What is going on today?

[elfs]

Today, I have been beseiged by phone calls and emails from recruiters about this one job that's apparently opened up in Bellevue, and every pattern matcher on the planet is recommending me for the job. I've told one recruiter to go ahead and submit me, of course.

Along with the three mainstream recruiters from local hauses that I recognize, there have been three phone calls and almost a dozen emails from men and women with accents so thick I often couldn't make out what they were saying. When I could, their English was fractured and terrible.

But more than that, they were rude. It wasn't "Please send me your resume and a phone number where we can reach you." It was "Here are the job requirements. You meet them. Send me your resume now. Sign and fax us this PDF form that says you agree that we exclusively represent you for this offer." Uh, fuck you? I'm not going to send you my resume blind, you git, and if you double-submit me I'm doomed.

I know the market's desperate, but geez, this is outsourcing human contact.

Comments

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

wow! On the plus side, it's good that there's stuff opening up for you. On the bad side, it makes me wonder if all job openings are now posted to a secret wiki that only recruiters have access to.

[urox.livejournal.com]

Emails with accents? :)

[featheredfrog.livejournal.com]

Not only are these guys outsourced, they're usually offshore. They are three levels down, working from scripts, not understanding ANY of the filter terms. They have to submit volumes of resumes to the jobber who handles the gathering of paper for the agency who has a (non-exclusive) jobspec for a position.

I usually ask for their mailing address so I "can send you the stuff". If it isn't onshore, it's too remote from the actual job to offer me anything other than becoming part of somebody's spamlist.

"M$Word format only" also gets up my fundament. I'll be happy to send the tek source...

[rapier.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of asking for a mailing address. I can imagine that they'd balk at that and want you to use e-mail instead. What sort of language do you use to insist upon a mailing address?

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Wonderful. Recruiter spammers, where the idea is quantity over quality.

[codeamazon.livejournal.com]

Uhm..wow. That's what happened to our economy too -- too many middle-layer leeches trying to suck off a bit of graft. Still, I wouldn't have considered how closely a resume needs to be held -- interesting thing to contemplate. Eesh.