Let’s not mince words, shall we? My job sucks. And for once, I’m not the only one feeling this way. Since Big Company Inc. has been fully assimilated into the Borg, we are now doing more work in less time, but expected to produce increased quality. Management has become increasingly hostile, and the place is hemorrhaging employees at a rate of about two to four a week. In a department of 75, that’s a noticeable drop. And our new department director plans on taking away our work-from-home privileges, cancel our in-house incentive program, and isn’t going to bring on any contractors (about 80% of the designers) on as full-fledged employees. Everyone is looking for new work, and management knows it.
And Atlanta tech recruiters know it too.
No sooner than I re-activated my resume on Monster did the calls start flooding in; the thing is, a lot of these tech recruiters all have the same clients and don’t realize that a lot of them are calling to fill the same position.
My current position, that is.
In the past six days, I’ve gotten over 30 calls and e-mails from 30 different agencies, all for my exact same position! “Web designer working for a Fortune 500 company…great Midtown location…must know Dreamweaver, Photoshop, etc.” And the killing part is that a) they claim to be looking at my resume and b) they even mention that I’m currently working for the same company they’re trying to staff me at. However, one phrase shuts them down quickly.
“I’m only looking for permanent job opportunities right now.”
Case closed. But more than that, some of the recruiters I’ve been getting have really been going above and beyond the call of duty. I’ve gotten calls as late as midnight for jobs and as early as 6am. Some are pushing jobs that I’m not even qualified for; I was getting a gang of calls for a bilingual Spanish tech support agent. When I said I didn’t really know Spanish, the recruiter replied “then buy Rosetta Stone!”
And then there’s the one recruiter who seemingly knows it all. He called trying to push a position on me (the same position I currently hold) and when I declined, he said “You know what your problem is? You need to be working a job paying you at least $10 more an hour. Stop taking these low paying jobs.”
Now for that to come from a recruiter is not only rude, but totally unwarranted. I told him “you called me offering me this low paying job…I know it’s a low paying job because it’s my current job.”
“Oh, well why didn’t you say that?”
“You said you had my resume in front of you — why didn’t you read it before picking up the phone? Answer that, smart guy.”
“Well, I’m sorry to have bothered you, but listen to my advice, OK kid?”
Re-read the title of this post again.
The offers are starting to improve now; they’re all permanent gigs, with some even talking about fully paid relocation. I haven’t pursued any of them yet, but I will soon. What kills me is knowing that I’ll have to go interview which means I’ll have to probably cut my luxurious mane of hair.
Or I could just show up with my 7″ afro and see if they will still make the interview about my skills and experience. I hadn’t decided yet.
I’ve only had occasional interest from recruiters, but they always seem way too aggressive and fast-paced. I feel your pain.
came across your blog, figured id say hello
http://queersunited.blogspot.com/
They were just saying on the news that healthcare, school and technology were the strongest sectors in the Atlanta Economy.
Working from home is a great perk but I think in the long term it creates low morale and higher turnover because the everyone becomes detached. Then again for $80 a week of gas, it might be worth it :)
@gordon skyler: “Working from home is a great perk but I think in the long term it creates low morale and higher turnover because the everyone becomes detached.” See, he’s saying this same thing, but I think he’s unaware that we only work from home four days out of the month (tops), and are actually in the office way more than we’re out. Morale’s already low because we’re out of computers, sharing cubes, working long hours, and getting no appreciation. That low morale then causes people to leave, because the company can just hire someone else. It’s actually an advantage for us to work from home because we have more updated computers and software than at work.
Man, that’s awful. I figured you worked on company provided laptops… Personally, I like working from home because I’m saving lunch money.
The Catch 22 is that if a job can be done from home, it can also be sent to Brazil or India… Which let’s face it is the future of IT services.
Karsh,
You should start your own small business. You’ve already proven you have the brains, and you are a great writer, so what are you waiting for? The TechCrunch blog guy makes a fortune, and so do tech consultants :)