First Recruitment Group

[chinajack10]

I'm new to the forum as a poster but have often sought advice from previous threads. Hello finally.

I have plenty of experience with pimps and know how bad most can be but this reaches a new level. I'm now looking at my next contract and had a call from the guys mentioned above. Blah blah blah contract infrastructure role good rate, matches my skillset, happy to go ahead. Unfortunately the guy I'm dealing with is a Trainee "Consultant" and for the first time in my life has questioned my CV as fraudulent.

Background. I'm 26, spent 6 years in the forces in an IT role and left in 2011 to pursue contracting as a civvy. Joined up at the minimum age of 15 years 9 months. That puts my rightful experience in various technologies and in this industry at 10 years. Now this snotty nosed uni grad has now had the audacity to question how somebody of my age can have 10 years relevant experience.

I'm very lucky but class myself as the model contractor. Never been out of contract, I have a very good reputation with prior clients and tend to better myself by pursuing new leads every 6 months. I've been security cleared right through to DV and still this runt feels the need to question me.

My email read along the lines of "consider my application withdrawn, you're extremely unprofessional, I will be submitting a complaint and not everybody feels the need to pursue 4 years of wasted time studying towards a history of Paul McCartney degree." Also mentioned I will be making others aware of the details of our conversation through forums.

It just makes me want to

[cojak]

I would say don't be so tetchy.

I would also say that at 15.9 months (really? you're still counting the .9 bit? I last did that when I was 8...) you would have been an apprentice for at least 3 of those years, and so I would have expected to see 3 year apprenticeship plus 7 years.

I would question you further if I was hiring you for a role, tbh. It won't matter a toss in 10 years time, but be prepared to be questioned about it up until you're 30...

[FatLazyContractor]

Not sure what you would be achieving fighting with the pimp. It is a difficult world so deal with it.

People throw tulip at you. Dive, duck and move on.

The agent had a genuine question looking at your CV. All you have to do is clarify him/her what you've put on your CV.

[northernladuk]

Could he be on about 'relevant' experience? I've seen a couple of service management CV's that state 'an experienced Service Manager with 15 years experience ' but when you dig though they only have 4 as a SDM and the rest is a bit if PM, BA general IT stuff. At that point the applicant is on a sticky wicket so I'll dig in to his CV line by line to see what else he's over sold and generally it's not hard to unravel.

Also relevant may not be the case if he's looking for someone with experience in Banks and you are military.

At 26 years I'd be writing off a number of years as learning and development. Your 10 years will be vastly different to my last 10 years as I'm a lot older so I'd also question your statement as a prospective client.

Don't get to upset about it. Stuff happens but that email does make you sound like a right pillock.

[chinajack10]

I would also say that at 15.9 months (really? you're still counting the .9 bit? I last did that when I was 8...) you would have been an apprentice for at least 3 of those years, and so I would have expected to see 3 year apprenticeship plus 7 years.

The .9 months is stating the minimum age required to join HM forces, or was at the time (not sure if it still is). I can understand why that came across as I am 15 and a half etc With regards to apprenticeships, it's not something I did. My training, including basic, was 8 months in total and I spent the remaining 5 years managing submarine comms systems.

I understand the age side of things and have managed to skirt this for quite some time. Luckily my CV reads well. I'm fully aware of my age and implications this can bring however being called out providing a fake CV does grind my gears. It is by the by and there is no love lost as a contract is a contract and there is always something out there. I think if this had been questioned once and he had relied on my response then I would have carried on as usual. Recruiters are recruiters at the end of the day and are after £ in pocket but I seriously can't be bothered wasting my time or theirs when dealing with silly questions. The inexperience of the individual involved shone through as a seasoned recruiter with doubts would have tossed my details aside and moved onto the next.

As per my feelings, I don't feel upset/morbid/suicidal following this exchange of words, just amazed that any professional anywhere could have the audacity to say "ner ner ner ner ner I don't believe you!"

[northernladuk]

I'm just being a devils advocate here but I'd question those as attributes for a model contractor. I'd say a model contractor is someone that knows how to run his business and finances and is aware of the legislation and what to do in situations of non payment and contractual issues. Anyone can sit at the desk and do a good job, even permies!

[chinajack10]

Agreed, questions were answered, this went on over 3 or 4 emails. My age says one thing prior roles say another, the date of birth side was required due to nature of the role so provided that with no issues.

My experiencehas been relevant up to today so CV doesn't read as Gunner>IT. Cisco, Linux, Windows, SAN etc have all been my background so reading the CV there isn't much variation between roles.

[chinajack10]

I'm just being a devils advocate here but I'd question those as attributes for a model contractor. I'd say a model contractor is someone that knows how to run his business and finances and is aware of the legislation and what to do in situations of non payment and contractual issues. Anyone can sit at the desk and do a good job, even permies!

Agreed, a good ltd company owner should be aware of the legalities surrounding contracting. Luckily Mrs ChinaJack is a contracts solicitor so assists on this side of things. Where roles are concerned I avoid hanging about as a disguised permie, I chop and change as I see myself providing a service to projects/companies and once I feel my job has been done I will move on. I am quite selective where contracts are concerned and avoid support/managed service roles completely.

[psychocandy]

OP - just to clarify. Did the agent actually say you're lying or did he say how've you got 10 years experience if you're only 26 now? Big difference.

To be fair, I'd have asked as well if someone was 26 and said that. I'll be honest, experience when you're 16 or 17 is pushing it a bit I think.....

What about those of us who went to college, maybe worked during sandwich courses etc. I certainly dont count that. Only proper jobs since leaving college (although I'm so old most of those are irrelevant).

Bottom line though is that there are a lot of pimps who are nobheads who think they know it all. A lot of them come from carphone warehouse into recruitment and think they're bertie big bollox then.

If someone is an arse or doesnt believe you or whatever just ignore and move on.

Sending them an email like that is just a waste of time IMHO. They wont give a monkeys....

[chinajack10]

Well said. Recruiters are something only some have the luxury of avoiding. With regards to proper jobs, I was serving in the Royal Navy from 15 making a contribution from finishing training at 16. All relevant and I would class as a full SysAdmin role. No gap years or school for me unfortunately.

Asking the question is fine in my book as I had provided him with all the information he needed about prior experience. It was 3 emails asking if I'm sure my CV is right as they find it "hard to believe" it is correct.

Anyway, the main point of this is to be aware of these guys. I'ev kept arms length from certain companies due to threads on CUK. It was a rant and something that I found extraordinary seeing as over the past 12 contracts nothing like this has ever come up.