I don't want to be Negative Nancy here, but I would urge caution against unsolicited job postings that don't come from some of the larger recruiting firms (like Robert Half, TEKSystems, Vaco or such). I've had horrible luck with CyberCoders, though I have heard other people say they've had luck with them. They've strung me along or ghosted me on all 3 attempts I've had with them. But, in my experience, most of the smaller agencies or independent recruiters are either resume harvesters or just plain scammers and identity thieves. I'd especially watch out for ones that are posting for Government jobs, and especially more so if they're indicating Clearance requirements. For those, I'd check ClearanceJobs.com or USAJobs.gov. Word of warning though: government jobs often pay less than private-sector jobs, though the work is usually a lot better defined and the job security is higher. My main concern is with how much very private information we're willing to give up to a recruiter. Before sending them anything, check to make sure they're actually legit and not some fly-by-night business. And never pay them for job hunting for you. Legit recruiters make their money from the company that hires you. It really sucks that this is something you have to watch out for, especially if you're in a position where you're needing to find a job, but scammers have figured out that employment opportunities are a great way to get people to give up all sorts of information. And tech people often have more to steal and are less likely to have their hackles raised over a too-good-to-be-true salary offer.

Very good bloody points all round, my friend. Nice.

Sadly, it seems this time of year brings out the crappiest of the scammers. Especially with so many tech layoffs recently. Plus, employment scamming is a big thing. 😞

I've experienced it. I never knew it was a thing. Good lucks out there everybody

Throwing out props to TEKSystems. At least here in my area, these folks are the ones with their stuff most together. Never reach out with "junk" opps, always asking how to help before asking things from candidates, supporting local communities. Just good stuff, all around.

I was once told by a recruiter friend that the reason some of these spammy recruiters just seem to want your resume is that if they are the first recruiter to submit a candidate to a position, they'll get a small percentage of that fee even if their candidate wasn't the one selected. So they don't really care if you get the job. They shotgun out posts, get resumes, and use those for every position they come across that's semi-relevant. Very shady, and one of the main reasons I won't work with small recruiters unless I personally know them. I have never once had a positive experience with a small recruiter.

The little independent guys are the bane of my existence. Constantly changing their emails to get through my blocks. Even calling them out on LinkedIn is useless. They don't care, just gets them more visibility. One of them somehow got my resume from someplace and it had my phone number and he had the AUDICITY to call me and tell me it wasn't fair to call him out because he was just doing his job. Like... no words man lol. This was for a (wait for it) NODEJS job (I don't even have that anywhere in my LinkedIn or resume?). 6 month contract. In Los Angeles. On-site. AKA 375 miles away. For like $85k/year. Incredible. Hate'em.

A lot of them have zero ethics, and they simply don' t care. They often don't even bother to read your resume, just throw it through a keyword filter. I once got contacted to be a Director of Nursing for a hospital. The only thing I've ever done with nursing is that one of the first websites I built was an application to manage nurse staffing. Pay was actually decent on that one, and if I had been ethically challenged myself, I probably could have got at least a few months of paychecks before they figured out I was totally clueless. 🙂

I understand the caution. But I would also say that I got my current job from a posting by an individual here and not an agency. So, not every situation is not equal.