Day Two Cloud 088: The Tech Recruiter – Friend Or Foe?

If you’ve been in tech for any length of time, you’ve probably run into tech recruiters. Sometimes they reach out to you because they have a position to fill, and you showed up in their LinkedIn search results. Sometimes you reach out to them to let them know you might be available for that perfect opportunity. But are tech recruiters on your side? Are they looking out for your best interests? Or are you just a piece of meat they hurl at potential employers in the hopes of getting a match and getting paid? How does this whole tech recruiting thing really work? Our guest is Taylor Desseyn, Sr. Recruiter Advocate at Vaco. Taylor knows tech recruiting forwards and backwards. He gives us an insider’s view of how recruiters look at you and how you should look at them to maximize the benefit of the relationship. Because it IS a relationship. And like any relationship, you need to work at it. We discuss: * Pet peeves we have with tech recruiters * A recruiter vs. your personal network * Differences to look out for in choosing a recruiter * Understanding what the recruiter is responsible for * Maximizing your engagement with a recruiter * When to run away from a recruiter * More! Sponsor: Onix As an award-winning cloud solutions provider, Onix provides consulting services for cloud infrastructure, collaboration, devices, enterprise search and geospatial technology. For a limited time, Onix is offering your organization a FREE 6 Hour Cloud Data Strategy Workshop (normally valued at over $2,000). For more information on this special offer, visit onixnet.com/packetpushers. Show Links: @tdesseyn – Taylor Desseyn on Twitter Taylor Desseyn on LinkedIn TaylorDesseyn.com – Taylor’s blog Guidance Counselor 2.0 – Taylor’s podcast Transcript: [00:00:00.330] – Ethan [AD] Day Two Cloud sponsor Onix is a premier Google cloud partner and an AWS advanced consulting partner they’re also an 11 time Google Cloud Award winner and was recently recognized as tech times number one for best cloud consulting services in 2020. For a limited time. Onix is offering a free six hour cloud data strategy workshop. That’s kind of a big deal. That’s normally a two thousand dollar service. For more information and to find out more about the six hour Cloud Data Strategy Workshop, visit Onixnet.com/packetpushers. [/AD] [00:00:38.140] – Ned Welcome to Day Two Cloud. Today, we’re talking about recruiters and I know I know Ethan, we’re going to talk to a recruiter, but don’t turn off. Don’t turn off that station. It’s good. It’s a really interesting conversation with Taylor Desseyn. He’s the senior recruiter advocate at Vaco. And it’s just I’ve dealt with a lot of recruiters and this was not what I expected at all. So, Ethan, what stuck out to you in this episode? [00:01:07.000] – Ethan Well, like you, I’ve worked with my share of recruiters over my career and have had my share of bad experiences. I just felt like a piece of meat and gristmill trying to get me matched up with the job to move on next, and meet the numbers and Taylor points out in the show that it doesn’t have to be like that and explains how to find a recruiter. That’s more on your side.