Time flies like a banana

[chipotle]

I went out on an interview on Tuesday; today I heard back that the position is likely no longer open. It had been a contract position whose previous contractor left for a permanent gig somewhere, but now that the position has become contract-to-hire, she apparently wants her position back.

I also do have a few other resumes out, including with the recruiter who was supposed to call me back no later than yesterday and whose number I can’t find now (d’oh), and one with the recruiter for the hip web company in SF who I haven’t heard from in a week. And there’s also a recruiter at another major software company who asked for my resume and went silent.

On the other hand, I got contacted twice today by people wanting to send my resume out to companies, so. I’m disappointed but not discouraged; after all, it’s actually been less than a week, so I can’t say I’m doing badly.

I’ve noticed that this time around—which is distinct from my job hunting a year and a half ago—many of the contacts are about positions at big companies, not startups.

In addition to being disappointed, I’m also hungry. It’s time to head out and get food—and also get groceries, so I can cook dinner here. I’m thinking beef stew, or something else that will stick around and generate leftovers.

Comments

[tikaani.livejournal.com]

Most of my resumes seem to fly off to nowhere, and I've put little faith in the words of recruiters, even after I leave messages with them on their personal voice mails to call me sometimes I never hear back. I still remember the time near Christmas one year (Jeez, it's been so long they run together now) that I did TWO interviews (both with positive feedback) at a recruiter and then they just sort of evaporated with their contact towards me. Some people are now swearing that the best way is to only deal direct with the hiring companies themselves.

When I state that I don't want to relocate and I get postings for Michigan and California, and my resume doesn't mention Oracle, MQ-Series or Websphere, and I get e-mails listing those as Required, it makes me wonder if there is even a machine at the other end reading things.

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

In my experience there are recruiters who seem to actually be reading what's in front of them and ones who, well, aren't. I can usually tell which type the recruiter is by talking to them and whether or not they're actually giving any feedback. I've gotten contacts for contract positions in all sorts of places I didn't indicate an interest in relocating to, calling for skills I don't have -- I generally don't pay any attention to those, because it's clear the recruiter is just scattering bait hoping somebody bites. (I was tempted to respond to a position advertising six months in Des Moines, Iowa, that I was otherwise qualified for with a really inflated hourly rate, just to see if they were really desperate to get someone to come to Des Moines.)

In my experience, the best thing to do is to deal with hiring managers directly at companies if you can, but doing that usually requires knowing someone who's already at the company who can pass your resume on directly to the right person. Recruiters are better to deal with than corporate HR departments, simply because the recruiter wants to get your resume in front of a hiring manager, whereas the HR department usually wants to find reasons not to put your resume in front of one. (They essentially see their job as screening applicants.)

[typographer.livejournal.com]

Luck flies like a shamrock.