Unreferenced references, age, recruitersI will start to say that I have never had a challenge to get a new job in my field. But the last time I was looking and this time especially has been frustrating. To say the least I am extreemly qualified in my field and have been awarded accolades from customers and the companies that I worked at different times. I also have 5 good references. I was let go from my last employer ten months ago. I have been searching using EVERY networking possiblity including recruiters and all job internet boards. With the interviews that I have been on, I have been told that I did very well. Just so that you know, I have been on MANY interviews. But something seemed to break down after the interviews. Finally I received some feed back from two different HR people. It seems that personal phone calls were made by other employees of the company that I was interviewing with to "friends" that worked with me when I was with my former employer(s). I cannot say what was truely discussed in those conversations but with whomever they contacted, the conversation was not all that good. Now just so that you know, one HR person had an employee contact ONE person from some former employer. The other HR person had three people make a phone call each. Both situations I was denied that chance to go further in the process. These were not former supervisors (some of my supervisors were on my reference list), but were just cooworkers in my former employment. The other side to this sitiuation is that I am not a spring young guy anymore being a person that is over 50. It seems that both of these are hindering me in getting to the final discussion of job offer. I have been up to the point of being the "bridesmaid" too many times. One HR person in the interview asked about how I saw myself in five years but added the thought of retirement during that time. With many of the interviews, all of the discussions with the actual people I would be possibly working for seem to be very good with a lot of positive thoughts both ways. So yes I am frustrated. I would agre with the posts about recruiters that most of them are completely usless unless you fit into thier exact square peg. But then if you were that good of a fit, you really would not have needed them anyway. During this process I have worked with MANY staffing agencies or head hunters. I do have some very pointed opinions about them. The unfortunate thing is that they are an evil that you as a job hunter have to deal with. It is a most unfortunate thing that 99% of the recruiters / staffing agencies work for the hiring company and themselves but not for the people looking for a job. So there it is. Any GOOD thoughts are appreciated It is common for these "unofficial" references to occur, especially in small compact industries. I'm in a field with probably only 1000 people nationwide that do what I do and maybe 10,000 that do something related. We always check around and say "hey, I've got an application here from Bob. He used to work at Acme. Do you remember him from there?" That's the backside of "networking". So, my first question is, why were you "let go"? If it was a re-org, that's one thing but if you were fired for a real or imagined issue, you need to address that in order to head off the negativity of these casual references. If you can give us the Reader's Digest version, we can help you frame it in the best light (assuming there is one).
Tess TMSMALLEY; Yes I was let go due to conditions (lack of sales of the company) beyond my control. But yes the company line was it did not work out. This was just under a year working for them. The unfortunate thing is that the company previous that I worked at for over five years I was let go due to Management restructuring. A 40% drop in company sales was one of the main factors. Yes both of those would be not the best things to have on the list of former places of employment. Opinion? TMSMALLEY; Just thought, did you want more indepth information? rustyjones | |
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