3.16.2003

There Is No Low To Which They Will Not Sink

I had this happen to me last year - in fact, I've had this happen to me several times. However, I used the screening techniques mentioned in the weblog entry of http://www.thejobfairy.com/weblog/2002/20021201.html. Firstly, you should be suspicious in these times that "someone found your resume" and they just have to talk to you immediately. A real recruiter would say what the position was and be willing to do a phone screen. "Now recruiters are going to call you or page you during the day. If they catch you at home, then they will know you are not working. That is what the caller ID is for, so you can answer if it is personal. However, you will want to limit those calls to the minimum, so that recruiters are not kicked into voice mail immediately, or get a busy signal if you have an answering machine." "Remember, you are not supposed to be at home!" "When you finally do get in touch with a recruiter, and they want to set up an appointment, claim that you have a hectic schedule, so you would prefer a very early morning appointment (i.e. somewhere in between 7:00 - 8:00 AM) a lunchtime appointment (11:00 AM - 1:00 PM), or an evening appointment (5:00 PM onwards). Ask if they can meet with you on Saturday. Not only does this show that you "care" about your work obligations (and that you have them), it frees you up to use your daytime hours applying for jobs. In the case of an actual employer wanting you to come in for a job interview, try to target those times, but be flexible and graceful about it if you cannot get them. They are the real deal, and they will not have the time or inclination (mostly) to pry into your situation the way recruiters make it their business to do."

The people that called me up were quite persuasive in that they wanted to connect me with this great opportunity. They asked me what kind of work I was interested in. I was blunt and forthright - I was only interested in systems architecture work. I would also pursue programming, web development, or enterprise-scale systems administration, if I had to, but I made it clear that these jobs merely paid the rent and did not support my career objectives. None of these skill sets had anything to do with marketing or sales. They tried to talk me into it; I insisted that I wished no other line of work than that in Information Technology. I persisted to the verge of rudeness, and they eventually let it drop. I asked others, on another call, why they had looked at such a technical resume, with very little in the way of sales skills mentioned, and thought this an appropriate set of qualifications for their marketing positions. For once, they were speechless.

Real recruiters do phone screens. Few (read: no real) recruiters would insist on a face to face visit when they are being evasive about the job and its duties. For a senior project manager position, I can see where a recruiter would want to see you in person to ensure your nose doesn't have a tusk through it and that you don't have Mike Tyson's latest tattoo on the side of your face either. That's OK. But real recruiters have details. Real recruiters talk about how your technical skills are a match to the job requisition. Real recruiters want to find out what your bill rate is. Real recruiters have jobs to fill - they don't have time to waste on handwriting analysis, "marketing your career", or chatting for an hour about themselves in their lavishly decorated office. They should be hustling to get positions they can fill from companies who are hiring. They shouldn't be there all the time when you call either. They should be spending 60% of their time soliciting clients and 40% placing candidates. At most! Yes, there are still plenty of companies out there hiring. You just don't see these positions listed because if they do, they get swamped with resumes. But recruiters are hiring for them nonetheless.

The moral of the story is that you have to really know what you want to do for a living. If it doesn't smell like an IT position, then you're not interested. That's it; that's all. Don't let people waste your time. Your time is the most valuable time there is. I never thought people would fall for the multi-level marketing thing again - it was big here in Denver in the early 1990's, then it tapered off as everyone found jobs during the tech boom of the late 1990's. But some concepts die hard. And as it says on the Job Sites page, "You should never have to pay to become employed, or to have your career marketed, etc. etc. The protocol is that the employer bears all such costs."