Re: tech writing recruiters

["William Sherman" <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com>]

You've gotten some good advice so far.  the world of contracting and job 
shops have changed drastically over the last 30 years, to the point of 
barely being recognizable.

30 years ago, recruiters were guys like us who had decided that they were 
tired of writing or engineering and decided to use their knowledge to pick 
good people to put into jobs.  Or often they were retired or laid off from 
an industry that wasn't coming back. Regardless, they knew the job, and when 
Company JCN called up with a requirement, they could tell who could and 
couldn't fill it and sent that person's resume in.

Today, most recruiters are in their 20s, often fresh out of school with some 
sort of marketing, sales, or business degree, and have almost no knowledge 
of the positions they are requested to fill. I've had many recruiters who 
have no idea what Word, FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Doc To Help, PageMaker, and 
the like are. they have no idea what the job is, other than a sort 
description, and have no idea if I do or do not have what it takes to do the 
job.

In the last year, there has been a huge influx of "recruiters" calling who 
barely speak English. I hate to sound bigoted, racist, or discriminatory, 
but close to 3/4ths of them I cannot understand at all. and I have worked 
for years in mixed ethnic and cultural groups.  I fully suspect even though 
they claim to be from Decatur, GA or Princeton, NJ or some other All 
American town, and have a local phone number for there, they are actually 
overseas some place with a phone forwarding system.  If you listen 
carefully, you will often hear lots of background noise similar to the old 
stereotype newsroom of movies 40 years ago or of the call centers locations 
overseas today.

I hesitate to suggest avoiding them, because unfortunately, many large 
corporations are now having their infrastructure supported by off shore 
companies rather than doing it internally or by hiring local American 
companies. So if you want a job, you may soon be getting it through some 
Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, or other foreign company.

Many companies will throw out multiple submissions. I avoid it, but often, 
the secrecy of some recruiters mean you may submit twice to the same without 
you knowing. their description may not match another yet be for the same 
job. Always insist on know who and where the job is, and tell them it is 
necessary so you do not double submit.

Double submission has become so bad that some companies are employing 
submission software that puts you in their system once, and no one else can 
submit you. I had one submit me at a job at say $40 and come back 3 days 
later requesting I drop to $34. I said no. A week later, when no doubt the 
company wasn't getting results, another came in and submitted me for $45. 
They then called back and said I was locked out because of the earlier 
submission, even though it had been rejected.

Developing a relationship with a recruiter is a nice idea, but most I have 
seen the last 10 years are more like one night stands. So remember to get 
all you can get from them the first time since there usually isn't a second 
time. You think turnover is fast with contractors, you should see turnover 
with contractor recruiters.

Remember that a contractor has a lot of expenses an employee doesn't have. 
Your expense of getting there is your pocket, as is all of your expenses on 
site. then you have no benefits. Medical may be available through their 
group plan, but it is much higher than if you were a real employee. and when 
the job ends, you have to pay it all in full through COBRA.  So a family is 
typically $200 a week in the group plan and $1300 - $1600 a month on COBRA 
unless you are in some very small contract shop. I was in one that the rate 
was $1200 per month on their group plan. COBRA would run $2000.  Figure that 
you need about $7.50 an hour just to pay insurance normally and about $14 
per hour to pay COBRA.  Obviously, a job paying $15 to $20 is going to let 
you starve.



Lowball. Yes, you need to worry. Most recruiters lie. They tell you that the 
client is only paying say $30 per hour. The reality is the client is 
probably paying $60 per hour, the shop is taking $30, and giving you $30. 
The shop can realistically get away with 25% of the billing rate, so they 
could really pay up to $45 to you but instead they are insisting only $30.

BEWARE the split rate. This is a con.  Let's say they offer $30 per hour but 
your budget needs $35. They offer a split rate since you are away from home, 
when they pay maybe $20 as rate and $10 as per diem. This lowers the tax so 
your take home pay is higher and you think you have more. many go for this.

REALITY CHECK. If you qualify for per diem by the IRS, you will be deducting 
all your expenses on your 1040 anyway, so this money will end up in your 
pocket regardless. Remember, this is a business, you are not an employee. 
However, your rate is now $20 per hour, so if you get overtime, you get $30 
per hour overtime instead of $45 per hour overtime.  If you work 10 hours 
over, you make $300 instead of $450 extra.

Some even are more unscrupulous, in splitting something like $15 rate and 
$15 PD or $10 rate and $20 PD. You can see where this is going.

AND when it comes time for Social Security or even unemployment, you find 
your pay was that low rate that was reported as income, not the total 
amount.

One killer that hasn't popped up in some time is that any computer 
professional (i.e., anyone earning their living with a computer), you do not 
have to be paid time and a half on over 40 hours per the IRS.  However, this 
is not a prohibition, it is merely a loophole. No one has to pay you that. 
It does not mean they can't . Whatever is in your contract is what they have 
to pay. If you make your contract that all hours over 40 are paid at triple 
rate, they have to do it and it is not illegal.

Don't let a recruiter tell you it is illegal to pay you overtime.  It isn't.





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kari Gulbrandsen" <kkgulbrandsen -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 10:56 AM
Subject: tech writing recruiters