Re: Reality check time

Subject: Re: Reality check time
From: Elna Tymes <etymes -at- lts -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 12:38:26 -0700

John Posada wrote:

> 1) Should I have expected either permission or at least a warning
> that they were being distributed.
> 2) Even though others may know of the same agencies, is it wrong to
> expect that they should have been treated with a certain level of
> confidentiality?

John, I'm going to disagree with the other responders. However my warning may
be geographically biased, since my experience with agencies is limited to
Silicon Valley.

I draw the line between agencies and personal recommendations, when it comes to
referrals. I know that many contractors regard the names of agencies with the
same level of "marketing secrets" as the names of hiring managers within good
companies, but it's been my experience that agencies come and go fairly
quickly, and personnel at these agencies come and go even faster. Further, in
a phenomenon my company calls the Amazing Floating Resume (AFR), despite the
fact that they are prohibited from doing so agency recruiters frequently take
some form of the agency database with them when them move, and they pass it on
to others. So months after you've sent a resume to agency A, somebody you've
never heard of from agency B calls you and wants to talk business.

So the recruiters usually don't respect even their own company policies about
confidentiality.

Further, we tend to work as part of teams. So if someone wants to forward my
agency recommendations to others he/she thinks are qualified, I'm more likely
to wind up working with qualified people on some time down the road.

And if you're very, very lucky, you occasionally wind up with a gem of an
agency (Synergistech) that among other good things pays bonuses for
recommendations.

With regard to your first question, though, I must be more cynical than you,
John. When I write email, I'm *very* conscious of the fact that it can be
copied. I don't send email unless I'm willing to have its contents sent to
someone else, despite assurances that it won't. (That, for instance, is one of
the reasons I'm selective about posting to techwr-l -- I know all too well how
easy it is for intemperate words to show up in some unintended mailbox.) So
when I send a friend or acquaintance a list of recommendations, I assume that
the list will somehow get passed on, regardless of what I say.

Finally a word about "marketing secrets." I believe that there are no marketing
secrets, any more than there are any true "insider tips" in the stock market.
The true secrets to success as a contractor in this industry are not
necessarily maintaining a secret list of agencies and contacts, but
consistently performing well on each contract, being a mentor (where
appropriate) to other members of whatever team exists at the contract site
(you'd be amazed how many referrals we get from people you've worked with), and
consistent work on expanding your list of contacts.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems


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References:
Reality check time: From: John Posada

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