Anyone who read my earlier thread knows I had a normal job lined up, sadly things didn't pan out so I am back to Merchandising/Product Recalls/Mystery Shopping, and so forth, as I look for something normal or more clients.

Today after a long one, I got a call from an agency that had found my CV, and had a part-time job they thought I'd be great for. In under 5 minutes, I managed to prove to the recruiter the job wasn't worth my time to do just based on the hourly wage, and the overhead to do the job. He admitted as I was hanging up that he had tried to get seasoned merchandisers before, and he's come to realize that if we're seasoned we're smart enough to do those equations before we accept the job which made his job a lot harder. I sense a level of respect from him in that statement.

I can't say if this is universal, but it's nice to see someone outside the companies that hire us, have a level of respect for those of us who do this job year after year.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2016 12:57PM by OldDog.

I'm sorry things didn't work out for you. I'm always baffled when recruiters get indignant when I ask them specifics about a job. Certain stores you know upfront are going to be a problem. The " you just have to go in and set this endcap" has no relationship to the reality of doing anything in certain stores, at least the ones around here. Just go in indeed. Unfortunately few of the recruiters have ever done the job, so just don't understand the inherent problems.
If a job is worth while, we are seeking them out, they don't have to cold call us. I've never been happy with a job I accepted over the phone. The presented job vs. the reality never matched. Nevermore.

Poor recruiter guy. He knows he needs to be fishing at the bottom of the barrel because of the pay. So he'll never feel a sense of accomplishment even when he does accomplish filling the position because he knows whoever takes it is not experienced enough to know it's not worth it. This is really the mantra for merchandising in the last 12 or so years since the smaller companies like Lawrence and Driveline opened their books. Worse yet now that I.C. projects with companies like SPAR manage to get clients and people to do merchandising work, and barely at that, who only do it in order to not be homeless.

Funny thing is, it's the client who ultimately suffers. Have the clients, or their marketing reps, gone into the stores lately to see what's happening? I don't think so. The marketing reps aren't even the customer for most merchandised products on the market now. They're 20 somethings, straight out of college, who can afford Lauderée and could give a rats a$$ about L'Oreal or Cover Girl. They have their cloth diapers delivered and don't want to help muck up the environment so they know nothing about huggies. But there they are, marketing products they have no esteem for and chalking them up to be low grade and paying as such. Ask me how I know, because I paid for my daughters to go to college and that's what they are like. Awesome to them and all of that, they're better off than me.

But all of that took away the ability to be middle class if you are a merchandiser anymore. The only way that I can still make between $40k and $70k is to get in early with Brand Ambassador projects that have first and second year marketing money. So every year, or every season sometimes, there I am, knocking on doors and trying to fit my 27 different companies I've worked for over the last 5 years on one page of a resume.
Woe is me! Woe are us!

Actually I feel like I am not breaking any laws or agreements saying this.

It was for a major insurance company, it was scanning documents and sending them to the correct department. Not the hardest job around.

I told the guy the truth, with his pay contact local universities and colleges. 4-8 PM is a prime time for students to work, and they won't have the overhead I would. The wage was better than what fast food places offer.