Ugh, another recruiter just messaged me on LinkedIn about some opportunity at some undisclosed company. This is about the hundredth time this year.
I feel blessed that so many recruiters ping me, however the roles are hardly ever for positions I would be interested in. Then to top it off, the recruiter leaves off the name of the company. They all do it.
Today I worked up the gumption to actually ask one of them why. The recruiter replied "Unfortunately adding the name of my client would make my job pointless so that is why it is not there."
It's totally unreasonable to think your job is pointless if you put the name of the company on the initial communique. This seems sensible at first glance, but it's totally not.
Interviewing for a new job shouldn't be like a suspense movie.
The job of a recruiter is to forge relationships. Recruiting is largely about matchmaking. The recruiter has the relationship with the company. You don't. Without naming the company it's like going on a blind date. If you had the name of the company you could do a little research about them. Let's not waste both of our time.
It's not like you really have the option to cut and run once you see the name of the company. That is unless you know someone working at the company and that person will refer you internally. The odds of that happening are slim to none. Recruiters have much more experience selling your skills than you do. Once the recruiter has contacted you, it would be a fool's errand to contact the company directly just to get lost in their bureaucracy. It can also take dramatically longer going down this path.
Actually it can get much worse, but that's a topic of another post.
Good recruiters are hard to find. If you happen to work with one that treats you well, maintain an open line of communication. You will be rewarded.
What do you think?
Latest comments (25)
If you want to apply to this kind of offers - don't share your personal information as well. Let it be fair for both sides.
While I have quite often experienced what you've described, I have actually once had the opposite experience. The recruiter gave me a bunch of details after I added them on LinkedIn including:
They didn't mention salary but I'm sure I could have asked and been given some approx figure. Honestly was blown away by that and have noted down the recruiter to contact in the future if the need arises - for both me to get a job and (if my company works out) to hire other people.
I've absolutely thanked recruiters for being transparent even though I'm not interested. The ones playing coy tend to just get a kthxbai, but the ones who give all the info needed to make a decision at least get a well-crafted response from me.
2 reasons.
If you contact the company directly, you could deny the recruiter a large commission
Sometimes the company doesn't exist. Once you enquire with your CV, the recruiter cold calls as many companies as possible with the 'great new' potential candidate looking for a role.
As a manager, I receive emails for number 2 on an almost daily basis despite having no terms agreed with the recruiter.
Huh, I didn't know this was a common practice! That actually explain some of the emails I have been receiving
Oh man I totally feel you, I am not even answering to most of the linkedin messages. Nowdays, I learn to be selective and answer back to those I can do a little research and find something interest online. Nice article by the way!
I have a recruiter friend who told me that itβs in part so other third party recruiters canβt swoop in on the leads.
Its my experience recruiters do divulge the name of the company, though they don't advertise it with the job.
Having dealt with many recruiters over the years, I find, once I have established a ballpark exists (skill set and recompense) the recruiter must divulge the name of the company before they may submit my resume.
If they are reluctant to do so, I tell them, this is to prevent duplicate submissions by different agencies.π
They're worried that other recruiters will contact them, get the name then contact the company themselves. Stealing their clients
To be fair, you can usually tell which company it is from the description. My first contact with recruiters is always that I want the name of the company, it's location, it's size and sector. If they're not willing to provide it, I'm not willing to work with them. Recruiters are paid too much (sometimes up to 15% of your salary) for what they do (pass a CV from A to B) and I want to spend as little time with them as possible. They are unpleasant to deal with an unnecessary in tech.
You just made me remember a recruiter that came to me with almost no details on a position and that got really upset whe I asked for details like salary, business model, etc. The response was something like: "I've said enough and I'm not used to disclose my customers details over LinkedIn, if you want to know more, apply for an interview".
To be quite honest, I have the impression that having bounty hunter recruiters goes mainly against our interest as developers. I'm sure there are exceptions, I've found some, but not a lot of them.
More astonishing than that is when companies post job descriptions in job sites and their name is hidden. Like, I have no idea to where I'm applying for, I cannot see what they do and apply with confidence. I never applied to such job posts because there is no bond, no relationship, indeed.
One funny experience was when a recruiter contacted me about a position and when I asked the company he/she described the company in a kind of generic way. Would I get extra points if I guessed right or something? hahaha
Send your recruiters to me.
I have a honeypot for them