7 Tips for Dev's who are not looking for work.
I keep hearing from Devs that get so frustrated being hounded by recruiters when they are not looking for a new job. If only there was on off switch, which cut out all recruiters without having to change your LinkedIn name to something aggressive. (which might encourage them) Or even change your mobile number?
I have 7 tips about how to make sure you personal contact info isn’t still available without you realising, but also some advice on why it might be a good idea to pre-vet a shortlist of recruiters that you do actually want to hear from... The ones that send you suitable jobs, and keep you posted of market trends, without insulting your intelligence or asking for a chat every week.
- Delete unused job board accounts
- Consider which recruiters you connect with on L/I
- Ignore rather than decline (Even if your pissed off)
- Remove your mobile number from LinkedIn
- Why it’s good to be headhunted
- Job boards are a last resort
- Use a temporary number if you use job boards
Tip 1. Remove your details from job boards. You may not have signed on for 5 years but if you didn’t remove your account your details are still available. A good dev recruiter will match an old CV will a LinkedIn Profile and make a call about a job they think could be a good match. Total Jobs and its partners also use a tool called Mohiba, a Chrome extension for LinkedIn, that provides contact information on a LinkedIn page, if they have the information in their database.
Tip 2. Only connect with recruiters you want to on LinkedIn. Seems obvious but when a recruiter uses a corporate LinkedIn recruiter account to send multiple InMails, it doesn’t cost an InMail to send a message to a first-degree connection. So, if you start getting sent too many unsuitable roles, or if you ask a recruiter to take a breather for 6 months and they don’t, then remove the connection. At least it will cost them. Personally, I have separate folders for 1st degree connections, within each niche, so when it gets to the end of the month and I’ve used my InMails I can save myself the time.
Tip 3. If a recruiter is sending you unsuitable roles and they are not a 1st degree connection it costs them when you don’t respond. If you decline the message and send them a pissed off response, they get the credit back. It could be worth responding once to let a niche recruiter know your requirements and then disconnect and ignore if they keep getting it wrong.
Tip 4. Remove your mobile number from LinkedIn if you do not want to get headhunt phone calls. – Once you’re a first-degree connection, a recruiter will have access to this. Depending on how compliant they are, this could just end up in a CRM.
There are some clever tools as well that match google+, Facebook etc. So you also might want to keep contact info private on these sites.
Tip 5. It’s good to be headhunted…
Consider being headhunted, good recruiters will keep you posted of lots of opportunities with little input from yourself.
No need to simply block all Inmail messages, keep an eye out for recruiters you recognise and tell them; how, when and what you want to be kept aware of. If they follow this guidance and follow an interest in your career/ extracurricular posts on social media, then great. Maybe it is worth accepting one of the many requests for a 5 min chat... Even if you’re not looking right now, your exact criteria and dream stack can be kept & tagged, for when that role comes in.
Get to know recruiters you like in advance – If you need a new job urgently it's best to limit who you work with and try to work with niche recruiters who will best represent you.. By getting to know recruiters in advance you won’t have to be recruiter vetting whilst your also job searching.
Consider making the move when you and your tech skills are still in demand. And make sure your current company is keeping an up to date tech stack.. If your still using Delphi, maybe it’s time to move on. A recruiter is actually in a good position to discuss supply and demand for current Dev languages.
Tip 6. Avoid making your CV available on job boards until you've exhausted other routes. The best one to start with is indeed, as your full contact information is not shared until a recruiter or hiring manager reaches out to you. I’m sure you’ve put a CV on a board before and noticed Software dev is in mega skills shortage & high demand. You may also have noticed some recruiters just don’t get it, they’ll ask for 15 mins on the phone and then send a C+ Developer a C++ JD. Honestly.
Tip 7. If you do use a job board, consider a temporary mobile number & jobs@ email address. That way you won't have to change your sim when you've found a role – as you will be hounded, for months even after you’ve found a job... Whereas with a Jobs sim you could leave a polite VM saying you’ve now found a role. You can always give your actual number to a couple of recruiters than you clicked with.