Mariannes Motifs

Terrible Experience with a Recruiter

I just had the most terrible experience with a recruiter.  When she first called me last Friday the job seemed like a perfect fit, and I a perfect fit for the job.  However when I arrived at the interview at the recruiter's office I was ambushed with a good cop bad cop routine that left me feeling like a pork chop on a grill.

Then informed me that the client would not accept "I don't know or I don't remember" as an answer to questions about how many sites I supported for a job I had 12 years ago.  They were very concerned about the difference between supporting 850 vs. 2000 users.  I suggested in the meeting that I re-do my resume and they said no that would not be necessary.  Then they called me 10 minutes after I left their office to ask me if they could make a change to my resume.  Then they called me 5 minutes after that to ask me to re-do my resume.

I really felt like they made no effort to sell the job to me, and that they treated me like I was inferior merchandise that they wanted to try to pass off as something else.  It was very disturbing.

So I called them today and spoke with the recruiter to let her know how I felt.  I stated that I was concerned that if their customer is really like they described it did not seem like a good working environment.  Instead of trying to describe what the working environment was really like she just kept repeating that they wanted to prepare me for the interview and that was why they were so tough.

I asked that the second recruiter (bad cop) would send me an email or call me letting me know if the working environment was friendly there, and if he thought it was worth it for me to pursue speaking with the customer.  She would not agree to have the other recruiter call me so we left it with the mutual agreement that we would not work together.

This is of course very upsetting for me.  I do not think it is too much to ask to be treated with respect and cordiality by a recruiter.  I did not feel respected or valued by their interview process.  

The economy must be bad indeed if recruiters feel no need to "court" their technical recruits anymore.

Finding my Inner Peace

I and 533,000 other people lost their jobs in November 2008.  Today was a hard day for me.  I still have a cold, I had a headache, and I really just felt like sleeping all day long.  My resume still needs about 10% more work before it is done and I am feeling the pressure to get it done and done well.   It's officially one week since I was laid off.

But lets look at what I have accomplished:

1.  Updated my linkedin profile and reached out to everyone in my network.  Received two positive recommendations on linkedin.

2.  My resume is 90% done.

3.  I have one job lead I am following up on.

4.  I have two great new interview suits and three shells/shirts to go under them.  Also already have the perfect shoes for them both.  Both suits are already altered to fit and haging in my closet ready to go.

5.  We have started the process of switching health insurance to hubby's work.

6.  I have the date and process in line for when I can sign up for unemployment if I still am out of work at that time. (God I hope I have a job before then!)

7.  I have signed all the paperwork for ex-employer and returned all assets.

I am trying to establish my inner peace about the situation. I am envisioning myself in a new work environment surrounded by some new office furniture.

Ommmm.....

New Suits

Melissa and I took off for some suit shopping tonight.  I bought two really nice interview suits and Nordstroms.  Both the jackets were on a great sale, and they altered the pants for free as they were full price.  The other pair of pants were petite so they fit perfectly.  The two jackets I paid for them to alter, and the tailor altered them while we went to dinner and then they were ready for me to pick up.  Fantastic service, great plus size department, and a very calm and nice shopping experience.

3 Items of Business to Consider If You are Laid Off

Like every other major life event, being laid off has associated financial and business tasks that arise.  Since its a very emotionally draining experience as well, it really pays to treat these tasks as just another piece of business in your life.  By trying to minimize the emotional connection, I think you can better focus on what needs to be done in a positive manner without going into the depression head under the pillow mode that we are all tempted to slide into.   Here is a short list of some of the items I am working through right now.

1.  Health Insurance.   COBRA is where you can pay the full cost of your current insurance at your companies rate while you are between jobs.  Being laid off or spouse laid off is a "qualifying change of status" so your spouse may be able to change their health insurance and other benefits due to the change.  For example, we are going to enroll in my husband's health insurance plan now.

IMPORTANT TIP:  Make sure not to have any lapse in coverage.  If you have no lapse in coverage your next employers health insurance plan cannot "gotcha" you with any preexisting condition nonsense.

2.  401K rollover.  My mom, the financial maven, along with my broker at Smith Barney both recommend rolling over the 401K to a rollver IRA.  You can find rollover IRAs anywhere from your local bank, to an online broker such as Charles Schwab, to a full service broker such as Smith Barney.  I recommend asking your contacts for a recommendation if you are shopping for a broker.  Mine is Jessica L Anderson at Smith Barney, and she is great.

3.  Life Insurance - if you had your life insurance through your company, you may now need to get your own term life insurance.  You can gather various life quotes for insurance if you have people depending upon you for their support.

Jobsearch Friday Update

I went to the unemployment office yesterday and found out that I am not eligible for any benefits until after the time for the severance package is over.  Oh well.  I sure hope I have a new job by February 11th.

My ex-boss was so nice and faxed me a copy of my resume from when I started work there.  Of course it is 10 years old so I have my work cut out for me to write a new one but I needed it for the dates of my previous jobs.

Last night I made use of LinkedIn.com to reach out to people I know in the industry.  I have already received a few responses.  What a great tool for the jobseeker and for networking.

I also checked out Monster.com and found 3 jobs that looked really good and that I am quite qualified for.  So today is going to be blocked out for writing my resume so that I can submit it for these three jobs. 

Wish me luck!