I hate to disappoint you, but...

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SpookyWriter

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I just received this unflattering email tonight. I am not a web programmer (had to shudder at the thought) and got to this point when my eyes rolled back and I responded in kind.


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Pay:

$45k - $60k per year

My Response was:

Hi,

Thanks for the inquiry into my availability. However, since I make 100k a year this role would be a financial disappointment for me.

I do wish you the best, and hope a more worthy candidate becomes available.


---
Obviously the dude didn't read my resume carefully enough?


 

SpookyWriter

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jennhollowell said:
Wow. This completely sucked the wind right out of my sails.

I'll go count my pennies now.
Sorry Jenn, that wasn't my intention. I was comparing the salaries some recruiters send me as an incentive to work for them. But low balling right off the back is insulting. I could be making 24k a year and if a recruiter send me an email for a job that offered 12k I would still feel the same way.
 

maestrowork

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SpookyWriter said:
Sorry Jenn, that wasn't my intention. I was comparing the salaries some recruiters send me as an incentive to work for them. But low balling right off the back is insulting. I could be making 24k a year and if a recruiter send me an email for a job that offered 12k I would still feel the same way.

I get that all the time. Usually, I just send them a reply with my salary requirement and that pretty much just shuts them up.

The thing I hate about recruiters is that they don't even read the damn resume. They only scan for keywords. Java? Check. Web? Check. They don't even check and see the professional experiences I put on there. Clearly, if they had read the darn resume, they would have known that for the past 8 years I'd done no development work, but mostly architecture and project management. Then why, oh why, would they send me an email looking for a Java developer for $65K a year?

I agree with Spook, you don't ask an accountant if he would be interested in a job as a cashier, or ask a cashier if he would be interested as a janitor -- it doesn't matter if they have done that work in the distant PAST and have that skill.

Now, if I am laid off and I AM specifically looking for a development job so I can pay my mortgage, it's a different story. I've made a conscientious choice of looking for a job that pays less that what I was used to, and I would clearly state that in my resume/cover letter. But please, Mr. Recruiter, read the darn thing before you send out an inquiry.
 

aadams73

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Recruiters suck. My husband gets emails all the time offering jobs all over the country. His resume specifically states that he is not willing to relocate.
 

SpookyWriter

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maestrowork said:
I get that all the time. Usually, I just send them a reply with my salary requirement and that pretty much just shuts them up.

The thing I hate about recruiters is that they don't even read the damn resume. They only scan for keywords. Java? Check. Web? Check. They don't even check and see the professional experiences I put on there. Clearly, if they had read the darn resume, they would have known that for the past 8 years I'd done no development work, but mostly architecture and project management. Then why, oh why, would they send me an email looking for a Java developer for $65K a year?

I agree with Spook, you don't ask an accountant if he would be interested in a job as a cashier, or ask a cashier if he would be interested as a janitor -- it doesn't matter if they have done that work in the distant PAST and have that skill.

Now, if I am laid off and I AM specifically looking for a development job so I can pay my mortgage, it's a different story. I've made a conscientious choice of looking for a job that pays less that what I was used to, and I would clearly state that in my resume/cover letter. But please, Mr. Recruiter, read the darn thing before you send out an inquiry.

Thanks Ray for helping me to clarify my rant. It is insulting not only because of the salary these recruiters offer, but they don't even bother to read my resume. I am a Database Programmer, Sr. and not a web programmer. I can't imagine where they'd get that idea. So when I get these types of emails I generally blow them off, but this one struck me the wrong way yesterday.

P.S. Ray makes more money than I do when he's programming. :D
 

maestrowork

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I told you I haven't done "programming" for years. :) But yes, I did make more money than you do when I was "working."

Now I'm just a bum.

Love it.
 

SpookyWriter

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maestrowork said:
I told you I haven't done "programming" for years. :) But yes, I did make more money than you do when I was "working."

Now I'm just a bum.

Love it.
But a fun loving bum no less. :hat:
 

rtilryarms

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$100,000? I wouldn't get out of bed...
 

SpookyWriter

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rtilryarms said:
$100,000? I wouldn't get out of bed...
Believe me, when you make 85-100k+ a year the money goes out the door just as easily. More money doesn't make or buy true happiness. And that's why I have outside activities, family, and friends who are more important than a paycheck.

Ray can tell you that it is so easy to spend 10k a month and not realize what you did with the money. :cry:
 

aadams73

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SpookyWriter said:
Believe me, when you make 85-100k+ a year the money goes out the door just as easily.

Ray can tell you that it is so easy to spend 10k a month and not realize what you did with the money. :cry:

Gawd, that's the truth! Been there, done that.
 

maestrowork

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The more money you make, the more money you spend, and you're damn right, it doesn't make you any happier. But the security to know that you won't be depressed BECAUSE you have no money is nice. I make close to nothing now and I spend on almost nothing, and in truth, I am much more happier. Go figure.
 

AdamH

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maestrowork said:
I make close to nothing now and I spend on almost nothing, and in truth, I am much more happier. Go figure.

It's weird how that works. It's almost counter-intuitive but I changed jobs to one that makes about half of what I did before out of stress and I'm MUCH happier now. As long as I'm making enough to pay my bills and save a little aside, that's all I need.
 

maestrowork

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SpookyWriter said:
The downside is that I will pay 20-30k in taxes this year. :cry:

The upside of being a bum is that the government actually owes me money. Ha! How's that for a change?
 

SpookyWriter

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maestrowork said:
The more money you make, the more money you spend, and you're damn right, it doesn't make you any happier. But the security to know that you won't be depressed BECAUSE you have no money is nice. I make close to nothing now and I spend on almost nothing, and in truth, I am much more happier. Go figure.
I was like that while living in Holland until the money ran out and I couldn't find work. The UK recruiters were such jerks for sending me out on trivial roles or not even bothering to call me back. I wasn't happy being homeless in London. Errr...back in the USSR with a paycheck and happier, but not so happy because I want to return to Holland -- but no werkie there...
 

robeiae

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SpookyWriter said:
More money doesn't make or buy true happiness.
David Lee roth on David Letterman many moons ago:

Letterman (with cheesy grin): You know, Dave...money can't buy ya love.

David Lee Roth: No, but you can sure park your yacht next to it and walk right over...

Truer words have never been spoken. And I make 0-1K a year (now). I'm a kept man.

Rob :)
 

maestrowork

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I think there's a difference between "not stressing because you have no money to live on..." and "finding happiness by having more and more money."
 

SpookyWriter

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maestrowork said:
I think there's a difference between "not stressing because you have no money to live on..." and "finding happiness by having more and more money."
Heck, I was living on the last 100 quid when I hopped back from the UK to Holland for one last ditch effort at securing employment. Ek! I was trying to find work as a migrant farm worker (no lie) picking tullips. (Now how can you be over qualified for a job like that?)
 

Jaycinth

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Same Psychosis...different day.
When I was looking a couple years ago I kept getting offers for bookeeper....cashier...teller...even though I qualify for senior accountant..They'd look at my resume, salary requirement...then offer me $50 bucks more than unemployment paid....DUH. I kept wishing they'd looked at the resume before asking me to come all the way to the interview. I landed this job through the 'friendly accountant network' they wanted a bookeeper but their CPA knew they needed an accountant so negotiated my pay before he had them call me.

But 100K, Spookey! I don't know whether to say 'Way TO GO!!!", get jealous or propose.
 

SpookyWriter

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Jaycinth said:
When I was looking a couple years ago I kept getting offers for bookeeper....cashier...teller...even though I qualify for senior accountant..They'd look at my resume, salary requirement...then offer me $50 bucks more than unemployment paid....DUH. I kept wishing they'd looked at the resume before asking me to come all the way to the interview. I landed this job through the 'friendly accountant network' they wanted a bookeeper but their CPA knew they needed an accountant so negotiated my pay before he had them call me.
Agencies are tricky people. I like to believe they invented the old "bait and switch" tactic. I've had many recruiters lull me into a false sense of employment opportunities that turned out to be lemons.

About my income, it includes my salary and benefits. However, at my base pay now I am making 20k less than I did three years ago. My income isn't going up but down. Outsourcing???
 

Sarita

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My husband gets calls from recruiters all the time, from all over the East Coast. He doesn't even have his resume posted out there. They hear about him through projects and networking. They think "Oh, Central PA. He can't be making that much. We'll lure him out with big money." Ha. What they don't realize is that, to live in Boston or NYC, he'd require a lot more mulah. The last one in Boston offered him 50K... to be an engineering department head.

Uh, NO. You can't move to a bigger city and make less money. Do they not think things through, logically?
 
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