Larry MinerFounder and Sr. Project Management of Decision Memory Systems| Decision Memory SystemsBath, Oh, United States
Over the last month I've found that Staffing firms are becoming more misleading at the expense of PM contractors. From first hand experience I responded to open positions on DICE and then the recruiter for the staffing firms calls, interviews me, and then says we don't have any open positions right now. Why did you have specific positions on DICE then? This has happened multiple times. Staffing firms have to stop fishing for PMs you can't place in this environment, to simply fill their quotas. I mean unless you want to pay for our time! One local firm admitted they already had 35 PMs they were trying to place. Don't waste our time! Saving Changes...
There's some shady stuff that goes on with some recruiters - particularly at the contract level. Some like to gather resumes.
One yesterday cold called ME and then told me over the phone that because I've been laid off since January he didn't think he could place me without his manager's approval. (Why did you call me then?)
In my experience, the shadiest companies/recruiters get blocked on my phone and I ignore their emails. Saving Changes...
When it is a buyers' market, many brokers working on part of the buyers are less likely to be respectful and professional.
The problem is that it has been a buyers' market for very, very long in many locations, and hence there hasn't been a disincentive for such practices.
I've tried to avoid using recruiters as much as I could in my past gigs and full time roles and focused on lining up work through warm introductions from my own network.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Alex KuczeraProject Manager| Stormtec FiltrationCanmore, Alberta, Canada
This is a great discussion. I luckily landed my current role because a recruiter reached out to me. With that experience I've been heavily promoting to others to use recruiters, but I never thought about how this could be an issue.
Thanks Larry for starting this discussion! Saving Changes...
Larry MinerFounder and Sr. Project Management of Decision Memory Systems| Decision Memory SystemsBath, Oh, United States
Susan, if you have an app that blocks shady recruiters, please forward. Ha! Kiron, it's difficult to circumvent staffing firms in Ohio. They're part of the culture and HR dept's don't seem to like to work with contractors on an individual basis. Alex, there are so many things to be cautious of when working with staffing firms and their clients. The most important advice is for the PM to drive/direct the effort and not the staffing firm. It's our career not theirs. I just finished a book on the subject, "Smart Contracting for Project Managers". If you get a chance to read, I'd love any input. Saving Changes...
