Ok, maybe not all recruiters. And yes, this market sucks. But I’m sick and tired of conversations like this today:
RECRUITER: We need some who’s worked on ASP within the past six months.
ME: I’m just wrapping up an ASP.NET project.
RECRUITER: Oh, we need someone who’s been doing ASP.
ME: Well, this project was a port from ASP to ASP.NET, so it involved both techonolgies.
RECRUITER: Well, my client really wants someone who’s been working on ASP, though.
ME: And that’s what I’ve been working on. I’m doing a port from ASP to ASP.NET.
RECRUITER: What is ASP.NET?
ME: It’s the new version of ASP.
RECRUITER: Well, the client was really specific that they wanted ASP, though.
Oh, for Christ sake. Will you at least make an attempt to have some knowledge of the fucking technology if you’re going to be a tech recruiter? I finally managed to convince this dipshit to pass along my resume to her client.
I especially love the ones who are initially gung ho and once the sub your resume, you can’t get the time of day from them…like they fell of the face of the earth. Oh well, that’s pimps for you.
I know this is a silly vent, and I don’t mean to lump all recruiters into one generalization, but this happens so many times a week, it’s really sucks to think that a possibly great job is in the hands of some idiot.
Friday, a recruiter called me up with a project that required security clearance. I don’t have any security clearance at all. I told him that, and he said it would be no problem, the company would clear me. It sounded a little strange to me that a company would go to the effort of obtaining security clearance for a consultant, so I asked him to verify that. He calls me back an hour later saying that the job was indeed for somebody who already had security clearance. Geez. This is ridiculous.
Heh…I thought this was going to be a rant about the deceptive newspaper classifieds that military recruiters use.
I’ve phoned these ads twice in the last month (one merely advertised for postal worker trainees and the other was for general office clerks). They never say anywhere in them that it’s the Navy. You don’t find this out until you call and then it’s glossed over at first so quickly that you can easily miss it (along the lines of “usnavyHow Can I help you?”).
I’m gay. I’m out of the closet. I’m not going back in, barring some kind of murderous American ayatollah coming into power here. So I’m ineligible for the military at the present time. I could manage to not waste my time and the Navy’s if they’d just note somewhere in their ad that they are the Navy.
And it’s pretty bad when you have to disguise your affiliation with the military to have any applicants call…
(phone rings)
Finite Elephant: Good Morning, this is Finite.
Headhunter: Hi! I’m with (sleezy company). We’re recruiting Sprocket Engineers for a major company.
FE: I’m not a Sprocket Engineer. I’m a Widget Engineer.
HH: So you wouldn’t be interested in the position?
FE: No. Aside from being totally unqualified, I’m just not interested.
HH: Would anyone you work with be interested?
FE: Nope. We’re all Widget Engineers. That’s all this company does.
HH: You’re sure?
FE: Yep.
HH: Thanks. (hangs up)
(Guy Who Sits Next to FE’s phone rings)
GWSNTFE: Hello?
(pause)
GWSNTFE: I wouldn’t be interested. I’m not a Sprocket Engineer. I’m a Widget Engineer.
(pause)
GWSNTFE: Nope. We’re all Widget Engineers. That’s all this company does.
