RE: Best and Worst Agency Stories

["Nealon, Jessica" <Jessica -dot- Nealon -at- McKesson -dot- com>]

I agree with Magie on this one:  all you can do is go with your gut.  Don't
be afraid to ask in-depth questions.  A LOT of recruiters get almost no
information on the position from their clients.  Very few understand tech
writing, so very few even know what to ask, even if they have the courage to
do so.  What they do is match dot to dot with the emailed or faxed specs
from HR.  Those dots (in IT) are technical tools.  

Ask specific questions anyway.  Not to get answers, but to assess the person
you're dealing with.  It's the person, not the agency that matters.  There
are great agencies with lousy recruiters and lousy recruiters with great
agencies.  Their reaction to your questions will tell you who you're dealing
with.  A lousy recruiter 1) knows next to nothing about the job, 2) doesn't
seem to care about #1, and 3) makes no attempt to find out.  

In addition, give specific answers that are above and beyond your audience,
the recruiter in this case.  They're tuning you out for the most part
anyway, but if you impress them with your buzzwords, corpspeak and attention
to detail, they are more likely to call the client and say, "They really
know their stuff." or "They were really sharp."  Just launch into a
soliloquy because it's more likely than not that they don't know what to ask
to you anyway.  At least, what's relevant to ask you.

Another indicator is how much they know (and even who they know) about the
histories of their clients.  Someone who knows a lot of information that is
not illegal to pass on but that they could not have obtained by reading a
spec sheet is someone on the inside.  Usually, this means who they know
about who was in what department, etc.  That means they have been around a
while--maybe even placed the hiring manager a few times--and can get your
resume through the channels faster.  

The worst is getting stuck with some kid just out of college who's trying to
make his quota of phone calls and interviews by talking to you.  Which
reminds me, try to find out if there is an actual job there.  Often,
recruiters don't even have a job to send you to, they just want to start the
relationship.  This is not necessarily a bad thing if they tell you that.
It sucks when they string you along.  

BTW, I was an IT recruiter for 4 years.  I was that kid out of college
making her numbers.  Ugh!  It's a terrible career...at least for me.  On my
worst days in tech writing, I always remember that it could be worse, I
could be wearing those headphones, calling people, putting checkmarks on
that awful white board for every resume, phone call, interview, and job
order.  I could have to see my name in red marker with a dollar amount right
next to it all over the office for "motivation"..........Agggghhhhhhh!!!!!

FREE AT LAST! 

Regards, 

Jessica Nealon
Technical Writer
Paragon Product Assurance Group - CLT
> McKesson Information Solutions, Inc
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