Interviews through Agency Reachouts
Hi team, so I am getting a ton of interviews through agency reachouts, especially from these staffing agencies who support fintech and trading firms/exchanges.
There's no catch right? They claim to say they don't represent the company, so you can talk freely about salary expectations as they keep on saying they want to be the person to refer candidates to the companies. Long story short, they claim our incentives are aligned due to their commission.
Some of those opportunities definitely are good enough (210 ish in TC for some title-inflated senior roles if we benchmark against FAANG)
I am gonna take advantage of this using the 3 tier interviewing strategy that the course recommends cuz ultimately getting into FAANG/Prop Shop/High Growth Startup would be nice and I have those as well lining up soon.
I also feel that I need some basic guidance on how to effectively ask for a referral. I think I am noticing that I feel scared to do it due to needing something great of value to add before asking for referrals.
![Senior Software Engineer [E5] at Meta company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fmeta.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Da7a5bcc0-e178-4b5b-b71e-09bf6c6aefae&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
![Entry-Level Software Engineer [L3] at Google company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fgoogle.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3D780356ef-3efc-4728-9eb4-d909b75bb4a6&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Discussion
(3 comments)- 33 days agoMid-Level Software Engineer at Walmart
A few things concern me here
- title inflated senior roles - this is not the best sign
- is there any way for you to verify that they are working for the company they claim to work for?
- I do understand if the recruiters are employees of different companies but they end up being 'vendors/contingent/contractors' for the parent company (best acid test - company email ID). But it does worry me if they are just 'headhunters' so to say.
On the flip side, it's probably a recruiting model that tech teams in finance use. I do see some evidence of this - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-fintech-recruiters-essential-growing-hedge-funds-radley-james-ajz8e/
My strategy would be as follows- depending on how many interviews you get, I'd just give these interviews to a- get the experience, b- make sure the interviewers are employees of the company
- after getting the offers, maybe use them for leverage/negotiation and thoroughly verify that they are from the companies they claim to be
- 03 days agoMid-Level Software EngineerTaro Community
To clarify: title-inflated senior roles are fine because I know I have ways to go before I feel comfortable calling myself a true senior engineer. Like my goal is to eventually get into FAANG, and I am working backwards from what this platform defines as a senior engineer to benchmark if I am ready.
Basically if I am operating at a true mid level and not a true senior that's perfectly fine because I have a higher chance of clearing at least L4. Shoot for the stars but be realistic is my thought.
The good news is they ask me to apply on the company website and I get legitimate interviewers (proper managers who say who they are, and proper zoom links from the company)
- 2
3 days agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroThere isn't really a catch for you as the candidate unless the staffing agency is a scam. How those firms work is they make you think you are interviewing for a job, but it's a fake job where you need to pay the company for "training" before you get the actual job. So avoid those obviously.
If the firm is connecting you with real companies though and you are interviewing with people from those companies, you're good to go. As you mentioned, these agencies can be useful with providing you training fodder opportunities at less prestigious companies where you effectively just use them as interview practice.
I also feel that I need some basic guidance on how to effectively ask for a referral.
I recommend this section from the question asking course: https://www.jointaro.com/course/ask-great-questions-that-get-great-answers-quickly/put-them-on-a-pedestal/
The baseline is to just be incredibly polite, ideally with some degree of flattery.
If you can add substantial value in return, obviously do that, but don't treat it as a requirement. If you feel like your connection has some amount of warmth to it, I would give it a shot, especially if you are struggling to get interview opportunities.
