Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Getting to see Ian M*rtin at last!

For the past 8 years I have sporadically applied to job posted by IM on Workopolis and got no reply whatsoever. Not a peep. So I reckoned that this outfit may be a Resume troll.

To my surprise having applied two weeks ago for a f/t Perl job I got a reply back from M.D. She had me reshuffle my Resume so my Perl deeds stand out. Fair enough. Mind you I have used Perl as a tool for 16 years and I have for it (Perl) the love that dares not speak its name. (I have used it for things it was never meant to do and to great success.)

IM has this silly rule that a recruiter must see you face to face before they submit you. So here I am dragging myself to downtown Toronto at rush hour. Last time I did that was 2 1/2 years ago in Mass.

So I saw her and I think she was OK tho she/the account manager had qualms about my motivation (having made a good coin on contracts what made me go for a relatively low-paid Perl job? what if I take off in one year for a contract?). She also had me flag all places in my Resume where Perl was relevant.

Well, I like Perl and I need to stay close to home to care for my new addition to my family so I think for the time being I will be staying put in TO.

She shared with me a few horror stories with candidates that want to pull a quick one. Having interviewed/hired people myself I could sympathise with some of her problems.

Jan 2011 update: have been contacted again by the same recruiter about the same position; the company would like to see my resume but formatted so that Perl is even more underlined. Would not bother.

-ulianov