job-seeker contacts/advice

[jjkoestler]

Does anyone have any experience with Aerotec? I submitted my credentials to them about a month ago and a recruiter just called me.

 

I've dealt with them. They often contact me with opprotunities. But it seems I have to chase after them to follow up. But there was one good guy who was proactive and lined something up for me, but it fell through.

 

I called the recruiter back several times and he has not returned my calls. I'm assuming recruiters are swamped at this point, but its frustrating.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

I have had problems with Aerotek in the past where the recruiter only knew the bare basics of what the job entailed basically only what you would get from a job posting and that was it. Be careful with that as it either means the recruiter knows nothing about the job and was just assigned to fill it or they need to hit their quota for the month and need to fill the job no matter what even if it isn't a fit for you and your skills.

 

I worked for one of their companies and this is dead on accurate. They are all about the bottom line profit and if that isn't there, you're judged solely on how many calls you make. People are commodities to them, which is a large part of the reason you won't get a call back.

 

I'd certainly go through other staffing companies, as there are a ton out there. I've had good responsiveness from QPS in particular.

[RobDeer 45]

I don't think you should ever have to chase a recruiter. In a company like that, where all they care about is placing someone, if you fit what their looking for, they'll be all over you. If he hasn't called you back, I'd guess he either filled it or doesn't actually think you would get hired. And an earlier poster above hit it right on, these guys are judged every day on phone calls and time on the phone, so he could have just been making a dial. I think the other issue with these big companies is the person trying to fill the position is not the person talking to the employer (usually) so they just have a brief description of what is wanted.

[Jimbo]

Does anyone have any experience with Aerotec? I submitted my credentials to them about a month ago and a recruiter just called me.

 

I've dealt with them. They often contact me with opprotunities. But it seems I have to chase after them to follow up. But there was one good guy who was proactive and lined something up for me, but it fell through.

 

I called the recruiter back several times and he has not returned my calls. I'm assuming recruiters are swamped at this point, but its frustrating.

 

Headhunters are a dime a dozen. Some better than others. Don't put all your eggs into one basket. Move on.

[jerichoholicninja]

I hate my current job and just got an interview for another one. How do I tell my current employer I'm taking a day for the interview without telling them I'm taking the day for an interview. I suppose I could lie.

[TooLiveBrew]

Yeah, you do not want to tell them that's why you're taking a day. You also shouldn't feel bad about making up an excuse to take the day. Good luck with the interview!

[thebruce44]

I hate my current job and just got an interview for another one. How do I tell my current employer I'm taking a day for the interview without telling them I'm taking the day for an interview. I suppose I could lie.

 

Don't tell your employer anything. Take a day off, that's why people have vacation time.

[Menotti80]

If you have vacation, I would not say a word.

 

If you have to explain why you can't work, say it's a personal day or for personal reasons.

 

 

 

 

If a reason is demanded, I would make something up or call in sick.

[billyhallfan]

Does anyone use linkedin here and find it successful? I just opened an account about a month ago and haven't done much with it and I just saw that a recruiter for a company that I am interviewing with looked at my profile. So that makes me think I should start updating my profile.

[CheezWizHed]

I'm on LinkedIn. Its ok. I see some people use it almost like Facebook, but for work related stuff (Hey, I just took a training class on Widgets!).

 

I haven't gone "job searching" since I joined (5 years ago or so), but I can see where it might be useful for that. I've tried to connect to various people I've worked with for "job networking" if it comes to that.

[billyhallfan]

Yeah I updated everything and put a picture up...it was really hard for me to find a picture of myself wearing anything but a t-shirt or sweatshirt and a picture without a hat on...I think that part that might be the best is where you can see who has viewed your profile...it looks like a lot of higher ups in companies are on it.

[Menotti80]

Well my company cut a few hundred jobs today and I was one of them. Looks like I will be checking this site more frequently...

[TooLiveBrew]

Sorry Menotti.

 

Good luck on the hunt.

[CheezWizHed]

Just make sure whatever you put on LinkedIn matches your resume. I've double checked some candidates on LinkedIn just to see what they put on it.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

When I recruited I used it heavily, especially since a lot of the resumes we had on file were horribly out of date.

 

If there's a specific field/company you're looking into, search for their recruiters and connect with them.

[NeedMoreFans]

My wife has a job interview on Thursday, and she was sent an e-mail today for an interview on Wednesday. She is concerned about being gone 2 days now. She asked the question...does she tell her supervisor why she is taking time off?

[ewitkows]

Nope. They don't need to know

[Jimbo]

Does anyone use linkedin here and find it successful? I just opened an account about a month ago and haven't done much with it and I just saw that a recruiter for a company that I am interviewing with looked at my profile. So that makes me think I should start updating my profile.

 

I signed up when I was laid off in 2009 and was of no use then. Now that things have picked up the last 18 months, I've had people contact me.

[RobDeer 45]

I think linkedin is useful for some industries. Recruiters and HR people do use it quite a bit. If you have accomplishments or a job history that really stands out, you will get use out of it. The more active you are with it the better off you are. You can seek out the type of contacts you want to make instead of sitting back and waiting.

[NeedMoreFans]

As a teacher, there are a few options I have to continue to advance my career. While I enjoy teaching high school, I wouldn't say I love it. I have been considering beginning a Master's program in ed administration (to become a principal). However, recently, my passion for one of my content areas has been fully rekindled, and would welcome an opportunity to further my education in that field, perhaps teaching it at a tech school level (like MATC or a UW-_______ County school). The problem is, obtaining a Master's in that field would be nearly impossible at the moment. There are few if any programs that would accommodate working adults. The programs I found would pretty much require me to quit working, which is not an option. I would consider a distance learning opportunity, but I'm not sure how many institutions offer Master's programs completely online (oh, and the content area would be Political Science). Does anyone have any advice?

[Raw Biz]

So I had an interview a few weeks ago for a paralegal position. The guy who interviewed me was really impressed with my resume and said they were looking for someone to fill this position quickly. Because I actually have my law degree, he said that I should be able to pick up on things rather quickly despite having little experience. He said they had actually hired someone for the position but had to let him go after he lied about his skills. He told them he knew how to use a computer but actually didn't know how to type or even get on the internet. I took a typing test (85 or so WPM) so he said it should be no problem.

 

He told me he had one more interview lined up but it was just a formality and that I was at the top of his list and he just needed to run it by his boss (who works in a different office/state). When he was giving me a tour, he made comments like "this will be your desk" and just stuff that made it seem like I was a given. He said he should have the go-ahead within a day and then they would just need to run a background check so I would be starting sometime in the next 7-10 days. Later that day, I got a call from someone asking if I wanted to do a contract job for a week or so that would've been the week I was starting. I told them I was waiting to hear back from a job and they said to contact them if it didn't work out.

 

A few days passed and I didn't hear anything so I emailed the guy on a Friday and he said he would know by Monday. So I ended up not hearing anything from him that week so I emailed him again the next week and didn't hear from that either. That was a week and a half ago. This week I received an email from HR saying they were going to continue their search for a candidate who better fit their needs. I also saw the ad re-posted on a job board. I never received a response from the guy who interviewed me. I'm really pissed because he made it seem like the job was basically mine and then he never responded to me. He also said they were in a big hurry to fill the position because the work was stacking up but yet they are still looking for the right candidate, even though he said I was more than qualified. I also ended up missing out on the contract job because I thought I would be working for them.

 

It sucks because this isn't the first time that I've felt really good after an interview, only to be turned down. It also isn't the first time that someone has refused to email me back about a position. I had a person who wanted to interview me a second time a few months ago but everytime I called or emailed, she never responded or called back. I tried to contact her 4 times to set up another interview but finally gave up. I also don't think it had anything to do with a background check because I just had one run on me in May for a volunteer job.

 

I'm just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences. Are HR people or interviewers really this insensitive? These weren't huge firms or anything that I've interviewed at either so I thought they would be a little more personal. I understand if I don't get a job but I also don't like not hearing anything or worse, being told I basically got the job and then not hearing anything. Its just frustrating because I thought going to law school would have been a good thing. But here I am, 2 years later with no job and almost $100k in debt.

[Baldkin]

Are HR people or interviewers really this insensitive? These weren't huge firms or anything that I've interviewed at either so I thought they would be a little more personal.

 

In my experience, the last two years, very few HR people have a clue what job hunters are going through and the job-hunting industry has completely lost it's personal touch.

 

I've had interviews scheduled for positions I am completely unqualified for, I even had one case where I sat down to a second interview and it turned out I was interviewing for a completely different position than the one I'd interviewed for over the phone (and no one bothered to tell me this) and I've had about 1/4th of the companies I interviewed with even follow up with me afterwards.

[jerichoholicninja]

 

I'm just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences. Are HR people or interviewers really this insensitive?

 

Yes.

 

Well, more like you as an individual are no where near the top of their priority list, unless you actually get the job. My 2.5 year job search consisted and being ignored and flat out lied to by HR people. Funny enough, the two places that actually hired me have had great HR departments.

[thebruce44]

 

I'm just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences. Are HR people or interviewers really this insensitive?

 

Yes.

 

Well, more like you as an individual are no where near the top of their priority list, unless you actually get the job. My 2.5 year job search consisted and being ignored and flat out lied to by HR people. Funny enough, the two places that actually hired me have had great HR departments.

 

I think a big part of it is that when companies downsized, they often let go the HR people who actually knew what they were doing. Now the HR processes are being put on technical people who are too busy with their day to day work to follow up or even conduct a proper interview. At least, thats the way its been in my field, though I have been lucky enough to be employed the last 3 years.

[TooLiveBrew]

Raw Biz, I just wanted to chime in and say, "That sucks!"

 

What a ridiculous ordeal... hang wit' 'em, I guess.