And so begins another day of sitting in Starbucks, applying online for jobs that I never hear anything more about after clicking "submit," and waiting for calls from random recruiters who "saw my resume on monster" that on average offer up one decent job for every five that are blatantly ridiculous.
The winner in today's ridiculous category was a call from an Indian guy whose accent was so thick I literally could not understand half of what he was saying. Thankfully he simultaneously emailed me the job description so I could see what he was calling about. It was a part time contract that involved using my own vehicle to drive "on average" 750 miles per week (with no reimbursement) to service PCs. And the outstanding rate they were willing to pay for this? $13.00 per hour.
That might cover fuel costs.
Seriously.
I could have said many things, but instead simply thanked him and said I was looking a full 40 hours a week.
This reminded me of 2003 when I got calls from recruiters who were trying to fill positions that required Bachelor's Degrees, multiple certifications, and 5 years of hands-on experience—and were paying a whopping $8 an hour. I laughed at them and told them to call back when the clients were serious.
On a more positive note, I have a meeting scheduled Friday afternoon to meet with yet another new recruiter at a well known firm I haven't worked with before. While she doesn't have anything definite to offer me at the moment she assures me they "get desktop positions all the time." Even if she doesn't have an immediate position to offer, I think it's still worthwhile to put a human face on this increasingly-frustrating process, and since I have nothing else going on at this point, what have I got to lose?
Thanks for the tip. Never even considered that, but it's done now; also applied for a couple job listings while I was there.
"And then there are the recruiters who will waste everyone's time…" Yeah, I've met share of them. I call them Resume Collectors.
One thing I would recommend trying, that I've heard has worked for someone I know much better than posting to monster or responding to job posts, is to post your resume to Craigslist. Some employers prefer resumes arrive in their inbox, hand-fed, while others prefer to go out and see what's available, then take their pick. And then there are the recruiters who will waste everyone's time in the remote chance of getting a commission.