Anyone job-seeking for a sysadmin position?

[Tyler Aviss]

Strange, my experiences with recruiters have been rather muddy. Mind
you, initially I was applying from BC (and a few recruiters would just
drop me like a hot rock even if I was qualified), but I ran into many
who had very little understanding of the position or requirements.
I've actually had to explain to recruiters why I *wasn't* qualified
for a given job that they were pushing me for... and things such as
explaining why my understanding of JavaScript wasn't going to much
help me in a Java job.

I've also had most recruiters say to *never* ask about compensation
(pay, holidays, bonuses) etc during the initial interview... but it
seems to me that since those topics are pretty much a deal-breaker for
most people, not mentioning them could just end up wasting both my and
the interviewer's time.


That being said, I've run into a few knowlegable recruiting companies
every so often too. I usually try to let them know how much I
appreciate talking to somebody who understands the position they're
hiring for, and mention that to the employer as well if I happen to
interview with them. There must be an awful lot of companies wasting
good money on bad recruiters around there though, IMHO.


As for the question of salary. I'd definitely agree that candidates
should not lowball themselves. I know a *lot* of people who get less
pay than they are worth (and are very unhappy about it), not because
the company couldn't afford to pay them more, but simply because they
weren't willing to "sell" themselves to the employer and ask for what
they were worth.



On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 12:26 PM, Robert Brockway
<robert-5LEc/6Zm6xCUd8a0hrldnti2O/JbrIOy at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Jul 2008, Neil Watson wrote:
>
>> This really frustrates me.  You spend time preparing and going to
>> interviews only to find out afterward, sometimes after more than one
>> interview, that they are not willing to pay what you would like.  Why
>
> I know some people are down on recruiters but I have always been very happy
> when I use recruiters.  One advantage is that they typically have a good
> idea of the salary range and will filter out jobs that don't meet my
> expectations.  If a recruiter sends me to an interview then the employer and
> I are already in the same ballpark when it comes to salary.
>
>> waste everyone's time wasted in the first place?  I am almost certain
>> that employers often do not advertise or tell you what they are willing
>> to pay in hopes that you will low ball yourself thus saving them money.
>
> I agree it happens but I've known a lot of employers to be smarter than
> that.  It is quite a short-sighted position as a low-balled employee will be
> very unhappy as soon as they realise what has happened and will typically
> correct the situation by leaving for another position[1]. Losing staff costs
> the employer money.  So in my experience most employers will not do this if
> they are actually keen on retaining the employee.
>
> [1] It's much easier for the person to negotiate a reasonable salary with a
> new employer than it is to negotiate with a current employer for a massive
> jump in salary.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Rob
>
> --
> "With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine..."
>        -- RFC 1925 "The Twelve Networking Truths"
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-- 
Tyler Aviss
Systems Support
LPIC/LPIC-2
(647) 302-0942
--
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