SocraticGadfly: Tell me you're a capitalist without telling me

February 02, 2024

Tell me you're a capitalist without telling me

I recently was interviewed by a recruiter. (Whom I may name here at some point later.)

Asked about why did I leave job X after 2.5 years, job Y after 1.5, job Z after 2, etc.

First, as I noted, every move but one of mine in the last 15 years has been related to the turmoil in my industry. Guess I should be putting that more up-front on the resume, but, nonetheless, I have no problem explaining it.

Second, I not only kept my head above water but in general (in nominal dollars, at least) moved forward financially.

And, said recruiter said she had decades in this profession before setting up shop as a recruitment and placement company for various companies. They mentioned a few of those companies. Medium-small to large; names didn't impress me.

The recruiter next hit the spiel that "companies don't want to pay to relocate you" etc. if they think you'll leave in a couple of years. 

Rather than asking right away if these changes were because of industry turmoil and decimation.

Oh, I understand. 

That said, if the job is good enough, I'll be staying. And, by that, I mean not only pay, but in general.

Part of me looks at companies in this industry phoning shit in and says "Peter Principle."

I did learn some resume tweak ideas, even if the recruiter didn't email me the ideas in detail because they wrote me off. But, what makes a "good" resume seems to change every five years. Isn't that itself part of capitalism? Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to make you stumble into the furniture?

Finally? This is also a reminder that recruiters ALWAYS work for employers first, employees second.

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