11.21.2008

Sales Blitz hell!!!

This is the time of year for giving thanks, for relaxing and being able to slack off a bit, right? Well apparently not in the jacked up world of technical recruiting!

So for those of you who don't know my history, let me take you back a bit. I started off 2008 in a nice office (if you like cheap wood paneling) all to myself, head of my department (me and a pregnant girl). The company was small, local and perfect for me. I got to use my very expensive Marketing degree (you hear the 'rents cheering in the background) and really liked what I did. The pay was just okay, but I liked my job description.
Fast forward to July 25th, around 2:13pm. I'm sitting in my retro office, planning an event and the HR manager walks in. Now this was not uncommon. She and I got along well and would occasionally waste a few minutes (hours) shooting the breeze. So I look up with my winning smile waiting for a cute anecdote about her 7 year old, Myles. Instead I'm greeted with a somber-look. So she basically says the company is not doing so well, we're having to let people go. Me being the invincible (ie naive) person that I am say, "Oh, well that stinks. Who has to go?" totally thinking since I'm the only one in my department, I'm safe. HR lady says she's sorry, but I need to collect my things and turn in my keys, I'll get severance pay, don't-let-the-door-hit-me-in-the-ass. Not a great situation, but hey, I got to go to the beach a couple hours earlier than I planned.
A month later, I get a job with QTS. Now during the interview process I knew this was the place for me. The office is 18 women and 3 guys. All of the women are anywhere from 25-50 and sooooo nice. It seemed like a great environment (and it really is). I accepted the job, not really knowing what exactly I would be doing, but the part I could determine sounded like cake. I started the first week of September and it has been interesting to say the least.
My main job is to call about a million people a day to find out how there business is doing and if they have any open jobs that my company can help them find employees for. We're not really a temp agency, more of a head-hunter since we deal with engineers, designers, CFOs and the like. These past few months have helped me learn more about myself than anything else. For instance, I despise talking with strangers on the phone!!! It's weird, because if I talk to them once, then they never feel like a stranger again, but I have to make myself call that first time. I've also decided that I'm not a salesperson. Luckily, the majority of my job doesn't require that but I can so easily take "No" for an answer. I think this is because it annoys me to be on the other end of that and get stuck with the uber-salesy telemarketer...
So, here's the point of my rant. This week the president of our company, who I really do like, tells us that she's come up with a great contest. Ooooh contest!! And a I'm always the Jackpot winner in Biloxi ....not! So the contest is to "dig up" the most job orders for our recruiters to work on next week. (A job order being an order to help fill a job the client has open) Yippee Skippee! The dutiful employee I am, I tried to be positive, but I was really dreading it. As I'm sure you all know, the economy sucks right now. Companies aren't hiring; they're laying off. The only companies hiring right now are the fuel companies and the insurance companies (80% surplus anyone???) Anyway, the contest started Tuesday and I talked to over 50 different hiring managers and got 48 are-you-living-under-a-rock responses. Two clients felt bad for me and I'm pretty sure they just made something up to get me off the phone (has anyone heard of a chemical company needing an elephant scrubber?). There are 6 other people throughout my company that do the same thing I do...4 of them are in the same boat I am; sucking...the other 2, who are based in New Orleans and Houston (can anyone say OIL and GAS?) did really well. They got, like, 15 orders and I got 2. Here's the really disappointing part, the grand prize was $1000. Yeah, there goes Christmas for the family. Everyone's getting cookies from me this year!

Oh well, the contest is finally over and I'm exhausted. I really want to do nothing 'til Thanksgiving, but I have a feeling Prez is going to have another brainstorm this weekend and we'll be doing a Turkey Toss contest in the halls here next week. Wish me luck! Cookie and Al need new collars!

2 comments:

Temple said...

You would so totally take them ALL on a Turkey Toss! Hope your week/month gets better! ;)

Avery Tales said...

I have confidence in your turkey tossing skillzz. Don't feel bad, I hate calling strangers as well. She needs to hold a dance-off. You would kick their butts in that thing!