Fucked Up Interview.. Rant + Advice

[metalgod]

Ok I'm pissed.... I signed up with this recruiting company a while back and they called me last week and said they had the perfect job for me. So I go on this 1st interview for a Network Admin position at this company in NYC. Everything goes pretty well. Baisc interview with what would be my future manager. No crazy questions just regular urn of the mill questions about what I do on a daily basis and what I claim to know and what not. So I meet with the recruiting chick and tell her how I thought the interview went and told her I was extremely interested and all that good stuff. So I email her the next day and she says the manager was extremely interested in interviewing me again. So I say to myself this is awesome.

I spoke with the recruiter a few more times about my references and such and she called 3 people and spent 30 min with ea of them on the phone scoping me out. I asked her how the references went and she said great. She tells me I got my second interview on this monday past 4-4-05. I get all dressed up and go to my regular job monday and the chick calls me and says they need to cancel cause of a server issue. I say no problem and they reschedule for the next day. Tuesday comes and I go to the place. I meet with the guy when he tells me that the other person he wanted to interview me is busy so if i have and questions ask them now. (good thing I wrote like 10 down) So I ask away and now the job is still feeling pretty good. He answers my questions then says let me check to see if he is done. He eventually comes back and says he is busy so we will have to finish by phone later on. I say no problem. He tells me he will call after 7pm. Ok I say. He also says they will be making a decision by wednesday 4-6-05

***now it gets fucking weird, annoying, fucked up and confusing***

I get out of the interview and call the recruiter and explain what just happened she tells me she will call him and call me back. She never calls. Neither does the dude who is supposed to call me that night???
I email this chick the next day to see whats up. No reply. I finally call her later on in the day hours later. I am like whats up she says they are picking their choice today (wednesday 4-6-05) I said I know that but I never got a real second interview no one called me back? She goes again ill call him and call you back. I think you can see where this is going. She never does. I email her again the next day and leave a message on her cell not stalkerish and always polite just asking for an update (thats all I want really). If i didnt get the job thats fine but stop dicking me around. She emails me finally last night saying she hasnt heard from him and she will let me know when she does. Of course I wrote back do you think I got a reply no. WTF!?

If you actually read all that thanks! I needed to get this off my chest.

What I dont understand is this chick was like up my ass everyday emailing me multiple times a day now I got nothing. Its like a relationship gone bad or something. Maybe she doesnt know anything yet but why not simply tell me why am I hounding her for simple info? How come she hasnt mentioned the dude not calling me back or anything. Now its friday and I still don't know anything. After this post im moving on. If somehow i get a call or a email great but otherwise screw it I have a job now but I'm just looking for the right oportunity to move up and on with my career.

What does everyone else think?

[dwarfthrower]

I signed up with this recruiting company
That's yer problem right there.


I get all dressed up and go to my regular job monday and the chick calls me and says they need to cancel cause of a server issue. I say no problem and they reschedule for the next day.
That's a bit odd... If I made an appointment there would need to be pretty much lives on the line for me to cancel it... I've never seen a "server issue" that a) had to be handled by someone senior enough to be interviewing new hires, and b) couldn't wait half an hour or be handled by someone else for a short while.

Tuesday comes and I go to the place. I meet with the guy when he tells me that the other person he wanted to interview me is busy so if i have and questions ask them now.

OK, at this point either they are the most disorganised, inept company on the planet... or they've already made their mind up about someone else. At any rate, if they can't either give you the courtesy of a proper hearing, or organise to have two people in the same room for the same half-hour then they probably aren't the sort of company you want to be working for.


... She never calls... No reply ... no one called me back ... She never does ... do you think I got a reply no. WTF!?

They filled the hole. Recruiters get paid on a comission basis by the employer when they fill the vacancy. Once that vacancy is filled you have less than zero value to the recruiter. In fact even talking to you is getting in the way of finding the next vacancy to fill. When dealing with recruiters you need to constantly remind yourself that no matter how much they seem to be willing to go all out for you at the start, they're only allegiance is to the employer.

Good luck with your job hunt.

[dozer]

with recruiters no news is bad news. if the job is a go they will beat down your door, thats when you tell them you have another offer and to up your rate to match it or you walk.

anyway youve learned a valuable lesson, never trust a recruiter, they are the most adept people at blowing smoke up your arse.

[Uther Pendragon]

Recruiters are true vampires, I have only talked to one recruiter who seemed to be decent, he was from a small firm that specialised in unix roles and seemed to know his stuff. He told me right off the bat that the sorts of jobs he gets in arent going to fill my skillset and gave me a list of 5 other recruiters that I would be better talking to

Everybody else I have talked to has been a fuckwit.

My worst experience was an interview with a recruiter for a short term php development contract (shit hours, shit work, shit contract length). So I go in Friday afternoon for the interview and have a meeting with her, she is super pushy to get me to start on the Monday morning. I tell her that I am available but that I am waiting to hear back from another company that I had interviewed at who were getting back to me on the Monday morning. It was for a far better job so I didn't want to miss that because of this short term gig. I told her I could start Tuesday if the other job didn't pan out.

This wasn't good enough for her, she was pushing for an answer on the spot hoping I would crack and just accept it if she pushed me hard enough.

It got even worse when she told me I couldn't leave the office without signing the contract which when I skim read it was for 4 weeks. Verbally she had said the job was 1-2 weeks, when I pressed her on it she couldn't actually tell me how long the contract was at all. I asked if I could call this other company and find out if I was still in the running so she left the office. I made the call and was waiting for somebody to get back to me. About 2min later she comes back in and says "I have just been on the phone to another contractor and have given the job to him, sorry".

Total fucking biatch.

I got the other job in the end so it all worked out. And I didn't get the job through recruiters, it was directly with the companys HR dept.

Recruiters are scumbags, and they play games. Keep that in mind when you are dealing with them, pretend you are dealing with the bitchiest backstabbing 2 faced prick you have ever met, despite how friendly they sound and you will do okay.

[metalgod]

Thanks for all your input. I mean I knew they were snakes to begin with I just figured they would tell me hey the position is filled ya know?

Well im sure that stupid bitch will call me again with something else, thats when I tell her to eat a dick...

Thanks for all your input... valuable lesson was learned these past few weeks indeed.

[BtrFly]

my bet is you will get over this, and move on. you will probably also talk to this woman again, because, you will want another job, and more than likely she will ring you with regards to it.

dont burn all your bridges. because you never know when one of them is to be your escape route

[King_Crud]

in my 2 years in London and especially my year in Dublin i dealt with many many many agencies. Some are good (Ihave to say that as my girlfriend is a recruiter) but mostly they suck.

My advice is to hit them constantly, if she says she'll call you right back and you don't hear anything for a couple of hours, call them. Don't email and call back the next day, get onto it. They won't do the work, you have to constantly contact them and make them do it.

[Uther Pendragon]

I agree with King crud. I got in the habit of emailing in my cv, and then ringing them almost straight away and that way they are pretty much forced to skim your cv while you are on the phone and you can sell yourself. Then just keep ringing the bastards as often as you can get away with. Don't get angry with them, always keep it professional and polite, even when they are being complete cocks. At the same time don't give in to unreasonable shit from them. You are trying to sell a product to these recruiters. Yourself, don't let them get you cheap

[metalgod]

Interesting and confusing update:

Today I emailed that girl again, following your guys requests to keep on top of the recruiters.

She calls me back and says now, instead of 2 other people in the running besides me its been narrowed down to me and another dude.

The boss there really likes me and we hit it off great.
So I basically just tell her how excited I am to possible work there and give her another reference to track down (probably my best one, former boss for 3 years)

She tells me he will be making his decision by thursday. And that he is just trying to figure out who would be a better fit.
He told her to tell me not to worry that no one called me back?(I find that odd) and that he thinks im technical based on my resume a lone (very weird)

I also told her that if he needs me to come down there again or do a phone interview I'll do it in a heart beat.

While all this is good news im kinda hung up on the not getting asked any technical questions thing. What do you guys think?

[Arcane1]

Interesting and confusing update:
<SNIP>
I also told her that if he needs me to come down there again or do a phone interview I'll do it in a heart beat.

I've done a lot of hiring... and firing too. Don't sound sooo desperate. I understand that it sucks being strung along, but you have to realize that 90% of what she (or anyone else in sales) is telling you is bullshit.

And yes, I mean sales. That's what recruiters are, salespeople that sell our bodies and make a commission.

Low key, have a drink, relax. Or at least try to as hard as it is.

[metalgod]

I didnt think I was coming off desperate. I was just trying to come off super interested. I was tryignto stay on the line. Before today I have been sending a casual email here and there nothing major?

[Uther Pendragon]

Just stick with it mate. It might take a while but the main thing is to get to the interview stage. Most recruiters wouldn't know their arse from their face when it comes to specifics on jobs. If you get through to the interview hopefully you will finally be speaking to somebody who has a chance of understanding your skillset.

The most important thing is to not get too depressed when looking for jobs, treat the job hunting like a full time job. Get up, start hitting the phones, email at 9, knock off at 12 for lunch, keep going til 5, then forget about it til the next day.

If you get in a regime it will be easier for you

[Arcane1]

The most important thing is to not get too depressed when looking for jobs, treat the job hunting like a full time job. Get up, start hitting the phones, email at 9, knock off at 12 for lunch, keep going til 5, then forget about it til the next day.

If you get in a regime it will be easier for you

THAT little tidbit of advice is the best advice you could ever follow. If you lose your 'routine' and start slumping it is a bitch to get back into it. That comes across to interviewers too. Also, when you DO start your new job it makes is so much easier to get back into the routine.

Just remember, if they aren't smart enough to hire you, Fuck 'Em.

[Blink]

Hmmm...I actually work as a sysadmin for a recruitment company (one of the bigger ones). So I'm in a position to give an insider's view of recruitment without actually being a consultant.

First and foremost, there are good and bad recruitment consultants. The good ones know at least something about the field they are recruiting in, and they actually care about their candidates. The bad ones are former car and mobile phone salespeople, who only care about filling the job as quickly as possible.

Some recruitment companies, as soon as they get a job in, will fire off as many CVs as they can find to the client that vaguely match the criteria, often without asking the permission of candidates. Others take a more structured approach, doing detailed searches and ringing suitable candidates.

My advice on getting a job through recruitment agencies?

- Remember the recruiter has about 5 - 10 jobs on at any time. They are busy. Unless you really need to speak to them, don't bug them all the time for updates, otherwise you'll just end up pissing them off.

- Be honest. If you are waiting to hear about another job, tell them so. Otherwise when you pull out of their job at the last minute without prior warning they'll just mark you down as someone to never represent again.

- Don't get greedy. If you're a contractor and have agreed on an initial rate, don't make up some other "fictional" job offer to try and get them to raise your rate.

[dwarfthrower]

While all this is good news im kinda hung up on the not getting asked any technical questions thing. What do you guys think?

I tend to look at people's problem solving and analytical skills rather than hard-core technical skills... I can find out how proficient a programmer somebody is by doing a reference check... what I try to find out at interview is a) how well am I going to get along with this person, and b) do I like the way they think.

[metalgod]

I tend to look at people's problem solving and analytical skills rather than hard-core technical skills... I can find out how proficient a programmer somebody is by doing a reference check... what I try to find out at interview is a) how well am I going to get along with this person, and b) do I like the way they think.


well that makes sense and if I had to guess about anything I'm thinking they are following that route.

I think I forgot to mention I have a job. I've been there for 3+ years doing 3rd level tech support/junior network admin stuff. So I think the recruiter knows im not desperate. Actually I make a great salary and get great benifits and vacation. I'm just looking for the next step in my career path and taking my time choosing it.

I have some really good references from 2 people who I currently work with and 1 former employee. Today I just gave her info for my 4th reference my former boss for 3 years who was head of IT. I'm hoping that will get me over the hump

[dozer]

- Don't get greedy. If you're a contractor and have agreed on an initial rate, don't make up some other "fictional" job offer to try and get them to raise your rate.

thats crap, they punch out inflated margins, ive been on jobs where some guys are on £4 AN HOUR less and they are doing the same thing as me. thats a lot to be sending back to your agency just for sending your resume. push them as hard as you can, you will soon find out their tightest margin, even half a dollar adds up over the week. if the client wants you they will bend.

[EvilMuppet]

I'm having similar sort of problems with some of theese people. They send me out to jobs that have nothing to do with what I am interested in, then they dont return my calls on jobs I am interested in... Grrr.

[Merudo]

I tend to look at people's problem solving and analytical skills rather than hard-core technical skills... I can find out how proficient a programmer somebody is by doing a reference check... what I try to find out at interview is a) how well am I going to get along with this person, and b) do I like the way they think.
would you hire me, dwarfy ol boy?

[dwarfthrower]

would you hire me, dwarfy ol boy?

The commute would be a killer.

[metalgod]

Update:

Its been a while but now I got some new info:

the recruiter called me yesterday and asks again if im still interested. I tell her yes. She then says its still between me and another person. Then she says that the company is leaving the decision up to her because they feel we are evenly matched? Is that right? Would you trust a recruiter to make that decision?

Then there is the money issue. They seem to be offering like 2 grand less then what I want. (which I heard is 5 grand less then what they offered the last guy). So she says to me if they come in 2 grand less should I say you dont want the job? So now im stuck between a rock and a hard place and not sure what to do.

I told her however I want to talk to the manager again and just go over everything. I don't like dealing with the receuiter and I want to get more a feel for the company. I'm trying to regain what little control I can.

Plus the recruiter chick wants me to agree verbally right away on the phone. I think thats BS get me a contract in writing then we will talk. She keeps saying if I get them to offer the job to you today will you say yes right away. I am like I need a day to go over everything im not like dropping everything with out considering every option.

any advice?

[Sagacious]

Update:

Its been a while but now I got some new info:

the recruiter called me yesterday and asks again if im still interested. I tell her yes. She then says its still between me and another person. Then she says that the company is leaving the decision up to her because they feel we are evenly matched? Is that right? Would you trust a recruiter to make that decision?

Then there is the money issue. They seem to be offering like 2 grand less then what I want. (which I heard is 5 grand less then what they offered the last guy). So she says to me if they come in 2 grand less should I say you dont want the job? So now im stuck between a rock and a hard place and not sure what to do.

I told her however I want to talk to the manager again and just go over everything. I don't like dealing with the receuiter and I want to get more a feel for the company. I'm trying to regain what little control I can.

any advice?

If they are offerring you 5K less than the guy who used to do the job you already get an idea about what they think of the value of the job.

If it is less than you want/need then it comes down to how bad they want/need you.

If they want you then you are in a position to say look it's not the money I'm looking for or what the job is worth but I am willing to work with you how about we start me on a probationary term when you pay me what you are offerring then in three months we raise it to that +2K and if I am still here in a year from now you raise it again to what you paid the last guy who did the job can't ask for more accommodating than that.

[dozer]

sounds like crap to me, ive never known recruiters to choose employ.

as for the cash, shes trying to pocket that 2 for herself, its up to her if you will let her.

[metalgod]

sounds like crap to me, ive never known recruiters to choose employ.

as for the cash, shes trying to pocket that 2 for herself, its up to her if you will let her.

thats what I thought. at this point I feel like they are trying to pull the wool over my eyes. So I think im just going to state my demands.. which arent crazy, pretty basic and just see what happens.

[metalgod]

Quick update.

Sorry for sounding like a bitch as thats not my intention. I'm just looking for a little guidence cause I never went through an interview that went this oddly.

She called me like 5 times today. The last call setup a supposed meeting with the manager and future co-workers on monday. this is what I have been hoping for just another session to ask more questions, meet some more people and get a better feel for the company. I asked her where we go after that and she basically told me that if things go fine they will offer me something.

Here is hoping for the best.

[Directed]

Sounds like your recruiter is a little new at all of this to me. They probably want you or they wouldn't go through all this trouble. If I were you I'd stick to my salary demands, because if they are trying to negotiate you down it sounds like they already have decided to hire you.