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[PistolBob]

I had good experiences with Pinnacle Partners. I told them I needed a position, preferably permanent, they got me a contract to hire job and paid me the hourly contractor rate I wanted ($50). First deal we did landed me a contract that turned permanent in 90 days. Perm job pays less but includes bennies. I have no complaints with Pinnacle Partners.

 

[KLB]

Bummer. Around here the ones we deal with drop by and take us out to lunch every now and then, just keeping that professional contact.

 

[Jordan_J]

What exactly do you think these firms do that is bad?

Well, I had applied for a networking admin job I hoped to get and they called me to speak and discuss my resume and get more information. They called me back later with a "new position" doing help desk and I told him I wasn't going to do support anymore (I was currently in a support role). Eventually I got asked to come in to discuss some jobs, none of them were the original networking job but he also wouldn't tell me exactly what the jobs were. I ended up getting a job offer for a sys admin/database admin type role and they kept calling me every few months. I would tell them to stop calling me because I am happy where I am but they'd always end the call with "okay, I'll call you back in a few months to check up on you". They just remind me of used car salesman not wanting to listen and being obnoxious. This may not be the case for everyone but they turned me off to even wanting to talk to them anymore.

 

[Expat]

I got a call from a headhunter once that didn't go well at all. He wanted me to come to interview with some dude from some company. Wouldn't say who. I asked him what the salary would be. He came unglued and started telling me how thrilled I should be just for the opportunity of being in the same room with such a great man. He said I needed an "attitude adjustment"... needless to say, I told him I would not be interested in this interview or any future calls from him.

 

[KLB]

Well, I had applied for a networking admin job I hoped to get and they called me to speak and discuss my resume and get more information. They called me back later with a "new position" doing help desk and I told him I wasn't going to do support anymore (I was currently in a support role). Eventually I got asked to come in to discuss some jobs, none of them were the original networking job but he also wouldn't tell me exactly what the jobs were. I ended up getting a job offer for a sys admin/database admin type role and they kept calling me every few months. I would tell them to stop calling me because I am happy where I am but they'd always end the call with "okay, I'll call you back in a few months to check up on you". They just remind me of used car salesman not wanting to listen and being obnoxious. This may not be the case for everyone but they turned me off to even wanting to talk to them anymore.

Interesting. They probably felt you were not a good fit for the original job. The corporate client wants the recruiter to weed out resume's and only forward those with that meet certain criteria. If that were true they probably should have told you.

I've not known anyone before that was upset that a recruiter would contact them every few months to see how they were liking their job. Things can chance and what is a happy situation today can be an unhappy one tomorrow.

Of course most of my recent experience with them has been from the hiring side of things. Job openings posted on those websites mentioned can get you all kinds of resume's, most of which are worthless. When you are looking for experienced people with certain skill sets, recruiters are a great help. With the last opening we filled we got more good resume's in two days from recruiters than we had received in two months before.

 

[KLB]

I got a call from a headhunter once that didn't go well at all. He wanted me to come to interview with some dude from some company. Wouldn't say who. I asked him what the salary would be. He came unglued and started telling me how thrilled I should be just for the opportunity of being in the same room with such a great man. He said I needed an "attitude adjustment"... needless to say, I told him I would not be interested in this interview or any future calls from him.

Wow. That guy needed to find a new career.

 

[jamil]

I guess I'm talking more the recruiters that have their on recruiting firm. Most big companies I have seen have internal recruiters and they're fine but the ones that work at like Pinnacle Partners, Robert Half and other "staffing" agencies are the ones to watch out for. I guess I should have called them something else but they're essentially recruiters.

I used to do contract engineering. Headhunters were a big part of getting gigs. They get paid for finding workers for companies, either temporary or permanent. It's pretty rare that perspective employees will pay the fee. It's usually an employer who is looking for specific skills. So. Rule of thumb. When a service is free, usually YOU'RE the product. It is their real customer that they're trying to please. As long as you understand that and you're willing to be the product in exchange for a mutually beneficial service, caveats notwithstanding, it's got value.

Some overzealous recruiters will try to fill a need with whoever they can find even if it's not a great match, because they want to get paid too. But that doesn't make headhunters not useful. Recruiting firms are a tool for both employers and employees. Some are better than others, and some individual recruiters are better than others. It doesn't hurt to cultivate a professional relationship with recruiters you've had good experience with. Linked in is an okay place to do that.

Point is, don't write off an entire platform for helping you find employment just because you had a bad experience with a few. You kinda learn which fir

I have a hard time really trusting any "staffing agency," I'd prefer to deal directly with a company.

As I said, it's not without issues, but I wouldn't count it out either. You are in charge of that situation. Head hunters need products to sell--YOU. That puts you in the driver's seat in that relationship. You get to take it or leave it. A lot of people get hired that way. When I was doing contract engineering, 100% of my gigs came from recruiters I had cultivated a working relationship with. When I wanted a permanent gig, guess who got me that?

 

[jamil]

I got a call from a headhunter once that didn't go well at all. He wanted me to come to interview with some dude from some company. Wouldn't say who. I asked him what the salary would be. He came unglued and started telling me how thrilled I should be just for the opportunity of being in the same room with such a great man. He said I needed an "attitude adjustment"... needless to say, I told him I would not be interested in this interview or any future calls from him.

Wow. That guy needed to find a new career.

This is an example of how in control of the situation the "product" is. You can tell them to take a hike.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

I'm not why I'm being shy. I have posted my ham lic number which gives way more info than my name.

If any of ya'll wanna add me on LinkedIn I'm

Jesse Zellar

 

[wtburnette]

I'm not why I'm being shy. I have posted my ham lic number which gives way more info than my name.

If any of ya'll wanna add me on LinkedIn I'm

Jesse Zellar

Sysadmin at IPRS?

 

[fullmetaljesus]

That's me

 

[Haven]

I worked with Smart-It as a recruiter/employer for 3 years. It wasn't bad. My only complaint was the lack of paid time off while working for them, and lack of any type of training unless the client or I was going to pay for it. Other than that I was paid well, I had benefits available to me, I had a 401K with employer match, and they gave me a monthly stipend for parking. Now what they gave me originally was $5 more per month than what I was paying, but the garage I was in closed and the new place I found was $30 higher per month than what I was getting. The only reason I left them was to move to more of what I really wanted to do (Network/Security), and more time off.

I had a number of places looking for me when I was looking (Pinnacle Partners, YohTech, Smart-IT, Brooksource, etc). I still hear from some of them, but it is like once a year, maybe twice a year.

 

[wtburnette]

That's me

Cool, thanks for verifying.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

Creepin on my page but no connection invite....I see how you are ;-)

 

[Hop]

I haven't been on my LinkedIn page forever. I thought I sent an invite.

 

[wtburnette]

Creepin on my page but no connection invite....I see how you are ;-)

Ha, sorry, you just got an invitation from William Burnette (Tom).

 

[fullmetaljesus]

No worries lol

Accepted

 

[wtburnette]

No worries lol

Accepted

I don't get on LinkedIn that often, so I'm glad this forced me to do so. Found some glaring mistakes with what I'd listed there, so I did some much needed cleanup.

 

[Hop]

Ah, figured it out. Send me an invite if you want; John H o p k i n s.

 

[historian]

Bump for relevance. I graduated with a degree in CICS (bsu.edu/cics) and am looking. I'm working on getting my A+ (probably take the tests in May. Took the 801 about 5 years ago (never did 802). Need to add certs now. I'm going to get my A+, Network+, and Security+. Then maybe move on to CCENT and CCNA. I'm about 3/4 of the way to CCENT, but I learned IPv4, not IPv6, so that puts me behind the 8 ball.