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Back to IT.. forgot how much I hated the job hunt
Thacker
Member Posts: 170
Hey guys,
After a 2-3 year hiatus from the IT industry I'm back and in the job hunt full swing. I've had some pretty bad experiences already and had a question regarding what happened today.
Over the weekend I sent out my resume to some job postings on craigslist. The first thing I noticed was how over inflated some of the job postings were. It seemed like a HR person was throwing IT buzzwords in a blender and writing down whatever it spit back out. I did find a few I was interested in however and submitted my resume accordingly.
Monday morning comes around and I get 3 call backs all before 10am. I ended up playing phone tag with one company in particular until this afternoon when we scheduled a phone interview. Upon calling the man back and speaking to him today his first question was "Are you free above and beyond the scope of normal business hours on a regular basis?"
I said "yes, sure my schedule is very flexible"
And then the next question "What type of compensation are you looking for?"
Now I remember the job posting being listed at 43k+ "Depending on Experience". I was caught very off guard by literally the second question regarding what I am looking for salary wise but I went ahead and stated I was looking to get 25/hr or 52k a year. He immediately scoffed and said "this posting was listed in the low 40's and I am unauthorized to provide anything above and beyond that". I rebuked "well could any other type of compensation be negotiated such as more time off, benefits ... paid training etc". He responded "the position offers benefits with 2 weeks PTO". His attitude and basic unwilling to to do any sort of negotiation completely gave a terrible first impression I was immediately turned off from the idea of working with the company. Anyone this unwilling to even meet or discuss with you in person a somewhat small difference in starting salary vs the potential of having a highly qualified candidate for the position can't be a great place to work. He then stated "knowing this... would you still be willing to come in for an interview?" I responded that yes I would as I would love to check out the facility and the work environment. We set up a time for the interview and he was going to email me the details and location. Also of note is the job requirements and listings were well below market value anyway as I had originally intended to pursue something in the 60k range but I would be happy with something in the 50k range to get my foot back in the door and my skillset back up to speed. This job would have been based in the Atlanta area for a media corporation with offices all around the USA and world.
4 hours later.... no email. I contact him again via phone and no response.
Experiences like this are really going to sour me again away from this industry as it did a few years back when I totally swapped. (I played poker professionally for 3 years out of Biloxi, MS... best time of my life but very interested in getting back to working full time)
Just needed to rant some
After a 2-3 year hiatus from the IT industry I'm back and in the job hunt full swing. I've had some pretty bad experiences already and had a question regarding what happened today.
Over the weekend I sent out my resume to some job postings on craigslist. The first thing I noticed was how over inflated some of the job postings were. It seemed like a HR person was throwing IT buzzwords in a blender and writing down whatever it spit back out. I did find a few I was interested in however and submitted my resume accordingly.
Monday morning comes around and I get 3 call backs all before 10am. I ended up playing phone tag with one company in particular until this afternoon when we scheduled a phone interview. Upon calling the man back and speaking to him today his first question was "Are you free above and beyond the scope of normal business hours on a regular basis?"
I said "yes, sure my schedule is very flexible"
And then the next question "What type of compensation are you looking for?"
Now I remember the job posting being listed at 43k+ "Depending on Experience". I was caught very off guard by literally the second question regarding what I am looking for salary wise but I went ahead and stated I was looking to get 25/hr or 52k a year. He immediately scoffed and said "this posting was listed in the low 40's and I am unauthorized to provide anything above and beyond that". I rebuked "well could any other type of compensation be negotiated such as more time off, benefits ... paid training etc". He responded "the position offers benefits with 2 weeks PTO". His attitude and basic unwilling to to do any sort of negotiation completely gave a terrible first impression I was immediately turned off from the idea of working with the company. Anyone this unwilling to even meet or discuss with you in person a somewhat small difference in starting salary vs the potential of having a highly qualified candidate for the position can't be a great place to work. He then stated "knowing this... would you still be willing to come in for an interview?" I responded that yes I would as I would love to check out the facility and the work environment. We set up a time for the interview and he was going to email me the details and location. Also of note is the job requirements and listings were well below market value anyway as I had originally intended to pursue something in the 60k range but I would be happy with something in the 50k range to get my foot back in the door and my skillset back up to speed. This job would have been based in the Atlanta area for a media corporation with offices all around the USA and world.
4 hours later.... no email. I contact him again via phone and no response.
Experiences like this are really going to sour me again away from this industry as it did a few years back when I totally swapped. (I played poker professionally for 3 years out of Biloxi, MS... best time of my life but very interested in getting back to working full time)
Just needed to rant some
Comments
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OptionsNemowolf
Member Posts: 319 ■■■□□□□□□□
Welcome back to the fold! I can tell you from my personal experience, recruiters that respond to my resume from Dice, Monster, Careerbuilder, etc are all cut from the same clothe and that is sales. I typically get a couple of questions concerning my background and more details expanding on my resume then they cut to the chase and start in with salary requirements or the this is an immediate need to fill position that starts tomorrow or next monday etc. These are red flags to me and while i play along, I kindly inform them that i may not be the best fit but to keep me in mind for the future.
My biggest pet peeve with recruiters is they often pitch jobs knowing they cant offer what your worth and hoping that your desperate to make a move with a risk. -
OptionsThacker
Member Posts: 170
Yea I had done the recruiter thing in the past. This however was a direct to hire position within this company. The indivual I had spoken with was from HR down from Minnesota to Atlanta so I'm not sure if he was brought in to fix and put out a fire or if this was a new expansion for the company. These would have been both great things to discuss before the "how much money do you want" question.