Why A Lot Of Recruiters Are Doing It All Wrong

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Welcome back! It is so good to see you again, sorry for the mess. I have been meaning to straighten up a bit, but have been getting so many visits lately. I just have not had the time. Come right in and have a seat, would you like coffee or hot cocoa with your cookies? Great, I will be right back with that. Let us talk about something I have been thinking about for a while.

First let us examine some of the realities of the Recruiting Industry. First off, anyone, and I do mean anyone, can try their hand at recruiting. (This makes me both happy and sad, happy because I got in, sad because some people should never be allowed near a phone or computer). For the most part, you do not need a degree, (check! No degree here) or any special training or background (I did telemarketing of all kinds of fun things, Air hoses, office supplies, pewter and crystal figurines to name a few.) I believe there are certainly attributes that help make a good recruiter. (Intelligence, being competitive, empathy, creativity, ethics) However, like most things in life I have seen as many exceptions to this as supporting evidence for them. So problem number one I believe is – Anyone can be a recruiter. Inclusivity is a double edge sword.

Having worked in recruiting for over 16 years now, I have been in enough firms to know how a lot of the training works. Let us examine some of the Old School core beliefs that most firms teach and then we can discuss why they may not be effective today.

1) Always be on the phone, the more calls you make the more touches you will make and the more successful you will be. (I remember being literally handed a phone book to prospect and find clients. Yes I am that old! I can often be found waving my cane at Squirrels.)

This is an interesting one. However, it breeds a lot of problems and contempt in the ranks of the folks on the other end of the phone. Here you are a new Recruiter, and they hand you scripts and “train” you and say get on the phone. You make 1000 phone calls, and start to wonder if this is for you. You finally find some desperate company that gives you a job order (Most likely the company is fraught with problems, and there is a reason they just gave you a job order when you cannot sell with a crap yet.) You are too new to the industry to even properly qualify the position and figure out who the company is, how they stack up against the competition, and if you would even want to place someone there.

(I realize that the following may not hold true for every industry, or every area of technology… Squirrels!)

Now it’s time to call people at work and interrupt their day generally upsetting everyone who answers your call (especially if you are leading in with something like “I have the perfect job for you” silly, noob recruiter. You most likely do not know anything about the person on the other end of the phone. (SHAME ON YOU! And most likely you have no concept of what their perfect job would even look like.) 10 years ago, I think it was okay to call people at work. From the feedback I get now, I believe it is less acceptable today. As a last resort, if I cannot find any other means, including Twitter, an email on linked in, an introduction, their web site or blog, email etc. I may occasionally call someone at work. (I know Hiss, Hiss, Boo.) If I have researched your background, and believe you are a good fit for the company and role, and based on all information available believe it could be of interest to you. I will walk through barbed wire and broken glass to get a hold of you. (This is not the same as when you get an email saying I read your Resume and want to talk to you about a Java role because your resume had JavaScript on it, I get those emails also, and I am not even a developer. I am talking about actually reading and understanding your Resume, reading anything you published, looking through your slides if you presented anywhere, and even looking through your github account)

There was someone I had to get ahold of once, one of maybe 3 people in the country who fit something I was working on, I could not locate him anywhere. I found out where he had his wedding reception, it was a bar/restaurant. I called and asked if the couple still came in, the bar keep said yes every other week or so. I gave him my bank card number and asked him to take my name and number and pay their tab with it the next time they came in and ask him to call me. (This is the Creativity piece I mentioned earlier.) He did call, and I did place him, this was over 10 years ago and we still stay in touch)

SQUIRRELL!!!! I digress.

So the bottom line on this one is, you have all of these new recruiters doing what the boss is telling them to do like blind sheeples being led to the slaughter. Most of them do not make the 3 to 6 month mark, and they upset hordes of people while they figure out if recruiting is for them. Even if they do make it, they usually continue to upset people for years, because it takes years to become good at recruiting and know what you are doing. I guess what I am saying in this part is a big portion of the problem with recruiting is the industry for the most part does not provide the best training, there is no test or development environment and they are thrown into live production way to fast. Imagine if the second week on the job as a Developer they had you develop live in production. It would not be pretty when you crashed everything with some poorly written code. And honestly it would not really be your fault; you were trying to do what your employer asked you to. Silly Employers. This is one of the biggest reasons I believe that most Recruiters Are Doing it All Wrong.

“How do we fix it?” you ask.

“That is the million dollar question! I am glad you asked!” I reply.

I believe some of the following are good tips to become a better recruiter and irritate less people.

1) Research, Research, Research! The industry, the people you will be looking for, the technology. If you do not know the history of the technology your people use, you are doing it all wrong. Study who invented or wrote the language, look at their background, look at what they are doing today and the kinds of things they are involved in. Understand who they are and what makes them tick and more importantly where they congregate and hang out.

2) Get involved with them! Go to the User Groups, or sponsor pizza or beer. It shows you care, and people like people who care. Attend the conferences, the hackathons. DO NOT STAND UP AND YELL I AM A RECRUITER!!! Attend as a member of the community and figure out how you can add value. I often find people not connected to the community I work in, I invite them to get connected, tell them where their local technology meet up is, the local and national conferences they should think about attending, and introduce them to some well-connected members of the community. The community will see you are like them, you want to help and participate. People like helpful people who are genuine and honest.

3) Be careful when you do pick up the phone. Make sure you know who you are calling and what they may be interested in. And do not forget to genuinely thank them for their time, build lasting relationships and connections.

Well that is about all the time I have for now, I really have to get back to work now. It sure was nice to have you over again. Thank you so much for sending some of your friends and coworkers by after our last visit. I really enjoyed having them over. I hope our talk might have opened your eyes a bit, or made you smile. Thank you, and please do come back soon. Oh, please take a few more cookies for the road.

Lonnie Brown
469 422 3274
Ljb972@gmail.com

Looking In From The Outside – How I Do Get Started in Software Development?

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Looking In From The Outside – How Do I Get Started in Software Development?

The world is changing, technology is changing, business is changing, and what employers look at is changing.

Hello, my name is Lonnie Brown. I am a 17 year Technology Recruiter. I have worked in most segments of technology for companies ranging from startups to Fortune 100’s. Technology areas I have worked in would include Chip level, board level, system level, Software from FPGA, embedded, application and Web Development.

My team and I specialize in the PHP world, which is one of the most amazing Technology Communities I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of. The people are amazing, technically astute, sociable, funny, driven and helpful. They are extremely helpful to each other in solving things, innovating new tools and succeed at being amazing technologists. I often feel humbled in their presence whether it is one on one or in large groups at conferences.

So I was sitting in the Community chat room on IRC and an interesting discussion started. Someone was talking about how she recently spoke with someone who graduated from her alma mater 2 years ago with a CIS Degree and has not been able to find a job in Information Technology. This really struck a chord with me and some of the things I have seen and experienced since working in PHP.

In looking back over 2.5 years of work and the backgrounds of those involved, we can observe some interesting trends. Here is what I can tell you based on the hard data.

1) Less than 40% of the people we placed have a Bachelor Degree or higher.

2) More than 80% are involved with the PHP community, and write software outside of their paid full time job.

3) More than 70% worked in Developing Software. Either their own projects or contributed to someone’s open source project prior to being hired as a full time Developer.

This is a sharp turn in contrast to when I began recruiting in Technology in the mid 1990’s. Nearly all the folks we placed whether selling technology, Engineers, or Software Developers had a Bachelor Degree or higher. It was a rare thing to run across someone in the industry who didn’t have a degree, and it was not uncommon for a client to pass them over because they lacked one.

What we see now in the PHP Development world is almost a 360 degree shift. The majority of Software Developers do not have a Degree. And I can only think of one position where the Hiring Authority said a Bachelor or higher was a hard requirement. What employers seem to care about is the ability to code, to problem solve and to test your software. Most companies ask me for the prospects Github or other software repository so they can see their code. They do not ask for a degree.

So what is the point here? I am not saying do not get a degree. What I am saying is, if you know you are going to want to be a developer. Then pursue your degree, it could come in handy later. But at the same time you are pursuing your degree. Check out some of the free tutorials on Sites such as www.phptherightway.com , www.codecademy.com , and www.phpbuddy.com. Get a Github account and start coding. Code anything. Do it for fun. Start contributing to open source projects, find a mentor, read books by good technologists about developing. Get involved with the community. Find your local User Groups and start attending. Take a look at conferences and get to a couple. There are many that are very reasonable on the pocketbook. Having these activities and experience along with a degree or even in lieu of a degree will serve you well in starting out your career in Software Development. In addition to the experience it shows drive, ambition and initiative.

If you do this, I can promise you will not have a hard time finding your first job out of school. Chances are you will have an offer from someone in the community before you even graduate. This is the right way to go about getting into PHP Software Development.

Keep an eye out for the open source project “Welcome To The PHP Community” that we are helping to organize!

As a side note, take a look at a lot of the up and coming startups that are software related. Take a look at the CEO and CTO’s backgrounds, not many of them have degrees.

Feel free to reach out to me if you need any further help with the above suggestions. I am pretty easy to find online. And good luck to you!

Lonnie is active within the PHP community; you can find interviews with him on Voices of the Elephpant ( www.voicesoftheelephpant.com and Engineyard out and about (on www.Youtube.com ). Lonnie is a Director at The Jacob Group ( www.jacobgroup.com ) a nationally recognized recruiting company where he leads the PHP Recruitment team.

PHP Talent On The Move

Welcome and Weather People

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Oh, Hello there! Welcome, and thank you for stopping bye. Come right in and have a seat, sorry the place is a bit of a mess, let me move that out of your way.

So, the reason I asked you to come over is I need to get a few things of my chest and out of my mind. And you are such a good listener and I trust you will keep our conversations confidential.

So…. here goes.

After years of traipsing through the information super highway, I figured its time I start putting my two cents out here for your reading pleasure.

A little about me, And what you can expect to see in the future here on You Are Doing It All Wrong.

As most of you probably know, I am a 16 year Technology Recruiter, and a proud member of the PHP Community. I grew up in Los Angeles, California. I come from a family of 5 and have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. I now live in Dallas, TX. I have 4 wonderful children of my own, 2 boys and 2 girls; Alec, Julia, Alyssa and Ethan.

SQUIRREL!!!! Most Recruiters are easily distracted. I think the profession attracts a lot of folks with attention deficit disorder, among other illnesses!

Sorry.

Some of the things that will be forthcoming on my blog will be;

All things job related in PHP, things like the roles across the country that I am working on. Tips for interviewing, handling resignations and counteroffers, and how to ask your boss for a raise. (without pissing him/her off.)

Humor, I like humor, laughing and making others laugh. So we will have weekly comics, funny stories about my children, Kimmie, and my own childhood.

And what is sure to be entertaining; Random Thoughts about things, situations, life, and my favorite people.

I like Random Thoughts, and find myself thinking them all the time. Here is one I often think about since I moves to Texas;

Weather People

Weather People are one of the few groups of people that can be wrong every day, and not get fired for it. In most professions, you are paid for performance in one way or another. Let us examine a few.

1) Software Developers – if you came in everyday and wrote crap code that did not work, how long do you think you would be employed? Probably not very long would be my guess.

LOOK A SQUIRREL!!!! =======> No, that is just a leaf blowing in the wind.

Where was I? Oh yes!

2) Recruiters – if you are not filling positions, you are going to get fired.

3) Politicians – hmmmm. No that does not work at all, Politicians are not paid by performance either. In fact a politician can be wrong their entire career, still get paid and collect a full pension when they finish ‘serving’ in public office. We will definitely revisit this one in much more detail later. (focus pinky, focus!)

You get the idea.

The Weather People say it will rain and it does not, they say it will be sunny and it often ends up cloudy. I especially like how they wait until about an hour before a big thunderstorm to give warnings. When I can look at Geostationary Satellite Server, I can almost always tell in the morning that there will be storms by the evening. Or I can see that it will be sunny all day. I am not a Weather Person, in the sense that I have no training or formal education related to the topic. I just like to look at the weather patterns. I find it hard to believe that I am smarter than these folks who attended college and studied this topic for years.

“Why can they not forecast the weather accurately?” you ask.

“Exactly! That is the question.” I answer smiling.

I do not know for sure, but I have a few guesses.

1) It could be due to the fact that they are not paid for performance. I have a strong feeling that they would forecast better if it directly affected their compensation. When the Weather Persons boss comes in and says “Suzy, you only got the forecast right 3 out of 7 days last week, so your only getting three Sevenths of your pay.” I feel strongly that Suzy would try much harder on her forecast for next week, so she could earn her full compensation. What do you think?

2) Weather People could be distant relatives of The Honey Badger and just not care.

3) Weather People could be a lot like Recruiters. There are lots of them, but not a lot of good ones.

4) Perhaps they are all No Talent Ass Clowns. (There is something I just love about that phrase; it warms the cockles of my heart!)

5) I submit finally that Weather People are intimidated by Mother Nature and cower in the fetal position at home under a My Little Pony throw blanket in puddles of their own urine. (I do not know about you, but I am really leaning toward number 5 myself!)

6) Perhaps someone just needs to tell them “You are doing it all wrong.”

I will leave it for you to decide. Feel free to write in extra choices in the comment section that I did not think of.

I hope you smiled or laughed. Thank you for stopping by for a bit. Next time I will make us some Chocolate Chip Cookies and some Espresso or Hot Cocoa to make our visit a bit nicer. I hope your family and friends are well. Please tell them all I said hello, and let them know I invited them to come by whenever they have time. I would love to visit with them.

Lonnie Brown

@lbrown972 – Twitter

My Linkedin profile