Ask HN: do other developers just ignore all emails from recruiters too?

12 points by gvinter 12 years ago | 18 comments

Whether it's a LinkedIn message or they somehow they got my email, with one exception, I never respond to recruiters. Their emails could be polite, personal, and non-aggressive. Or they could still have template placeholders (ie. "{{their name here}}") and tell me in my first year as a developer that I'm a great fit for a senior engineering role. I just don't respond, because otherwise it'd be hours/week of sending email.

Even if I had a template to respond with, it still would take up time. It's strange to get so many emails from people and never to respond, but to be fair, it's the equivalent of cold calling. Do you guys just ignore it too?

gesman 12 years ago |

I almost always reply with request for salary range (if recruiter has opened position).

If recruiter replies with usual salesmanship dance, such as "depends on experience" or "competitive" or alike, I usually ignore him for good.

Otherwise, if the pay range is reasonable I don't mind to communicate further, depending on my current situation.

wikwocket 12 years ago | |

I think this can be a good idea, just to get data points on salary ranges in your field. It's good to know the market value for what you do, to have an understanding of what you're worth. And if a recruiter tells you they are trying to fill a job with salary X, that's a pretty relevant data point.

taproot 12 years ago |

I only reply when im pooking or its ones i like to keep in touch with. 9 times out of 10 youre just their product, ignore away, you wont burn any bridges. Yet you may not get the best job offers until you start acting which may not he what you want.

jobmatchbox 12 years ago | |

The best job offers come when someone knows who you are. To get there you need to have some sort of presence on the radar of the right recruiters. I have jumped in and out of recruiting and development so I'm not guessing on this. The product is the chemistry and courtship assistance, not the person. A good recruiter can help, a bad one can waste time. The same is true with a good vs. bad developer.

gvinter 12 years ago | |

"9 times out of 10 youre just their product" > Good point.

And I'm not looking, so not worried about burning bridges. Thanks for the back-up.

tostitos1979 12 years ago |

I'm curious about what other people have to say. I feel very bad for ignoring recruiter emails. But I really don't have the mental energy to do the dance.

Peroni 12 years ago | |

Former agency recruiter here. Feel free to ignore them. The vast majority of emails sent by recruiters go ignored. If they want to speak to you really badly because they've actually done their research properly, they will find a way to get your attention.

codeonfire 12 years ago |

I try to respond to recruiters, but have come to the conclusion that they cannot help me. The fact that I am talking to a recruiter means that the job is under someone I don't know personally. I literally can not do anything more career wise to improve the job I could get without personal connections.

hashtree 12 years ago |

If they shotgun emails, I will add them to this repo so that anyone who leverages never has to be hit by them: https://github.com/rockymadden/scattershot

If they are at all thoughtful, they get a thoughtful reply back.

fsk 12 years ago |

That's what gmail search is for. I see if the headhunter has E-Mailed me before. If never, I give him the benefit of the doubt, and reply. If several times or he's a spammer, I ignore him. I have a list of headhunters I refuse to contact.

collyw 12 years ago |

I actively try to wind them up.

Not all of them, but the ones where they clearly haven't even read my CV. For example the ones that say "if you know anyone else suitable for this role". I ask them how much they will pay me for doing their job.

eecsninja 12 years ago |

I added a note to my profile stating I wasn't interested in the area in which I get 90% of the recruitment emails (Linux kernel).

That's what happens when you get assigned to a field by your job and people assume you actually like it... sigh...

bluejellybean 12 years ago |

I'm on the other side of the fence compared to most of you. Still trying to land my first job so unfortunately most recruiters don't respond to my emails.

collyw 12 years ago | |

God luck, I graduated in the dot com bust in 2001, and had a year and a half before I got a full time job. It can be hard, but what helped for me was doing some poorly paid temporary jobs (one job was testing and was paid reasonably). Once I had some experience on my CV, recruiters actually started to look at it.

bandy 12 years ago |

If they're actually local and speak English well enough to be understood over a crummy cell phone connection, I'll keep in touch.

If not, I whack the Spam button.

sylvainkalache 12 years ago |

I'm ignoring too. I was looking for a way to get value out of it but have not found. I'm surprise by the lack of creativity of those ones.

NonEUCitizen 12 years ago |

ok to ignore spam

jobmatchbox 12 years ago | |

Recruiter messages are not spam. Crappy, generic messages from people who attempt to do recruiting but who don't read your profile at all is.