16 June 2011

Headhunter Fail

Recently I was called by a headhunter. I don't mind being contacted by them if they do their research properly and have interesting things to say. But it wasn't the case this time...

Head huntingThe Call
I don't know why these people (headhunters) always need to call. I personally would prefer an email. I will read it when it suits me. But being soft-skilled, they have to talk (i.e. call). Talk if you have to, but please research and find the proper phone number! This poor fool called the company's main number and my boss was the one to pick it up. This was quite an embarrassment.

She (the headhunter) told me about a position I might be interested in. Well, I don't have time to talk, but send me some details, would you. You know my email address? Yes, of course you do, in contrary to my mobile phone number. So what's the point in calling me anyway? Is there a checkbox on your form to make sure the candidate is able to cope with embarrassing phone calls? But I'm repeating myself. Just don't call me.

The E-mail
Finally I had some hard information in my mailbox.
  • Who she was.
  • Company she was working for. (I had not known it before.)
  • Web page of the headhunting company. (I checked it out and it did not impress me at all.)
  • and the offer.
The Job Offer
And the offer really made me laugh. Here is a rough translation (Google translate rules ;-):
Our client is a reputable company in the high-tech
industry and international leader in its niche.
Wow! It's a reputable and internationally known company. Who cares, but what's the niche? What is it doing? Is it producing stuff or just selling things? How big is it?
Your tasks:
* Analysis and development of existing systems
* Creation of software applications
* Testing of applications
* Implementation
* Fixing bugs in existing applications
Aha, my task is to develop software. That's expected from an offer for a Java software developer. Not much to see here. I would like to know what kind of applications, how the testing is done etc.
Your profile:
* Some kind of technical education
* Experience in software development in Java
* Experience with XML
* Understanding of development processes
* Dynamic personality
* Fluent in English
So one should have experience in developing software with Java. At least here is some information: The company which is hiring is using Java and XML (somehow). They have some kind of development processes. Or they want to have one. But what kind of process, e.g. waterfall or agile? Or do they just want people to be aware of documentation and testing. Is there any Java developer out from school that would not match this profile?

I'm not interested at all
The offer was poor and boring, I didn't even bother to answer it. But still I'm asking myself how the headhunter-researcher could think that this a position I might be interested in.