Thursday, February 19, 2009

Interviewing for Non-Jobs

I've had two firsts this week. I've had two stellar, knock-the-ball-out-of-the-park job interviews, wowing even myself and impressing recruiters (I think) with my general erudition, articulateness, technical savvy, and overall suave and debonair approach to life, not to mention my humility, only to be informed, at the end of my virtuoso performances, that the companies actually have no job openings.

Excuse my non-suavity: why the hell would you do this? Why would you interview someone when you don't have any jobs for which you might want to hire them? Well, I asked that question, in slightly more polite form. And here's what I was told: We want to have a corral full of qualified candidates once the job market opens up.

So I've been part of the general cattle call. Moo. There's nothin' out there, folks. Nobody's hiring. And when I say nothin', I'm not exaggerating. I guess technical recruiters need to keep busy, too.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't you just love head-hunters? The last one who contacted me out of the blue told me about "more than one person recommending me for the position," which I am sure actually was open. Since I have the luxury of being employed, and the misfortune of being older, I asked who these recommenders might be.

Haven't heard from that recruiter since.

My advice, for what it's worth: take any temporary gig you can to keep the cash flowing while following up on every lead you see, even if its just head-hunters trolling (the more corrals you're in, the more likely it is that your head-hunter will get the call), and be willing to take a job further from home than would normally be acceptable until this sucker turns around. You may remember when our brother-in-law Jim was living in Mentor and working in Grand Rapids. This sucker will turn around, but when is the unknown.

Like many others, you're in our prayers.

Anonymous said...

I'm right there with you, buddy. At least I'll soon have more time to keep up with your blog. And I'll have more time to post on my new blog.

mg said...

that really sucks. we're still praying.

St. Izzy said...

Sounds to me like it was just Recruiters trying to justify keeping their jobs. They have nothing to recruit for, so they shouldn't have jobs themselves.

Gotta do something to keep the skills sharp.

Pilgrim said...

That's tough.

Pilgrim said...

You might scan Craig's List. It's a mixed bag.