What do you do?

Heylel

Trakanon Raider
3,602
429
Snagged 15 minutes with my outgoing VP to get a sanity check on a big project. I figured now, with virtually nothing on the line, he'd be most likely to give me an honest answer. Apparently it was the only "big idea" problem anyone has approached him with all week.

Got some great feedback, followed up with "now taking off my company hat, if you're ever feeling underserved or frustrated here, here's my personal email. Feel free to reach out."

I'm pretty happy (interview with a Valley tech firm tomorrow notwithstanding), but it's good to know I've made a reasonable impression and might have a contact worth falling back on one day. :)
 

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
17,324
4,839
I told my boss I am 100% not staying on at the end of the contract on Sep 25th. Accepted the position at Commerce. Now BAH is giving me an offer, same pay and title and all that shit without having to work in DC, so much better commute. But BAH is a larger company, probably not as cool with all my family issues. Which are mostly under control but i do like a smaller company (like the spot at Commerce) that is understanding of family. Commerce gig is good for 3-5 years, BAH only has a solid position for me for like 6 months, but they have a bench so it isn't like I would be out of work, I would work for the same guy on other projects and ultimately fall into a pentesting/assessment gig for NRO. At Commerce it's more of an engineering/implementation gig. I'm torn. I already accepted the gig at Commerce, BAH for all the bad shit I hear about them sounds like they are really stable and take care of people.Pay is the same at either spot so that isn't a factor. Benefits are comparable. Large company vs small company. Either way I'm pissing off the management, small company already has me signed and large company thinks it is a done deal. #firstworldproblems.

I have to make up my mind like tomorrow. Really not sure what I want to do. Long term, I am not sure which role (pentester/sec engineer vs vuln mgmt/sec engineer) is better careerwise. Probably a wash.
 

Heylel

Trakanon Raider
3,602
429
I'd go with your gut on this one. No one is going to be upset by you saying you're accepting another offer. It happens all the time.
 

Mrs. Gravy

Quite Saucy
<QUITE SAUCY>
1,696
2,173
I have been with my current employer for 10 years...the work can be incredibly stressfull but it is likely I won't leave...why? In my interview, the director said to me (& subsequently to each person hired over the past years) that family comes first. It is a philosophy he instills in us and one we utilize. If one of us is out because of family issues, the rest of us pick up the slack. I was out an entire continuous month with G. and many more individual days over the past few years taking care of him or his mom, or now with my mom. I will be ever loyal to my director and my team because of this. So regardless of the stress or the pay which is ok but not great....I will stay as long as this family first idea remains. Chaos....what I am saying to you, is that this benefit...the understanding of an agency that allows you to have flexibility and TIME for your family is huge...if you are like me and you work not just for yourself but for those you love.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
37,961
14,508
chaos you never know. I told my boss about my son's speech issues and he told me his son had the same issues and take any and all time I needed to take care of it, and we're a big company.
 

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
17,324
4,839
These guys at this staffing company recently found me an OK spot at the Pentagon, good money and a good position, but doing HBSS bitch work which, no thank you. When I turned them down stating I had another offer, they got SUPER buttmad. This 19 year old kid at a staffing agency is lecturing me on the phone about how hard they worked prepping that position for me, and how I should find someone to fill it because now they had this open position. I'm like "... ok guy".

A night's sleep and I am leaning heavily towards just taking the Commerce job and running shit there. From what I know so far it sounds like an opportunity to come in and make a huge impact, and that will look great going forward. I'm just nervous about the change, I guess.
 
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Cad

<Bronze Donator>
24,487
45,378
These guys at this staffing company recently found me an OK spot at the Pentagon, good money and a good position, but doing HBSS bitch work which, no thank you. When I turned them down stating I had another offer, they got SUPER buttmad. This 19 year old kid at a staffing agency is lecturing me on the phone about how hard they worked prepping that position for me, and how I should find someone to fill it because now they had this open position. I'm like "... ok guy".

A night's sleep and I am leaning heavily towards just taking the Commerce job and running shit there. From what I know so far it sounds like an opportunity to come in and make a huge impact, and that will look great going forward. I'm just nervous about the change, I guess.

Whats the position at Commerce like? Thats the Dept. of Commerce right? There's a big bank named Commerce also but I assume you mean the govt.
 

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
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4,839
Contractor position at Dept of Commerce. Not a gs spot. It's an engineering spot, basically from what I gather their vulnerability management program is dildos and so it's an opportunity to build it from the ground up, tools and everything. I want to expand it into getting experience with other stuff (log analysis tools, ids, firewall config, etc)but that comes after the fire is put out.
 

Friday

Lord Nagafen Raider
870
104
These guys at this staffing company recently found me an OK spot at the Pentagon, good money and a good position, but doing HBSS bitch work which, no thank you. When I turned them down stating I had another offer, they got SUPER buttmad. This 19 year old kid at a staffing agency is lecturing me on the phone about how hard they worked prepping that position for me, and how I should find someone to fill it because now they had this open position. I'm like "... ok guy".

A night's sleep and I am leaning heavily towards just taking the Commerce job and running shit there. From what I know so far it sounds like an opportunity to come in and make a huge impact, and that will look great going forward. I'm just nervous about the change, I guess.

Hah I had a IT Recruiting Firm pass off my resume to someone for a job interview.

At the interview that Recruiting Firm had placed their logo at the top of my resume (and didn't change ANYTHING else) and fucking up all my margins and headers. I passed on the job and the recruiter called me after the interview and got SUPER BUTTMAD that I was passing up an opportunity to work for this company.

He said basically the same thing. "Blah blah blah we worked so hard to get this position for you.."

Fuck that guy.
 

fred sanford

<Gold Donor>
1,564
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I have had to review resumes and do technical interviews lately for two open positions and the resumes are fucking awful. IT recruiters are the new used car salesmen, and I hate dealing with them. They spam out resumes and job openings all over the place and as long as they fill the spot and get paid, they are happy. I have one recruiter that I won't read resumes from because they pad them all up to 10 pages long. Fuck reading all that. Here are a few other examples:
  • My last name is French, literally the word French. Nothing on my resume says French other than my name. I get job opening emails for French translators at the airport every once in a while. I'm tempted to try and setup an interview for it next time they call.
  • On my resume I have that I once managed projects to convert VB applications to Oracle APEX. I now get job opening calls for APEX developers all the time. If I get a call and tell them I've never coded APEX in my life, they then go on to 'pass this job opening to the developers you worked with'.
  • Working at a large company I get cold calls all the time from recruiters asking for information. Some even say they work with us and are trying to find info to better help us find employees... I usually hang up on them unless they offer to take me to a free lunch.
Plus they don't look into these people at all. A quick Google search on one guy found his arrest record, I've had others completely bomb an easy interview while I can hear them flipping through notes on the phone. Being on the interviewer side of things makes me cringe at ever having to look for another job, ever. I'm happy where I'm at and hope I never have to leave.

I hate to say it for anyone out there looking but recruiters will either make or break you even getting your first interview.
 

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
14,511
7,441
Yeah recruiters are so dumb. Try to give me pointers on how to interview and shit. They don't even know what the job entails half the time.
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
14,730
31,802
Recruiters always replace your personal info with their logo. This is to prevent the company from poaching you directly when the recruiter sends them resumes.
 

alavaz

Trakanon Raider
2,001
713
I've worked with good recruiters and then really shitty ones. The guy who got me the job I'm starting next month was kind of a clown, though I still liked him. At first he was kind of almost like a salesman trying to talk me into taking a lower salary because this position was on the best contract they had and all this shit... Once I told him to cut the shit though and either help me get what I'm asking or I'll look elsewhere he was pretty cool and did wind up getting me what I asked.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
37,961
14,508
I've never had luck with recruiters, always done it myself. I will deal with internal recruiters at a company though, they want to get you hired there.
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,661
32,041
Hah I had a IT Recruiting Firm pass off my resume to someone for a job interview.

At the interview that Recruiting Firm had placed their logo at the top of my resume (and didn't change ANYTHING else) and fucking up all my margins and headers. I passed on the job and the recruiter called me after the interview and got SUPER BUTTMAD that I was passing up an opportunity to work for this company.

He said basically the same thing. "Blah blah blah we worked so hard to get this position for you.."

Fuck that guy.

Someone did the same to me. Cut off the top portion with the contact info and slapped their logo. I complained to the guy doing the interview and he called the agency right there and told them to fuck off he was hiring me anyway and if they wanted to bitch he would stop using them for the shop which was a large of guys. I got offered more money too because apparently they were paying the company $8/hour to pay me thru them.
 

Friday

Lord Nagafen Raider
870
104
Was it Insight Global? They did that same shit to my resume, pissed me off.

It was a company called Timberhorn and it was for an Exxon-Mobil subsidiary. Recruiter called me like 5 times to prep me on how to interview and even his boss called me to ask if I was ready for the interview. Got kind of annoying.

Then I saw my resume across the table looking fucked up as hell. I even said something about it to the interviewer.

The only reason I had to go through the firm was because that company was hiring contract-to-hire.

I even asked the guy interviewing me why they just can't hire me and why go through the trouble of paying some IT firm and he gave me some speal about "what if I'm not a great fit or I don't like it then it's hard to let you go blah blah"

I told that interviewer I was not interested in potentially being let go in any situation but I could see where he was coming from as an interviewer.

They offered me the job as contract-to-hire the next week and I turned it down.

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