I miss the 90s

[plutherus]

Damn, I hate this new economy.

I'm still doing job search. In the old days (before the Bush regime took office), I would post my availability to a job site and within a couple of hours I'd have someone call me with an offer, then ask for a current resume.

I've now been searching for three months, and currently have a total of one good lead.

Two people (the Virginia job and the the L.A. one which I've mentioned earlier) both called today, after I called each of them several times, to tell me they've hired someone else. I talked to Chicago yesterday - same thing.

I'm now more qualified than I ever have been in the past for these kinds of positions, yet have had no offers, even after several interviews.

I talked today to one in St. Louis, which looks good. I like the description of the position a lot, and the person who would be my manager seems like a great manager from our hour-long phone interview yesterday.

But they want me to pay my own way to the in-person interview. Now, failing to pay relocation expenses I can understand - with a job offer in hand, a potential candidate can move himself to where he needs to be. However, to expect the candidate to pay $650 out of his own pocket for a job he may or may not get? No other company does that. I've been to out-of-town interviews before, many of them over the years, and I've never talked to a company who even seemed to consider that I'd be paying my own way. If I did that for all my jobs, I'd very quickly go broke.

But, I'm still considering it. On the plus side, I'm the only qualified candidate they've spoken to. I interview well, and I would very likely get an offer if I was to go interview. On the other hand, this kind of raises some major red flags - if this is how they treat potential candidates, how will the company treat me once I'm stuck there? And what will my co-workers be like? SCM is a delicate field. If they only hire people who are either already local, or who are desperate enough to pay their way to an interview, will I be working with competent professionals, or are they only hiring people who can't get work elsewhere?

My manager's talking to the H.R. department now trying to convince them that despite the economy they are not as all-powerful as they believe, so maybe the point will be moot. But yeah, this does worry me...

Comments

[docscarabus.livejournal.com]

That's just really weird. I don't like it. It seems to me that if they want you to pay, they may not be serious in there intentions...I would think that a candidate who DID pay would look a little desparate.