An Open Letter to the Engineering Community

Dear Engineers,

I am a tech recruiter. Yes, this is true. But I am not your enemy. Instead, I am your partner and friend.

Let me explain.

I’m very aware that much of the engineering community does not like, nor respect, recruiters. I also understand why. The vast majority of recruiters spam you everyday. They send canned and cryptic messages that don’t recognize you as an individual. They rely on buzzwords and hide their clients’ names from you, yet expect your interest. They scour the net for your phone number and call you at work when you’re knee-deep in code. They disrupt your flow. If you’re nice enough to get back to them, they try to exploit you for information. They press you for leads for only their own benefit. I get it. They are in client-service, yet they rarely act like it.

There is not a high barrier of entry in recruitment. There is no certification to attain or test to pass. The space is often filled with recent graduates who are primarily motivated by the opportunity to make a commission based on the fees they generate for their company. Although many recruiters claim to care about relationships, this is not a recipe for that to be the actual. The overall quality of recruiters is subpar and lacking.

In our opinion, part of the disconnect stems from recruitment approaches and methodologies failing to evolve specifically for the tech & startup space. Many of the aforementioned tactics work in other industries and with different talent, but engineers are motivated by different things and see right through the slimey approach. Traditional recruitment teaches how to purge for leads, how to coerce people to do things that may not be in their best interest and to do whatever it takes, short of harassment, to get in touch with someone.

Most tech recruiters work for recruitment companies that either operate in multiple sectors and across various skillsets or agencies who have seen most of their success representing Fortune 500 companies with an IT division. They don’t understand the modern tech company, and thus their methods are antiquated. While these recruitment companies increasingly see the opportunity to profit from the modern tech company, they’ve largely failed to adapt to servicing it. The mentors and teachers at these companies, shaping the young tech recruitment talent, teach what has worked for them. The problem is that this doesn’t work anymore.

Along with my two business partners, we founded Bamboo Talent specifically to make a positive impact on the world of tech recruitment in New York City. We want it to be better for you, engineers. You deserve to be treated better.

We pledge to genuinely care about the experience you have working with us. We will always be upfront and transparent. We will take the time to meet you, get to know you and truly understand how we can best help. We will try to add value with every interaction you have with us and will give more than we ever ask for. We will never cold call you. We will never try to force a situation. It’s your decision; our role is only to present the facts. We will always provide you with accurate information. We will always treat you like a human being and do our homework before trying to get in touch. It can be tough in the client-service business, but we will always do our best to get feedback from the companies we represent.

Tech recruiters need to do better and we plan to be influential in improving your perception of us. Bamboo Talent is still small, but we will grow the team with like-minded, values-driven individuals that will continue to evangelize our methodology, which we call Sustainable Recruitment. My hope is that more tech recruiters recognize that their ways need to change and evolve to best serve the current market needs. Tech recruiters can be valuable assets to you guys. And those of you that have partnered with recruiters that always do the right thing know this.

It’s about customer service. It’s about values. It’s about transparency. It’s about adding value. And it’s about keeping things simple.

Thanks for your time, engineers.

Best regards,

Jon Peters & the team at Bamboo Talent