I started my job search almost a year ago in May 2006.  The first thing I did was get a list of recruiters in my industry from a friend of mine.  He told me had pretty good success from this list.  I thought, "Great, maybe this will be my way out of this job and on to bigger and better things!".

Well, almost immediately after I started sending out resumes to these recruiters I started getting phone calls.  All of them ranted and raved about what a good candidate I was and how I was going to get a great job and make a lot of money.  I never heard back from the majority of them and the few I did hear back from just lead me on and never produced anything, not even an interview.

I had been checking this one company' s website for potential job opportunities.  It' s a very good company and it just happens to be one of the companies that a recruiter told me he was working for.  When I called him to ask what happened to the opportunity with the company he ignored my calls and when I finally did catch him he told me that I didn' t have the experience the company wanted for the position as an entry level sales rep. 

Fast forward this this year...I finally get a phone call from the company itself and not a recruiter.  They' re calling me for an initial screening for an entry level sales rep.  I' m thinking, "Great, I finally got a shot!".  I go through the initial screening with the HR rep and she tells me, "I think you are OVERLY qualified for the position.  I think I' ll have to wait for another position to come up that fits your qualifications."  I' m thinking to myself, "Well, I' ll be a monkey' s uncle!  The recruiter said that he couldn' t get me on because I was Under qualified.  Now this lady with the company is telling me that I' m Overqualified.  Somebody' s definitely LYING to me!"

This same scenario happened again with another company and it made me realize that the recruiters I' d talked to had been lying to me about trying to help me.  I never got an interview with any recruiters I' d talked to but I' ve managed to land interviews with the same companies they recruited for on my own.  I don' t get it...they had the chance to make money off me by getting me hired but now they won' t get anything if I get the job on my own.  If I get either of these jobs I feel like calling them back and thumbing my nose at them.

I guess I' m just upset at the fact that I' ve never even gotten an interview from a recruiter even after they tell me that I' m the greatest thing since sliced bread.  I' ve had at least 10-15 interviews that I' ve landed all on my own.  I guess the old saying is right..."If you want something done right, you' ve gotta do it yourself."