7 Reasons Developers Are Frustrated By Recruiters

Recruitment agencies and independent recruiters have played a crucial role in the pairing of employer and employee relationships for many years, and my first hint that such an industry even existed happened in the late 90's. My dad has grown to have a successful career in the food industry since leaving the Royal Air Force, and I distinctly remember him talking to a well-known recruitment agency in the UK while I was still very much in secondary school.

My own foray into the wonderful world of recruiters wasn’t until 2010 or so, when I myself ended up on the client list for this same agency — among others. And while this particular agency has never placed me in a role to date, I’m still on their books and have opportunities sent to me every now and then. The difference is that they’re regarded — both by myself and many others — as a leading agency with a good reputation.

Thanks to a successful career in web software development, over the years I’ve had countless interactions with recruiters and recruitment agencies, and there are indeed other good and honest people out there.

Sadly the positive story very much ends there.

For every positive interaction and experience I’ve had with someone in the recruitment industry, I’ve had a good 15 or 20 negative exchanges for various reasons. I admit that it’s a two-way street and some people’s behaviour towards genuine recruiters needs a bit of a re-think, but there are definitely issues in the sector that bring the reputation in general down.

To be absolutely clear I really do appreciate the relationships I have built up with a fair few recruiters over the years, the help they have provided in getting me to where I am and the knowledge and advice I have gained through countless hours of talking to them. You guys know who you are, and you rock. Keep doing what you’re doing.

For the others, you may have done at least one of what I would consider the 7 biggest frustrations developers have with recruiters.

Not reading the candidate’s CV/resume
This is hands down the biggest failing of most recruiters I see time and again. For example, despite my credentials showing more than a decade of experience at senior or above levels, I still occasionally receive job roles for a junior developer.

Then there are the roles that are for a completely different tech stack to anything I have listed experience with. In some cases this might work out but if someone has spent their career working with web technologies and you have a C-based embedded software developer role, they’re probably not a good fit.

I think the best one I’ve ever received though has to be for an airport porter on the other side of the country. I don’t know whether the recruiter had a premonition that a few years later my life would be consumed by aviation, but my suspicion is that I was just blanket emailed the opportunity. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t progress that one — but it was a good laugh.

Trying to “win the sale” at all costs
Every person has their own motivations for the choices they make in their careers. Whether it’s money, a challenge, career progression, making a difference, getting involved in something that means something to them personally, or just something to pass the time, a good recruiter will identify that and direct the conversation appropriately.

A bad recruiter will ignore the candidate’s motivations and attempt to flog a dead horse long into the night. Recently I had a conversation where I said no in at least four different ways, because the opportunity presented to me was not something I wanted to do. It didn’t excite me and I have spent a good portion of my career doing the very thing I’d be tasked to do.

Another presented me with an opportunity to work in London for £80k. The commute is a good 20 hours per week and with a young family I’d never see, £80k is not worth it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when the recruiter came back with “what if I could get you £120k?” The only response I could muster was, “you could get me a £1m salary and I still wouldn’t take it. Money isn’t everything.”

Not understanding the requirements of your client
If you’re trying to sell a car, you learn about the car in enough detail so that you can field any questions from prospective buyers. If you’re selling holidays, you learn the destination area points of interest to make the holiday more appealing. If you’re selling a job opportunity, it makes sense that you should also know the client and their requirements.

When it comes to software development roles there are a plethora of languages, frameworks and technologies — we’re not expecting you to be able to build Facebook in the language your client uses, but it helps if you have at least some background knowledge in some of the things they’re using. Amazingly, I’ve been approached by people calling themselves technical recruiters, with literally zero knowledge in any programming technologies.

If you don’t know anything about the technologies, how can you realistically make an accurate assessment that the candidates you’re talking to are suitable for the role?

Not understanding the market
To those outside of the tech sector you could be forgiven for not really knowing what the market value of a developer using a specific technology at a specific level is. The rise of remote working in the software space location is becoming less of a factor but one way of showing me that you’re not serious and neither is your client, is to send me a PHP technical lead role with a salary budget of £30,000.

At best in most areas of the UK this will fetch you a “low to mid” mid-level PHP developer. A good recruiter would have gone back to the client and advised their expectations are too high. A bad recruiter? You guessed it. They won’t give that advice and will just send the role out anyway.

The other way a recruiter can really show they (or their client) doesn’t understand the market is sending a senior or tech lead role for a low-end lead salary, but where the client wants experience in almost every technology known to the human race. If you were fortunate enough to actually find someone, their knowledge is likely to be so stretched they wouldn’t be able to provide you with expertise in any one specific area. It’s like trying to get a mechanic to be able to cover cars, buses, trains, aircraft and space rockets.

Not providing relevant details up-front
This has always been a problem but for some reason seems to be on the increase at the moment. An initial contact will indicate that there is a really exciting role available in a leading company in their sector, that the recruiter thinks you’re a good match for, and would you be interested in hearing more about it? Normally the email ends, “when would be a good time to jump on a call?” which is very presumptuous.

While you could argue this might be a good way of understanding whether people are on the market without going into detail, there is no way this could be any better than, “I have this opportunity in the Fintech sector, tech lead working with these technologies, salary £70-£100k.” The problem with providing literally no details — aside from it makes it seem like a mediocre opportunity — is that I then have to send an email asking for them. If I bite, I’m going to get the information anyway, so just send it.

By the way, this is not to be confused with an initial contact of, “I came across your profile and had a couple of roles you might be a good fit for, are you open to opportunities at the moment?” which is not specific to any one role, and a better way of opening the dialogue.

For those people who are not solely motivated by money (me included), the salary is still important to know because it will determine whether or not it’s affordable to even consider. No job can be so interesting and amazing that you will purposely screw yourself over with bills just to take it.

Along with that, “competitive salary”. What’s that all about? Who decided it’s competitive? It’s such a subjective statement it really means nothing — just communicate numbers.

For me, I want recruiters to send the salary, location (if applicable) or remote policies, the tech stack and the sector they’re in… at the very least. But please can we also open with “here’s the job spec”? It’s so much more efficient…

Ghosting or coming back weeks later and being surprised the candidate is no longer available
I don’t need to say much here, but if you work with a candidate then suddenly disappear, I have no time for you later in life. Tied in with that, if you (or the client) take weeks to come back to me, honestly, why are you even surprised I’ve found something else?

Lying to either candidate or employer
I saved the worst until last. Yes, it happens. Yes, it’s happened to me… three times.

On one occasion, the recruiter lied to both me and the client on salary expectations — told the client I’d be happy with a level lower than I could go, told me they would be happy with a salary higher than they could afford. I wasted nearly 10 hours of time driving, interviewing and doing a technical test to have that awkward silence when we all realise none of us are on the same page. No animosity towards the client, but I will never work with the agency again.

Another was an internal recruiter for a London-based tech startup. I had certain flexibility requirements and, as always, was completely up-front about them. I was told they could meet them on the initial telephone interview, second telephone interview and video interview, but this mysteriously changed after I took a day out to go to London. I did get offered a job, but I had to turn it down because my requirements were not flexible. I’ve recently been approached for the same company, but after my previous experience I can’t trust that it wouldn’t be something else, so I said no thanks.

Just. Don’t. Lie.

I’m now actively pointing these out when in dialogue, but if the recruitment industry as a whole took these points seriously and stopped trying to push people through at all costs, I’m of the opinion that the reputation of the industry would vastly improve.

And if you are a recruiter and do any of the things I’ve written about above, please don’t be offended. By highlighting some of the most common issues I discuss regularly with industry peers I’m hoping some changes can maybe make their way into the recruitment industry.