Over on Chris Byrne's site there's an interesting post about a Websphere Portal Administrator job. They're looking for a highly qualified resource. The rate: $13.46 per hour.
Consensus on the comments seems to be that the job post represents a diabolically clever way to get H1-B resources into jobs at rates that Americans can't or won't accept.
Not sure that I agree on the motive. I see this all the time on the big job boards and it has nothing to do with cleverness.....more cluelessness.
Here's the real post on HotJobs.com. It's a full time job, not a contract. Definitely the same job, in Marrietta, GA, same closing date, same job description, and based on the resources experience, a relatively reasonable (for this economy and government work) market-rate salary.
Here's how we get crazy stuff like this:
-BigCluelessCo needs a highly skilled tech resource
-They email BigCutStaffingCo, a tier-1 IBM BP with a reasonable job req and a reasonable rate
So far so good - then the wheels fall off:
-BigCutStaffingCo scatters messages to as many spare-bedroom based "staffing agencies" as they can find with the same job req and the reasonable rate - less their cut
-Some of those "agencies" email other "agencies", the req stays the same but the rate gets lower with each additional level
-Some of those "agencies" advertise on sites like the one in Chris' post, and others.
In this case, somewhere along the line the fairly reasonable original full time post morphed into the contract job from hell with typing speed requirements and a "you pay us" salary level.
This is how you have insane stuff like this posted every day on Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice, etc.
My advice - ignore these posts. They're the career -search equivalent of spam. If there are too many of them on a job search site, ingore that site too.
This is a great example of a serious modern Web problem, and probably a great opportunity, to solve problems for the three groups affected by Job spam - Job sites, employers, and job seekers.
Job spam like this should be a serious issue for the job boards. Their existence relies on their ability to link employers and job seekers, and they are failing. They are probably positioned the best to fix the problem, but I only see things getting worse as time goes by. Have a look at the meta job-posting site Indeed.com for any job category (That's where I found the original job). There are hundreds of postings on multiple sites via multiple agencies for a single job. If this keeps up these sites will eventually be unusable. Already I find I find much better opportunities via qualified contacts via my personal network, and on sites like LinkedIn and FaceBook.
Also, I have serious questions about why employers would put up with shenanigans like this. If I were them I'd be pretty frustrated. Here's the problems for them:
-The job is unfulfillable because there are no appropriate responses
-If a resource is actually found, the contract terms of multiple tiers of "agencies" make contracts non-negotiable and/or non-executable
-If a resource can be found, and a contract can be negotiated, the project is a disaster from the first minute because the customer and the person doing the work have vastly different expectations regarding the level of job function and the resource's skillset.
Lastly, job seekers have to be clever about this stuff. Fight it, or go around it - I choose to go around it when I can.
Tricks for job seekers:
-If you see a job post that looks good but has a crazy rate or terms, google a paragraph or two of the requirements, the home city, and the closing date. Chances are you will find the original post.
-Indeed.com is also a great resource for finding the actual real original jobs.
-LinkedIn and FaceBook are great resources for finding real jobs, but not free of job spam either - but at least you can see who you're dealing with, and try to find the original employer.
Consensus on the comments seems to be that the job post represents a diabolically clever way to get H1-B resources into jobs at rates that Americans can't or won't accept.
Not sure that I agree on the motive. I see this all the time on the big job boards and it has nothing to do with cleverness.....more cluelessness.
Here's the real post on HotJobs.com. It's a full time job, not a contract. Definitely the same job, in Marrietta, GA, same closing date, same job description, and based on the resources experience, a relatively reasonable (for this economy and government work) market-rate salary.
Here's how we get crazy stuff like this:
-BigCluelessCo needs a highly skilled tech resource
-They email BigCutStaffingCo, a tier-1 IBM BP with a reasonable job req and a reasonable rate
So far so good - then the wheels fall off:
-BigCutStaffingCo scatters messages to as many spare-bedroom based "staffing agencies" as they can find with the same job req and the reasonable rate - less their cut
-Some of those "agencies" email other "agencies", the req stays the same but the rate gets lower with each additional level
-Some of those "agencies" advertise on sites like the one in Chris' post, and others.
In this case, somewhere along the line the fairly reasonable original full time post morphed into the contract job from hell with typing speed requirements and a "you pay us" salary level.
This is how you have insane stuff like this posted every day on Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice, etc.
My advice - ignore these posts. They're the career -search equivalent of spam. If there are too many of them on a job search site, ingore that site too.
This is a great example of a serious modern Web problem, and probably a great opportunity, to solve problems for the three groups affected by Job spam - Job sites, employers, and job seekers.
Job spam like this should be a serious issue for the job boards. Their existence relies on their ability to link employers and job seekers, and they are failing. They are probably positioned the best to fix the problem, but I only see things getting worse as time goes by. Have a look at the meta job-posting site Indeed.com for any job category (That's where I found the original job). There are hundreds of postings on multiple sites via multiple agencies for a single job. If this keeps up these sites will eventually be unusable. Already I find I find much better opportunities via qualified contacts via my personal network, and on sites like LinkedIn and FaceBook.
Also, I have serious questions about why employers would put up with shenanigans like this. If I were them I'd be pretty frustrated. Here's the problems for them:
-The job is unfulfillable because there are no appropriate responses
-If a resource is actually found, the contract terms of multiple tiers of "agencies" make contracts non-negotiable and/or non-executable
-If a resource can be found, and a contract can be negotiated, the project is a disaster from the first minute because the customer and the person doing the work have vastly different expectations regarding the level of job function and the resource's skillset.
Lastly, job seekers have to be clever about this stuff. Fight it, or go around it - I choose to go around it when I can.
Tricks for job seekers:
-If you see a job post that looks good but has a crazy rate or terms, google a paragraph or two of the requirements, the home city, and the closing date. Chances are you will find the original post.
-Indeed.com is also a great resource for finding the actual real original jobs.
-LinkedIn and FaceBook are great resources for finding real jobs, but not free of job spam either - but at least you can see who you're dealing with, and try to find the original employer.
Here's another
Some ads say No Third Parties. From the other side, job applicants should say no 4th, 5th, 6th.... parties.
Posted by: Dan Sickles | July 10, 2009 at 08:39 AM
Agreed!
when I get emails (daily) from "agencies" with contract "opportunities", here are the questions I ask:
-Rate (instead of a 20 minute preamble about requirements, qualifications, etc.)
-How many layers are between the person doing the work and the person paying for the work?
-What percentage does the "agency" typically charge for their "services"?
-What background/expertise/relationship does the "agency" have with the proposed solution and the party paying for the services?
90% of "agency" callers/emailers can not/will not answer these questions, so it's a quick way to save time and weed out the job spammers.
Posted by: Brian Benz | July 10, 2009 at 10:13 AM