Sorting resumes ... - A world apart from the everday ...

A world apart from the everday ...

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Sorting resumes ...

It is no news that I have some serious issues with the quality and levels of technical recruiters in SA but it seems we are not alone down here in deep dark Africa.

This little gem is quoted from www.joelonsoftware.com

"To top programmers, the most maddening thing about recruiters is their almost morbid fascination with keywords and buzzwords. The entire industry of professional headhunters and recruiters is bizarrely fixated on the simple algorithm of matching candidates to positions by looking for candidates that have the complete list of technology acronyms that the employer happens to be looking for. It becomes especially infuriating to realize that most of these recruiters have no idea what any of these technologies are. “Oh, you don’t have MSMQ experience? Never mind.” At least when real estate agents prattle on about Subzero refrigerators and Viking stoves, they at least know what these things are (although any stainless steel refrigerator counts as “Subzero” these days). The easiest way to catch-out a technical recruiter is when they inevitably insist on 5 years of experience with Ruby on Rails, or refuse to consider someone for a “Windows API” job when they only have “Win32” on their resume."

For the full article check this out ... Sorting Resumes

So now the real question now is ... what do we do about it to change this? Do what Joel did and start our own technically capable recruitment company?

hmmm now there is a thought.

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Posted: Sep 08 2006, 03:25 PM by Ryan CrawCour | with 9 comment(s)

Comments

digin said:

I find that in South Africa, being so small, the local talent becomes quickly well-known, and the need for recruitment agencies is pretty limted. The best way to recruit is to consistently spread out an authentic message as to why you are a great company to work for. We've hired 15 people in 6 months, with the bulk of people referring former colleagues. Encourage your developer team (and reward them!) for continually bring good people into the company.
# September 9, 2006 10:15 AM

Simon Stewart said:

Ryan, I share your pain. Both as an employee and employer I've been grossly disappointed with several recruitment companies in SA. The biggest problem is that NONE have technical understanding. I once didn't get to go for an interview because I didn't have DHTML on my CV (a long time ago!), but had JScript and HTML which kind of equals DHTML. Anyway, I'm not one to complain without at least trying to offer a solution, so .... Keep an eye out for www.BrokenKeyboardsRecruitment.com - a 100% technical recruitment company designed to take the pain out of recruiting for both employee and employer. Site should be up by eod Tuesday. Perhaps you'd like to send us your CV?
# September 11, 2006 7:26 AM

Ryan CrawCour said:

Simon,

Awesome news!

It is so sad how recruiters must use the simplest of word matching techniques to source their candidates. They simply signup for CareerJunction and CareerWeb, post hundreds of bogus jobs and wait ...

They have even infiltrated some of the technical forums making all of these previously great resources for the job seeker almost useless.

Finally we might get something of true value for the employer and employee alike.

I'm in ... Won't quite send you my CV. but should I will be calling on you in the near future to find me people though.

Wish you all the best.

# September 11, 2006 7:46 AM

Ryan CrawCour said:

digin,

That is a great idea!

I have worked for a company in the past that went about recruitment that way. This way you have an idea of the caliber of person you're getting before they walk in that door.

And I bet you don't have to pay in the region of 20% of their annual salary to motivate your current staff to find others/

# September 11, 2006 7:49 AM

Simon Stewart said:

digin, I agree with you. That is the most ideal way to bring on new employees. Second most ideal is, of course, doing business with us. :-p
# September 11, 2006 8:06 AM

Brady Kelly said:

I forget who it was, that said they only hire lucky people, so before reading resumes, they throw away the majority randomly, hehe.
# September 11, 2006 12:52 PM

Simon Stewart said:

The site you all might be interested in keeping an eye on this week is : www.BrokenKeyboardsRecruitment.com.
# September 12, 2006 9:17 AM

brianwilson said:

Hey bud,

Great post! I agree completely.

Problem is, recruiters a really just "people" salesmen with the mentality "gotta-make-my-commission-so-i-can-get-a-decent-salary this month".

We're just their "product" with xyz features that they need to sell without losing any face with their clients.

They also want the candidate salary to be as high as affordably possible to the employer so they can maximise their profit.

Agency: I think the solution is that IT agencies worth their salt should insist on testing candidates before putting their cv forward.  

Employer: The prospective employer should create the test or buy a test off the web if they are not technically capable of creating one themselves.

If employer does not insist on this, agencies will continue sending crap candidates.

# September 12, 2006 12:15 PM

Ryan CrawCour said:

What i don't get is how companies can continue to use these idiotic agencies and continue to pay the ridiculous fees that are charged by these guys.

Don't get me wrong, there are one of two decent AGENTS at some agencies that i have dealt with from both sides of the fence and they have been great! problem is they are definitely the minority.

# September 12, 2006 12:26 PM
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