Any good technical recruiters out there?

[dandia89]

I have had some bad luck with recruiters who don't quite understand my roles. While they aren't very difficult to understand, I feel they aren't able to sell my skills to companies. I'm a Mechanical Engineer with ~4 years in the pipeline industry, but I haven't good recruiters keep in touch. Do I not have enough experience? Or is it just tough to find good recruiters

[ExtraSlow]

Have never had good luck with recruiters in my life. Mostly, they aren't particularly helpful to the candidate IMO.

Remember it's the company who pays them, not you, so their loyalty is to that company, and they have no incentive to "sell your skills" if you aren't an obvious fit for the opening.

[lasimmon]

Originally posted by dandia89
I have had some bad luck with recruiters who don't quite understand my roles. While they aren't very difficult to understand, I feel they aren't able to sell my skills to companies. I'm a Mechanical Engineer with ~4 years in the pipeline industry, but I haven't good recruiters keep in touch. Do I not have enough experience? Or is it just tough to find good recruiters

Is your problem you aren't getting in interviews or what?

[swak]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow

Remember it's the company who pays them, not you, so their loyalty is to that company, and they have no incentive to "sell your skills" if you aren't an obvious fit for the opening.

I work as a recruiter as a side position in my current job... and this statement while bitter-sweet is so true.

As a recruiter, its my job to sell the job to candidates who reach out, or who i reach out to. It's more a career counselors job to direct someone into their best fit of a career path, vs. a recruiters.

[timdog]

I think people misunderstand completely what a recruiter does. They aren't there to find you a job. they are there to find people for an existing vacancy. so, if you keep in touch with them and stay on their radar, maybe one day they will be given a role to fill that lines up with your experience and skills. but rest assured, they are never looking for a role for you.

since the majority of recruiters work on contigency, and are competing with multiple other contigency firms at the same time, they are highly motivated to fill roles quickly. alot of these firms also post their new vacancies on linkedin or on their website, so your best bet is to keep an eye open on those, and then reach out directly to the recruiter if you know them already, and tell them you are interested in that specific role, and make it easy on them by explaining the 2-3 reasons or skills that make you think you are a great match for the role.

Executive search (retained recruiters) is a whole different ball game and unless you are a Director level or above you are likely not going to interact with these people. and there is no point reaching out to them anyway. they find you.

source: I have multiple recruiters in my family of both types described above.

[dandia89]

Originally posted by lasimmon


Is your problem you aren't getting in interviews or what?

I have gotten interviews with recruiters and on My own, but I find 1/10 recruiters are either responsive to send my profile or clear I'm not a good fit fit. The rest can't answer their phone or reply to their email. I guess I'm
Just trying to find recruiters who know my skills And my value

[ExtraSlow]

I guess I don't mind if I come off as a dick here:

Maybe you have found recruiters that know your value in the market better than you do?

[JDMMAN]

dandia89 - Do you have your P.Eng already or an EIT still? Do you have any additional training/education like PMP? Given the current marketplace, it's likely many companies are picking-up individuals which are better qualified and have more experience in the role. Perhaps a miss-match between your profile vs. the requirements of the job?

Just trying to pose some thought provoking questions to see if perhaps your strategy around your job hunt is not aligned.

I've been headhunted before by retained firms for previous roles, but I find networking helps the most, especially when you have previous colleagues refer you into a company.

[dirtsniffer]

We have a posting up for a junior engineer. But it's regionally rotational presence something. Might require moving to Houston eventually.

[Gestalt]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
I guess I don't mind if I come off as a dick here:

Maybe you have found recruiters that know your value in the market better than you do?

Jim Rohn?

[98brg2d]

Here are some realities you need to know about pipeline engineering right now (if you are in fact a pipeline engineer I am surprised you don't already know this, note I am not disputing your claim of being a pipeline engineer):

1: Companies like Stantec, WP, UPI, ILF etc. (the list is endless) have cut pipeline staff down to as little as 10% of their workforce levels from 2013/2014. These are the companies that do all the pipeline engineering for people like Enbridge/Spectra, TransCanada, KinderMorgan etc.

2: When companies cut staff, they don't hire new people, they rehire old people - where did you last work? Try there first, unless you burned that bridge.

3: Pipeline engineering has gotten so bad that at first, companies cut the poor performing employees, then they eventually starting cutting the good employees, now if they need more staff they are tending to rehire the poor employees first because, inevitably, the poor employees are willing to work for less since they have been out of work longer.

4: Profitable pipeline engineering follows profitable drilling by 1 to 3 years. Drilling in 2016 was extremely slow and it is still relatively slow compared to pre-2015 (2013 and 2014 peaked at over 600 rigs working, 2017 peaked at about 345). Don't expect any major rebound until 2 years after drilling is consistently at 80% of Canadian rig fleet (which we haven't hit yet). It could happen sooner, and that would be great, but don't hold your breath.

5: Even the US pipeline industry has slowed in the last year but it is still a very good option if you have written your FE exam and are willing to relocate but don't count on being competitive unless you have passed your PE exam.

6: Good luck in your search. I offer help to lots of people looking for jobs (I am not a recruiter) and it is hard to connect even highly skilled pipeline engineers with companies right now unless you have at least 10 years of experience. I also know and have worked with the people I choose to help which you will find to be very common. The people that know about the quality jobs help their friends/colleagues get them. A personal recommendation can be extremely valuable. Find somebody you know, that is well respected, and respects you, and ask them for leads. You need to exhaust every avenue in this market.

[riander5]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
Have never had good luck with recruiters in my life. Mostly, they aren't particularly helpful to the candidate IMO.

Remember it's the company who pays them, not you, so their loyalty is to that company, and they have no incentive to "sell your skills" if you aren't an obvious fit for the opening.

I've had the opposite. I had quite a few good prospects presented to me before the crash (was ~4 years experience then)... thank god i didnt take the baytex job

Eventually got lined up with a really good gig in the middle of the downtuwn (was say 5.5 yrs then)

Like most things probably just depends if you find a good one!

Good luck OP.... not a whack of pipelines being built right now, people are just trying to keep their existing ones full..

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by dandia89
The rest can't answer their phone or reply to their email.

You and everyone else are doing the same. They will call you if they get a bite.

I can't comment on Engineering but in IT, we now require basically over qualification in order to weed out number of applicants. Before we only need 1-2 skills, now we need 5-8 skills just to reduce the number of resumes to review.

So if you never got call from recruiters, you probably didn't make the cut or the fact there is nothing out there.

[dandia89]

Originally posted by JDMMAN
dandia89 - Do you have your P.Eng already or an EIT still? Do you have any additional training/education like PMP? Given the current marketplace, it's likely many companies are picking-up individuals which are better qualified and have more experience in the role. Perhaps a miss-match between your profile vs. the requirements of the job?

Just trying to pose some thought provoking questions to see if perhaps your strategy around your job hunt is not aligned.

I've been headhunted before by retained firms for previous roles, but I find networking helps the most, especially when you have previous colleagues refer you into a company.

I'm 3 months off my P.Eng, given my previous experience meets the qualifications (it should). I'm working to get my PMP experience in order, so that's my next step.

I definitely appreciate networking, it's how I got my previous roles but I thought recruiting would be a good way to increase my odds. It's good to read everyone's reply and ground me a little. Maybe I don't have all the desirable skills, I've just met so many recruiters who neglect my experience because I don't have a P.Eng. And I have recruiters who push me to job interviews for completely different roles. Hell I try to crush those interviews, but it's quite a long shot.