[ale] Linux Administrator opportunity

[Michael B. Trausch]

On Tue, Sep 09, 2008 at 12:06:20PM -0400, Stephen Benjamin wrote:
> Indeed, I find the same issues job hunting.  Staffing agencies can be
> frustrating but you just got to play the game. Unfortunately, many don't
> have the experience or knowledge to identify good hires: they'll see someone
> with a B.S. and Linux+ cert and prefer them over someone who's been working
> with linux for many many years without a degree (e.g. me!).
> 
> But you put your feelers out there for the jobs that you're best qualified
> for, and hope some bite.

This is precisely why I don't take the bait that headhunters lay out.
Often, they'll claim that they are qualified to make a decision, but
will get totally confused when they give you these stupid
questionnaires.  On more than one occasion, I've been selected as a
potential person for the job, and then they ask these dumb questions, I
provide answers, and they're like "Well, that's not what's here..."
because the answers they have on their little keys are one sentence or
less, when the correct answer is more than that.

If they _were_ able to figure it out on their own, and could hold up a
technical conversation on the topic of the job, then I'd be much more
inclined to give them a second thought.

To be fair, the blame does not rest *fully* on staffing agencies:
Companies are vague in giving job descriptions to the agencies to
fulfill.  So, they can't answer your questions, and they won't give you
a contact to a person that *can* answer your questions (and often won't
even give you the name of the place until you agree to interview, which
is a no-no for me; I won't even think about working for a place that I
am not allowed to know about, because that is information that is
pertinent to my decision!), and they usually won't go out of their way
to find out for you---they'll just move on to the next person that is
more willing to work with far less information.

   --- Mike

-- 
My sigfile ran away and is on hiatus.
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