary skill matches), the right skill set but way too far to commute (sometimes 3000 miles away) - even though my profile clearly states NO RELOCATION.

    Had a call like that from a very nice young woman who had clearly just started her first job as a recruiter.

    "No, I wouldn't mind paid commute/travel to Maryland's Eastern Shore,"

    "Sorry, I do Math and Statistics - I wouldn't have a clue how to set up Microsoft Exchange servers. "

    There was one keyword that tripped her up - don't remember what it was - but it was a nice call.

     


  • 🚽 Regular

    @fennec said:

    You, sir, are far too nice to people talking to you on the phone. :)

    Remember, there's a button to make them go away. :b

     

    Yes, as I said, I used that button in the end, and used it far sooner the second time it happened. Did you not read my post?



  • @Weng said:

    Well, look at it this way: At least the agencies bother to call you. (Anyone know any decent ones in the Baltimore/DC/Harrisburg/Philadelphia/NoVA region?)

     What skills?



  • @fennec said:

    Remember, there's a button to make them go away. :b

     

    In "the last lecture", there's a nice suggestion to add to this: always hang up while *you* are talking.



  • Like when as a full time IT Manager/Systems Administrator/Only person who can even spell computer with a current skills and responsibilities list a mile long I was agressively offered a week-end stint moving computers a three hour drive away paying less than $10.00 an hour?



  • "Hi, It's a head-hunter. I just saw your profile on monsterboard and have a job offer."

    Wow, you've definitely been dealing with more decent recruiters than I have.

    All I get is people who believe that if they allude to a fictional previous conversation I had with them, then I won't figure out that they grabbed my name from my LinkedIn profile, the one that has a blunt "No phone calls" message on it, looked up my current employer's main phone number, and used the PBX directory to get patched through to my direct extension.

     



  • @Rootbeer said:

    All I get is people who believe that if they allude to a fictional previous conversation I had with them, then I won't figure out that they grabbed my name from my LinkedIn profile, the one that has a blunt "No phone calls" message on it, looked up my current employer's main phone number, and used the PBX directory to get patched through to my direct extension.

    Wow, that's pretty aggressive. Haven't had those before... I guess my LinkedIn profile isn't sexy enough.



  • @steenbergh said:

    @Rootbeer said:

    All I get is people who believe that if they allude to a fictional previous conversation I had with them, then I won't figure out that they grabbed my name from my LinkedIn profile, the one that has a blunt "No phone calls" message on it, looked up my current employer's main phone number, and used the PBX directory to get patched through to my direct extension.

    Wow, that's pretty aggressive. Haven't had those before... I guess my LinkedIn profile isn't sexy enough.

    I got that from a car dealership, last time I was buying a car.

    Sales: "So where do you work?"
    Me: "XXX county hospital."
    Sales: "Oh that's great! I know a nurse there."
    Me: "Oh yeah? Which one?"
    Sales: "Well, it's a big hospital. You wouldn't know her."
    Me: "I work in IT, I've been to every department a dozen times. Try me."
    Sales: "She works night shifts."
    Me: "Yeah, I'm on-call a lot, so I'm there at night usually a couple times a week."
    Sales: "So... are you interested in an automatic?"

    He did a really good job of fulfilling all the "car salesmen" stereotypes.


  • Garbage Person

     @ijij said:

     What skills?
    Briefly (incomplete, and off the top of my head).

    Soft:

    I was educated as a system designer and architect as well as a developer. Requirements gathering, team leadership, systems integration, documentation and planning, estimation, etc. Usability and HCI are two of my pets components in that respect.

    I play nice with both teams of developers and businessfolk.  I also have plenty of experience as the sole developer/maintainer of a product.

    On-site team, on-site management; Off-site team, on-site management; Off-site team, off-site management; On-site team, off-site management. I've done it all successfully.

     

    Hard:

    .net, C# primarily. VB.Net if I must. Web dev or winforms. Some WPF. SQL Server. CrystalReports. Basically, a standard, off the shelf Microsoft flunkie.

     .net Compact Framework targetting WinMobile 5-6.

    DirectX (SlimDX, which mimics the C library syntax extremely closely).
    GPGPU (OpenCL.net, which mimics the C library syntax extremely closely with no OO abstraction).

    A big pile of web-related stuff. Javascript, etc.

    I know how to "do" XML without being a god damned moron.

    Web services (.net, Java).

    Bare network and serial communications.

    Things I haven't used professionally but have sitting in my educational cache and would be perfectly comfortable dusting off:

    Java (JSP, Servlets, desktop apps if you're fucking insane, 1.4 and up)
    RMI. CORBA.
    C++ (currently, read-and-modify only. If given three weeks I can bring myself up to a productive level)
    MySQL (5). PostgreSQL.
    Perl.
    Python.
    Bash.

    Also, I have a crapton of PHP experience. But I want to do that 9-5 every day like I want to stick my tongue in an electrical socket.

     

     

    Oddly enough, even though I know that list is still incomplete, I remembered a bunch of shit that I hadn't bothered to put on my resume. Need to fix that.


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