<div dir="ltr">You just reminded me of a recruiter I talked to a few weeks ago who sent me links to online proficiency exams:<br><br>- "Administering RHEL3"<br>- "Windows NT 4.0 for the Enterprise"<br><br>
I asked him if I'd be working with either, and he responded he has many exams to chose from and he just picked two that said linux and windows.<br><br>- Steve<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2008/9/9 Michael B. Trausch <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mike@trausch.us">mike@trausch.us</a>></span><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="Ih2E3d">On Tue, Sep 09, 2008 at 12:06:20PM -0400, Stephen Benjamin wrote:<br>
> Indeed, I find the same issues job hunting. Staffing agencies can be<br>
> frustrating but you just got to play the game. Unfortunately, many don't<br>
> have the experience or knowledge to identify good hires: they'll see someone<br>
> with a B.S. and Linux+ cert and prefer them over someone who's been working<br>
> with linux for many many years without a degree (e.g. me!).<br>
><br>
> But you put your feelers out there for the jobs that you're best qualified<br>
> for, and hope some bite.<br>
<br>
</div>This is precisely why I don't take the bait that headhunters lay out.<br>
Often, they'll claim that they are qualified to make a decision, but<br>
will get totally confused when they give you these stupid<br>
questionnaires. On more than one occasion, I've been selected as a<br>
potential person for the job, and then they ask these dumb questions, I<br>
provide answers, and they're like "Well, that's not what's here..."<br>
because the answers they have on their little keys are one sentence or<br>
less, when the correct answer is more than that.<br>
<br>
If they _were_ able to figure it out on their own, and could hold up a<br>
technical conversation on the topic of the job, then I'd be much more<br>
inclined to give them a second thought.<br>
<br>
To be fair, the blame does not rest *fully* on staffing agencies:<br>
Companies are vague in giving job descriptions to the agencies to<br>
fulfill. So, they can't answer your questions, and they won't give you<br>
a contact to a person that *can* answer your questions (and often won't<br>
even give you the name of the place until you agree to interview, which<br>
is a no-no for me; I won't even think about working for a place that I<br>
am not allowed to know about, because that is information that is<br>
pertinent to my decision!), and they usually won't go out of their way<br>
to find out for you---they'll just move on to the next person that is<br>
more willing to work with far less information.<br>
<br>
--- Mike<br>
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