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Java Forum / General / May 2006

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TekSystems WARNING

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John Gagon - 12 May 2006 16:57 GMT
We are mere "resources". Their real customers are the clients of
course. They have screwed people out of jobs by poking their noses into
employee's personal affairs/contacting their managers all to increase
the chances of selling to a customer but if the customer doesn't
accept, that employee is often left without a job. I'm hearing horror
stories about this company now and while it's true that one's feelings
affect one's vision, this vision comes all too easily.

This staffing firm is the MacDonalds of the staffing industry. Very
unprofessional. "If you want fries to go with your unemployment, pick
TekSystems."

This may be anecdotal and I'm usually more to the topic of programming
but think this is worth mentioning to other unsuspecting programmers.

John Gagon
Darryl L. Pierce - 12 May 2006 17:10 GMT
<snip>

I worked on a 6 month contract for them and had a very good experience,
all except for the benefits package they offered. The pay was excellent
for the area and the account manager was very professional and never
once asked any of us to solicit for them.

Signature

Darryl L. Pierce <mcpierce@gmail.com>
http://mcpierce.multiply.com/
"What do you care what people think, Mr. Feynman?"

John Gagon - 12 May 2006 17:22 GMT
> <snip>
>
> I worked on a 6 month contract for them and had a very good experience,
> all except for the benefits package they offered. The pay was excellent
> for the area and the account manager was very professional and never
> once asked any of us to solicit for them.

Well, as I said, I may be anecdotal about this. I have been solicited
various times and I think professionalism will vary of course. At
first, they seemed fairly professional but I have also seen a lot of
immaturity in their handling of situations that come up. They are not
thorough and it seems to me that if they rest on their "we're number
one" laurels too much, their quality of service and attitude towards
potential recruits will suffer. From what I hear, there is not much
involved in becoming a recruiter for them other than having a nice
smile which would would almost be equivalent (almost I said) of
McDonalds potential employees. Many of them are quite young, out of
high school and some barely know the difference say between its and
it's or your and you're. One wrote a thank you note at my request. It
was grossly mispelled. So I might look at maybe Hall Kinion/KForce or
whoever else there is. They too however operate in a similar fashion so
I'm a bit worried but I haven't been hearing as much complaint from
others.

> --
> Darryl L. Pierce <mcpierce@gmail.com>
> http://mcpierce.multiply.com/
> "What do you care what people think, Mr. Feynman?"
>
> *** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***
Chris Smith - 12 May 2006 20:24 GMT
> Well, as I said, I may be anecdotal about this.

And a good example of why anecdotal evidence is unreliable.  So we know
what?  That there is probably at least one unqualified or unprofessional
account representative who works for TekSystems.  Hardly the basis for
any kind of action.

I, too, have found TekSystems to be a very qualified and well-run
organization.  I was specifically impressed that their recruiters for
Java programming attend local JUGs for more than just to promote
themselves.  They work at learning something about the technologies and
how they work together, and are able to apply that when talking to and
recommending candidates.  I'd never seen that before in a recruiting
firm.

Signature

www.designacourse.com
The Easiest Way To Train Anyone... Anywhere.

Chris Smith - Lead Software Developer/Technical Trainer
MindIQ Corporation

John Gagon - 13 May 2006 07:28 GMT
> > Well, as I said, I may be anecdotal about this.
>
> And a good example of why anecdotal evidence is unreliable.  So we know
> what?  That there is probably at least one unqualified or unprofessional
> account representative who works for TekSystems.  Hardly the basis for
> any kind of action.

True, but it is a form of prima facie evidence where there "Can't Be
Studies For Everything". I call that if I randomly encounter some
people and they have the same negative experience, the chances have to
be at least above 10% (assuming statistical sampling, this is similar
to why many statisticians require a minimum of 500 samples in a
population). Anyhow, thanks for the reminder. I should, based on the
two postives here give it a bit more adjustment.

> I, too, have found TekSystems to be a very qualified and well-run
> organization.  I was specifically impressed that their recruiters for
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> recommending candidates.  I'd never seen that before in a recruiting
> firm.

Sounds like a speel but I'll take it at face value for now. Anyhow, I
think it can be facility specific. There is not just one but several
persons there that seemed like this. Also, it is true that we are not
the actual customer as much as a resource. They work for the company
more than us as far as I can tell and based on insider stories and
interviews I have seen both on television and from others who have
family that I've visited with and conversed with very unassumptively.

I suppose MindIQ uses them given your glowing statements?
Chris Smith - 14 May 2006 07:37 GMT
> I suppose MindIQ uses them given your glowing statements?

MindIQ doesn't hire often enough to be said to "use them" in any kind of
indefinite time frame like that.  I've dealt with them once.  It was a
very positive experience and we got some reasonable candidates, but then
I ended up offering the job to someone we found on our own.

In any case, it WAS a good experience, and I am very impressed with
them.  You're probably right that this varies from office to office.

Signature

www.designacourse.com
The Easiest Way To Train Anyone... Anywhere.

Chris Smith - Lead Software Developer/Technical Trainer
MindIQ Corporation

Kent Paul Dolan - 14 May 2006 07:56 GMT
> speel
> There is ... several persons there
> ... we are ... the ... customer ... a resource
> They work for the company more than us
> very unassumptively.

Great Chaos!

I'd _really_ suggest that _you_ omit criticisms of
_their_ English skills in the future.

FWIW

xanthian.
Dale King - 15 May 2006 19:23 GMT
>> Well, as I said, I may be anecdotal about this.
>
> And a good example of why anecdotal evidence is unreliable.  So we know
> what?  That there is probably at least one unqualified or unprofessional
> account representative who works for TekSystems.  Hardly the basis for
> any kind of action.

Having just gone through the process of finding a new job I can say that
in general recruiting is not really that skilled of a position and
recruiters are somewhere down around lawyers in terms of ethics. All a
recruiter does is get job descriptions that ask for ridiculous
requirements and hope that they randomly get someone to come along that
matches those requirements.

I had a recruiter while he was calling my references ask them for names
of potential candidates. That's sleazy!

Unless you are someone like a high-paid management executive you won't
find recruiters that will actually work for you.

> I, too, have found TekSystems to be a very qualified and well-run
> organization.  I was specifically impressed that their recruiters for
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> recommending candidates.  I'd never seen that before in a recruiting
> firm.

I agree. TEKSystems comes to our JUG (although only to give a plug at
the beginning) and another training/recruiting firm (Knowledge Services)
provides the facilities for the meeting.

But even though they provide these don't get fooled into thinking that
recruiters are working for you. Your chances of getting a good job
through a recruiter is not that high unless you are very qualified and
even then they will often feed you jobs that are beneath you.

It's not that they are particularly evil or malicious, it's just the
nature of the business. Recruiting is fairly unskilled job.

Signature

 Dale King

Darryl L. Pierce - 15 May 2006 20:50 GMT
> Well, as I said, I may be anecdotal about this.

Maybe it's not the company but instead simply the recruiter you dealt
with that's the problem?

Signature

Darryl L. Pierce <mcpierce@gmail.com>
http://mcpierce.multiply.com/
"What do you care what people think, Mr. Feynman?"

zburnham@gmail.com - 15 May 2006 21:17 GMT
Thought I'd share a blog entry written as an open letter to some
spamming recruiter:

http://crankyyoungbastard.blogspot.com/2006/04/i-love-recruiters-no-matter-what-
you.html


Gratuitous plug, sure, but maybe it's worth a laugh or two.
John Gagon - 16 May 2006 00:28 GMT
CrankyYoungBastard wrote something to someone replying to n levels of
someone who eventually replied to John Gagon who wrote previously about
TekSystems WARNING:

Disclaimer John Gagon is not responsible for any misunderstandings that
may result from invoking the unholy name of John Gagon while drinking
cappucino at Italian restaurants with oriental women.

> Thought I'd share a blog entry written as an open letter to some
> spamming recruiter:
>
> http://crankyyoungbastard.blogspot.com/2006/04/i-love-recruiters-no-matter-what-
you.html

>
> Gratuitous plug, sure, but maybe it's worth a laugh or two.

While a bit cussword dense, I was laughing my f#$#@!$ a$$ off at part
of that. I really needed that. Hehe.

John Gagon

--

John Gagon
John Gagon Enterprises.
Disclaimer John Gagon is not responsible for any misunderstandings that
may result from invoking the unholy name of John Gagon while drinking
cappucino at Italian restaurants with oriental women.


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