Four Unemployment Frustrations - Part 4

Before I became unemployed, I would have expected that losing my job would also remove a large number of the frustrations of my daily life. The reality is that while I definitely have less stress in my current state, my previous frustrations have simply been replaced by new ones. This series of posts examines my top four unemployment frustrations. Click here to read Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3.


My fourth and final job search frustration is dealing with Recruiters.

I think this is an underreported issue when it comes to looking for a job. Recruiters hold a lot of power when it comes to the job search. They know about jobs that aren’t being advertised elsewhere. And no job searcher wants to alienate a group of people who can help them. I’m probably shooting myself in the foot by posting this, but I think it needs to be said, and I’m hoping that the good recruiters will know they are not the target of this rant, and well, the bad recruiters are less likely to come through with a job anyway. And yes, there are excellent recruiters out there: the kinds who call you back, who understand the company they’re recruiting for and the positions they’re filling, who answer questions and give you helpful tips for the interviews they arrange. Unfortunately, for every good recruiter, there must be 3 frustratingly bad recruiters.

Everyone I know has a story about one or multiple recruiters who just didn’t get it – the jobs they were filling, the candidate they were working with, basic geography, etc. I get emails and phone calls multiple times a week from legitimate recruiters with legitimate jobs that I consider turning down because I don't want that particular recruiter representing me. Here's an example from just this week:

A recruiter calls me. His English is so poor, I have a hard time understanding anything he's telling me [Note: I have a lot of experience dealing with non-native speakers of English and generally am very good at understanding people, so if I could not understand this person, I cannot imagine how he communicates with people not as accustomed to listening to accents.], however I do finally get some information out of our conversation and he tells me he's going to send me an email about the position. A few minutes later, he calls me back to see if I got the email. [Note: this is a pet peeve of mine. Email isn't instantaneous; it can take up to three days to reach its destination, even if it rarely does.] I hadn't yet, so he tells me to refresh my email (seriously?). While I'm waiting for the email he decides to confirm a few details: best number to reach me, availability, last 4 digits of my SSN. Um, what? I ask him why he needs that. He tells me it's for a background check. I tell him he can't run a background check on me with only 4 digits and I don't feel comfortable giving those to him. He says he'll put his manager on the phone. Meanwhile the email has arrived. It tells me the location and rate for the job and includes a non-compete agreement, but no job description. So the manager gets on and starts telling me about the position, basically repeating what the first recruiter had told me. The manager's English is better, but he's still not a native speaker. I finally get am able to get a word in to tell him I’ve already discussed the position with the previous gentleman and that the reason he was put on the phone was because I did not wish to give them my SSN. He tells me it's just for the client's database; they just need to give them 4 numbers. I tell him if that's the case, he could make up any 4 numbers to enter. He tells me it's only 4 digits of my SSN, so it doesn't matter. I tell him that's almost half the number. He tells me I will have to provide my SSN if I get the job. I tell him that if I get a job I will be happy to give him the number at that time, no sooner. Finally he decides he's not winning and relents. I tell him that I had not received the job description. He says he'll send me that and call back (you know, to confirm I received it). He calls back on my cell phone, despite the fact that I confirmed the best number to reach me on was my home number. The job is actually interesting, and I’m qualified for it, so I send in the NCA and get an email later saying to expect a call from another person at 12:30 (it's unclear if this is the client or another recruiter, I sort of suspect the latter), and to be cooperative. (I’m sure this is snarkiness, but email isn’t always the best medium for communicating, so I give him the benefit of the doubt.) The third person calls me at 1. His English is even better than the manager's, but he's still not a native speaker. [I'm a big proponent of immigration, but I'm starting to question my stance after this experience.] He turns out to also be a recruiter, and tells me after our conversation that the next step would be an in-person interview.  So far, I haven't heard back.

Although this is a job I'm rather interested in, I have a lot of doubts. My first doubt is whether this team of non-native speakers can really represent me to a potential client. My second is whether I want to work for a company that would hire these guys. So, the pros of the job are balanced by the cons of the recruiting team I've dealt with so far. And unfortunately, I know in the back of my head that if this group of recruiters is anything like similar ones I've dealt with, I'll never hear back from them again. So I lost almost an entire morning lost to dealing with them for nothing.

I often wonder how recruiters like this make money. But actually, I know the answer: bulk. As an HR person, I’ve dealt with recruiters from the other side, and frankly, my opinions of them were the same – a few good ones, way too many bad ones. The bad ones would send tons of barely qualified resumes for the positions we were looking to fill, and never question when we turned them all down. The good ones would ask a ton of questions about what we were looking for, actually limit their submissions to candidates who met our requirements, and whenever we turned one of their candidates down, call to ask why. It is a shame to me that what should be a noble profession helping match people to jobs has been taken over by people who just want to make a placement (and the accompanying 20% commission), no matter how they go about it, and that the few good recruiters out there are losing their reputations to the much larger number of bad ones.