Job Recruiters SUCK!
I'm job hunting in hopes of finding a job close to home and pays fairly well based on my level and years of experience. So I'm doing everything I need to do to get noticed; updating my resume, registering on job search sites, asking friends if they hear of any openings to let me know, etc. Shortly afterward, job recruiters are blowing up my phone and email box with job opportunities that I would be a "great" fit for. So I follow up. They quiz me on my job knowledge and experience, ask for some personal info, agree to their right to represent form, and tell me not to speak with any other job recruiter about the same position because I would be qualified for multiples submissions.
All well and good, but the outcome has really soured me on job recruiters. I question their integrity and commitment of their job of finding me a job. In my view, they are the "used car salesman" of the recruiting business. I've grown sick of them getting my hopes up of landing a job only to get disappointed.
Lately, I'm getting spammed with emails about job opportunities in other cities and states. My first question is "Did they not read the address line of my resume?" Apparently not. Do they honestly expect me to be able to just pick up and move to another city or state for a job that's short-term and/or has no chance of becoming permanent? I've replied to those email asking if they would offer relocation assistance; of course, they said no. In cases where the job is in another city in the same state, it's far enough away from home that I will be spending a lot of time and burning a lot of gas (and $$$!) just commuting to and from work! I feel like I would need to take out a 2nd mortgage just to keep gas in the car so I can get to and from work! Not to mention the daily wear and tear I would put on my car. God forbid if my car broke down along the commute!
Another thing I hate about job recruiter is that they don't tell you up front how much the job pays and when I ask, they give me a figure that's insulting. Some recruiters have told me "Well, you got to pay the bills right?". I'm not some high school kid needing pocket money for the mall. What you're offering me won't begin to cover my bills! I would be just like a lot of people where are working and receive government assistance because their jobs don't pay enough to cover their needs. I want to be paid what I'm worth! Given my years of work experience and education, that's well more than minimum wage. I'm not so desperate that I will undervalue myself and accept anything that comes along for the sake of being employed: I'm way to old for that now. I want to be paid what I'm worth that will afford me a comfortable lifestyle. I'm not asking for a king's ransom but I'm not taking an underpaying job that will keep me constantly struggling to keep the bills paid and will not afford me to do things like actually take a vacation away from home or pursue some of my interests. I don't think that's too much to ask.
Seemingly, recruiters are becoming more like pests. They find me resume on LinkedIn, Monster or CareerBuilder, then spam my email box and blow up my phone with their "great opportunities", getting my hopes up. So I jump through their hoops in order to at least get an interview. One of two things happen at this point but the same result. I’m scheduled an interview which I follow through (not to mention them calling and emailing me to make sure I make the appointment) after which I hear nothing from anyone, or I simply don’t hear anything from the recruiter after speaking with him or her. I tend to think if I might have said something to cause them to rethink my qualifications for that “great opportunity”. Now I think they’re jerking me around. One recruiter called me about a job he had available and would call me once a week with excuses about having trouble getting in touch with the hiring manager of the client company. He would tell me that the hiring manager was traveling or on vacation. This went on for over a month! Eventually, I stopped answering his calls I was so disgusted with him.
I understand the game here. Recruiting companies work with employers to fill positions as cheaply as possible and they make money for every person they bring in who gets hired on. But to have the same result from so may recruiters tells me there's either a problem with me or them; and I don't think it's me! Some of them seem to have an attitude that they're doing me a favor calling and emailing me about a job that I would still have to interview and may or may not get. And when I'm not selected, they're attitude is "don't call us, we'll call you",
OK. I'll get off my soapbox now. I think I got everything off my chest.
I understand the game here. Recruiting companies work with employers to fill positions as cheaply as possible and they make money for every person they bring in who gets hired on. But to have the same result from so may recruiters tells me there's either a problem with me or them; and I don't think it's me! Some of them seem to have an attitude that they're doing me a favor calling and emailing me about a job that I would still have to interview and may or may not get. And when I'm not selected, they're attitude is "don't call us, we'll call you",
OK. I'll get off my soapbox now. I think I got everything off my chest.
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