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Share your awful recruiter/recruitment stories here

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  • May 31st, 2012 11:26 pm
Deal Addict
Jul 11, 2010
2959 posts
139 upvotes
Recruiters = dating agencies
Newbie
Oct 1, 2008
72 posts
4 upvotes
My experience was with an internal recruiter at IBM. She was responsible for finding us assignments.

One day, she phoned me and asked if I would be interested in a six-month assignment in New Jersey. (I live in Canada, as you probably can guess.) As it happened, I had just finished a four-month assignment in Scranton, PA, and it was such a lousy experience, I never wanted to do anything like it again. No offense to Scranton - it's a lovely place. Everything else was awful - the assignment itself (no-one had a clue what they were doing and there was no leadership at all), the commute (I had to go through Chicago O'Hare with a very short layover, and I was constantly terrified that I'd be stuck there overnight. That did in fact happen twice), and I missed my family terribly. I explained all this to the recruiter, emphasizing that I NEVER, EVER wanted to work out of town again. She seemed very sympathetic, saying things like "Oh, I totally understand."

The following day, I got a call from a very nice man from - you guessed it - New Jersey, basically saying "Welcome to the team! How soon can you get out here?" I was very confused and said "I think there's been a misunderstanding - I turned down the assignment with your company." He was surprised and said "That's not what (Recruiter's Name) told me - she said that you'd agreed to be on our team and couldn't wait to start." I felt terrible, but I told him as politely and tactfully as I could that no, I had not agreed to any such thing. He was disappointed, but he took it well. After I hung up, I looked at the clock and thought "I wonder how long it'll be before I get an angry call from (Recruiter's Name) asking what the hell I think I'm playing at." It took less than half-an-hour. She was absolutely furious and refused to listen when I said that I'd given her an unequivocal NO.

Shortly after that, I was laid off.
Deal Fanatic
Sep 23, 2007
5654 posts
2168 upvotes
There are good recruiters and bad ones. For anyone trying this route, I wish you luck as there's no easy way to spot them at your first meeting.

I met this lady who looked really bored when she met me but turned out to think I'm really qualified and forwarded several opportunities to me. None of the resulted in a job but that's more because of me. Most of them were a bit too far from my home so I turned them down. I'm not sure why but it seems all her connections are on the west end as she never proposed an opportunity on the east and central Toronto. I'm reasonably happy with this recruiter. Any opportunity is better than nothing. At least she calls me to discuss if I'm interested.

There's this guy that looks a bit like a douchbag. He likes to use buzz words. He never once got me an opportunity but is very keen on getting my employer's references. Later I learned (through luck) that he had contacted my manager and past managers to see if they had openings. So basically he just used me to build his contacts. But he didn't reveal that I was looking and just said he was cold calling. No harm done. But nothing good came out of it either.

I got 2 interviews with another agency. No offer came up. I think the interview went so-so. Salaries were not up to my expectation. We just lost contact after a few more communications.

These are not awful stories. I've met a lot of recruiters and most of them are just "ok". Don't expect too much out of them. But if you're unemployed or want to passively look, I don't think they can do much harm. Many of the recruiters have connections for positions that would normally not be advertised to the public.
Deal Addict
User avatar
May 4, 2010
1863 posts
582 upvotes
I've had a lot of recruiters contact me with opportunities that never seem to go anywhere. They'll email (sometimes it's obviously a blast to a lot of people) sometimes its specific to me.

I'll get requests to speak on the phone and never hear from the recruiter again, this is after they've requested a time and set an appointment or that the position 'has been put on hold' right before having a phone interview. I used to get excited about these emails and the potential. Not anymore, its very unprofessional.
Deal Guru
User avatar
Nov 30, 2009
12178 posts
603 upvotes
Toronto
I cannot stand recruiters.

All of my jobs I've gotten by myself (and there has been many lol).

Usually they will stereotype you right out the door. I don't like being belittled nor treated like an idiot which is why I gave up with them.

Also, found out I didn't need them. Today, I'm finally with a company that offers career advancement, good salary/benefits/perks, and long-time growth and I'm relatively young (23). After all the B.S. jobs I've had to endure, I'm very fortunate to be where I am. Now the job might not be the best, but it's good for me (for now!), and I can still venture off to different positions. This is the longest job I'e ever had (1.5 years) and even looking back on the jobs of the past, I have no regrets because it made me that much more driven for success. :)
Deal Addict
Mar 29, 2006
3615 posts
51 upvotes
Not really awful story, more like funny one, but I was repeatedly offered to apply for position of my team lead when his contract went for renewal (one of those public sector thingies when they have to pretend yearly or so that they have an open competition for a position being taken for like 5 years by the same person). It was due to me having experience with a very exotic product (I think there're like 5 users in all Canada). And my resume clearly stated that I'm working in this company now. C'mon, if there's an opening for a product AAA in company YYY and it is in my resume that I work in this very company with this very product, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is a position within my team.

I consider only 2 things to be cardinal sins for a recruiter/agency. Revealing to your boss that you're looking for greener pastures, and trying to keep your money if you end up taking contract through them. I had both experiences in my life. "Ratting out" was more due to extremely unprofessional behaviour than due to actual ill intent. And I once had a "pleasure" to work through a guy who was moonlighting as a loan shark, so he was habitually delaying my wages and earning extra on them by lending them @ 20% MONTHLY :) Not to me, though :)
Deal Addict
Feb 5, 2010
2764 posts
183 upvotes
vickysf wrote: My experience was with an internal recruiter at IBM. She was responsible for finding us assignments.

One day, she phoned me and asked if I would be interested in a six-month assignment in New Jersey. (I live in Canada, as you probably can guess.) As it happened, I had just finished a four-month assignment in Scranton, PA, and it was such a lousy experience, I never wanted to do anything like it again. No offense to Scranton - it's a lovely place. Everything else was awful - the assignment itself (no-one had a clue what they were doing and there was no leadership at all), the commute (I had to go through Chicago O'Hare with a very short layover, and I was constantly terrified that I'd be stuck there overnight. That did in fact happen twice), and I missed my family terribly. I explained all this to the recruiter, emphasizing that I NEVER, EVER wanted to work out of town again. She seemed very sympathetic, saying things like "Oh, I totally understand."

The following day, I got a call from a very nice man from - you guessed it - New Jersey, basically saying "Welcome to the team! How soon can you get out here?" I was very confused and said "I think there's been a misunderstanding - I turned down the assignment with your company." He was surprised and said "That's not what (Recruiter's Name) told me - she said that you'd agreed to be on our team and couldn't wait to start." I felt terrible, but I told him as politely and tactfully as I could that no, I had not agreed to any such thing. He was disappointed, but he took it well. After I hung up, I looked at the clock and thought "I wonder how long it'll be before I get an angry call from (Recruiter's Name) asking what the hell I think I'm playing at." It took less than half-an-hour. She was absolutely furious and refused to listen when I said that I'd given her an unequivocal NO.

Shortly after that, I was laid off.

Interesting story. To those that work for any consulting or IT firm servicing outside clients (CGI, IBM, Deloitte, Accenture etc.) ensure you are willing and able to go on these assignments or you will be laid off for being on the bench too long. Nature of the industry.
Newbie
Oct 1, 2008
72 posts
4 upvotes
Yep - of course, there are exceptions. When I was preparing to go to Scranton, there was another lady on the bench who had virtually identical skills - but when she was asked to take an out-of-town assignment, she answered simply "I can't - I have a little boy, and my husband is a long-distance trucker, so I'm needed at home." IBM basically said "Oh, okay, never mind" and somehow found her an in-town assignment where she's been for the last x years. I'm still a little bitter about that. I guess I should've said "I can't" instead of "I don't want to." :)
Deal Addict
Feb 5, 2010
2764 posts
183 upvotes
vickysf wrote: Yep - of course, there are exceptions. When I was preparing to go to Scranton, there was another lady on the bench who had virtually identical skills - but when she was asked to take an out-of-town assignment, she answered simply "I can't - I have a little boy, and my husband is a long-distance trucker, so I'm needed at home." IBM basically said "Oh, okay, never mind" and somehow found her an in-town assignment where she's been for the last x years. I'm still a little bitter about that. I guess I should've said "I can't" instead of "I don't want to." :)

Interesting. On another note, I assume they would fly you in Monday morning and Fly out Thursday evening?
Deal Addict
Jun 21, 2011
1130 posts
211 upvotes
YYZ
if you are an Engineer ... DO NOT EVER AND I MEAN EVER AND NEVER APPLY to Aerotek !!!! or even have them contact you!!!!

bunch of BS morons!


I got a call from a recruiter and they told me this job is xyz and I went to the interview and found out that the job is abc

so I declined it ....

and when I tried to apply for other jobs with Aerotek the recruiters always come back and be like sorry we cant even take your resume because you made us look bad with that employer and I always be like WTF??? you told me the job would be xyz and when I went it was abc ... who the f to blame here??

and they would never reply back to my emails or phone calls when I tell them its their fault and not mine ... it wasnt me who was given the wrong info!

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