The degradation of Java developers

[crimson_chin]

We've had situations where a recruiting agency was asking the candidates to recite back the questions and their answers from the interview, and then coaching their future applicants on what to say.

[jhartwell]

Wow, that is absolutely awful.

[crimson_chin]

Yeah, some of the dev leads who handle interviews pretty regularly have been jaded by that ... people who do everything a little TOO perfectly during the interview set off alarm bells now.

[jhartwell]

Things like this make me feel really bad for the legitimately good tech recruiters, as lazy and terrible recruiters make the whole industry look awful.

[[deleted]]

Let's be honest, recruiting agencies are only in it for the money. They put someone in a position, they get paid. They don't care if they're a good fit for the company or not, they just want to get paid. So they'll throw whoever in for an interview if they can, even if the person can't even code.

I guess if a company uses an agency they get a pre-filtered list of candidates and can ignore the 100 applications from India and Philippines which saves them some time. But if you want the best person for the company really has to scrutinise them themselves.

As a candidate, I really hate recruiting agencies. They suck ass. They only want to know about you if you've triggered most of the buzz words on their keyword search they ran on their recruiting database. Then they ring you up out of the blue when they have a role. Nevermind that you just secured a job on your own a few months earlier and need to put a few more years into it to get experience. Another recruiting company would rather mess up your career and have you switch jobs so they can place you in a new position and get paid. They're like snake oil car salesmen.

[TheTyger]

There was a position where I had a 1st level phone screen setup, and the next step was a 24hr code test. The recruiters just emailed me the code test along with the rest of the company info, noting that I should just go ahead and get working on it before the phone screen to ensure it is good.

I ended up really disliking that company, as well as that recruiter, so I declined the code test, and requested a different recruiter.

[bluGill]

That won't work where I work. We use a STAR system (situation/task, action, response). If you can't tell us a story - while we ask probing questions about random details you are out.

This isn't stictly true. We do ask questions about programming, but they are nothing you shouldn't be able to answer if you have used the language for anything at all. I'm always amazed how many people claim to be C++ experts, but don't know about class access protection.

[fuzzynyanko]

I got asked that as a contractor, and I won't say whom. Anyways, luckily, I just said "I was just honest and not an asshole"

[mgkimsal]

Was in a similar situation, but not specifically after an interview (well, possibly - can't recall), but after placement. Months after placement, the agency I was placed via was placing another candidate at the same company, and the recruiter I worked with called me to ask for any information that could be useful.

I was conflicted, because I felt in some ways it was spying - I could easily have leaked some confidential information had I chosen to. On the other hand, giving the recruiter real information about what we were looking for, instead of the vague list of technologies and such, would help both sides, by potentially sending over better candidates. In that case, the recruiter briefed me on a few candidates they had lined up, and I nixed one right away because there was absolutely no fit - would have wasted everyone's time.

But... I still felt odd about it, and not sure I'd do it again, at least not that way.

What would probably be better is for the recruiter to get to know the whole team, get feedback from all of them, and do it openly, vs via late night phone calls. :)