Re: Shotguns (was: I'm furious...)

Subject: Re: Shotguns (was: I'm furious...)
From: "William Sherman" <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 23:43:23 -0500

I keep a form letter in Drafts that I pull the appropriate section.

Thanks for contacting me, I am currently working. Please contact me in __ months.

Thanks for the offer for a ______ job, but I am a technical writer. Please let me know if you have any technical writer openings in the future.

Thanks for contacting me about ____. Please send me the rates, start date, expected duration, location, and client's name for this job, so I do not double submit. If the rates are acceptable, I will contact you.



I don't automatically can them. They may just get a job for me in the future. I respond so they don't think they have a dead email address, but I keep all these on an address if it goes to spam too much, I'll dump it and make a new one. Most of the time, they are just shotgunning it like the robot spam phone calls that move on with the fourth ring, although the phone is going through the connection phase still. If I am working, I usually save them for a week and respond to a bunch at a time. Keeps me on their lists and doesn't interfere with my life much.


As to negotiating, it is ALWAYS with the recruiter if you are contracting. There is nothing with the client company.

Temp to hire is an attempt to get you working for a lower rate with the "promise" of working direct. For many, working direct is the carrot they are after, but really, it isn't any more secure. Too many places lay off direct employees on a whim. Benefits in many are down. It was great once with 3 weeks starting PTO and full paid insurance, but today, $250 or more a week for family insurance is the norm and that is $1000 per month, not that far off getting it on your own. And two weeks is back to the norm on vacation.

And often, that temp to hire disappears at the end of that time.

Another is breaking out your salary as per diem. It is a great trick to pay a lower rate that equates to the same take home pay due to not paying taxes. But it also lowers what was paid into Social Security and recorded for unemployment. It may not mean much now but if you get hit with an extended time off, you could discover your unemployment benefits are really low. Or your SS is really low because your were working for $8 per hour instead of $30 ($8 regular + $22 per diem). In many places, if you get overtime, it is paid 1-1/2 times $8 since that is your rate, not the $30.

Contracts are just that - contracts. So read it, change it as you see fit, and then give it back to them. Nothing says you cannot change conditions. I never leave the part in that they can end me immediately without notice but I have to give them two weeks or more. At will means at will - both ways. If I'm ever questioned on it, I tell them that professionally, I would never just quit with giving a fair notice, since I would hope to be able to work with them again, but I will not be bound contractually if they will not.

I don't change money, as that should have been agreed on before they ever sent the contract to sign, but I check to be sure they are saying they pay what they said verbally they would. Frequently, you find OT not mentioned or mentioned as straight time. They usually cite that computer professionals "can't" be paid time and a half by law. That isn't true, they just are not required to be paid that if paid over a certain rate. But if it is in your contract, you can be. Heck, the contract could say you get paid triple time for all overtime if both sides agree. Or that you get paid straight time for the first 5 hours of OT, double time for over 5 to 20 hours, and triple time for any on Tuesday. It doesn't matter, if both agree, then that is what is paid. The wage laws don't prevent that.

Read your contract BEFORE signing. Just because they wrote it doesn't mean it is right or legal. I had one that had 4 paragraphs of conditions that were illegal in the US. I think they were really based in India regardless of the Virginia address and phone number. I think they were just a drop. That contract I deleted and initialed almost half the contract. They accepted it.



----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Neilson" <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2015 8:33 AM
Subject: Shotguns (was: I'm furious...)


On Sat, 10 Jan 2015 07:56:11 -0500, Daniel Friedman <daniel -dot- friedman42 -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

I have to say, as someone who is relatively new to the industry (3 years in the same full time role), this thread has been extremely educational. Most importantly I've learned:
1. That you have to negotiate rates with the recruiter, not the client.
2. That the client pays the same rates no matter which candidate they hire (so if they hire someone who's too desperate to negotiate, the recruiter makes $$$).
3. Double submissions will get your resume binned.
4. Recruiting companies are just as sketchy as I imagined.

Has anyone ever had success using the "shotgun" recruiters who send out requests asking to place us into slots for which we are not qualified?

For instance, suppose your resume mentions that you once documented an API for C++ developers. Lo and behold, Clueless Recruitment, Ltd. wants to submit you for a C++ dev position requiring seven years of experience. They even include a personal-sounding letter that explains how impressed they are by your qualifications. Is there any reason not to put Clueless, Ltd on your spam list?

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References:
Interactive PDFs from Word -- best solution to a painful process?: From: ryan . minaker
RE: Interactive PDFs from Word -- best solution to a painful process?: From: Dan Goldstein
I'm furious...: From: Mike Starr
Re: I'm furious...: From: William Sherman
Re: I'm furious...: From: Mike Starr
Re: I'm furious...: From: Daniel Friedman
Shotguns (was: I'm furious...): From: Peter Neilson

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