Why are so many IT recruiters technically completely incompetent?
blog.uplink.tech
blog.uplink.tech
Indeed no. The author is failing to see it from the recruiter's point of view. Recruiting is a sales job. Just like selling real estate, cars or double glazing. It's a numbers game and it involves a lot of cold calling, and a lot of rejection, which means recruiters have to be thick skinned and resilient. Candidates should remember they are not the customer; the hiring manager or company is the customer as they pay the recruiter fee. As a candidate, you are the product. Other non IT skills that are essential to recruiting are mapping organizations and networking. The author, and many devs who criticize recruiters, are overlooking all that.
Of course it's a sales job. Of course it involves calling/mailing a lot of people and getting a lot of "no"s. Of course the developers are not the customers in this relationship.
What does that have to do with the IT competency of the recruiter though?
I don't buy the "it's a sales job so it's ok if they do it quick and dirty and don't take the time to educate themselves". In my opinion, the opposite is true - recruiters would be much better salespeople with a higher success rate if they showed more competency in the field they work in, both to their customers/clients and to the candidates.
On the other hand, technical sales is normally a well paid expert position. Most recruiters I have met have been young and badly paid.