Michael Silcox

@JBlunt1018 Like the gold rush of 1849, a few miners got rich, but the shops selling the supplies to the miners got rich. NVIDIA is the true winner.

Fed Chair Powell says there’s been net zero job creation over the last 6 months. So where exactly has all the AI investment gone? Because “trillions” are being poured in… and it’s not showing up in jobs.

@randomrecruiter I did IT recruiting from 1997 to 2024 and made a decent living. I have moved on from it. I clung until the end but with all the outsourcing and scamming it has become a disaster.

The U.S. information services sector has lost jobs for 12 straight months. Averaging 5,000 cuts per month. February: another 11,000 gone. Ouch!

@randomrecruiter @chasedownleads Only if he made 90 days.

@chasedownleads Can I still get the recruiter fee?

Guy came in for an interview. Resume was patchy. No degree. He was sweating. “Why should I hire you?" I asked. He looked down. “I just got out of prison. I did 10 years. I made a mistake when I was 19. Nobody will give me a chance. I will work harder than anyone you have because I have everything to lose." Everyone needs a second chance, I thought. Hired him for an entry level job. He ended up murdering everyone at our company. Luckily I called in sick that day. Now he’s on death row. And I learned a valuable management lesson that day: Not everyone deserves a second chance.

@ridgeyork @BowTiedBroke Tons of venison Squirell Rabbit Alligator Baracuda Snook Shark Iguana

All I want to know is who in the world eats these?

@randomrecruiter It will be the revenge of the nerds 2026. I hope this is true.

A lot of companies are laying people off and citing AI as the reason. Gartner just released research saying 50% of them will be hiring those same people back by 2027. Here's what's actually happening: The headlines say AI is replacing workers. Amazon, UPS, and others are cutting a ton of jobs while talking about automation. But when Gartner surveyed 300+ customer service leaders, only 20% had actually reduced headcount because of AI. Most companies kept their teams the same size. Why? Because AI isn't mature enough to replace the human touch. Companies that rushed to cut staff are discovering chatbots can't handle this stuff (yet at least). The math doesn't work either. Despite $30-40 billion spent on AI platforms in the past two years, only ~5% of companies report any sort of ROI. Most are stuck with no measurable profit impact. Another Gartner study found 50% of generative AI projects get abandoned after POC. Companies are caught between the pressure to look innovative and the reality of what AI can actually do right now. The pattern is predictable: hasty layoffs to cut costs, AI tools that underdeliver, declining service quality, rising customer complaints, then quiet rehiring under different job titles. Most layoffs right now are driven by economics and geopolitics, not automation. AI is just a convenient excuse in the press release because that's what investors want to hear.

@randomrecruiter There are so many ways for deals to go south in this business. We could write a book on them.

@mksilcox One manager for us, rescheduled an interview today. Then said the time doesn’t work and wants to reschedule for Monday. And now the candidate thinks he’s an idiot and not interested

5am workout = SMASHED! Had a pretty solid yet stressful week. Led the company in client submissions again thanks to Juicebox, had a few of my candidates start their jobs this week. One accepted offer. One offer that was accepted last week received a competing offer, although *I think* we’ll be fine (knock on wood). Another offer extended but rejected. A couple more interviews scheduled today, scheduled some for next week. Foot stays on the gas and the skin stays thick. LFG!

@alec68972823 @Mrgunsngear I would treat them like ducks, number 5 load would be my choice.

@Mrgunsngear Are we saying birdshot or buckshot is best though?

Reportedly Russians with shotguns vs. Ukrainian drone. Russians with shotguns win this round.... 💣🔫 #war #shotgun #drone #12ga #skeet #clays #russia #ukraine #rural

@randomrecruiter I get it, I was an account manager for 20 years and am back in recruiting full-time. Thankfully, I have a great account manager now who asks all the right questions.

@mksilcox I am just recruiting side only now with the new job, I send all those details to sales

Let me give you an example of "how to play the game" Earlier this month I presented my account manager with a candidate for a SWE position we're working on. It was pretty niche, I found a candidate who was spot on, but he cost $25k over budget. I made that clear to the account manager, and she acknowledged and prenented him to the candidate. All of my notes were uploaded into our ATS and there was a clear paper trail via email. We ended up getting an offer for the candidate, and before I went to do my pre-close, I asked her if we were able to get the salary increase. She freaked out, and long story short, she forgot about. She asked the hiring manager, who said no, so we had to rescind the offer. The account manager asked me to lie for her. We both would fall on the sword instead of just her. Remember, I am also new to the company, and while I came in highly recommended, I also don't want to look like an idiot. I agreed, only because I knew she was good at her job and eventually come back to benefit me, and she appreciated that fact. Long story short, she just received what we call a "pass through" in the industry, which is essentially a free deal, and gave it to me. Most people probably wouldn't have felt comfortable taking the blame for something they didn't do or wasn't their fault. But you have to think a few steps ahead. That's how you win the game.

@randomrecruiter do you send the comp requirements in the coverletter to the client? I have seen it done both ways. My preference is to send it in the initial coverletter to the account manager.

@mksilcox She has a lot of placements and is always on the road honestly she prob just forwarded my submitted email from her phone and the manager didn’t think anything of the comp is my guess

@BowTiedBroke Is the bear building a new hibernation cabin?

Husqvarna sent me a stack of chainsaws to give away because a bear stole mine & Internet went wild. I’m adding a 4 day/3 nt stay to my Smoky Mtn cabin. (Side by side tours, meet Jimmy & me, see old moonshine stills, crazy views). To enter (100% free, no purchase necessary): 1) Follow @BowTiedBroke 2) Comment on THIS post with literally anything (tag friends = extra luck with the dartboard later 👀) Contest runs exactly 24 hours —-> closes tomorrow at 10:00 AM EST At close, @grok will instantly pick 20 random commenters with accounts older than 3 months. Then, I put those 20 names on a dartboard, film one throw, and THAT person wins everything. No bots, no BS, fully transparent. Grok posts the 20 here, the dart decides destiny 🎯 Sorry international followers (not that I have that many) U.S. followers only for this one. Cabin is in Tennessee, chainsaws are heavy, and bears don’t do passports. Let’s go! Drop a reply and let’s see who the Chainsaw stealing bear chooses.

@DJmcPearson @randomrecruiter @juicebox_work My understanding is it sources primarily from LI. @randomrecruiter is this true?

@randomrecruiter @juicebox_work Where does it source candidates from?

Excited to announce a partnership with Juicebox! If you’re in recruiting, hiring, or talent acquisition role you’re going to have to check them out. Instead of giving you a boring sales pitch, I’ll tell you how exactly I used it recently. Before I start my next job, I’m partnering with a few solo recruiters on potential split deals. One particular recruiter asked for help with a .Net Developer role for an insurance company in the northeast. I was able to just put in a prompt for my search which said something like “.Net Developer, with 8 years of experience, located in X, with banking/financial services/insurance industry experience, that’s also experienced with azure and microservices” Then I played around with some more filters including one that only shows me candidates with the highest likelihood to make a switch. From there, it gave me a shortlist of really good candidates. I called two of them. Sent them over. The recruiter asked me how I found the candidates so quickly. He got great feedback from the HM and we are booking interviews all within about a week. It’s much more seemless than using a traditional ATS and job board, and a lot less clunky than LI Recruiter.

@randomrecruiter I think this is the likely outcome, the market is realizing that AI is not the right tool for everything, and people will still be needed. The AI hucksters are in the put up or shut up stage.

A very strong possibility when it comes to AI: > CEOs overhype its capability > Reduce headcount short term in favor of AI Agents > See their stock price pop a few points, believe it was the right decision Only to see within another relatively short amount of time that these AI Agents are not as strong as originally thought, and will have to go back to hiring real people again.

@Fl_Victorious @1vibesjay Way to go @Fl_Victorious , you are what makes the Gator Nation proud.

Hey, Ryan! @1vibesjay thought your jersey was cool and wanted to send you something! Go Gators!

Life after you spend 40 years of providing maximum shareholder value

@randomrecruiter Throw in some marinara sauce to dip the breadsticks in.

“Sir, the employees said the pizza party didn’t make up for the layoffs.” “Then add breadsticks.”

@randomrecruiter It used to not be this way, but the barrier to getting into recruiting is so low that anyone can get into it.

~80% of recruiters have absolutely no clue what they’re doing and just use Control+F to determine if you’re a fit.

@randomrecruiter @Kaprozz69 You're right, getting a contract with a F500 as a solo would be impossible. The amount of insurance they require is high and costly, not to mention your non-compete, and going through the procurement process at a large bank.

@Kaprozz69 The difficulty here is I can’t really use my current *client* connections. Mine are all f500 banks they’re not gonna pick up a solo shop But I do have the cash to hold me over to build a new network

The Random Recruiter has some decisions to make in real life. My mind is fairly set on what I want to do, but looking to crowd source some ideas in case I’m missing something. I’ve been at my current company a while and it’s time to move on. I essentially have 4 options: 1. Move to another staffing org 2. Get into management in staffing 3. Move to a smaller perm placement shop 4. Start my own and go solo For my background, although I’m mostly known for my memes on here, if you look at the #s I’ve produced, I’m legitimately one of the best people in the *staffing* industry. Multiple years billing ~$3M in gross profit, over $20M+ profit billed in my career, and 100+ consultants on billing. So here’s the breakdown how I see my options: 1. Move to another staffing org Traditional staffing orgs focus on mostly contract work, which is what I do now. The good part is once you build a book of business, it’s all recurring revenue. The bad part is it takes a good year or two to build anything of significance. I’ll probably never make the money I’m making today in my next role, but it’s reasonable to say after ramping up in 12-24 months I’ll be on pace for ~$200-$250k. Note: Staffing isn’t as fulfilling to me anymore. But there’s not many people in this world better at it than me, so there’s my edge. Also most of my network (as in people who’d hire me) are in this space. 2. Get into management in staffing Now I do love the strategy part of it all. Different accounts require different strategies yet some of them can be mixed and matched. That’s what’s made me so successful because not many recruiters genuinely understand this. What’s mostly prevented me from doing this is it would require a steep pay cut but I’m at a point in my life where I don’t necessarily need to make the money I’m making now. Now, I do get frustrated working with people who don’t put in good effort so a potential bottleneck would be not being able to pick and choose my team. 3. Join a smaller perm shop Part of me wants to get away from staffing. While im very good at it and built a network of SWEs I’m just not excited to work with large F500s. With a smaller perm shop I’d have an opportunity to work with small and mid market companies or startups where each placement has a much larger impact. 4. Start my own company Last but not least! I’ve been on and off this idea for a while. This would require me to completely retool what I’d do. I would niche down to either cybersecurity or AI since that’s where he $$$ is in both the short and long term. This would be the same gameplan as option 3, just higher risk and reward. Now, if I was single, I’d probably go option 4. But I have a wife and kids to worry about. Plus this would require me to work as a dog the first 12-18 months even more so as id have sole responsibility and 0 leads (although I can utilize my presence on here).

@randomrecruiter @deedydas Yes, the proclamation specifically mentions them, yet they are not fully impacted.

@deedydas That’s unfortunate because the IT consulting shops are the ones that abuse H1s the most

🚨 HUGE Immigration News: new H-1B proposed rule will weight by wage! Based on your job code and location, your base salary percentile will slot you into one of 4 groups in descending order: IV > III > II > I. Level IV gets 4x tickets in the lottery, III gets 3x and so on. Overall, it's really bad for startups, early employees, helps IT consulting shops and can be easily gamed. I outlined the major consequences of this rule below. Here is the full text of the proposal and how to find your wage level: