I'm going to try to be really polite about this. Not only because I'm committed to being a more positive person in general, but because there may come a day when I make the decision to try to find real work again, and I don't want to make any recruiters mad at me.
BUT.
If you don't understand the difference between an AS400 admin, a UNIX Admin, and a web designer...why are you working in IT recruitment?
I'm certain there are jobs out there that I am more than properly qualified for. I have a nice list of skills on my resume - ASP/VBScript, some SQL Server, graphic design, Windows administration, mid-level networking (meaning I can configure simple networks but you probably don't want me working on security at the Pentagon). I've done some Flash work, TONS of Photoshop stuff. Dreamweaver like crazy. Fireworks, Soundforge, Premiere. I can handle Windows user administration in most settings, but not all, and I don't apply for "administrator" jobs although I will apply for jobs that are obviously small networks and include network administration less than domain controller level. I can set up and configure an Exchange server, but can envision lots of circumstances that I'd be stuck hard if there was a problem.
My resume says I'm a web and graphic designer with project and departmental management experience, which is completely true, fair, and accurate.
So why do I constantly get calls from recruiters looking for UNIX admins, SAP-Oracle-Sybase admins, AS400 operators, mainframe operators, C# programmers, Java programmers, embedded systems developers, driver developers? Nowhere on my resume do I claim to be any of these things. The only thing I know about C# is that it's a half-tone above C.
The hell of it is, I just KNOW that there are people no more qualified than I am who are accepting these solicitations, going on the interviews, and even taking the jobs, knowing that they can't perform, because it means they'll get a paycheck or two.
Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but that's just criminally unethical in my book.
SO, recruiters and employers, here is how we can work together to ensure a happier experience for all:
- If you don't know that Java and Javascript are not the same thing, you probably shouldn't be an IT recruiter.
- If you don't know that ASP.Net/VB and ASP.Net/C# are not the same thing, you probably shouldn't be an IT recruiter.
- If you don't know that Windows administration and Unix administration are two completely different things, you probably shouldn't be an IT recruiter.
- If you don't know that "web designer" and "AS400 operator" are pretty different skillsets, you probably shouldn't be an IT recruiter.
- If you don't know that ASP and PHP are different things, that SQL Server and MySQL are different things, that JSP and ASP are different things...you probably shouldn't be an IT recruiter.
I appreciate the consideration, I really do...but I spend a lot of time and energy on my resume, making sure that I don't hold myself out to be something I'm not, so that you don't waste your time, your client's time, or my time in offering me positions that I'm not qualified to fill. If you need quality web design, content management, dynamic websites, graphic design, marketing expertise, people management, project management, hardware installation...all those things and more I'm very good at.
But I'm not an AS400 admin. I'm not a UNIX admin. I'm not a PHP scripter. I'm not a MySQL developer. I'm not a telephone system installer. I don't run cable. I don't wire jacks. I don't program mainframes. I don't know COBOL or FORTRAN or LISP or LISA or C or C++ or C# or C-flat.
I'm very good at what I do, the half-finished state of this site notwithstanding. But what I don't do, I don't do. While I'd certainly be open to an entry-level position in any of these disciplines, it would be absolutely unethical of me to pretend that I'm qualified for a job involving any of those things.
I often fall back to medical analogies when I'm discussing these sorts of things. Consider: If my resume says I'm a neurologist with 20 years' experience, would you call me to fill a position for an oncologist? If I said I was a heart surgeon, would you ask me to take a job as a brain surgeon? Of course not. The sorts of situations I continually find myself in with recruiters are precisely analogous. I'm a really decent "heart surgeon," and a competent "neurologist," but I don't know anything about being an "osteopath" or an "oncologist," so you're not going to offer me a job in those disciplines, right?
So please...don't tempt me. I need the money, for sure, but not bad enough to lie for it or take a job I know I can't do...and then I'm left in the no-win position of having to either tell you "no," which gets me a black mark in your little books, or take a job I can't perform, which gets me a black mark in your little books AFTER I've scammed a week or two worth of pay out of you.
Understand your markets and the positions you're trying to fill, and we'll all be much happier.
Thanks.