Ask HN: How to Interact with LinkedIn Recruiters? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to Interact with LinkedIn Recruiters?

I recently set my LinkedIn status to "looking for work" and had several recruiters reach out to me. I am not urgent trying to switch jobs, but I do want to know what a competitive rate for my position is and whether I should leave given my stagnant compensation.

So I'm curious about several things:

- How should I approach chatting with recruiters? Any general advice?

- Has anyone been successful asking about comp before interviewing?

- How do you manage interacting with multiple recruiters simultaneously?

- Anything to be wary of with a current employer?

For context: I'm about 3 years out of college, working as a C++ SWE in proprietary trading.

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For contracting in Europe: They will ask you about your rate and find a placement based on that. You should decide what's your price and be ready to show your experience that supports it at the interview.

Usually they won't tell you the rate beforehand because they don't even know it. They know a rough budget and then it depends on your level of experience. Their budget info can be a range between (for Europe) e.g. 300-800 EUR/day. They will take a very senior guy for 800 EUR and they will take a less experienced guy for less. It all depends on your level, but they are unable to assess it themselves - the client does that, the recruiters don't have the necessary technical knowledge.

About chatting: Just be very direct and straight forward with them. Tell them exactly what's your situation and what you're looking for. You can only gain by this - they won't bother you with deals that aren't interesting to you. Don't over complicate it, I send them one-sentence answers if that's enough. If somebody stops replying or takes too long, just move on. There's plenty more. Similarly, if you take too long, they will just move on.

If you want to know your rate: Take a few interviews with a rate much bigger than you think you can get. Either they tell you it's too much or they accept. Where I live in EU I'd open the interviews around 400-500 EUR per day if I was in your shoes.

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