SPUG: Re: Re: Recruiter Survey

[Richard Anderson]

Answers embedded below ...

Richard.Anderson at unixscripts.com
www.zipcon.net/~starfire/home (personal)
www.unixscripts.com (corporate)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Maher/CONSULTIX" <tim at consultix-inc.com>
To: <spug-list at pm.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 1:56 PM
Subject: SPUG: Re: Recruiter Survey


> I'm curious as to how rigid you are with the scripted "Answers" shown to
> your Q/A material; if you really answer the way the script indicates, I'm
> surprised that you can get placed!  Or perhaps I should be surprised that
> I've been so compliant in headhunter interviews myself, when apparently I
> could have stonewalled on all the questions and still gotten the gig! 8-}
>
I vary the wording of the responses, but not the intent.  When I began
developing this Q/A list I occaissionally bent the rules and was usually
sorry I did.  I generally find that about 10-20% of contract firms will
refuse to work with me on my terms.  This fine with me, since I have
generally found about one third of all contract firms are not worth working
with.  All it takes to set up a contract firm is a phone and some
stationary, so there is a constant influx of idiots into the business.

I've been contracting for seven years, and my techniques have worked for me.
I am not saying that other approaches won't work either, it's a matter of
personal preference.

> Does your resume disclose the previous contracts, that you refuse to
> comment about in the interview?  If not, what does the recruiter have
> to go on?  The mind boggles . . .
>
I don't think you read the Q/A carefully.  For the record the Q/A you refer
to was:
12.  Q: What were the lengths and terms (W-2, 1099) of your previous
contracts?  A:  I prefer not to discuss this.  My contract agreements with
my clients are confidential.

The exact months and terms of my previous contracts are not all that
relevant to whether I am qualified for the contract under consideration, and
many contracts DO have a non-disclosure clause.  Giving this kind of info to
the recruiter gives away bargaining information for free and can lead to
stupid questions like: " I see that you were not working between August and
October of 1997.  What were you doing then?"

Obviously, the resume I send to recruiters has explicit details about where
I worked, the years (not months) of the assignments, the projects I worked
on and the
technologies I used.

By refusing to let the recruiter waste your time, you are accomplishing two
things: you are avoiding wasting your time and you are screening out the
ineffective recruiters who have time to waste on irrelevant questions.  The
recruiters you want to work with are the experienced ones that don't waste
their time on irrelevant questions.




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