Archive for category Rants
You are too smart for your market
Today I got yet another call from recruiter. By going throught the regular blah-blah-blah for a hundredth time I can’t help but notice the ever-lasting routine. And how any deviation from it throws people off the charts completely.
Now, I’m sure I am not any different from anyone else. It’s just that I like to have a few things going on at the same time. For example, I work as a software developer for one company and as a web projects manager at my own company, plus I blog heavily that brings some small income too. Question – where do I work? What’s the title or the position I hold? What is the amount I am making? Is this per hour? Per month? Per year? Most of the recruiters will stumble and crumble right here.
Being flexible and able to wear multiple hats has never been a bad thing. However, according to many recruiters, it isn’t anymore. Many times have I heard that “you can’t have two jobs at the same time – it will only confuse your potential employer” or “when will you be able to do your job?” or even “you can’t be working at two places at the same time – it’s impossible!“. Well, sorry to be the one who brings you the bad news, but if you can’t do it – doesn’t mean somebody else can’t.
I went through this routine with quite a few recruiters and my learnings have been sad so far. Being your salespeople, the recruiters aren’t really interested in pitching all your talents. They work off the positions thay receive from employers and invest heavily (in terms of time and efforts) to make sure their submitted candidates fit into the position they want to fill. Which is understandable since it’s the employer who is paying them, not the candidate.
The problem with this approach is that it can easily be gamed and not to the recruiter’s advantage. I can imagine a creative type putting up a few resumes tailored to different variations of the positions most offered (recruiters would love this), then going to the interview with potential employer and present themselves in their own way. It may not land them the job that’s been promised, but it can get them further then recruiter wanted. Additionally, the recruiter himself (or herself) would look like they don’t really know the person they’re representing. Do this often enough and the word will get out.
Recruiter Spam Overload!
Recently I have received (through this very web site, mind you) a sad recruiter story from Ben.
Many years ago my email address got onto a mailing list for recruiters. I’ve been getting spam from them every since.
I predict your blacklist of recruiters will contain mostly indian names as it grows!
What all these recruiters have in common is that they are all indian and all in either the USA or India. I have spoken to a few. They promise to remove my address but as soon as one does, another sends me a mail. They pass on the mailing list between them.
The stupid thing is I’m in the UK and I have no need of their clients. I didn’t five years ago and I still don’t.
Now, this gentleman is in UK but still being bombarded by US-based recruiters. Apparently, those Indian guys Ben is referring to aren’t “proficient in English” enough to separate US from UK. Or maybe they are on the path of vengeance…
What’s your take? Let me know.
Mass Mailing Recruiters
Not sure if anyone’s noticed, but recruiters become more and more like those Viagra spammers. At least a few times a week I get e-mails from Berman Larson Kane, Algomod Technologies, some guy lady named G Vernekar and others. I did try to unsubscribe at least a few times, but e-mails keep coming in.
I remember a conversation I (sort of) had with one recruiter about half a year ago. He e-mailed me with the usual “we have this almost-for-you” position, I sent him my resume and almost immediately, without even talking to me he started to send me “opportunities”. Now, I don’t mind getting some of the e-mails as long as they are relevant to what I am looking for. But getting 5 messages in 3-hour period about the jobs in totally different sector was a bit too much. I e-mailed him asking (in somewhat harsh tone) to remove me from his spam list and never to send me anything again, since I don’t feel like dealing with spammers. The guy got upset! Can you imagine a viagra spammer beinig upset because you got off his e-mail list?
There is another kind of spamming kids who have recently discovered all those job-posting web sites. They happily e-mail everyone and their mothers with some positions like commission sales agents, change-your-career-become-a-sales-associate or similar nonsense. Recently I saw a few of those from CareerBuilder and (I think) Monster.com. Not sure if it was worth the effort, but it sure wasn’t worth the loss of image. These days anything that isn’t personalized to me goes to Junk folder first. Not sure if I will have time to take a look at it.