Posting a Job Doesn’t Make You a Recruiter

A recruiter added me on LinkedIn so I guess it must be getting serious.

memegenerator.net

I just finished a contract with a Fortune 100 company. As with most enormous companies, contracts go through a recruiting firm, so unfortunately recruiters are part of my life.

Recruiters continue to amaze me. A month before my contract was due to end I contacted the recruiter who had been making at least 5% of my earnings for administering my contract (in addition to the recruitment fee). I let them know that I’d be in the market for another position and their answer to me was “Check our website for opportunities”. What’s wrong with this picture? I just finished my 5^th contract with the same company and had stellar references, so wouldn’t you think I’d be top of mind if an opportunity came up that would be a good fit for me? Or at least I'd come up in a search of their database? After all, I’m a cash cow for them. Apparently this isn’t the way it works at all.

Recruiters post jobs on a variety of external sites and on their websites. As a job seeker I have to let the recruiter know if they have a job on their website that’s a good fit for me. Clearly they don’t use relational databases or are just too lazy. They just sit back and wait for resumes to be emailed in. The relationship that they pretended they had with you ends the minute your contract ends and your cash value ends.

Last week there was a job posted on an external site for which I was a perfect fit. Of course this is no guarantee that you’ll ever get a call… The poster was a recruiter that I’ve had no previous contact with. I sent my resume; the recruiter called within five minutes and then forwarded my resume to the employer. A day later I noticed that the recruiter who had administered my last contract posted the same position. I found it interesting that they’re working the same position, have a copy of my current resume which is a perfect fit for the job, and never called me. I’m still trying to figure out if it’s laziness or stupidity. If I did my job as badly as the recruiters I’ve had contact with I’d never work.

We’re pretty sure we won’t hire you but not so sure we won’t stop wasting your time.

someecards.com

Make someone smile today.

Geri

The Trucking Industry is Out of Control

It turns out that speeding irresponsibly in a large truck, placing personal wealth ahead of the welfare of others, is one of the greatest sins in the Universe.... 
Craig Ferguson

Last weekend I drove out to Kingston to spend a weekend with friends. It was a very rainy day with poor visibility. I drove the speed limit which is 100 km/hour on the 401. Occasionally I inched up to 105 km/hour, but not more than that. As per usual there were lots of big rigs on the road. For the safety of all concerned the big rigs driving in Ontario and Quebec are required to uses electronic speed limiters that cap their speed at 105 km/hour. This applies to commercial motor vehicles that:

·         were built after December 31, 1994

·         are equipped with an electronic control module
AND

·         have a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of 11,794 kg or more

Exemptions apply only to a limited number of vehicle types, such as ambulances or fire trucks.

If these big rigs are legally mandated to have speed limiters which cap their speed at 105 km/hour, how was I getting passed like I was standing still when I was driving 105 km/hour? These potential weapons of mass destruction were driving like bats out of hell and it wasn’t just a one-off situation; I was passed by at least 6 big rigs in my 2.5 hour journey to Kingston. And to add insult to injury before they passed me they were hanging 6 inches off my bumper. If I had to slow down suddenly I would have been killed instantly.

Every driver has the right to feel safe on our highways and byways and that’s not possible with a trucking industry out of control. What good are speed limiters if no one is enforcing the law? The problem is that the speed limiters can be turned off and when law enforcement is nowhere to be seen, they speed at will, endangering all of vehicles around them. The only way to solve the problem is to have the speed limiters permanently on with no option to disengage. Only then can the rest of us be safe from these weapons of mass destruction in an industry that is clearly out of control.

The driver behind you wants to go 5 miles per hour faster.

Highway axiom

Make someone smile today.

Geri