Five signs you should skip the job interview—the recruiter edition
August 25th 2011 08:00 am
If you read My own personal Jesus then you know I have been job hunting. After giving my resume a What Not to Wear style makeover, I reposted it on several websites and made it public. Suddenly, recruiters were emailing and phoning me. With the exception of one person, most of them were not that impressive. Here are five signs you should skip the job interview—the recruiter edition:
5. A recruiter calls you and denies being a recruiter. Under most circumstances, a recruiter makes money when you get the job; it’s a win-win situation. However, I swear there are some recruiters who are paid if you simply show up to the interview. Telltale signs of a recruiter include eagerness, enthusiasm, pushiness, and limited knowledge about the actual position. Oh and unlike many men, a recruiter will always return your phone calls.
4. The recruiter cannot give you a start date because the location is new. Run. As fast as you can.
3. The recruiter doesn’t know much about the company so he gives you its website address. You do research only to find that the website doesn’t exist or it doesn’t have any helpful information.
2. The recruiter cannot explain why you were matched to the job even when you say that you have no prior experience in that particular field. He just keeps insisting that the company wants “to bring you in.”
And the #1 reason you should skip the interview is when the recruiter tells you to wear business attire. If a recruiter needs to tell me how to dress for a job interview (in a corporate environment), I immediately wonder how many other people have shown up inappropriately dressed.
Though economic times are tough and jobs are scarce, remember your time is valuable. Don’t waste it going on an interview for a job that:
- May not start for months,
- May not be what you were told it was,
- May be below or beyond your skill set,
- May be boring, low paying, and/or cause you to be surrounded by poorly dressed idiots for 40+ hours a week.
Hang in there. The right or almost right job will come along. With or without a recruiter.
AWW — XoXo
This is great! So happy to hear you found a permanent position. I’m going to post this to my Tuesdays group as it is hilarious, as well as valuable!
See you Saturday…
Jennifer Oliver O'Connell on 25 Aug 2011 at 8:53 am #
In healthcare, they call unsolicited. I never called back until I was ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE at a low paying but high responsibility job. They called and I answered. Pay is good and i tell THEM when I want time off and how long, but now I wanna give my notice. It stresses me way out every Sunday. Case load expectation is IMPOSSIBLE!! Yes, they are pushy and always sound desparate. I knew better at the time…there’s a good reason they sound desparate. I already knew the name of their game. I was just so miserable at the time, it was better than the other. I’d rather be really stressed one day a wk than depressed and miserable 4 days/wk for the same pay.
Terri on 26 Aug 2011 at 4:37 pm #
@ Jennifer–Thank you! @Terri–Wow, I had no idea. Thanks for the info! XoXo
Andrea on 15 Sep 2011 at 11:21 am #