Job Hunting Idiocy, part one

Dito

Shared on Tue, 08/07/2007 - 14:32
Okay, so I'm unemployed.  In order to get my weekly check, I need 5 job contacts per week.  Typically, this isn't hard to do: sit down on Sunday morning and go through Career Builder, Monster, etc. 

A lot of CAD jobs get posted by contract staffing agencies.  I've gotten more than one phone call from an agency recruiter that went something like this:

Agency: "Hello, may I speak to Dito, please?"
Dito: "Speaking."
A: "Hi, my name is Mary Jo Clueless.  I found your resume on Monster and wanted to talk with you."
D: "Okay, great."
A: "So, where did you work last?"
D: "Um, ABC Engineering."
A: "And how long did you work there?"
D: "Um, a little more than a year."
A: "And before that?"
D: "Hold on.  Isn't all this information on my resume?"
A: "It is, I just don't have it in front of me."
D: "I see."

... this goes on for my entire work history, skill set, education, references, etc., and ends like this:

Agency: "Okay, great.  Can I get your email address?"
Dito: "It's. On.  My.  Resume."
A: "Okay, no problem.  How about your home phone number?"
D: "You just called me at home."
A: "So this is the correct number to reach you?"
D: "Are you sure you're qualified to do technical staffing?"

I wish I was making this up.  I'm editorializing a little for effect, but it's really like this.  Just like I need to make 5 contacts per week for my paltry unemployment check, these recruiters must be required to make a certain number of phone calls per week to earn a commission or something.  The hardest part is trying to hold my tongue and not snap at these people, because I really do need a job.  It just really makes me wonder if they understand what I do, the differences between engineering disciplines, why all CAD software is not created equal, etc. 

In the next installment of Job Hunting Idiocy, you'll learn just how inspiring a 7-minute job interview can be.

Comments

doorgunnerjgs's picture
Submitted by doorgunnerjgs on Tue, 08/07/2007 - 14:38
It is unbelievable that anyone gets placed through these services. I have had to deal with them in the past, and can agree with everything you wrote!
KingBayman's picture
Submitted by KingBayman on Tue, 08/07/2007 - 14:41
I feel your pain. I'm not unemployed, but I am moving to the St. Louis area as soon as I find a job down there. And i've dealt with my share of Head Hunters being a "Cad Monkey" myslef.
TANK's picture
Submitted by TANK on Tue, 08/07/2007 - 14:52
Ya it's so stupid it can't be made up! I get those calls as well from recruiters. Then after going through all the BS, they tell me what the job is they want to interview me for and it's totally not something i'm looking for after all that chatter. Monster is one of the worst places to find a job, i hate those guys. Jobs you apply for are usually with staffing companes/head hunters and a lot of the time they don't send you to that job, they send you to an interview for a different job. Then if you post your resume, you get an endless stream of useless calls from recruiters who are too lazy to read the details already provided and ask you to recite them. Its ridiculous. Monster sucks.
Smallwoody's picture
Submitted by Smallwoody on Tue, 08/07/2007 - 15:11
At least your not getting Sandit from San Jose (yeah right!! That's why there's a 2 second delay in the line while they talk to you as if you were say... on the other side of the planet). I didn't replace my cell phone 6 months ago after it went through the wash cause of this very reason.

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