Gobuyside - Avoid!

I had a terrible experience with them and do not recommend wasting your time with this group. After speaking with other recruiters, it sounds like they are known for behaving like this. They don't take even a minute to get to know you or figure out what you are looking for and pressure you into taking interviews and moving forward when you do not want to. I recently made it to the 2nd round of an interview process which I declined to proceed further in (just wasn't the right fit for me and was slow responding to him because it was over Christmas break). The CEO sent me this message after I declined:

"You handled the situation unprofessionally. We've placed from your group into a ton of firms - Bain Capital, HIG Capital, Linse Capital, Comvest, Firmament, etc. Never had to deal with such behaviour. You've also been on the market forever so makes sense. I'm sure you'll find some third-tier thing, do two years and then be back on the market five years older than your peers with limited career prospects. Good luck!"

43 Comments
 

I would probably advise to delete this. Recruiters are assholes but being on their wrong side does more harm than good. Just say it must be a misunderstanding, you apologize for the confusion, felt the role wasn't right and hope a suitable candidate will land it. Then avoid any future interaction with them.

I've dealt with a raft of useless, petty, jealous af recruiting assholes but ultimately you do need them in my experience - at least if you want to land a role in PE.  Just remember they have nothing to lose because they won't get out of their shitty industry anyway - you on the other hand have a lot of potential and are only at the very start of it.

 

I hate cancel culture.

But this asshole sounds like the perfect person for me to change my mind!

 
Most Helpful

Some people are saying to delete but I say absolutely keep it up on this forum -- fuck people like this that don't treat people like human beings. Most other industries (particularly tech) have embraced name and shame policies when organizations act egregiously and its about time finance does too. SB'ed and hopefully this will become the top search results for GoBuyside on this site so kids in the future know as well. 

 

There is no reason for any recruiter to talk to you like that or any professional for that matter. You didn't engage in foul play and were quite honest and forthright by withdrawing yourself from a process that didn't seem like a good fit. Would steer clear of these guys for being very unprofessional. 

 

to clarify, this firm informed me this past Monday before Christmas that I was moving forward and they sent me a case study and I should have responded immediately that I wasn't moving interested but honestly forgot to in the holiday shuffle and didn't respond until this week so I definitely deserve blame for not handling this perfectly and understand them being upset I wasted time

 

Anonymous

to clarify, this firm informed me this past Monday before Christmas that I was moving forward and they sent me a case study and I should have responded immediately that I wasn't moving interested but honestly forgot to in the holiday shuffle and didn't respond until this week so I definitely deserve blame for not handling this perfectly and understand them being upset I wasted time

Don’t worry, they would feel nothing to sit on your app for a month and then tell you they’ve decided to change course or xyz 

 

Have had a similar bad experience with GoBuySide; they are awful at keeping you updated on processes. Other HH firms are much better. I only used GoBuySide to see what opps were coming up, and to check out timing of recruit for certain places. What I will say is that compared to some other relationships (xx recruiter does ALL the recruit for yy place), I don't know of any / doubt that any firm is solely using GoBuySide for their recruit. Thus, if you see an interesting opportunity you like, you can always hit up a different recruiter and pursue a path forward with them, etc

 

Wow. I'd forward the email from the recruiter to the firm you were speaking with. In that email, tell them the role didn't match what you are looking for in the long run. Tell them you wanted to be respectful of their time/resources and prefer to bow out now rather than later in the process. 

Then just casually say you weren't happy with the treatment you got from the recruiters and reference the email. I know people will say not to do it, but the opinion of one recruiter doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things (esp. not a Gobuyside one). You're more likely to get a job through knowing someone in your network than through a recruiter these days. They're generally kind of useless and if you're any good, there's 10+ recruiters waiting in line ready to call you and waste your time. 

 

Frankly, its a user-friendly resume drop portal that adds value to firms through volume, not a legitimate recruiter. I've gotten offers through them, but working with them has always been frustrating and you need to just stay in contact with the actual HR person to maintain sanity. 

Array
 

Supposedly a tech innovation that was meant to replace the old fashioned finance recruiting industry but alas the only thing the guy has the ability to do now is to sorrow in his failure and lash out at 20-something old analysts to try and show his power and influence in such an ironic way that only shows that he actually lacks any power and influence in the industry he’s dedicated his (failed) career to crack. 

 
Analyst 3+ in IB-M&A

I had a terrible experience with them and do not recommend wasting your time with this group. After speaking with other recruiters, it sounds like they are known for behaving like this. They don't take even a minute to get to know you or figure out what you are looking for and pressure you into taking interviews and moving forward when you do not want to. I recently made it to the 2nd round of an interview process which I declined to proceed further in (just wasn't the right fit for me and was slow responding to him because it was over Christmas break). The CEO sent me this message after I declined:

"You handled the situation unprofessionally. We've placed from your group into a ton of firms - Bain Capital, HIG Capital, Linse Capital, Comvest, Firmament, etc. Never had to deal with such behaviour. You've also been on the market forever so makes sense. I'm sure you'll find some third-tier thing, do two years and then be back on the market five years older than your peers with limited career prospects. Good luck!"

Strange, haven’t experienced that with other headhunters...best of luck!

 

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