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Comment by patio11 | Hacker News Reader

People trying to hire developers through Dice/Monster are demonstrably clueless. Get introductions direct to the decisionmaker. You won't be in a pile of 200 resumes from people who list "Computers: Expert, especially with MsWord" and apply to developer positions. You'll also be dealt with in more reasonable timeframes.

Job sites are job hunting for people who enjoy unemployment.

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I don't disagree, but I'd observe that the symmetrical POV on the hiring side is that if a company is screaming for talent, that implies (to a first approximation) they've already tapped out their network. There's nothing left for them but to strike out into the great unwashed, not-networked-by-them world, however unpleasant that may be. Alas, that requires effort.

Recruiter here. Going directly to the source is alweays your best option, if that's an option. I exist because the hiring manager has only so many hours in the day to review X applications, let alone interview the applicants.

If you are lucky, I get objective criteria from a hiring manager who actually knows what they are looking for and assess the fit of your application in an objective way.

If it helps it bothers me that there's a need for my role and I try to automate myself out of the picture as much as possible.

I'm curious, and maybe a bit skeptical. Why does it bother you that your role is needed?

I'm naturally frustrated by the fact that I know less about the positions I am trying to fill than both the hiring managers and the applicants. It takes a lot of work to learn where I can and can't add value.

That sounds like exactly the kind of self-awareness and humility that will make you stand out and be successful in your profession. Kudos to you.

And the flip side: As a developer, you want to work for a company whose people are smart and connected and passionate enough to attract talent through personal connections. You may not want to work for a company that has to resort to hiring by job boards, with the likely result of merely-average quality in your coworkers-to-be.

This applies recursively to another level too: you really don't want to join a company that can't even make job-board hiring work and resorts to headhunting recruiters.

Agreed. Guess I need to expand my network outside my geographical locale.

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