Ask HN: Does a quick, “Are you considering new jobs?” phone call bother you?
If you get a quick, polite, non-pushy phone call from a recruiter to see if you are looking for new jobs at the moment, does that bother you?
In fact, I no longer answer the phone at all unless I recognize the number, since otherwise I'd be listening to telemarketing spam every 15 minutes.
But even without the spam, I loathe the phone as a mode of communication. What about yet another recruiting offer that I'm not the least bit interested in requires a phone call? I don't care if it's better for the recruiter. It's way worse for me.
I can only assume they somehow get better results from phoning people, because they persist in doing it. Although I'm surprised this is the case.
its really got at getting someones attention. and once they answered it, they think its too rude to "just hang up".
Spamming job specs to me on linkedin is good though. No need to be super kind or anything and it has to be tangially related to what I've done or am doing.
The guys/girls who send me super informal spam out of nowhere for PHP webdev roles when I have a decade of sysadmin experience.. I'm talking to you.
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If you're going to go for candidates in a personable way then make sure you read their bio and include the reasons why you think they're a good fit.
Just calling out of nowhere is rude as it impacts my day, especially as recruiters like to call during working hours.
Naively, I put this down to inexperience on their part, until I learned that most of them are paid a fee just for providing candidates for interview, regardless of success. Up until that point I'd always assumed they were only paid when a candidate is hired.
Maybe I'm the only one who is that naive, but learning that one simple fact made me a lot more suspicious of their motives.
Once or twice, my answer has been "yes". In fact, that's how I got my current job.