Burning My Bridges

[TlalocW]

It's been a year since I was laid off from my programming job in Tulsa. Since then I've gotten behind on bills, ruined my credit rating, and don't answer my phone most of the time because it's a bill collector. I realize the IT market is down, but I'm not even being given a chance half the time. Here's my latest brush-off from a placement agency in Kansas City.

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Hi James,

I just wanted to follow up with you regarding the Cold Fusion position here in Overland Park. Right now I have a couple of local candidates that have more of the skills that the client is looking for so I will not be going to represent you to them. I will keep you in mind for other opportunities that come up. Thanks again for the interest and have a great day!

Regards,

Dennis XXXXXX
Executive Recruiter
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And my reply

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Hey, Dennis,

I realize how much more difficult it is to send out three resumes instead of two so thanks anyway. After you get done doing that, go ahead and take the rest of the day off. You've earned it.

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Fuck them. If I'm not going to even be given a chance then they can go to hell.

Just felt like kvetching.

TlalocW

[demnan]

1. Feel like relocating?

I know you could get a job here in Northern Virginia. There are Cold Fusion jobs here because many of the government agencies use it, although not as many as there were a few years ago.

[TlalocW]

7. I'm working on it

I have friends and relatives in Wichita, Kansas City, and St. Louis, and I'll be sending out resumes with their addresses and phone numbers on it to fool employers into thinking I'm local. Any responses can be relayed back to me. I'm pretty much open to moving just about anywhere, but the expense is going to keep me looking nearby for right now.

I might look into Virginia. Do you have any leads (part of the in-crowd), or should I could just start looking through the government employment ads.

Thanks.

TlalocW

[Squeech]

2. It's a reasonable kvetch

But there's a flip side to the problem.

When I was looking for a job, at the tail end of the go-go '90s, a headhunter to whom I'd submitted my resume sent it around, and even set up interviews, for jobs I was in no way qualified for-- as if he got some sort of bounty for delivering live bodies.

Even that wasn't as bad as the job I applied for that called for a DBMS that I was actually familiar with. No response for six months, during which I got the job I have now. Then I got a desperate phone call from the body show who'd placed the original ad, begging me to go for an interview even though I'd actually found a job! My answer was, of course, Where the f@#% were you when I was out of work?!?!

[AndyTiedye]

3. I am Sorry. Our Profession is Being Punished...

...for committing the unpardonable sin
of making a little money
and NOT all turning into Republicans when we did.

For that, they are shipping our jobs overseas as fast as they can,
and Boosh gives them a tax break for every job they export.

Kerry has pledged to end that tax break.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. Actually IT people were approached by the AFL CIO

and felt that their profession wasn't really the "Stuff" of unions. If only....

[Senior citizen]

5. That is so tragic, it is almost funny.

You'd think IT people would be smarter than that.

The AFL-CIO had the common sense years back to actually take little trips to other countries to see where their jobs had gone and what the conditions were there. The result was global solidarity between workers who had thought they were competing with each other for jobs, but quickly realized that they were all being exploited by the same companies and had to unite in order to oppose globalized exploitation of workers.

When Pastor Neihmoller listed the groups the Nazis had rounded up before they came for him, he neglected to mention the trade unionists. If they come for the trade unionists and you aren't concerned because you're not in a union, you're a fool, because they're coming for you next.

[AndyTiedye]

6. They Never Approached Me Or AnyOne I Know

and even if we had unionized the computer industry, how much protection
would that have offered against offshoring?

How much have they been able to do about it in any other industry?
Not much, from the looks of things.

For that to happen, labor has to become part of the international
trade negotiation process.

[Xithras]

8. Here's why he didn't send your resume in:

Recruiters and headhunters are in a vastly different position today than they were a few years back. In '99-'00, programmer labor was in such high demand that their commissions were through the roof, and anybody even remotely fitting the job description could get hired.

Today there are ten programmers for every open position (seriously, we just closed a programmer position here...214 resumes for one job), and the entire concept of needing a third party to "find" you a programmer is obsolete. This has led to a commission war with the headhunters and has hugely slashed their profit margins. They barely eke out a living and justify their continued existence by showing employers only the candidates that perfectly fit their needs. They advertise that they get rid of the "clutter".

If the other two resumes were clearly a better fit than yours, the client might have wondered why the headhunter had "wasted their time" with your resume had he presented it. Since headhunters (like programmers) are now cheap and desperate, his presenting resumes that didn't fit the job could have put his continued relationship with the employer at risk.

FYI, of the seven headhunters I worked with during the boom, only two are still in business today, and one of those sent out an email a week ago stating that they would be closing their doors by the end of the year unless there was an upturn in the economy.

[TlalocW]

9. That's all well and good

BUT he said he was sending my resume in when we first talked, and then he backed out. I don't give a damn about the boom being over or recruiters weeding me out. They should do it before they make a promise to me.

TlalocW