IT jobs and out of state recruiters

It would be completely legitimate to mistake my adventures in IT job hunting for little more than thinly veiled hit pieces.  In a way they are but only to illustrate the antics of the bad players. 

Reality check!  You really need to take off the rose colored glasses and stop taking job-seeking advice from 1963.

Make no mistake, the people you're interviewing with are not your, "Friends, Romans, Countrymen.." or anyone else with your best interests at heart.  

They're in it for them so you'd better know what's in it for you because giving your 2 weeks notice 3 weeks into the job is too late to do your due diligence.

It's not like I'm actually endeavoring to end up on American HR's Least Wanted...

I've just been (un)fortunate enough to collect the evidence from the worst offenders.  I'm not saying that everyone you'll ever interview with is out to screw you but everyone has an agenda and whether or not you want to satisfy it is a personal choice.  It's only fair that you have all the information before you sign on the dotted line.

Thing is, you rarely get the dossier before you get to the conference room so try to pick up your hints from clues in the job posting.  An overly aggressive tone is obvious with words like "Professionals Only" or "Must have" before every sentence.  What may not be are terms like "24/7 environment"  That's not boasting about their uptime, they're expecting anyone they hire to submit to that availability.  At least you know up front but better run organizations don't require indentured servitude. 

Only James Bond is on call 24/7 and I can guarantee you're not going to have near as much fun as he does...

It gets trickier if it's a blind phone screen.  You have to listen for the clues.  Are they reading questions out of a book? Is there more than one person on the call?  Is the demeanor friendly or have you felt more warmth from your last visit to the DMV.  Is every question answered with a question or a string of rehearsed responses.  What if you go off their script?  Do they seem annoyed, combative or deflect the query?  In that kind of scenario I wouldn't ask about covered parking.

Of course defenders of the HR and recruiting professions will tell you every story has 2 sides but when it comes to job interviews it's not about them it's about you.  The key attribute any hiring manager wants to see is submission.  They're the boss and it's their game but it seems more often than not they're not playing fair.

All the HR pundits will give you sage advice about being the most attractive candidate but in the end it may as well be admonitions from your mother....

"Sit up straight!, mind your manners! Eat your vegetables.."  Great advice....if you came to adulthood after being raised by wolves but useless otherwise.

Thus we come to my latest, "Hit Piece"

First some background.

I received a phone call from an out of state recruiter for a local position that was to last for 7 weeks.  I usually don't give much weight to out of state recruiters mostly because they rarely have a good relationship with the potential employer.  That's why I don't usually bother with them.  Their relationship with hiring managers is critical to your success.  If they don't have one,you may as well be applying to a plain old Want Ad and throwing your unemployment checks in the trash.

Out of state recruiters are little use to you in prepping for the interview because all they know is what's printed in the job order.  It literally turns into seeing which crap sticks to the wall by sending a parade of hopefuls into the interview process.  It's a roll of the dice based on a punch list of skills and questionable reasoning.

On the other side of the equation (aka: the hiring manager,) it doesn't say much for the company's selection process if they can't be bothered to be a more active participant.  The selection of an agency that has no local presence was likely based on 2 glaring factors that never work in your favor. 

First,  they're probably cheap, as out of state firms can underbid local firms due to low overhead.  All they need is an Internet connection and a phone to do their job.   

Hey! Cheap is great for stuff you buy by the pound but unless you wanted to be treated like a bag of walnuts, it's not going to go well for you.    

Second, it shows the employer has little interest in you as the candidate or any candidate for that matter.  They're just  looking for a warm body that won't make too much trouble (In this case "Trouble" is defined as having a soul).  If that's you, well, you probably stopped reading at the second paragraph and are busily sanitizing your web cache before anyone finds out you came here.  :-)

Against my better judgment, I went ahead with the phone interview.  Fortunately, it gave me a splendid example of how broken the process is.

It began with this email... (names changed)

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Hi (candidate),

Thank you for submitting over your resume for the Windows Administrator position in Phoenix, AZ.  I would like to discuss the opportunity with further please call me when you have time to chat.

Thanks,

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I called, went through initial screening and received this...

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Hi (Candidate),

Thanks for your time today and for your interest in the 7 week contract position with (company).  I am having our Technical Engineer Tom (techguy) give you a call today at 10:00am PST (11:00am MT) to discuss the technical components of the position. 

Please confirm that you have received this email and are set to speak with Tom.  After your conversation with Tom we will get you submitted over for the position and hopefully have next steps very quickly.

Thanks,

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Which got me to the tech screener after sending the confirmation.  Apparently I passed muster with "Tom."

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Hi (Candidate,)

Could you do a phone interview tomorrow between 1 and 3?

Thanks

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Which of course I made sure I was available for.  I was sent an email with a phone number and conference ID.  The hiring manager couldn't be bothered to call me, instead I had to play with the voicemail system just to talk to him.  Not a good sign, I felt like I was on a treadmill...

Voicemail jail aside, I thought the call went well and lasted about 30 minutes.  He threw a surprise question about working weekends (the first I heard of it and another sign the recruiter had never spoken to him)  but other than that there was nothing out of the ordinary.  What was strange was no technical questions for a very technical job.  It was as though we were just going through the motions.  I tried to keep it light and friendly and the manager seemed to respond well but he wasn't exactly a "touchy-feely" kind of guy.  Oh, and his name was "Hans" and he spoke with a bit of an accent. Achtung baby!

Still, I could have been wrong so I let the recruiter know I thought the interview went well and waited to hear back.  I had no contact information for "Hans" so the whole "thank you" note was impossible.  Although I guess I could have shown some initiative and hacked their phone system to find him...Nah, Sorry HR gurus, I guess I failed you...

So imagine my surprise (not really) when I got this back the following Monday.

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They have decided to pass, here was the specifics feedback from our client.  Hope this helps with future interviews!

“Spoke to "applicant" and was not too impressed. He was 5 minutes late to the meeting, no apologies and overall a fairly familiar approach to the conversation. Little too much for an interview, don’t think it will be a good fit to what we need.”

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Ok, first off, I wasn't late by the clocks I was looking at and apparently this guy takes being friendly and responsive as "familiar."  

Geez, sorry Kommandant!

It could be a cultural conflict or this guy's just a jerk.  I can tell you that out of hundreds of interviews I've had in my career I can count on one hand the number of people that have responded this way.  In most cases I've found people like this usually end up in a padded room at some point in their lives.

This also shows how detrimental it can be when a recruiter doesn't know their client.  Remember I talked to 2 screeners before getting to the final screening with the client.  There were no issues and I didn't act any differently with "Hans.". 

Here's my email response...

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Really?  Didn’t get that read from him during the conversation.

Also didn’t realize that being personable was a character flaw. 

I wasn’t any different with him than I was with you or your tech screener. 

This was supposed to be short term anyway so he shouldn’t be looking for somebody he has to babysit.

Ah well, this is why I generally don’t like large IT organizations. 

Too many insecure managers caught up in their own inflated egos.  

Thanks anyway.

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Here's the final proof of why you should never deal with recruiters that don't know their clients.  The email I got back after I sent the above...

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Hi (candidate)

Sounds like he is pretty formal guy if that was the situation.  I do not know him personally sorry this one did not work out!

Thanks

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I'd like to say I was sorry too but I can't.  I'm not looking to marry the guy just work for him for 2 months.  Not only did he lie but he let his ego get in front of his judgment. 

In the end it was the perfect confluence of bad recruiting and bad manager.  Learn from it!

You need to stop beating yourself up over things that you have no control over.   IT is rife with screwed up people and lots of them end up in management. 

You can't fix stupid so don't try and just move on to someone who can hold up their end of a conversation. 

Come to think of it, that's good dating advice too!

The IT Job Posting Code...(updated)

When times get a little rough in consulting I look for "regular" work to tide me over for a while.

You know my penchant for project and consulting work so when that fails me I end up resorting to the 9 to 5 grind.

The popular 80's phrase of "work smarter not harder" is important to keep in mind when reviewing job posts.

Now I know in this economy one should be willing to take any job just to get by but I'm a long-term thinker. It does no good for my reputation or my resume to land a job that ultimately makes me miserable, doesn't improve my skills and in general just wastes everyone's time. It runs contrary to my own little personal crusade of ridding IT of the "Frauds" who make life miserable for the rest of us striving to be more "Fundamentalist" in the field. If you're not engaged you're not really contributing anything so when looking at job postings keep these tips in mind:

1. If a posting doesn't fit at least 80% of your skills or experience don't bother with it. (Or Know Thyself...)

Recruiters (company or agency) have little punch lists given to them by the hiring manager. Hey, they're HR people not tech geeks and they won't understand any of your technobabble explanations about equivalent skills. If most of the posting looks like greek to you don't bother with it. Even if you landed the job I can guarantee you'll end up miserable and likely be out the door in less than 6 months. Of course that would let you list those new buzz-words on your updated resume but then you'd just be heading down the road of a "Fraud" which is ultimately unfullfilling.

2. Buzz Words ( Or fitting what you DO know into their little punch lists)

This may seem contrary to the previous guideline but it's not. Since these little punch-down lists are so important to HR recruiters it's important to give them what they want if you're actually qualified for the job they're advertising. Remember they're not tech people they can only go off what's in front of them on their list. So, if the posting says something like "Day to day administration of Windows Server 2003 and 2008 servers" Don't put "Windows Servers" on your resume. You're going to have to match their little punch-lists if you want a shot. If you have Server 2003 and 2008, list that skill.  

Otherwise you could be sending the impression that you're not confident in the platform they use. Often resumes are scanned for content and those without matching buzz-words are eliminated. Don't end up in the round file because you got lazy with your listed skills. Conversely, don't overload your resume with skills either. Nobody has the time to read all of that crap. Think newspaper articles. Get the important stuff they're interested in right up in their face and don't waste space on skills they don't care about unless they have some relevance. For Example, if you're a system admin with real experience in VMWare make sure to put it down if the posting happens to mention virtualization of any type.

3. Scan the posting carefully. (Or watch for the ambiguous)

I hate these types of posts. They remind me of classified ads for used cars (you know "Clean, runs good".) but nothing substantial about the job itself. It usually starts off with something like, "We need a Windows System Administrator with SQL Server and some Web development skills for our busy office in North Wonderfulville." Which is usually followed by 2 paragraphs about what a wonderful company they are and how great the benefits package is. You get a commercial for the company and almost nothing about the job. In this economy why are they selling themselves so hard? It's an immediate red flag that the hiring manager doesn't have a clue about the job or what they're looking for. I've responded to ads like this only to find out the job wasn't a System Admin but a web developer. I've actually had to explain that to the interviewer too. At the end I felt like I should have billed them for my time. Approach this type of posting at your own risk.

4. Dealing with employment agency and head hunter posts

You're more likely to deal with an employment agency or head hunter when getting a job these days. The previous guidelines apply with a few caveats. First, know that you're dealing with a middleman. It's not unlike the car salesman on a dealer's lot. Promises will be made that won't always be kept and when you discover the truth expect to be left holding the bag. It's not that I hate agencies, I just have a low tolerance for BS. It's actually worse to deal with an agency that it is to deal directly with an employer's HR department. Agencies get the same punch list and try to match it to their own skills database which may or may not be relevant to the employer's needs.

Turnover tends to be high in employment agencies and I've actually had my recruiter leave in the middle of an assignment and been dumped on another recruiter who has no clue about the employer you're assigned to. In that case they fall back on the basics of whatever the agreement is and you have virtually no representation from them if a problem develops. If something goes amiss they'll drop you like a hot potato and you'll never hear from them again. You've become a "difficult placement" which makes you a pariah even if you've done nothing wrong. Agencies are in it to make as much money on your labor as they can. Anything that gives the impression of threatening that throws the kill switch. Unless you love the job and expect to stay there after the contract is done, don't expect any long-term love from an agency.

Also watch out for long-term temp to hire contracts. If you're involved in a contract for more than a year know that you probably won't get paid vacation, medical benefits or any of the normal trappings. After a year it can be kind of rough to not have any benefits but all the responsibilities. On the upside you usually get a better hourly rate. Of course you have to question an employer that takes more than 6 months to commit to hiring someone. That's why I like contracts with a definitive end. I like to do my thing and get out before I go postal :)

5. The liars

Wow, that's a strong statement here's what I mean by it.

Caveat Emptor applies here. If you go through all the stuff I've already mentioned above you still have to be wary especially with an agency posting. Into this group I firmly place the resume stackers who operate on the shoot first, ask later principle.  If you've put a resume on monster.com in the past decade you've likely already heard from these types.  You know them, they're the ones who demanded your life history, mother's maiden name and social security number for a mid-level job that promised a CEO's salary.  Perhaps not that bad but it's a lie all the same.

Examples are usually more descriptive than paragraphs of babble so here's a good one....

I apparently applied for a position recently and the agency recruiter decided to get back to me on it. It took so long that I didn't even remember applying for the job so I was already at a disadvantage and the recruiter didn't help. There was no indication of when I applied, how I applied or who the job was for just a bunch of ambiguities..

Here's a piece of the posting and the email from the recruiter..

"I just left you a message regarding this opportunity. You had applied to my dice posting.
I'm going to include the job description for ease of communication.
I can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx.

Job Description
This position is not a laid back network/server monitoring position. This person must be able to handle the workload, corporate environment and interaction with executive level employees and global vendors. Candidate will be expected to be a leader guiding the network/server environment throughout the America's once they champion the PHX office. Previous corporate/enterprise experience on a team environment is important.

Any skills listed as required must be from hands-on work experience and not solely based on certifications or testing/home experience. This person will be a leader guiding the network/server environment throughout the America's once they champion the XXX office."

I looked over the job description and saw a couple of red flags right at the outset...
"This position is not a laid back network/server environment" Ok, That tells me one of two things. 

Either the management team is a bunch of insufferable jerks or they've been burned in the past. Either way

I can expect to be monitored like bacteria in a pitre dish. Great way to start a new job!

"Any skills listed ...must be from hands on work experience and not solely based on certifications or testing/home experience."


Ok, now I know they've been burned and have an attitude problem to boot. At this point I'm definitely NOT interested but wait there's more..

"The scope of the position also requires managing implementation projects falling under the scope of the Region for Liner and Logistics. Limited after normal business hours support responsibilities. Travel will be minimum."

Read that as "We own you" We all know there's no such thing as "limited after hours" when it comes to a global logistics company or any other company for that matter.  No thanks, that flies in the face of my "It's a job not a lifestyle" credo. The promise from the agency recruiter didn't even match up to her own job description as evidenced below...

The posting says "travel will be minimum" When I asked the recruiter about that she responded, "There isn't any travel------The company is global---it's a logistics company"

What?!

OK, Now I know I'm being lied to. How is travel NOT a requirement when it says it in the posting and requires you to be,"a leader guiding the network/server environment throughout the America's once they champion the PHX office. "?! 

That much use of the adjective, "limited" is always suspect.

This is a CYA move so the agency and the employer have an out when they start flying you all over the place and you start asking what "minimum" means. Sorry but that's a lie in my book.

The lie and the attitude turned me off. I wouldn't last a month in that kind of environment. I'd love to do some contract work for them but when offered, the agency turned me down. I guess I wasn't "humble enough".

Know thyself and you'll stay out of a lot of trouble. For me this wasn't an opportunity it was a noose...

6. You've landed the job, congratulations!  Don't get too comfortable...

Here's a little bit of advice that will make you life a whole lot easier.  Warning, this goes contrary to what most recruiters will tell you which is how you know it's true.  Remember, they're experts at placing candidates not doing the jobs they're trying to fill.

Here we go...

Treat every job like its a contract position even if its a regular full time gig.  It's rare to have one job for the rest of your life anyway unless you're self employed.  Most people move on to other positions every 3 to 5 years which doesn't exactly allow a lot of time to grow roots.  Be task oriented, take advantage of any new skills you can pick up and be ready to move on when the time is right.  Remember that loyalty comes from dogs not employers, don't be a dog.

Many people make the mistake of thinking their job is somehow a reflection of themselves. That's completely wrong, a "job" is one specific task to be completed and dismissed.  A career is compromised of a series of "jobs."  So don't be afraid to mix it up a bit.

There's an old adage that goes something like expecting to get a different result from doing the same thing repeatedly is madness and it is.

Life's too short to deal with other people's hangups for too long so keep your options open and save your loyalty for your own well being.