I too much time with Robert Half Technology

I am currently employeed ... but have not been impressed with anyone of these recruiters in the Chicagoland area. If you have a choice to work with a more 'ethical' recruiter not associated with this company I would. I you don't have a choice ... please don't expect much.

What was your concern with them? I am a manager for RHT in my Houston, TX office.

Feedback is great. Thanks!

Well, I can tell you how MY experience has been.

First meeting in north Houston a couple of months back was with a woman who seemed to have it together. Job was for SQL DBA. She checked my references after our interview. She told me that I'd get an email with login access to RHI's technical training material (that never happened). However, the job I was supposed to be submitted for never happened; I got no further contact from her.

The second contact was about two weeks later with a different recruiter in the same office. This was for a help desk job that needed Altiris experience. Mind you, I have 10 years in IT at an enterprise management planning and implementation level, and this guys calls me with a tier II help desk job. When I let him know that I'm overqualified for any help desk positions, he informs me that because I scored low on their exam, a help desk job was all that I would be able to get.

The "exam" in question was a SQL 2000 exam, when I've been on SQL 2005 since it went GA. Suffice it to say, I was incensed. I planned and performed over 200 implementations when I was a consultant, and have worked first hand with CA software, Marimba AND Altiris. I can do DB administration, web design, and plain old coding... and this guy has the nerve to tell me I'm only good for a help desk?!

So a couple of months have gone buy, and I got a call from a different RH recruiter this week for a coding job. This guy is totally clueless to the fact that I have been through the paperwork hoops with RH already, and expects me to come in and repeat it. He wants me to rewrite my resume to tone down sys admin stuff because it'll "scare" the client. What kind of crap is that? Since when did experience ever scare a client?

Anyway...I'm canceling tomorrow's meeting now. Between my instinct and finding this board, I can see that my assessment of RH wasn't wrong after all.

Ex-Halfer here...the reason they call you with jobs that have nothing to do with your skill set is for "Sourcing". RHI - all of their lines of business (LOB as they call them), whether it is legal, technology, robert half management resources, etc - practice what they call sourcing. Sourcing is when they call you with something exciting or just way off track and then get into questions like - "hey, how is your search going? Have you applied any where?" or "We are going to start a marketing blitz on your behalf and don't want to step on anyone's toes. If you know of other agencies submitting you, please let us know so we do not. a double submittal is a kiss of death."

As soon as they get of the phone with you, they go ahead and call that company with a different candidate. Think about it...if you tell them agency x has submitted you to company inc. - they know that that company works with agencies, so they can go after it - and they know that your background is what they are looking for.

The same goes for interviews. They will ask were you have been working and who your bosses have been. This is what they call a lead. They may even dig deep and ask how you found that job - this gives the RHT recruiter all the info they need. Call the company you worked at, as for your old manager, and pitch someone with a similiar background. They sometimes even use you...they call that ghosting. They lie to potential employers by saying they have someone...when in fact it is you. Once they get an order, they then recruit on that.

Ask yourself -- if you are giving references, why do they need to know the other managers you reported to? I was constantly told that recruits are too dumb and don't know - that is why I am an ex-halfer...I have morals and basic respect for people.