This database developer pilot fish has spent four well-paid years under contract to a data marketing company, and he's very well liked by his fellow developers -- though not so much by some members of management.
"The director was miffed that I was making more money than he was," says fish. "But every time he tried to terminate my contract, the VP or some other bigwig would reinstate it after hearing from the other developers how valuable my technical knowledge was to them. I freely share my wealth and breadth of knowledge because I believe everybody should be the guru, so I don't have to be the only one."
But eventually a round of management politics does get fish's contract terminated, and soon after he spots a job-board posting for a highly skilled Oracle database developer -- "someone who will be the go-to guy for the entire department" -- that makes it sound like fish is exactly who the would-be employer is looking for.
And that's exactly the case: It turns out Would-Be Employer is the outfit that just let fish go.
That starts an inevitable cycle: Fish is inundated with calls and emails from recruiters telling him, "You're a perfect fit for this job!" -- followed by fish explaining that he has just left that IT shop. Followed, naturally enough, by another recruiter calling to tell fish what a perfect fit he'd be.
"After a week, these phone calls were becoming annoying," fish says. "So when the next recruiter contacted me for this position, I asked, 'Did you read my resume?'"
Recruiter replies, "Yes I did, and that's why I think you'd be a perfect fit!" Fine, fish says, go ahead and submit my resume.
A few days later, fish gets a call from the now-irate recruiter. "Why didn't you tell me you just left that company?" he angrily demands.
You said you read my resume, fish says. The name of the company is right there at the top in bold, capital letters.
"He started stammering," reports fish, "so I cut him off and politely told him that I'd already found another contract -- at another division with the same company."
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