Dave's Blog

Blogging Since May 10, 2001

Mon Jun 16 12:17:00 PDT 2008

     "One's highest demand is for the Divine Design of one's 
     life."  
          -- Florence Scovel Shinn, "The Game of Life"  

Wow!  This is my first blog entry of the month.  How time flies.

I had decided, upon returning from Costa Rica, to write 15
minutes per day.  This is the first entry in 2 weeks!  Other
things I wanted to do, and still want to do, include reading, and
going to the gym.  Reading, writing, working out.  0 for 3,
there.  Maybe today is the day I pick it all up.  

So far this month, I have been sending out resumes, interviewing,
and, of course, Yelping.  Weekends with My Love, in various
activities.  But all the "activities" I have done so far don't
seem, in my mind, to justify losing track of my three first
goals.  

Then, Margaret would like to meditate with me.  That's another
daily routine that would be very beneficial.  She's leading a
Prosperity Salon down at the Spiritual Enrichment Center, and of
course, the prosperity consciousness is helping me in my search
for my next contract in San Francisco.  

In accordance with my sail-trimming strategy put out my own 
all-points bulletin for $75/hour, and watched to see what would 
come in.  Although it was a bit high for some recruiters, others 
were willing to negotiate.  One recruiter asked me whether I was
willing to drop my rate, or if I were at the beginning of my
search and waiting to see who would respond.  It made me laugh, 
and I wish I had made a note of which recruiter had this insight.  

First up, a major retail bank had several requisitions out in 
May, which I missed.  I'm not concerned -- it's a big company, 
and new requisitions come out all the time.  This is a benefit of 
a spot market.  

Then a major publicly held agency gave me a call.  They asked me
to come in and process papers, and to take an automated test of
my Unix and AIX skills.  I scored above average, whatever that
means, and then I didn't hear much from them again.  I've been
talking with this company for eight years, and they have never
actually come up with a requisition for me.  I figure this 
exercise was to get me to prepare my resume and my references, 
and to get me into the swing of the job hunt.  Thanks, guys!  

A clothing company put their requisition "on hold," i.e. they
decided they didn't need the help after all.  

Next, a network security manager in the retail bank issued a
requisition that had all the agencies squirming.  It seems they
knew there was no flexibility in the rate, and the rate was the
first thing they wanted to discuss with me.  It took priority
over the job description.  This made me wonder what the agents
were trying to do.  If I wanted to shop for something at a
nonnegotiable price, I'd go to Tiffany's.  Considering the level
of fear I heard in these recruiters' voices, I decided not to 
send my resume in front of this manager through any agency.  When
he's ready to talk, I'll still be around.  

I talked with a bullpen of recruiters who were working with a
social networking site.  Unfortunately, it was for a permanent
position, and the branch manager at the agency got in my face
about the possibility that I would jump ship for a $90/hour
contract down the road.  Bless you, sir, for you have blessed me
with a $90 contract in the future.  

I got all the way to an on-site interview with a cosmetics
company, and I was able to determine that we did not have a match
between my skill set and their immediate needs.  I was able to
elicit these needs from the hiring manager, and to report back to
the agency.  What he needed this month was not what he had put on
the requisition when he opened it.  I think this interview was in
my path simply to get me to fix my hair and nails, and to break
out the jacket and tie.  Everything in due course.  

The next on-site interview was with a worldwide stock brokerage.
These gentlemen were interested in someone who had some
programming experience, although my final impression was that
they didn't have a job.  The hiring manager was very quiet, and
they were all pretty calm.  It sounded like they had all their
responsibilities covered with the people they already had on
board, and that they were just going through the motions.  Some
call it a fishing expedition, but I recognized elements of a
grieving exercise for a colleague that had left for another
department.  Interestingly enough, the guys at the stock
brokerage looked and dressed better than the guys at the
cosmetics company.  

Someone put my resume in front of hiring managers at an electric
power company, asking for my full $75/hour rate.  I haven't heard
back from them.  

Same story with a giant medical insurance company.  

Recently, a data center operations manager at the retail bank opened
a requisition, and an agency in Santa Clara has decided to
represent me.  In this case, my two years of working with Indians
is paying off, because I can understand what the recruiter and
the account manager are telling me.  They are eager to place me,
and the operations manager is interested.  Each time I get to the
level of actually interviewing with a client, I get excited.
Maybe this will be the one.  

Today the contract world is scrambling to fill a few shifts that
are open at a regional operations center for a wireless phone
company.  It seems ironic to me that the phone companies have
made it possible to run operations centers in Bangalore, where
the shifts being advertised would be day shifts, and instead have
decided to keep the center here in San Francisco, where the
shifts are night shifts.  The phone company isn't taking
advantage of its own technology, it seems.  

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