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At 07:47 AM 7/26/97 -0700, Dan wrote about those long application things
some agencies send you in the mail:
>Here's something new to me, and I'm not sure if anyone's ever had to go
>through it before, or if I'm missing some particularly crucial point (or if
>I'm getting buffaloed).
>This stuff is running 2400 to 5000 WORDS!!!!!!! (Yeah, like one of my
>Techwhirlings! But these things aren't much fun, for me, anyway). I've been
>working since 10 pm on one (it's 7:30 am now) and by-golly I'm all the way
>back to January of 1994.... (yes, I'm a short-term-contractor, and I *like*
>it)
>
>I thought this junk is what the portfolio and interviews are for...
>
>Are the agencies so worried that they're gonna spend two hours locating and
>presenting candidates; and if they haven't covered
>everything-they-can-think-of, the clients are gonna blow 'em off? I realise
>it's hard to cover a long career in a phone interview, especially if the
>recruiter isn't a tech, but good grief!
>Am I missing something, friends?
>Been-there-done-thatters?
As a been-there, done-thatter-once-but-never-again, here's my two cents.
I've been getting these forms every since I started working with agencies,
about seven or eight years ago. I get a lot less of these now than I used
to, probably because so many agencies use scanning software instead. I
filled out one of those forms once (and as with Dan, it took me hours) and
swore never to do so again. What annoyed me most about the form that almost
every software tool I used and every skill I practiced was not on the form,
and I had to attach a separate sheet with a long list of programs and
skills to the back of it. Of course that long list was also on the resume I
sent them in a neat, table form... Now I just ignore these forms: I just
don't have that sort of time to give away. Only a small percentage of the
agencies in my area send out these application/skills forms, so I feel
comfortable that I am not "missing out" on anything by refusing to work
with them.
When agencies call me and bug me about getting the forms back to them, I
tell them that all of that information is already on my resume, and that I
simply don't have the time to repeat myself. Some of them choose to work
with me anyway, some don't (or can't, due to company rules).
I think that this form thing is an organizational style: some agencies
adopt it thinking it's the best way to get the information they need from
you. Or maybe they just like a lot of detailed paperwork. Many of the
agencies that used to send these forms out do not any more: they probably
learned from a low response rate that this wasn't a good way to build up a
bank of contractors. When I get one of these forms, I get suspicious about
the agency: I begin to wonder if it's muscle-bound with bureaucracy or has
all sorts of other unpleasant rules or hoops for contractors to jump through.
The ultimate in agency forms that I've recieved over the years has got to
be that mini-database-on-a-diskette. The company that sent it to me
actually expected me to run their database program on the disk, do the data
entry for them, in other words, and then mail it back to them. I was
sorely tempted to call them and tell them that my rate for that sort of
work was $95/hr, but in the end I just told a few friends about it and
saved the diskette as a momento. Since then I've recieved one or two others
like this. They've all gone into the round file.
Nina Panzica
Masterpiece Media
(404) 237-7889
Can't reach me at the above number? Try my pager: 404-596-7889 mailto:panin -at- mindspring -dot- com http://www.mindspring.com/~panin/
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