You know, I should take more time to write on here about my ridiculous job and all the ridiculous people I run into on a daily basis. Maybe I will commit more time to doing just that… but for now, I just thought I would share an email transaction that I had with a candidate last night. I generally don’t reply like I did to this particular candidate, but catch me on the wrong day and I will be more candid than others!
Take a look into the window of yet another day in the IT Recruiting world…
MY INITIAL EMAIL TO THE POTENTIAL CANDIDATE…
** PLEASE ATTACH AN UPDATED COPY OF YOUR RESUME FOR MY REVIEW **
Hey there Mike!
I came across your resume and I wanted to touch base with you to find out if you were currently on the market. If you are, I have an open opportunity that might be of interest to you. I would love the opportunity to speak with you in more detail about your background and the position.
When are you available to speak with me?
Below I have included a job description for your review. Take a look at the details and let me know what your interest level is in moving forward in their selection process.
I look forward to hearing from you and I hope you are having a great day!
SQL Architect / SSAS
DETAILS
Location: Plano, TX
Position Type: 2-month Contract
Start Date: May 23, 2011
Hourly/Conversion: BOE!!
ABOUT THE PROJECT
GTN Technical Staffing has been retained by one of our most trusted clients to help align them with a Senior SSAS Architect / Cube Design for a 2 month contract in Plano, TX. Our client is feeling a deep sense of urgency and will begin conducting technical phone screens ASAP. The project is slated to start by May 23, 2011. The ideal candidate would have worked on a SQL database at least 1000 GB and has hundreds of tables and up to 2 billion rows of SQL tables. Ideal cube design experience would have at least 25 cube dimensions, and thousands of lines of MDX.
- Expert level experience in cube design.
- Cube performance tuning and production support experience required.
- Must have strong experience with MDX coding / tuning.
- SQL 2008 development and production support experience.
- Strong ETL Design experience.
- SQL query coding experience.
- Solid skills with ETL production support and SQL performance tuning.
HIS RESPONSE…
My minimum hourly rate requirement is $75 per hour on W2 only, non-negotiable.
Thanks,
Mike
Mike
SIDE NOTE: It should be known that any time this is the way a person chooses to send a first email response back like this, this guy is going to be an issue from the very get-go. Now, the particular skill set that I was looking for is a bit hard to come by, so I was fully prepared to deal with a couple of dbags along the way. This guy performed as expected.
MY RESPONSE…
Would you be open to a 2-month contract?
-Angela
HIS RESPONSE…
Sure I can do a 2 month contract... but it would depend on the project definition, scope and expectations. For example, if they are trying to "shrink" a 6 month development project into 2 months... they are setting themselves up for disaster....
Which REALLY? With all the …? Could this guy be any more annoying? The answer is yes.
For example an area of concern so far is the requirement of someone that has written over 1000's of lines of MDX query lines in a cube project. I can assure you, if they are seeking to finish any number of cubes that consist of 1000's of lines of MDX code, the 2 months already sound like an under-estimation.
SSAS Cubes are becoming more and more prominent and not all clients understand their complexity.
So with that said... who is this client so that I begin my research to see if I'd like to get involved with this project. I have my own set of criteria whereby I'm able to discern the benefits of becoming involved with a client's project.
I look forward to your quick reply.
Thanks,
Mike
MY RESPONSE…
I would like to speak with you 1st before sharing the client. I'm also checking on if they can meet your required rate. If they say no, then it's a nonissue anyhow. I should know by tomorrow sometime.
-Angela
HIS RESPONSE…
Oh I'm sorry but this is one of my requirements as well when deciding on whether or not to deal with certain "recruiters". When I ask for the client name and a recruiter does not wish to share, I immediately discontinue discussions as this shows inexperience on the part of the recruiter.
Incidentally, there is nothing I can do with their name. I have absolutely no desire to attempt to contact them directly. Developers like myself simply do not have the time.
I am not interested in pursuing this.
Good luck in your search.
M
Incidentally, there is nothing I can do with their name. I have absolutely no desire to attempt to contact them directly. Developers like myself simply do not have the time.
I am not interested in pursuing this.
Good luck in your search.
M
ANNNNND Enter his need to end every email with some form of the phrase GOOD LUCK. Also, he’s now become so informal to no longer use the Thanks, Mike at the end of his email. We’ve moved to concluding it with 1 single letter – M – like we’re friends. Ohhhh buddy, we definitely aren’t friends. And there are a few things in here that were his own personal way of telling me to eff off. Putting the word recruiter in quotes? Really? Could you respect this profession and me any less? And I am sure my not just emailing him back who the client is without so much as even talking with him via phone, is a clear indication that I am inexperienced, right? This guy has successfully worked my nerve.
MY RESPONSE…
Well when I'm dealing with "professionals" I expect respect. My not releasing the client name has nothing to do with a fear that you'll present yourself to the client directly. I have done nothing but share an email transaction with you and that's not good enough to release anything to you. It's like taking a girl on a date and expecting something in return because you paid for dinner. Your response to my request to speak via phone first, is not acceptable in any instance.
-Angela
Now everything about this guy’s reaction to me not behaving in a way he believed fit, said he wasn’t going to respond to this email. Well color me surprised when he DID in fact reply. It was clearly well-thought out, and even included a roadmap to my success.
HIS RESPONSE…
Angela,
You'll have better success when you understand that we Business Intelligence Professionals are the ones that drive the show. We are the ones that the client's are seeking, we are the ones that have the skill sets and talents that they need in order to make their business operation run. I receive no less than 20 recruiters contacting me on a daily basis via email and telephone. Depending on the time of year that number can be higher. That is per day. I get calls and emails all day and cannot stop and speak to each and every recruiting company that has what they believe to be a "great lead".
Trust me when I say, I have many high-quality, top-notch, professional recruiting companies at my disposal. I'm not at a loss for prospective projects / positions. Actually, I have more success on my own finding projects by simply doing a quick search on dice.com or monster.com. It’s not rocket science what recruiters do.
And so, with that said... please remove my contact information from your files as I do not wish any further contact from your "recruiting" company.
Good luck!
Thanks,
Mike
Mike
Ok… first, there’s the GOOD LUCK again. This was the last time I was letting that nonsense slid without a retort. But all that aside, this happens to be my personal favorite response. He’s going to open up this email to me with an insight as to how I can be more successful? Nice form on the attempted slight against my success. As for the rest 1st paragraph, it’s clearly his personal mantra that he recites nightly in the mirror to remind himself just how special he really is. This guy likes to stroke something and since his ego is well defined, I’ll leave the WHAT is stroked to the imagination.
Now it should be said, there was a great deal of things that could be said back to this guy. But any snap reaction would have been exactly what he was looking for. Meaning if I took it to a personal level and tried to prove how successful I really am or berate him for belittling my industry, that would have been like saying the equivalent of – yeah, well you stink. That just wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I found myself calling him a hypocrite right out of the gate and doing so by using his own words.
MY RESPONSE…
The complete hypocritical nature of your response, is humorous. First you say you are the one who runs the show because you have all the skill sets while inferring the uselessness of recruiters and then in the next few sentences, you suggest that you have and need recruiters to help you find jobs. And I wanted to thank you for your advice as to how I can be more successful in my business. It’s about as relevant to me as my opinion of how you could be a better BI Professional would be to you. But thanks again for taking the time to write me back with all of your insights. I certainly needed the chuckle.
I wouldn’t worry yourself over anyone from our company contacting you in the future. Your response 2 emails ago resulted in my marking you as unprofessional in our system.
Good luck stepping around your inflated ego when you’re out there interviewing.
-Angela
It should also be said that I LOVE working for a company who doesn’t care when I reply to dbags like this! And while I am on funny email transactions, I just remembered another from not that long ago!
Ok, so the back story on this guy is that I had a scheduled call with him and I got locked up in some work that was more mission critical, so I emailed him asking if I could reschedule the call for the next day at the same time ANNNNND enter humor.
MY INITIAL EMAIL TO RESCHEDULE THE CALL…
Hey Farshid! Can we reschedule for tomorrow same time?
-Angela
And I am not changing any grammar, sentence structure and/or punctuation here. This is REALLY what I got back.
HIS RESPONSE…
no we can not !!!
if you don't respect your appointment, that means you are not
professional, and i don't want waist my time.
Thanks
Farshid
MY RESPONSE…
Ok Farshid, not a problem.
Side note – it’s spelled waste, not waist.
-Angela
HIS RESPONSE…
I'm french, English is not my language, could you speck french ????!!!!
and I'm a Professional IT engineer, how about you???!!!
Anyway continue as you work!!! I'll send a email to your supervisor!!!
Which, LOL. Go ahead buddy – knock yourself out!
MY RESPONSE…
I’m not all that worried about you emailing my supervisor. You’re response and attitude is the opposite of professional.
-Angela
So about 2 seconds after I sent that email back to him, he did the most HI-larious thing. He didn’t know who my supervisor was, so instead he sent a blanket email to OUR ENTIRE office through one of the job boards (which every person in the office is copied on) and he sent the following email…
Hi there,
I need to talk with a manage or supervisor,
because he (or she) should know with which kind of people works !!!
I don't give up till i have a good response.
Thanks.
Farshid
Know what we did? Oh and this is just brilliant really – we blocked his email at our sever, preventing any emails to come into our inboxes from that email address. Now THAT, that made me laugh. Mostly because he said he wouldn’t give up until he had a good response. Knock yourself out buddy! Knock yourself out. Good times. Sometimes I imagine him still trying to get in touch with my supervisor so he can tell them about which kind of people works. LMAO.
