Thursday, October 7, 2010

(Pause) It's a Sales Job (Click)

I talk to a lot of recruiters.  Being a Freelance Project Manager and IT Consultant, I am actively looking for a permanent position.  Nearby.  Within a reasonable driving distance of my home.

There are a lot of "Perfect Positions".   When I hear the loud shrill ring of my phone sound off, I check to see where that call is coming first.  If it is outside of the Broward County Florida and adjacent areas, it is usually the perfect job that would require selling the house, loading granny on the receiver tray on the back of the jeep and moving out. 

No, I rather like it here.  I have no intentions of moving.  There are some stinkers here, but for the most part I like my neighbors and the city.  You may have gathered that from some other postings.

This week alone, and this is before start of business on Thursday, I have had recruiters call about positions in Jacksonville, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco.   Each position would have been perfect were it here in Fort Lauderdale.  So I smile and think at least I'm shopping the right resume out there and wait for a local offer. 

If you want someone who can telecommute, I'm your man!  Between me and another person who was an amazing person to work with, we built a one of a kind virtual office using open source technologies that was splattered between here and the Northeast on a shoestring.  It was that man that taught me a very important phrase of "Own It". 

I spoke to a local recruiter yesterday while I was on the way to another interview, and rattled off the Volunteer and Consulting work I have done over the last 2 months and thought "Hey, I should hire Me!".  There will be an interview out of that one, and it would be The Dream Job.  It's even here in Broward County!  Just far enough away to justify having a car and listen to my audio books on the way in, just near enough so the commute isn't boring.

I have got to land that one first though so lets hope.

While that position is completely appropriate for me, there's the others.  At least twice a week I get some poor confused soul calling me with a sales job.  I'm not a salesman.  If I were, I'd be doing some sort of technical sales position somewhere, I'm sure...  My negotiation skills are more of the "Yes, Director of the Department, you think you need A B and C but what you really have to have immediately is only A so that is what I'll instruct the programmers to work on first and explain to them that B and C will come next time around" manner of doing business.

Agile Project Management... next step the Joint Application Design Meetings and my hovering over a programmer to get just the right look and feel....

Back to that poor confused Headhunter.   It seems that there are a lot of sales positions lately.   If they are calling me, they must be confused.  I have a long and technically oriented resume.  It is designed for a computer to read it.  I got 25 hits alone yesterday on Careerbuilder on that resume so it is working.  At least it did yesterday.   I have to think someone just went and scanned the resumes for phone numbers and started down the list.

I'm a "W" so I'm sure that was a very tired person in a dank cubicle somewhere.

It is amusing though.  If you have someone who is trying to talk to you to fill their position, there seems to be a rule.  Always hold back the most difficult detail of the position until last.  Sometimes it may be "Chicago", and others it is that you will be expected to travel 50 to 75 percent of the time. 

Chicago is a great city.  I loved it when I visited.  I will visit again, happily, but when the winds blow off the lake in February I will not be there.   Travel once in a while can be a life enhancing experience but if you're gone 75% of the time do you ever really live anywhere?

The last one recruiter call I got I knew was going to be one of these positions.  He asked if he could record the call for "Training Purposes" which was a tip off that it was going to be entertaining.  Then he rattled off the location (Telecommuting?  Hmmm interesting... do go on) and that he had read my resume and thought I was just the right person for the job.   Gave a pay grade and a bonus schedule that was appropriate for my varied experience and paused.

By the way, this is a sales position.

By the time he finished the word "Sales" I was already saying "I'm sorry I am not considering changing my career path at this time".   By the time I got to the word "Changing" he was apologizing. 

Here's a suggestion.  If you are calling someone who has a position of "Consulting Project Manager" and "IT Manager" as their current and prior positions on the resume, you already know that they won't be a perfect fit.   State right out that this is a sales position.  Then Breathe.   Most likely you will be hearing "Thanks but no thanks" and the call will end.

It will get you onto someone who may indeed be a salesman.

Color me Amused.  Sometimes the most entertaining thing you will do in a day is talk to a recruiter.

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