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I had a phone message the other day from a headhunter. It said "I saw your resume on Bostonworks and I may have some jobs I'd like to talk to you about."
Well, this seems encouraging, I thought. So I called them back, an outfit called Complete Staffing with an office in Framingham. When I got through to the guy who called, he asked what kind of job I was looking for (I told him what it said on my resume - Systems Analyst, Project Leader). He wondered if I would send him a copy of my resume. It sounded like an odd request.
"Didn't you say you got the info off the job board?" I asked. He hemmed and hawed a bit about the amount of data he actually had. Finally I asked him what jobs he had that prompted his call. More hemming and hawing. I concluded that he actually had no jobs, and was simply trolling for candidates. I figured out that he was probably a rookie, just starting out. They try the new guys by fire, making them call from old lists trying to find a live one.

It reminded me of my first job after graduating college in 1968 . I was getting married and needed a job. But there were not many options for English majors at the time. So, I took a job with Shamrock Personnel as a recruiter. it was a 100% commission job. They told me guys were earning up to $14k per year. As a rookie, they gave you crap for leads and you had to be on the phone all the time. The days were sometimes 12 hours long. I lasted less than a month on that odious job. I never placed anyone. Made no money and learned a lot about how sleazy some people in the recruiting industry were. Luckily I soon got a job at my alma mater as an Assistant to the Registrar, making $7,800 more than I did as a rookie recruiter.

Remembering those unpleasant days, I felt compassion for the rookie who had called me with no jobs. Hell he was probably a former IT guy himself, whose job went to India. In desparation, he found himself dialing numbers, using an old list, trying to fool old farts like me that he had jobs for us.
So, what the heck, instead of blowing him off completely, I gave him the gift of my resume. Let's see what he can do with it.

Blair

I don't usually get too political on this blog, but I couldn't help noticing that on CSPAN coverage of the Brits parliment yesterday, Tony Blair was cleared of all wrongdoing in the attack on Iraq. The right Honorable Prime Minister stands up to debate his opponents on every issue, and displays a phenominal ability to think on his feet. None of the leading Presidential hopefuls (including the incumbent) can stand next to Tony Blair without seeming to be an idiot.

Is there any way we could get him to be our president?

The Hellhole has been offline for a few days to honor the passing of my mother-in-law, Ruth E. Loveman, last Sunday. She was 86 and she had a very good life. She was blessed with beauty and grace. She will be missed by many who knew and loved her.

I have two weeks left on my unemployment benefit. After February 7, I will officially enter the status of "desparate". This does not mean I will panic and take any shit job. It simply denotes that I will relax the tight perameters that have characterized my jop search to date.

Let's hope I don't end up bagging groceries at the supermarket.

Reality is for the birds

I am embarrassed to admit that I got sucked into watching the new reality show called "The Apprentice," which has a bunch of young wannabees competing with each other to become a Donald Trump's flunky. I guess they started with 13 wannas and Trump ends each show firing one of them. I guess this is like the survivor series, where people start off working on teams, and then cut each other's throats when the going gets tough.

I hate this show, because iot shows what weasals normal, smart, competitive people will willing to be to get the top spot. None of them will tell Trump to shove-it, even though he treats them all like shit.

I would not last 15 minutes in such competition.

Cold Enough for Ya?

The thermometer outside reads dead zero. It feels colder when you are looking for a job. The jobless-chill factor is like an icy, ill wind, leaving you with frosbitten hopes and numbed plans. The economic recovery seems to be progressing at glacial speed.

I had another flash of interest last week, lending hope for a warmer 2004. It was a 6 month contract job, doing a project for a successful high tech company. I was interested. The recruiting outfit asked my rate. I didn't want to be greedy especially in these competitive times - where there are many hyena fighting for the same kill - so I set my min rate at $50/hr (that's a lot cheaper than I would have expected to get in 2000 - but let's be realistic: things have changed.)
The recruiter got back to me. The max they could get from the client was $25/hr. Of course I know that the agency mark-up is 20-30%, so the real going rate for that job was more like $34/hr.

Well, I'm not that desparate. I told the recruiter to call me back in March. Then I will be desparate. I recall the last recession/layoff cycle in 1991. I ended up selling refrigeraters and microwave ovens at the now defunct Highland Superstores. Judy says I lost 20 lbs working that job. 12 hour days on your feet wil do that. Maybe I should publish my weight loss secret: "The Retail Sales Diet - How to keep from eating by working 50 hours a week at minimum wage plus lousy commissions, dealing with the worst people on the planet" The only good thing about selling refrigerators is, you don't have to worry about shoplifters.
But the news was not all bad. I kept looking for my destiny and just after the new year in 1992, I got a good job and worked steadily through several other economic ripples right up until last May. (And I found those lost twenty pounds.) It could happen again.

Cripes, it's cold out there!

Weekly Rituals

I wanted to complain about how slow the DET website was this morning. Every Sunday morning, I log-in and answer the questions properly. Yes, I looked for work. Yes, I was available for work. No, I did not work. It takes about 10 minutes, and they send you a check for $507 on Monday. The check usually arrives on Tuesday or Wednesday.

So, I can't really get too worked-up just because the pixels aren't movong fast enough. This new system is a far cry from the last time I was on unemployment, in 1991. In those days, you had to schlep down to the office every two weeks to get your measly check in person. Everything about unemployment seemed to be designed to make you stand in lines with all those other losers. I guess the philosophy was to shame anyone with a shred of dignity to make them go out and get a job - any job.

It worked on me. After several months of unsuccessful job hunting, I finally took a job at a Cambridge software company. It was a big pay cut. But I was happy to be working again, but the feeling was short-lived. Within six months my new company Index Technologies was merged/bought out and, without warning, the new company - Intersolv laid me and two thirds of the others off. Someone I did not know called me into a meeting whereupon I was informed that I would get two months severance, plus outplacement counseling.

The Bozos in charge had everything figured out, except that they weren't aware of the The Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification act of 1988. (Thank you Ted Kennedy.) This piece of legislation - AKA the "plant closing law" - says that employers who terminate more than one third of the workers at a given location are compelled to give said workers 60 days notice or compensation in lieu of notice on top of earned severance benefit. Thus, I ended up with four months severance after working only six months at the company! (I was also eligible for Unemployment again).

Luckily, I did not have to suffer the indignity of standing in line again. Out of the blue, I got a 6-week contract job as a systems analyst at a corporate division of a global High Tech firm that needed to integrate the customer databases of two smaller companies that had recently been acquired. That gig lasted fifteen months.

With 1 week left on my PO I found an employee situation at another big High Tech company. That job lasted 5 years. Luck happens when you keep your eyes open.