Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Absolutely Nothing

I would post an update but there has been absolutely nothing going on. I apply to jobs and hear nothing back. I really wish I could say that I wasn't updating because things were going good and I was busy with interviews and prepping for interviews but I can't. I have actually been pretty down lately. I just haven't had the energy to write down my feelings mostly because they are at this point severely negative. I am beginning to think that this thing called life is worth it.

I am almost certain at this point that it seems that the money and time I invested in getting my second degree was not worth it. Before, I was eating steak and lobster for dinner every night but I also wasn't chin deep in debt like I am now. Sure, I had about 12,000 in debt between some small student loans and a car payment. Now, well quadruple that. My social life really took a hit in the three and a half years I was getting my degree. Not only was I going to school full time but I was also working 40+ hours a week. The best I could do was post to some message boards in between breaks in studying. Hopefully, and boy do I hate that word as I see hope as a denial of reality, my trip to South by Southwest in the beginning of March will recharge my batteries some because I need some good news right about now.

Signed,
MG

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Brooksource or Why Recruiters Can Suck


I have only been contacted by one recruiter, Brooksource, so far and it was because I actually applied for a job through their agency. I applied for a position which they required a couple years of professional experience in the field. I didn't have that but I almost always apply for positions if they require less then three years. I also applied for the job because it was e-mailing my resume to a person. That is far superior then having your resume screened out by a program. The recruiter e-mailed me back asking if they had missed something on my resume. Being the truthful person that I am, I responded that no I didn't have professional experience but I do have a degree and educational experience. I figured that I would probably get a rejection letter as that requirement must of been very important.

The next morning right before I leave for work, I get a call from the Brooksource recruiter. They actually had another position that wasn't exactly in my field of study but that I could do available. I of course expressed interest because I wasn't going to decline something right out of hand. The recruiter made it clear that if I was able to, they could probably set me up with an interview on the same day.

When I got back from work that night, I reviewed the information that the recruiter sent me. It sounded like a good starting point and something that I could do. I responded back to her saying that I was interested. I didn't expect to hear anything back that say since it was after 5. The next day, I didn't hear anything back from Brooksource. I figured that it was only a day and maybe the recruiter or their contact with the company  didn't respond yet.

On Monday, I sent Brooksource the short questionaire that was e-mailed to me since I still hadn't heard anything from the recruiter. I guessed they were waiting for that. A week passed and I heard nothing from Brooksource except for the original e-mail. It is now two weeks and I have heard nothing from Brooksource. It seems either that the recruiters original time estimate was exaggerated or they were just blowing smoke.

I have a long history in customer service. I know that sometimes you do have to give people bad news. It always sucks doing it because you don't know just how exactly they are going to respond. Some people are nice about it and some people throw fits. I can tell what will universally make people upset though and that is not getting back in tough with them at all. In my job, if I don't follow up with a customer in an allotted time frame, even if it just to say that the issue is taking longer then expected to resolve, I get reprimanded. I am guessing that what these recruiters don't understand is that not only are the companies that are recruiting through them are their customers but that the people they are recruiting and contacting are as well. Right now, my opinion of Brooksource is very low and I wouldn't recommend that anybody deal with them at this point. Sometime, in the future I hope to be part of the hiring process and I wouldn't recommend to use them as a recruiting agency because of this experience. I have an awfully long memory and I can hold grudges. To this day I refuse to shop at Harris Teeter because I met the president of the company once professionally and he was a jerk to me. I refuse give that person any of my money.

Feel free to comment if you like.

Signed,
MG