TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
The thing about recruiting these days is that it is entirely a numbers game. It is all boiler room phone banks and high pressure make-the-sale work. A recruiter in that situation, even if they understand US geography just fine, loses nothing by sending out form-letter jobs for Minnesota to people in California -- sure, 99.9% of the time nothing will happen, but perhaps there is that .01% of people who will bite because they have family or need work or whatever. It's just barely one step above spam.
This is also why I often get contacted six or seven times by different recruiters with the same job, within days. It's totally scattershot.
I have stopped even replying to the vast majority of recruiter emails and phone calls because it is clear these are low-paid workers with little knowledge of the industry or deep connections with the client company they are contracted with. I've also stopped being offended by jobs that are in the wrong state, that are not technical writer jobs, or that pay minimum wage. It's not worth the energy. The phone banker doesn't care if you are offended; they have another fifty leads they have to generate today.
On the other hand, the nice thing about phone bank recruiting is that when you actually run into an actual company recruiter or a pro recruiter, it is abundantly clear that they are human, that they care, and that they understand the jobs and the market they are working in.
Laura
On Feb 13, 2013, at 10:44 AM, Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
> The most irritating thing I have noticed is a lack of knowledge of US geography (I've worked in enough global orgs to be able to listen through most accents, and there is enough turnover in recruiters that ignorance of employment law isn't an indication of anything other than ignorance of employment law). It doesn't take very many instances of recruiters contacting you in California about 3 month contracts in Minnesota or Georgia to realize that the person sending the message has no idea where any US location is. Although given the state of the US education system, it is becoming increasingly possible that such messages may be originating from people born and raised right here.
>
> Gene Kim-Eng
>
>
> On 13-Feb-2013, at 9:23 PM, "William Sherman" <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com> wrote:
> > I have found this to be an issue in two instances: when the person speaking has such a thick
> >accent you cannot understand them and when they send contracts that ignore most of what
> >we take for granted in employment laws.
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> STC Vice President Nicky Bleiel is giving a free webinar on best practices
> for creating mobile help.
>
> Learn more: http://bit.ly/WNaCzd
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as lemay -at- lauralemay -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.
>
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
STC Vice President Nicky Bleiel is giving a free webinar on best practices
for creating mobile help.
