If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Looking for a new job is a vulnerable time in any architect’s life. Not only do we have to update our resumes but we also need to update our portfolios and accrue our working drawings. So it makes sense that recruiters would only aid in this process. This sometimes is not the case.

Early in my career I was working at a small firm and wanted to make a leap to a larger environment where I could gain more experience and tap into higher profile projects. Having been contacted by a few recruiting firms already via email (i guess they search the industry resume postings for likely victims), I decided it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot. I returned the email of a recruiter at Aerotek who had already contacted me multiple times. After exchanging an email or two, I had a detailed phone conversation and set up a time to meet.

This meeting would prove to be a pivotal point in my young career. I went to their midtown New York office early enough to show up to my existing job a little late without arising too much suspicion. Once I was called up to their offices I was told that my recruiter would be with me shortly. I had earnestly prepared for the meeting and held my latest, greatest portfolio in my hand with a CD of my work in PDF form. I ended up waiting nearly 45 minutes before ANYONE would even acknowledge my presence again. Finally, someone asked me who I was there to see. Annoyed, I told them again and they disappeared for another ten minutes. A recruiter eventually came out to attend to me. The problem was that this person was not even the recruiter I had been speaking with the whole time! Realizing that my time was not as important to them as it was to me, I politely declined and went to work (much later than I originally intended).

This of course soured me to Aerotek and recruiters altogether. After having been told that I would be catered to, I was then ignored and insulted. Fortunately, in one of the emails we had exchanged, I was given a list of firms that typically use Aerotek for recruiting. The position I ended up receiving was actually with one of the companies on this list. I soon came across employees at my new firm that were Aerotek products (they must have waited around long enough). It turns out that these people were not employed by the firm but where paid directly by Aerotek. The way it worked out was that the firm would pay Aerotek for the hours worked and then Aerotek would cut a check to the employee after taking their cut off the top. Of course this is how Aerotek makes their money and they are entitled to it, but the recruit was not being paid for their full value. I was glad that I had left their office that day.

Over time, I forgot about Aerotek. That was until about 8 months into my new position. Aerotek came calling wondering if I would be interested in meeting with a recruiter to discuss possible career opportunities. No thanks.

If I come across as being biased, a quick Google search confirmed some of my sentiments here, here and here.