Being in the HR realm for many years I realized recruiters are not at the top of the food chain. However, today, I had a “first call” with a recruiter and it actually pissed me off (didn’t expect that). Is this the norm?

I have been happily employed by basically the same company for years. The names have changed but the faces remain the same. I’ve been sold and moved and reclassified many times. My job has changed and I have grown with the changes. However today, after about 15 years of never looking anywhere else I dared to look. I looked at working for this new company only because I see a better future with their product. However, today in the first interview with the recruiter he badgered me on why I want to leave my current company and other things. Apparently I was to give short answerers so he could document them in the interview “document.” I tried to explain I liked my job, I like my company, however I don’t see a future there. This was not good enough and he wanted to know why I wanted to leave my current job. I said it two more times, I like my job, I like my company but I don’t see a future doing what I an doing. There were many interruptions by him as I explained how I could fill this roll and he only seemed interested in filling out his “Interview Form.”

There were many other instances during the interview where I felt insulted or badgered. My wife, (since I work at home) noticed I was getting pissed.

So is this the norm? Do recruiters just fill out a form and the shortest answer wins? I am way qualified for this job but this asshole recruiter is standing in my way.

Be sure to send him a thank you note for inviting you to interview with his company... grin.


Ross

Sounds like a recruiter to me but I just had a call with one now myself (was made redundant recently) and he seemed quite a reasonable sort of guy.

I don't normally have much time for recruiters. In my previous experiences they are almost universally hopeless.

One thing I've noted with the advent of LinkedIn where you often see the actual recruiters CV is that they frequently have short employment periods of 1-2 years.

As far as I am concerned, getting a new job for me is more about who I know.

HR on the other hand... useless...

Yea, I have a friend who got a job at this company and I was hoping he would help out a little more, guess not.

I've found from my experience that even with a friend/past coworker inside, a company tends to use their recruiters. The benefit of the friend (or multiple friends) is that their voice can carry more weight at the post interview roundtable.

Gaikai had a pretty aggressive recruiter, but I later saw it was to try and screen out potential bad employees in the startup environment. That was one of the most intense person to person interviews I had. And in no way was he sitting there trying to fill out a prepackaged form.

I think your experience does point to a recruiter who is heavily under pressure from above for process, and is forced to document everything. Could be a warning sign the company is a process for process sake place, instead of process as a tool to improve the workplace.

My company does things a little differently. When they are hiring somebody for a new position, even if it is somebody already internal and everybody knows they are perfect for the job, there is a very strict interview process.

The panel consists of an HR person that is attached to the group doing the hiring (every group has an HR rep), the hiring manager, two other managers, and one or two subject matter experts. They have to ask all the questions that are on a prepared sheet, and everybody gets the same questions.

They have to do the same thing for every interviewee, just to protect themselves from lawsuits or any accusations of discrimination. Crazy stuff.

I agree, he was definitely filling out his “I did ‘x’ interviews today.” Thanks for the insight. After that he asked if I had any question. I had six and he cut me off at three (not answering one of them) saying he could only spend a ½ hour and had a standing meeting. Again, pissed me off to the max.

I’ll name names, (just not mine, I like to keep my ID kind of low on the web). This was with WorkDay. A relatively new company founded by the people that created PeopleSoft. They have no baggage to start with and they are founded by someone IMO who knows his shit (Dave Duffield).

I think I’ll wait a week or so and then just put in a couple on-line resumes. While my benefit requirements are probably show stoppers (I want a boat load of vacation) I think this might be a good experience and prepare me for when my company gives me the boot.

You know, I just expect to be pissed off when I call the bank over and error but not at an interview. I think that was the real kicker here. If I would have come off “bad” I could handle that but when he pissed me off that was just out of my realm of expectation.

I would have been ready for that. Just not some asshole that only called me because an employee asked. I was ready for a lot of things just not to be pissed off.

I think this depends entirely on the company. We have a referral bonus, here ($2K, if the person is hired), and when we have an open req, people pass on names & resumes of their recommendations directly to the hiring manager. The hiring manager will usually forward the info they get to the HR department, just to ensure that it's retained in the database, but will still initiate contact, themselves. HR may get the job posted on the corporate website, and sent out to a few recruiters, but that's about the extent of their involvement, near as I can tell.

Yea, my current company offers referrals as well. I'm not sure if they are flooded with offers and don't feel a need, or my friend doesn't know about referrals, or cares.

I am usually a modest individual but I think I would really fit their needs. It’s just annoying that some guy that last week was saying “Do you want fries with that” is hindering their and my progress.

Good advice. My current company sent me to get certified. The more I learn the more I don’t like this company. Glad I didn’t get the job.