Recruiter-Rater

As a former employee, I can tell anyone that this is the worst of the worst. I am not a disgruntled ex employee either, I left on my own terms and have a great job currently. Let me just tell you how they REALLY work over there.

First off, Stride and Associates owns Atlantis Partners, Boylson Group, C. Bridges Assoc., MacArthur Assoc. Napier Partners, and Remington International (all very fancy names!) They have two of each company set up in each city so they can call more companies without annoying people (it's better if 3 people from Atlantis and 3 people from MacArthur calling than 6 from just one company). It's funny how some hiring managers hate MacArthur but love Atlantis, NEWS FLASH: THEY ARE THE SAME COMPANY! They are all in the same meetings and learn the same coniving tactics from the same managers!

I would say 70% of the recruiters there have been working there for 2 months or less. They just cycle people in and out. The way they hire people is they search for kids that have just come out of college, want a job and don't know any better. They basically promise you a management position in about a year in which "you'll be running your own business." They promise you the world basically and all you have to do is work 50 hours a week, for $30k for a year while making $0 on commissions (until of course you're a manager running your own business). But to the common college kid, this is the fast track to success.

Anyways, so when they do trap you, every morning you have a meeting to learn the basics of what you are trying to do. You learn a little about the technological terms so that you don't sound like a complete idiot on the phone. Then they have you call people from Monster.com. They have you say that you have a great job that is a perfect fit and that you need to call them back ASAP. 9 times out of 10 they don't have anything. They are using your resume to leverage a hiring manager. They also use your manager to see where you have worked at, and call those companies to see if they are hiring.

As an employee, you are required to bring in 5 candidates a week, that is your quota. So they really don't have anything for you most of the time but just want to get you in so they don't get in trouble. Not only is bringing in a candidate good because they don't get yelled at, but they are going to ask you at the end of the interview all the places you are interviewing at. They will say it is so they don't submit your resume there, but then they say they won't send your resume without you knowing. THEY ASK WHERE YOU ARE INTERVIEWING SO THEY CAN CALL THERE AND TRY AND PLACE SOMEONE ELSE THERE! Their little show continues after you are done "interviewing" in their boiler room atmosphere as they bring out people on their team to talk to you. This is just a nice break in the day for them since they are all basically prisoners, minus the managers of course.

So let's get to the interviews they get you out on. The way they pick these jobs up are easy, they go to the job boards (monster, careerbuilder, indeed.com) and demand the hiring manager on the phone. They will do anything to get the tech director on the phone, mainly lying. Then once they get them on the phone they say "I have a candidate I know is perfect for the open job." Funny thing is they just found the candidate on Monster a couple of days ago. Then from there they try and get the hiring manager to set aside a few hours to come interview at the recruiter's office. Keep in mind you get bonus points as a recruiter if you can trick the hiring manager to coming in. If they can't do that, then they will just settle for sending people to their site. They won't send over resumes until the last minute because they basically want to send get as many people in front of the hiring manager as possible. This helps their chance of doing the deal, which is funny because they don't get any commissions. Only their manager's get a commission. How this is fair is beyond me. It is a pyramid scam. They use everyone from the employees to the candidates.

Also, when they bring candidates in they ask what's the lowest you'll go in terms of salary. They ask the managers, what's the absolute highest they'll go in paying someone. So say you say, I want to make $75k, that's the lowest I'll go. They will find a manager that wants to hire someone for $65k. The recruiter will basically try and negotiate a $70k salary. They will tell the hiring manager how great this guy is and that he is a steal at $70k, even though they said the highest they can go is $65k. They will also say that if you don't hurry and hire him, they will miss out because he is interviewing all over town right now and "if you like him, that means someone else does too." Then they will tell the candidate that $70k is the best they can get in this economy. That the job they have lined up is at a great company and there is tons of potential to make even more than $75k.

The recruiters get judged off of how many managers they can get on the phone, how many hiring managers they can get to say "yes, I will see your people," how many managers they can trick into coming into their office and how many people they can throw in front of the managers.

It really is a waste of everyone's time. For hiring managers, all you have to do is put up a better job post and have your HR call people that post their resumes online and then you won't have to deal with unqualified recruiters. Oh, and if you do decide to use these guys, they say that they are a premiere company and deserve 33%, they'll take the standard 20% every time. For candidates, they are using you to see what companies you have worked at in the past to call them and to see where you are interviewing to call these people too so they can try and send people to that job (that is their hottest lead). To people that are thinking of working there, there will be a new set of faces around you every 2-3 months. I made the company over $250k, worked there for a year (wasn't a manager) and was making $34k with $0 in commissions. They just have people coming in and out all the time, everyone there is a pawn in their pyramid scheme.

Hope this helps everyone!

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