Rude IT recruiter?

I got an email today from an IT recruiter sayign she say my resume on Monster and wanted to know if i was interested in a Systems Administrator role for a company that the government contracts to oversee their IT stuff.

Typical job description, well within my capabilites. I just took a new job and I make good money and im pretty happy there so im not necessarily looking to leave, so i replied and said "what does the position pay"

She replied and gave this huge spiel about how its a wonderful opportunity and yadda yadda but there is rotating shifts every 3 months so I'd have to work 3 months 2nd shift, 3 months 3rd shift, etc. I replied and said to leave my current job for a job with that schedule I would need 60,000$ a year.

This was her response, which left me going "WTF?"

I'm starting to get the impression that you care a lot more about the money than the actual work that you would be doing. I'm not sure that you're the right fit for this role.
Good luck in your future job hunt. Remember that employers do want to see that you actually want to put your passion and energy into a position, and you're not just going to leave the opportunity for the next job that happens to pay a dollar more an hour.
It's always good to ask some more information about the position before you start asking about compensation. You may find the position is work from home and that would save you a lot of gas money, or it has amazing benefits that blow your current benefits out of the water, or that it is just your dream job and would make you smile every morning you wake up. All that could factor into what you're looking for in a new job.
You may actually consider asking for more because you find a job is more demanding than your current role after you read the job description.
I wish you the best.

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Comments

BradleyHU

smh...thats ballsy on her part. thats just so uncalled for to give back a response like that.

But yo, you wanna talk about rude, when i was job hunting mid-january thru early this month, i had been on a ton of interviews. So on a few of them, the IT Managers were interviewing me, but i felt that they werent paying any attention to me....you know why?? cuz they were all up in their blackberrys instead. i felt like i could have said the most outlandish things and they wouldnt have heard me, but just shake their head...i'm glad neither one of those spots gave me an offer. I instead have landed an offer at & started working for a company where they actually were paying heavy attention to what i've said. and it doesnt hurt that they pay was way better than wat the others were offering.

jamesleecoleman

I would have made a complaint to her boss, if I could. That was really rude of her just to start going on like that. My rude interview story was when I was interviewing for a helpdesk position at school through workstudy. The person was telling me how they were understaffed and other helpdesk stuff. During the interview, she started to take phone calls!!! I was like, what kind of mess is that?? It was unprofessional.

eMeS

Hyper-Me wrote: »

I got an email today from an IT recruiter sayign she say my resume on Monster and wanted to know if i was interested in a Systems Administrator role for a company that the government contracts to oversee their IT stuff.

Typical job description, well within my capabilites. I just took a new job and I make good money and im pretty happy there so im not necessarily looking to leave, so i replied and said "what does the position pay"

She replied and gave this huge spiel about how its a wonderful opportunity and yadda yadda but there is rotating shifts every 3 months so I'd have to work 3 months 2nd shift, 3 months 3rd shift, etc. I replied and said to leave my current job for a job with that schedule I would need 60,000$ a year.

This was her response, which left me going "WTF?"

I would just reply to her with pretty much exactly what you said, wtf?

Except I would have really crawled up her pantsuit and said something like this:

"What's your point princess?"

Jacking with recruiters and others who want something for nothing should be a sport that everyone wants to play.

Just this week I stayed at a hotel in the Republic of San Francisco. When I checked in, the front desk attendant verified my rate. It was what I expected. I checked out as normal, and only when I arrived back in Texas did I realize that there was a daily charge on my bill for something itemized as "You Can Make a Difference - Donation". It was a daily charge of $1.00.

I called the hotel, asking for an explanation. They told me that this is a donation that is automatically added to all guests that stay there. It's only removed if the guest asks for it to be removed at checkout. When I am checking out of a hotel I'm usually in a hurry, so that's not when I look at my bill. I might verify that the total is in range, but I'm not looking at every detail. That only comes later. The people at the hotel last night told me that I would have to call back to accounting the next day and have it removed.

Today it was removed. I also complained to the two chains that this hotel is a part of, opened a complaint with the BBB in that area, and reported it to the California Secretary of State. I also let my customer in that area know, because this is the hotel that they recommended. I really hope that this hotel loses more business than mine from this. Jacking with people who want something for nothing.

The amount is irrelevant to me. However, the fact that someone would assume that I want to donate to a charity, and then charge me for that donation in a very deceptive way is troubling. I'm in and out of hotels all over the place almost every week and this is the only one that I've ever seen do this in countless years of traveling.

This is only related to this thread because IMO it's another example of someone wanting something for nothing, which sound like exactly what this recruiter wants from you.

MS

mikedisd2

A dream job that makes you smile every morning doesn't pay the mortgage. That woman needs to snap into reality; salary is a huge factor in any job, it's goes with career progression and as a recruiter she should know that. I would have forwarded that to her manager with a letter of indignation.

smg1138

That message makes me mad just reading it. I'm not a big fan of IT recruiters in general as they always seem to come off like used car salesmen. Also, there's just something about middlemen that bug me.

forkvoid

So I can avoid that recruiter... who is she and what firm does she work for?

apena7

eMeS wrote: »

I would just reply to her with pretty much exactly what you said, wtf?

Except I would have really crawled up her pantsuit and said something like this:

"What's your point princess?"

Sorry, I couldn't resist

BradleyHU

apena7 wrote: »

Sorry, I couldn't resist

lolz....that is SUPER DUPER THROWBACK!!!

Sanis4life

I guess I am the only one who thinks she has a point.

She has no clue that you are happy at your new job. If you are contacted by her and your first reply was how much was the compensation, I too would be like...okay, who is this guy. If your second reply was already giving a dollar amount, I would not higher you also. In fact, I think her reply is actually a courteous gesture. She is telling you in future reference you should not discuss compensation right off the bat, before you know what the job entails. Money isn't everything.

Recruiter wins this in my book.

broc

Sanis4life wrote: »

I guess I am the only one who thinks she has a point.

She has no clue that you are happy at your new job. If you are contacted by her and your first reply was how much was the compensation, I too would be like...okay, who is this guy. If your second reply was already giving a dollar amount, I would not higher you also. In fact, I think her reply is actually a courteous gesture. She is telling you in future reference you should not discuss compensation right off the bat, before you know what the job entails. Money isn't everything.

Recruiter wins this in my book.

I have to disagree, "most" of us work because we need the money. Off course being happy in your job is highly important but going through a recruitment process take time in a busy schedule for anyone who works full-time and you don't want to waist anytime for a position which is going to pay less than what you currently earn!

I always try to find out the minimum compensation immediately if not included in an advert to know if it worth pursuing any further. How do you proceed yourself? You will take days off from your current job to go to interviews only to find out they can't even match your current salary??

Sanis4life

broc wrote: »

I have to disagree, "most" of us work because we need the money. Off course being happy in your job is highly important but going through a recruitment process take time in a busy schedule for anyone who works full-time and you don't want to waist anytime for a position which is going to pay less than what you currently earn!

I always try to find out the minimum compensation immediately if not included in an advert to know if it worth pursuing any further. How do you proceed yourself? You will take days off from your current job to go to interviews only to find out they can't even match your current salary??

Days off? At any rate, one has to read the job description and the company profile. If it sounds more technical, or on par with what I am doing and I was interested in leaving, I would conduct the interview. Once you judge what the work would consist of, then you can get an idea of what they would have to pay, in order for you to leave your current job. If you excel in the interview, they will pay you what you want, or at least more then your current pay, if they want you bad enough. Coming right out and asking for a minimum salary is the wrong way to go about doing business. If one came out and asked for a salary range, I could understand that, which I have done. It's all about negotiating skills. You should hear what they offer before blurting out a number. If you dont know what you are worth, salary.com is pretty useful to start out with. Now, I am at a level were I know what I am worth by doing enough interviews and seeing what they would offer me, which I recommend people to do.

As for the money, I took a lesser paying job to move back into a more technical field. Yes, I was making great money, but my technical skills were decreasing and I was not content with what I was doing, which would hurt me in the long run. Again, imo money is not everything.

Hyper-Me

Sanis4life wrote: »

I guess I am the only one who thinks she has a point.

She has no clue that you are happy at your new job. If you are contacted by her and your first reply was how much was the compensation, I too would be like...okay, who is this guy. If your second reply was already giving a dollar amount, I would not higher you also. In fact, I think her reply is actually a courteous gesture. She is telling you in future reference you should not discuss compensation right off the bat, before you know what the job entails. Money isn't everything.

Recruiter wins this in my book.

I DID read the job description, she only assumed that I didnt.

I also noticed that it would be drastically changing my schedule.

I replied to her to let her know that I worked for a long time busting my ass for a company and getting no raise or appropriate compensation for it, and that I will not do it again. I know what I am worth and I will make sure that any company that approaches ME, will know what it will take them to get me. Its a different ballgame if im looking for a job, but i'm not.

If someone comes up to you in a parking lot and says "wow can I buy your car?" and you say "sure, its worth 5000$ so i'll want 5000$" and they say "wow you are just concerned with the money, you should be happy that someone wants to buy your car and sell it for 2500$" ....how would you react?

RobertKaucher

Hyper-Me wrote: »

If someone comes up to you in a parking lot and says "wow can I buy your car?" and you say "sure, its worth 5000$ so i'll want 5000$" and they say "wow you are just concerned with the money, you should be happy that someone wants to buy your car and sell it for 2500$" ....how would you react?

Buy it for $2500 and resell it for $4000 to a third party!

So shut up and be happy I am doing this favor for you.

Edit: I just have to add that I find it ironic that the person whose job it is to get the best tallent for the lowest price is telling someone they are too concerned about money. You're too concerned about money, because you are getting in the way of her comission.

dynamik

RobertKaucher wrote: »

Buy it for $2500 and resell it for $4000 to a third party!

So shut up and be happy I am doing this favor for you.

Edit: I just have to add that I find it ironic that the person whose job it is to get the best tallent for the lowest price is telling someone they are too concerned about money. You're too concerned about money, because you are getting in the way of her comission.

Exactly. They're just trying to make a buck off of someone as quick as possible. It's not like they're really going out of their way just for you. I wouldn't be surprised if that was simply a canned response she used when someone said they wanted more than what she thought was acceptable.

broc

Sanis4life wrote: »

Days off?

If you want to go to an interview, you need to take a day off, no?

Sanis4life wrote: »

If you excel in the interview, they will pay you what you want, or at least more then your current pay, if they want you bad enough.

I guess you never conducted an interview or hired anybody yourself? I have and I have never been given an unlimited budget. And if hire a sys admin, I don't want to pay him a lot more than my other sys admins, I don't think they would be please to hear that the new guy earn a lot more than them to do the same job!

Sanis4life wrote: »

Coming right out and asking for a minimum salary is the wrong way to go about doing business. If one came out and asked for a salary range, I could understand that, which I have done.

I don't see much of a difference between a minimum salary and a salary range to be honest with you. A salary range basically mean you are asking the maximum as well as the minimum!

Sanis4life wrote: »

It's all about negotiating skills. You should hear what they offer before blurting out a number. If you dont know what you are worth, salary.com is pretty useful to start out with.

I know very well what I am worth which is why I want to know what they are willing to pay...

Sanis4life wrote: »

As for the money, I took a lesser paying job to move back into a more technical field. Yes, I was making great money, but my technical skills were decreasing and I was not content with what I was doing, which would hurt me in the long run. Again, imo money is not everything.

As I said, money is not everything but it still does play a very important part of any recruitment process.

Kaminsky

forkvoid wrote: »

So I can avoid that recruiter... who is she and what firm does she work for?

There are lots of people that scout monster for our CVs and try to act like their own little recruiting company. They see the potential of your CV and how much of a slice they could get from trying to get you in a job. However, these people work by putting you on the back foot and making it look like they are doing you a favour. They don't act on behalf of a company. They are doing it for themselves. Maybe they worked for a recruiter once and are trying to ge a sideline of their own.

You don't know who this person works for and if they are reputable, why are they looking for clients on monster ? Highly likely recruiters wouldn't have talked to them anyway. Big companies get very particular about who and where they recruit from.

If they were a hiring manager in a company who had spotted your cv, it would have been worded differently which makes me think this is the type I described, just fishing to try and make money off the backs of it techies.

Think of it this way. They get paid a percentage of your starting salary/hourly rate when they get you a job. You are what makes them money. You are the one in the position of power here. Tell her you didn't appreciate her innapropriate and unprofessional reply and you will be naming and shaming her to all the IT techies in the communities you frequent as one to stay clear of.

If you are going to use these sites to get your CV out there then treat unsolicited and out of the blue offers like this with caution.

eMeS

apena7 wrote: »

Sorry, I couldn't resist

Dude that's funny...

Hyper-Me...just send her that link...

MS

eMeS

Sanis4life wrote: »

I guess I am the only one who thinks she has a point.

She has no clue that you are happy at your new job. If you are contacted by her and your first reply was how much was the compensation, I too would be like...okay, who is this guy. If your second reply was already giving a dollar amount, I would not higher you also. In fact, I think her reply is actually a courteous gesture. She is telling you in future reference you should not discuss compensation right off the bat, before you know what the job entails. Money isn't everything.

Recruiter wins this in my book.

Yeah, I wouldn't "higher" you either.

I get tons of people that are interested in having us do work for them. It would be a huge waste of my time to listen to what they all have to say only to find out that they want to pay 1/3 of my rate. Pretty much one of the first things that comes out of my mouth when dealing with customers is the price. This separates the wheat from the chaff.

I hate wasting time with people who don't want to pay my rate. I like cashing checks. I always try to do more of the things I like and less of the things I hate.

Someone who has the cojones to stand up for themselves and can clearly communicate what they really want, as Hyper-Me did, will always win.

MS

Hyper-Me

eMeS wrote: »

Yeah, I wouldn't "higher" you either.

Someone who has the cojones to stand up for themselves and can clearly communicate what they really want will always win.

MS

The amount of win in this post is simply immeasureable.

RobertKaucher

apena7 wrote: »

Sorry, I couldn't resist

My wife and I laughed for about 5 minutes. She says I need to make it her ring tone.

veritas_libertas

apena7 wrote: »

Sorry, I couldn't resist

Nice...

MeanDrunkR2D2

I just love dealing with these recruiters who expect me to give them leads of places that I've interviewed at. I had one a month ago that I had been working on and were jerking me around and telling me how I was the best person for the position and how they loved me and were talking about where to put my desk. Well, that fell through and I knew so after more than a week of that and waited another week for them to give me the eventual "Thanks but no thanks, you aren't the right fit for this team that consists of all females and they went with a woman who had more experience with reporting software."

But they guy kept pushing me for where I was interviewing at (which I should have never told him in the first place that I was interviewing at multiple places) which I would not tell him who the company was. Why the hell would I give them the name of a company I just interviewed at and was hoping to get hired at?

And I kept telling him that I wasn't comfortable giving out the name of those companies and that if there was a conflict with another company that he submitted me for I would let him know.

I hate recruiters. I know they have large margins for the most part and can always offer to pay more. They basically like to be the middle man that takes money from me that the company could pay me and make me much happier.

And for the record, I'm happy at my current job, but they pay me squat. Money is better than happiness when I make what I did as a cashier/sales person 10 years ago right now. So the first decent offer for a position that is somewhat able to let me grow with the company and I'm jumping ship.

Hopefully the positions that I want will start to open up once the far more experienced people jump for the 70+k jobs they used to have.

Config

I have had a few recruiters phone me up and during the chat they have asked if I had been to any interviews and where, never really understood why they wanted to ask that questions but now I know.
Oh, how I hate recruiters, if anything I would like to skip them and go straight to the source.

moonlight08

Hyper I would really encourage you to publicly post the name of this firm and their location if possible. You don't have to name names, but please at least consider posting the name of the firm. I am very much in favor of publicly shaming companies who condone such behavior.

To share an anecdote along similar lines, when I was a younger and a new tech just starting to spread his wings getting my first contracts that weren't help desk stuff, I too dealt with my fair share of recruiters. While I will give them credit that they did produce the most results in getting new contacts for me, I have no qualms about posting how I felt backstabbed and received no support from Tek systems.

I appreciated that they were able to find work for me, but when the client wanted to change up my job duties after I started, or wanted me to travel more often than I liked, or even better switch me to the graveyard shift after I started...my complaints to Tek were met with "well, there's not really a whole lot we can do". So essentially the client walked all over me and like a young and accomodating guy I was I let them do it. It was my own fault too, I can admit that, but it really sucks knowing you have no support from your recruiter and the client really doesn't give a damn about you either. You're just another body to them.

That was many years ago and I've grown a lot in that time.

Zartanasaurus

moonlight08 wrote: »

Hyper I would really encourage you to publicly post the name of this firm and their location if possible. You don't have to name names, but please at least consider posting the name of the firm. I am very much in favor of publicly shaming companies who condone such behavior.

To share an anecdote along similar lines, when I was a younger and a new tech just starting to spread his wings getting my first contracts that weren't help desk stuff, I too dealt with my fair share of recruiters. While I will give them credit that they did produce the most results in getting new contacts for me, I have no qualms about posting how I felt backstabbed and received no support from Tek systems.

I appreciated that they were able to find work for me, but when the client wanted to change up my job duties after I started, or wanted me to travel more often than I liked, or even better switch me to the graveyard shift after I started...my complaints to Tek were met with "well, there's not really a whole lot we can do". So essentially the client walked all over me and like a young and accomodating guy I was I let them do it. It was my own fault too, I can admit that, but it really sucks knowing you have no support from your recruiter and the client really doesn't give a damn about you either. You're just another body to them.

That was many years ago and I've grown a lot in that time.

I'm not sure how that's TekSystem's fault. They found you a job. If you had found that job on your own, you would've had to deal with that same treatment. They're a recruiting firm, not a union.

Hyper-Me

I cant say that I havnt had pretty big issues with ********** in the past.

Recruiters want something for nothing and it really gets my gourd.

EDIT: why is tek systems blocked? LOL

CompuTron99

moonlight08 wrote: »

I appreciated that they were able to find work for me, but when the client wanted to change up my job duties after I started, or wanted me to travel more often than I liked, or even better switch me to the graveyard shift after I started...my complaints to Tek were met with "well, there's not really a whole lot we can do". So essentially the client walked all over me and like a young and accomodating guy I was I let them do it.

That is exactly what happened to me at the job I had before my present position. On my fist day of work, the job changed almost completely. The ironic part was that it changed into the reasons for leaving the prior position. Both the recruiter and client knew this.

RouteThisWay

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

I'm not sure how that's TekSystem's fault. They found you a job. If you had found that job on your own, you would've had to deal with that same treatment. They're a recruiting firm, not a union.

+1

Great post. Just because a headhunter found you the job, doesn't mean they control the job functions, etc. If the employer chooses to change the job description, that's between you and the employer. Not the headhunter.

RouteThisWay

Hyper-Me wrote: »

I cant say that I havnt had pretty big issues with ********** in the past.

Recruiters want something for nothing and it really gets my gourd.

EDIT: why is tek systems blocked? LOL

I used to feel the same way about recruiters. However, after discussing this with a few coworkers who have used them, I would encourage anyone who is looking for a job, to use them. It can't hurt.

Many many many companies will now utilize the services of IT head hunting firms (tek, premier, etc).

The key is to look for Contract-to-Hire positions. These are the positions that companies will basically take a guy on as a contract position from a head hunting firm, and then at the end of the contract either a) not renew the contract b) hire the guy on. It is basically a probationary period. It saves the employer from having to fire a hiring mistake.

Yes there are shady characters in the business. They just look for warm bodies to throw in any position, without consideration of their skills, experience, etc. However, these do not last. There is a rather infamous head hunter in the East TN area (Hyper and Fork may know who I am talking about

), who did this kind of practice. The company ended up canning him for it. He was losing the company business because he wasn't satisfying the clients he was placing workers in. Thus, they would no longer pay them the "finders fee". Anyhow, he was fired pretty swiftly.

But honestly, with all the bad, there is good there too. I do specifically know of a couple Fortunate 500 companies in the Knoxville area that only hire IT/corporate through head hunters (Regal being one of them... go to their website. They only list actual Cinema positions there.).

Hyper-Me

Thats probably why i'll never get on at the DoD stuff. They almost all go through recruiting agencies and the agencies pay terrible for the first 6 months. Pay is fine after that (generally), but im not gonna eat ramen every day for 6 months just because "thats how it is"