As I was pointing out just a couple
of weeks ago, recruiters constitute a special category of idiot. And recruiters for job shops are just freakin’ beyond the beyond.
My most recent experience validating this thesis was
last week. I’m on a mailing list for a particular job shop and replied to one
of their emails for a “Marketing Technology Process/Project Manager contractor for a
client opportunity at a large, high technology company in Sunnyvale.”
To
tell the truth, I’m not really into project management, but some of the
technologies were interesting (social listening, anyone?) and it’s only for
two to three months. (“With possibility of extensions!”) I figured that would
be long enough to get some buzz words on my CV and give me something else to
think about besides straining to rack up a thousand words a day on the novel.
First
I got a chirpy email from a sourcer—the person who does the initial screening;
it was a series of questions that needed to be answered before she could deign
to speak to me:
1.
This is a 40 Hour Per Week / 2-3+ Month Contract
(w/ Possible Extensions /Possible Perm Conversion opportunities). This role
would be a w2 position with XXXX at the Major Client’s site
located in Sunnyvale, Ca. Are you willing to work onsite?
2.
What is your Current Hourly Rate (A
Range)? What is your Hourly Rate
3.
Describe your related experience in working with
marketing technologies (e.g. email, social, web, analytics tools) within a
large, global organization?
4. Explain
your Development of marketing system support process, metrics reporting and
communication.
5. Explain
your experience of working in marketing technology Process or Project
management, or marketing systems?
6.
Why are you interested in exploring this
opportunity? (Are you currently working?)
I have to say that my answers were not particularly
informative, because the questions annoyed me. In fact, my answer to #5 was “Not
sure how this differs from question number 4.”
Evidently they were enough to get me to the next
stage, and I had a 20 minute conversation with her, during which I elaborated
on some of my process work (more than ten years ago) and how interested I am
in social media. That prompted her to set up a call with her manager “the owner and president” of the agency, that afternoon. She wanted me to go into their office, but I said that wasn’t on, so we made it a call.
She wouldn’t disclose the name of the client company
until I signed an NDA, which she sent with the meeting request. And when I
sent it back to her, she was pleased to inform me that the client was, uh, a
company I’ve had some experience with. I’ll call it PokerCo (as in, poker up
their butts).
I’ve recounted my interaction with PokerCo here and here.
So I thought about it and sent the sourcer an email saying that I knew that
company and didn’t think I’m a cultural fit, so why waste the owner/president’s
time.
Well, I got back an “I understand perfectly, but
what’s your problem with them, they’re great!” response. I replied that I’d
found their processes to be inflexible, and that since this job was all about
process, I thought the deck would be stacked against success.
So she called. Again—“I understand, but everyone we
have there LOVES the place!!” So, I agreed to speak with the owner/president—although
I specified that I wasn’t interested in this one, but if she wanted to get some
info from me about my capabilities in general, well, okay.
As you might imagine, of course, the owner/president
was intent on interviewing me for this position, starting out by demanding to
know what my specific problem was with PokerCo. I actually was spared having to
reply that I had no intention of telling her specifics because she had to take
another call. When she came back on the line, I asked questions about the role,
the unit and so forth. She didn’t have a lot of information; kept answering
role-specific questions with things like, “it’s a great place to work,
financially stable”, etc.
We were interrupted again for about five minutes
while she spoke to her cleaners. (She was apparently at home, so I’m wondering
where the sourcer thought I’d be meeting with the owner/president.) Eventually,
she told me in an aggrieved tone that I sounded like I had misgivings about
this, so she wrapped it up quickly.
Which was fine with me, because the conversation wasn’t
going to go anywhere anyhow. But I couldn’t get over how bizarre it is to try
to push someone into contending for a job they clearly aren’t enthusiastic
about. I mean—I’d be representing this woman’s agency, for God’s sakes. Why
would she want me out there with her brand on me if I think the client is a
collection of morons?
The owner/president wasn’t interested in any of my
other capabilities, so I expect to never hear from them again. Too soon, that
would be.
