Recruiters to avoid: add CyberCoders to the list

When you work in high-tech, especially at a start-up, random recruiters calling and emailing out of the blue is unavoidable. It’s so bad that most tech engineers and managers I know simply don’t answer calls from phone numbers they don’t recognize, because it’s better than even odds that the caller is a recruiter.

Every one in a while — very rarely — a recruiter contacts me after taking the time to learn about me and my business, and makes a clear, detailed case for why they will be able to help us hire the right people. As rare as this approach is, it is the minimum standard of behavior that has any chance of landing my business.

Maybe one in fifty recruiters makes it over this obvious hurdle. Anyone who doesn’t is told, politely but unequivocally, that I am not interested in their services. If they contact me again, I ask them, once again politely but unequivocally, not to contact me or my company any further. And that should be the end of it (actually, before the first phone call or email should have been the end of it, but that’s too much to hope for).

And then there are the few, the vile, the recruiters who insist on continuing to hit on their marks despite being asked repeatedly to stop, often lying and acting like jerks in the process. I’ve written about some of them before. I’m writing today to add CyberCoders to the list of cold-calling, lying, obnoxious recruiters with whom you should never, ever, ever do business.

My coworkers and I first asked CyberCoders over two years ago to stop contacting us, and that was after they contacted several of us repeatedly without any response. Since then, we’ve asked Brian Grimditch, Craig Montgomery, Julie (Jordan) Anadora, Matt Yassen, Courtney (Brown) Hunt, John Clifford, and Brenna Boies to leave us alone (yes, it has gotten so bad that I’m resorting to public naming and shaming). Several of them gave us worthless assurances us that they would add our company to the CyberCoders “block list” and we would not hear from them again.

So, you might ask, if we’ve been asking CyberCoders for more than two years to leave us alone, what has finally prompted me to call them out publicly about their obnoxious, lying recruiting practices? That would be the response I received yesterday from Ms. Boies, the most recent CyberCoders recruiter to harass us:

Jonathan,

I apologize for the inconvenience it’s been having 6 people reach out to you in the past two years about helping to fill your open positions. Clearly I was not aware of this and will “try” to add you to our black list.

Have a great week.

Brenna

In other words, “Hi! I’m a jerk and so are the people I work with. Have a great week!”

There are reputable, trustworthy, effective high-tech recruiters. Any recruiter that acts like this is the opposite.

P.S. For the record, “CyberCoders” is an incredibly stupid name for a programmer recruiting firm. It’s like naming a firm in a different field “HealthNurses” or “LawAttorneys”. Just sayin’.

P.P.S. If you’re curious, this is the email I sent to Ms. Boies which prompted the above response:

Dear Ms. Boies,

My coworkers and I have previously told at least six other CyberCoders employees — Brian Grimditch, Craig Montgomery, Julie Jordan, Matt Yassen, Courney Brown, and John Clifford — some of them multiple times, over a period of more than two years, to stop contacting us.

We have been assured multiple times that we would be put on your “block list.” We both see how well that worked.

Because of people from CyberCoders repeatedly pestering us after we have repeatedly over a prolonged period of time asked you to stop, there is no way in hell we will ever consider candidates from CyberCoders. Believe me, we aren’t going to forget your company’s name, and I don’t mean that in a good way.

You could therefore save your time and ours by LEAVING US ALONE. Thank you.

Thank you,

Jonathan Kamens