How Do They Find Me?

I have been getting a bunch of calls from recruiters at my desk at my current client. I think that they know the telephone prefixes of the IT departments at the various Wall Street companies. The recruiters call every single number with that prefix in the middle of the night, and wait for the voice mail to kick in. So, they can get a name of a person at a desk at a Wall Street company.

The calls then come....

Recruiter : Hi Marc. I know someone who worked with you at your last company and they thought you were great.

Me (seeing the bullshit form a mile away) : That's fantastic! What company was that?

Recruiter : (sound of frantic typing in the background). Did you say that this was Marc Adler? Hmmm... it was ... XYZ.

Me : Who was the person that referred you?

Recruiter : Let me tell you about this position.

Me : (hangs up)

A recruiter's opening line says everything about his veracity and ethics. If a recruiter comes across like a telemarketer, I will not deal with him. A better line might be :

Recruiter : Hi Marc. I have been retained by Bank of America to hire a team that needs to build a credit derivatives system. Their platform will be a .NET front end, Java backend, wired together by Tibco EMS. Since you are working now for XYZ, and since I know that their credit derivatives systems use that precise technology, I was wondering if you or any of your teammates would be interesting in implementing a system like this over at BofA. Of course, the compensation would be above and beyond your current salary, which given your level, I could probably take a guess at.

Why is this good? I find out the name of the company who is hiring, and I already know that it's not with the company that I am currently with. (The worst thing is to find out that the job is for your position at your current company!). I see that the recruiter has taken the time to find out that I am with the credit derivs area, and has taken the time to know that my current client uses a particular technology. I see that the recruiter is aware of current salaries and could divine what it would take for an established player to move to another company.

I don't want to have to play games with a recruiter to find out about a position. Be straight, be honest. If I am truly interested in something, then I will not do an end-run around you.

Also, do you guys realize that, if you call me in the middle of the day, then the 5 people who sit around me usually hang on every word that I say on the phone?


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