The same reason companies hiring developers get mostly bad developers applying. The bad developers are on the market the longest and apply to the most jobs.
The same applies with bad recruiters, they're desperate and will try and hit as many people as possible to work the numbers game. Hence you're much more likely to get called by a bad recruiter than a good one.
I've yet to hear anyone make that claim. The issue is that most of the calls are from bad recruiters, not all. The reason for that is because most recruiters are terrible, not all.
That's an interesting (and uncomfortable) idea, but a deeper problem is how to tell the "good" and "bad" recruiters apart. This is the same problem of telling "good" and "bad" candidates apart, and the irony is not lost on me.
What is your constructive advice about how a "good" developer should get your attention, while simultaneously discouraging contact from bad ones?
I suspect that the answer is something like "be an experienced executive", which is obviously not an option for most people in the early part of their careers.
Good question and difficult to answer...truthfully I hadn't ever given it much thought until this article.
But first, I can tell good candidates from bad by what they've accomplished, who they've accomplished it for, what they say, and what people say about them.
I'm a good recruiter not because I never talk to the wrong candidate, I'm a good recruiter because I know the difference between the right and wrong candidate.
So yes you are still going to have to talk to bad recruiters. However, the best way to attract great recruiters is to be great at what you do!
