Matt Richardson

The state of IT recruitment...

August 13, 2005 | 1 Minute Read

Just a quick note to say how disgusted I am with the state of IT recruitment in London these days. I mean, if I get another (effectively) spam email that outlines a job where the only relation to me is that its in IT, and hey, I just happen to work in IT, I'm gonna go mental.

I have never told any recruitment agent that I'm looking for a permanent job, and I've never told anyone that I was looking outside London. It was always contract, and it was always in central London. But, these days, all I seem to get are bulk emails with job outlines.

It seems that recruitment companies don't even bother with any kind of data mining/data analysis/searching their own databases first. They just send out a bulk email and see how it goes. The nicely add “The following vacancy may be suitable for you.  If it is not then accept our apologies and update us as soon as possible with your current skills.” Gee. Thanks. My skills haven't really changed (okay, so they have - i have learnt a few things in my current job), but I never met the criteria for this role, so why am I getting emails?

What happened to the agencies that actually knew their contractors, looked out for them, treated them with respect?

I've also had a glimpse lately of the other side of the coin. My team lead put out an advert, with the first line being “No Agencies”. Within hours, he was getting phone calls from agents. What, cant they read now? These guys are harassing my team lead, phoning day after day, after specifically being told “no phone calls - email only”.

Gah! Where's the professionalism gone? (Then again, was it ever there???)

Tagged: On Software  On Generalities