Back in November I was contacted by an IT headhunter for a sysadmin position. I was fishing my resume around on some of the job boards to see what was out there; I had just left a decent (albeit contracted) position doing mid level tech support on a high-level operating system (Old Reliable) due to recalcitrance on the part of my contract manager to discuss the possibilities of sending any more money my way. I took a gig that paid nearly twice what I'd been doing out of spite, but left on excellent terms with the primary company.
Turns out the job I took that paid better was dull. Dull, like a sponge. Fixing stuck remote print queues and resetting locked account passwords and clearing full file systems in the middle of the night dull.
Hence, the resume fishing...and the nibble on the bait. We'll call him Ralph, with Third World Contractors Group, for purposes of discussion. Ralph emails me about his client, who I'll call Huge Predatory Company. Now HPC has a project in the works, and they've purchased about a hundred servers from the company I used to work for in support. Might be temp to perm, might be perm, who knows. No specifics on terms in the email, and to be honest, it's one of about 5 come-ons I get in any given week.
I don't respond to the email.
A couple of days later, he calls my cellphone, as the number is on my resume, posted on the search site. Ralph gives me his pitch, sounds halfway decent, so I send him my formatted resume. Still no mention of money, term of duration status.
A month passes. Mid December. Ralph calls; client wants to see me that week for an interview with 'the team' at Huge Predatory Company. I arrange a time when I can drive out and meet them that does not interfere with my current obligation. Meeting goes well, for my part, although I get that odd feeling of something being amiss. Ralph follows up that afternoon- no feedback from HPC, but he'll let me know as soon as he knows something.
Forward to Late December. I take a nice offer on a more prestigious team back 'home' at Old Reliable. Start seamlessly, after giving proper notice, early in January.
Last Friday, Ralph calls back. HPC wants to make me an offer: title, so-so money, fair benefits. That strange feeling I got from HPC comes back. I thank him for the extension of the offer, but regretfully, I state, he's too late, that I've already accepted one that had come available in the absence of anything from TWCG and HPC.
Then it gets weird...
The phone line clicks and another party joins the call. The third party is 'HR Director at HPC', who evidently had been monitoring the conversation so far. It seems I have offended them by not jumping at the opportunity to accept the position. I explain that I've taken my current posiition and I'm quite content, and that there was no indication of a pending offer at any time until then. I thank them for their consideration and for the opportunity to interview, being that I am gracious and grateful as my Granmaw taught me to be, but that I have an obligation I must honor where I have none to them at this time. The telephone conversation ends shortly thereafter and I follow up with a brief email to Ralph restating my flattery and appreciation, along with my regrets.
Today I received an email from Ralph in response. Names, as always and previously, are changed and/or redacted.
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Mr. Aquaticus:
Thanks but always remember not to burn any bridges.
You were so unprofessional & unresponsive and it turned out to be so costly for you.
TWCG & HPC has decided they will never work with you in future as they chose to blacklist candidates who cannot respect their time.
I hope this will be a good beginning for you in 2007.
Good Luck.
Ralph
Sr. Technical Recruiter
Third World Contractors Group
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Sorry for being long-winded, but the whole play struck me as amusing. Of course, I do tend to have an odd sense of humor.
Oh, but I love working in I.T.
Regards,
Rabbit.
