Obviously this is geared towards software development, and my personal experience with recruiters for software jobs is similar to most here.
However, I sometimes help out my client's HR departments and the recruitment experience for other jobs is vastly different. Like searching for expert welders or other specific skillsets, not unlike the ones that exists in software development (+10 years java, +15 years embedded C, etc.). They almost always use external recruiters for the first filtering, and they deliver quality candidates. Expensive fees, but worth it.
Why is this such a problem with recruitment for software development?
Are there recruitment shops that DO understand the differences in software development?
The uncomfortable truth is that quality doesn't matter in software. When you need something welded you need an expert. Most companies don't need or even want a candidate with 10 years of Java experience. They want someone with barely enough skills to ship the minimum portion of the feature the business will accept. It's an evolutionary process. If companies wanted high quality candidates the market would deliver a solution. In software it just doesn't matter for most cases.
I'd argue that it does matter, however it's incredibly difficult to measure "quality" of a software project, so there's no real way to distinguish crappy software engineers from good ones. Even people with 15+ years of experience have often just been delivering dogshit for 15+ years.
However, I sometimes help out my client's HR departments and the recruitment experience for other jobs is vastly different. Like searching for expert welders or other specific skillsets, not unlike the ones that exists in software development (+10 years java, +15 years embedded C, etc.). They almost always use external recruiters for the first filtering, and they deliver quality candidates. Expensive fees, but worth it.
Why is this such a problem with recruitment for software development? Are there recruitment shops that DO understand the differences in software development?