As our funding has picked up for Emerald Kingdom, I have begun putting together the requirements for contract job for some client work. One of the most common emails I tend to get are from recruiters. Double Cluepon will never ever use recruiters. Why you ask? It has to do with a great deal of experience in working with them.

Recruiters are the greasy car salesmen of the job and hiring industry. They are the guy who asks you on the street if you want to buy a gold watch. In my own personal dealings with them, I have had them act unethically and unprofessionally. I used to think they were always looking out for their client, the person who paid them. However, over time that perception changed to thinking they are only thinking of themselves. The recruitment industry, more or less is a middleman industry that gets in the way.

In my own professional career, I have had recruiters ask me to “re-target” my resume, which winds up being explained as a rewrite…so they can pitch it better to their client. While some feedback on resume tweaking is valid, and I have done so…I’ve had recruiters want whole swaths of changes to make their sales pitch to their client easier. If I don’t fit the job, why would you pitch my resume? Why would you do that to your client? Why would you do that to me? Furthermore, why would you ask me to put my career at risk with a bad fit?

I’ve had recruiters cold call me to get my resume, only to find out they simply want to pad their database. Leliel has had recruiters cold call him in order to pump him for CTO Contacts. In my capacity as a person who hires and fires, I have heard all sorts of wild things from the mouths of recruiters. People who tell me if I don’t use them to vet candidates, I am not only a bad company player…I am running the risk of bringing my company down. I’ve had recruiters cold call me with candidates who live in other countries, having never read the ad I placed. I have had recruiters and placement firms send me people, only to not pay them even though we have paid their invoices. This reflects badly on us, and lowers the quality of work.

Now, I am sure there are some reputable recruitment firms out there. However, the industry is rife with so many…the ratio of good to bad makes the industry as a whole unattractive as an option for scouting talent. At my last private industry position, we paid 3 invoices for a placement firm for some work with a temp I.T. worker…only for that person to not get paid for 4 months. While I realized we had fulfilled our duty in paying our bills…it still made things awkward. Fortunately, in that case…we wound up privately contracting this person. It worked out in the end…but still a wholly unprofessional situation.

I almost always add recruiter email domains to our e-mail server blacklist. Simply because, they tend to be more trouble than they are ever worth. I have yet to have any positive experience with a placement or recruitment firm. All of my peers in the I.T. industry, whether they have been placed or not placed: none of them ever talk about positive experiences. I hear nothing but horror stories.

I bring this up, because recruiters like to hit new businesses. If you’ve got a small business, steer clear. While there may be good ones out there, a great many of them are ticks. It’s better to be in there, vetting resumes and networking with people. Putting such a crucial part of your business in the hands of a middleman is a risky proposition. Middleman industries can be poison to small business. It’s best to steer clear, and stay in charge of who you bring in. It’s also what you signed up for when starting a business.

So, we will be staying away from recruitment firms, for these reasons…and many others. Anyone of you have experiences you want to share with recruitment?