Thank you!
Recruiters are NOT in the feedback business.
They lack brains, time, and professionalism. Plus, they're often afraid they might say the wrong thing, better to say nothing at all.
What to do?
Jump on Linkedin's advanced search feature. Zero-in on interesting profiles in your market of senior managers/executives you can possibly help. Ping them, tell them you're seeking career advice. Ask for a 10-15 minute phone call. You may be may surprised how responsive people are to your request. BTW, stay in touch with those folks with updates. Start building your network.
As a side note, why is it that recruiters seem to be strongly disliked by the HN community? As a new developer, I figured a recruiter would probably be the best person to talk to seeing as they handle a lot of hiring.
Chief complaints-- recruiters are spammers, individuals get treated like shark bait, and general lack of tech savvy/business acumen. *Of course, there are exceptions. Those guys can be GOLDEN. Always keep an eye-out for the exceptional ones.
> Cold calling? That's pretty old-school :)
Try using Linkedin Inmail & email first to warm-up the call. Keep in mind-- hiring managers can be crazy busy people. Try a few times to show you're serious. Make sure your message is buttoned-up.
Go out and meet as many people as you can. (Meetups, Random drinking nights, etc) Connect to everyone you meet on LinkedIn. Have someone introduce you to the recruiter. Not everyone will do it, but enough people out there will be helpful. The recruiter has many more resumes than jobs. A referral will almost always cut the line. If you can the introduction to the hiring manager, even better.
By recruiter I mean corporate recruiter, not headhunter. No need to get an introduction to a headhunter. If you're a 100% match to a job, they're helpful. Otherwise they're not.
Good luck!
Also... The best networkers give before they ask. Volunteer to help at the meetups you attend.
1) Figure out exciting companies/teams/individuals 2) Research what they are doing 3) Reach out with a humble email almost like what you wrote, but make it about their company and what you like about them. 4) Rinse, repeat
And in the end it is a numbers game, as sebg pointed out, rinse and repeat.
I highly recommend customizing each note you send with your resume, don't ever use a "form" style. In the past I would even sometimes adjust my resume to highlight specific skills that are relevant, but that usually comes when you have a lot of varied experience and you need to draw peoples attention to specific skills.
But as everyone else has mentioned, you probably don't wanna do that. The best feedback comes directly from hiring managers themselves, not recruiters. Recruiters aren't necessarily incentivized to paint you an accurate picture.
Talk to a more senior engineer you know, or go get to know one to get this feed back. They are more qualified.
You could give hackerrank.com/jobs a try -- if you qualify, recruiters are required to respond within a few business days.
