I’ve had a series of ongoing discussions with a friend who is also a senior software architect. In recent months he’s become quite dissatisfied with his manager specifically and employer generally. He has put his resume out on the typical job search sites, Dice, Monster, TheLadders, LinkedIn and others, and has been sorely disappointed with the result. Technical recruiters seem to be, with rare exceptions, a sorry lot of would-be telemarketers rejected for lack of integrity by the local call-center-for-hire.

On a daily basis this friend of mine receives emails and calls with a hot job listing that do not generally match his skills or experience like the one that he forwarded to me today, not because he might really be a match but in hopes of sparking a conversation that goes something like this:

• Recruiter: “I know you may not be a good fit for this job, but do you know anyone who is?”
• Candidate: “No. I do not know anyone with this skill set and experience level interested in a 6 month contract.”
• Recruiter: “Okay. I’d like to keep in touch with you and I will definitely call you if something comes through that is a better match for what you’re looking for.”
• Candidate: “Okay, sure. Thanks for the call.”

My friend reports that he has at least three of those conversations per week and at least two or three such emails as the one below per day. I’ve changed the company names and the place to avoid the chance of embarrassing any of them, especially since one or two of them is a household brand name.

Hello,

I am Recruiter with XYZConsulting (formerly ABCConsulting), a dedicated QRS contractor sourcing service, managed by TenCharms. We recruit solely for QRS Contract Positions. Should you accept a contract position, it will be through our preferred partner TenCharms, an independent vendor chosen to manage this program for QRS.

I saw your resume on a job board. I am currently recruiting .net Consultant for a 12 months contract project with QRS – Chicago, IL.

Email me a copy of WORD formatted resume, along with these details:

• Best time & number to speak to you:
• Location:
• Visa Status:
• How soon you can start:
• Work mode, W2, C2C (if self-incorporated):
• Expectations on Compensation:

Position’s name: .net Consultant

Assignment period: 12 months
Location: Chicago, IL

Required skills
Primary Skills: asp.net, vb.net, Oracle / SQL Server, SQL. Secondary Skills: C#.net, MS Access / VBA

As this is an urgent requirement, kindly respond to it at earliest possible.

Best Regards,
Bad Excuse (name changed to protect the guilty)

Recruiter | XYZConsulting (formerly ABCConsulting)
A TenCharms Solution
Dedicated QRS Contractor Sourcing Services

My friend has shown me many other emails that are far worse than this one. Many of them are poorly written, lacking proper grammar and teeming with spelling errors, yet they claim to represent well known companies. I wonder if these companies for whom these recruiters work ever bother to review the practices and general quality of the communications of their agents. Somehow I doubt it.

In some of the emails my friend has forwarded to me, it becomes clear that the recruiting company has employed some shoddy keyword matching algorithm to select from a list of candidates who have put their resumes out into the swamp of job sites (see above mentioned sites). In some of these I have been able to identify one or two specific keywords that match my friend’s resume. I should know. I helped him write it.

Sometimes the keyword match is even close, such as, “architect” or “jQuery.” But since my friend is a .NET architect and the job is for a J2EE architect who also knows jQuery and PHP and Oracle while my friend does not mention Oracle or PHP on his resume at all, it is clear that the recruiter’s matching algorithm, whether it is their own or provided by one of the job sites, is severely lacking in even the most basic intelligence.

Either that or the recruiter is far more interested in spamming the candidate with a job posting that is clearly not a fit in hopes that the candidate will do the job of the recruiter for him or her or it.

To all such recruiters, please for the love of Pete, what’s wrong with you? Stop wasting my friend’s time!