Have recruitment consultants destroyed the IT business?

I wrote my first program at age of 10. At age 17th I rewrote soviet IBM mainframe clone operating system as I didn’t found it written best possible way by IBM. Getting hold to the first Z80 processor, I built my first PC early 80ties. Being impress by Apple “Lisa”, which was transported to Soviet Union in Apple boxes during US embargo, I wrote the first graphical user interface to 8 bit computers and later for PC having the first graphic card named “Hercules” inside long before Microsoft Windows.

During 1989-1998 I built one of the successful IT companies in Baltic States and being able to increase my original $2K investment to $68K in the period of 1998-2000 was using it to build up international business for my shrink wrapping software applications and everything went well. 

The September 11th changed everything.

Going back to Estonia in 2002 believing that maybe my experiences can be useful there I got robbed three times within a year. As most of my assets where in my notebook computer, those where constantly lost in the period, when I desperately was trying to recover those. As the final insult when desperately trying to fight for my rights those crimes should be registered when public organisations cannot solve those, Estonian court decided that I never had a computer and I do not know anything about the computers?

I was shocked how and when those ignorant, unintelligent criminals suddenly got to the power?

I was away only two years. Trying to help Estonians and preparing several projects I soon found myself fighting against corrupted bureaucrats. Afterwards I have been wondering how those people got to their positions?

Sure, my place wasn’t there so without any assets and money I started to hitchhike over the Europe hoping to find honest society somewhere else.

I settled in UK autumn 2004 and initially getting help from my friends, they hoped that my skills and experiences will be soon again useful. However, that was wrong assumption. When sending my CV to recruitment agencies I have encountered lot of absurd situations. Here are some of samples what encountered for me dealing with recruitment agencies in England:

  1. When applying to be Test Analyst in 6 month project paying £250 per day I got the answer “In your CV you didn’t listed the specific tasks what you have performed to your employers. British employers don’t tolerate persons who take responsibilities!” What kinds of Scam projects are in question, where is no responsibilities?
  2. When applying to provide user expertise for the software product I had once provided valuable feedback in development process, I got the answer “But you haven’t been used it. Our customer expects at least two years user experience?” Do novice users really have better product knowledge, than those who developed it?
  3. When applying to provide expertise to use the software product I successfully trained the end-users and developers in Baltic States I got the answer “We are in UK, we need here UK end user experience”!!!
  4. When once I asked what kind of project and to which customer you are recruiting the specialist, I got an answer “we are not aloud to tell”??? Can I really steal the project when they have already contract in place and already recruiting team? Probably there was again Scam project going on.
  5. Frequently those HR consultants even spell the product name wrong not having any idea what the product and project is about? How they can be so confident that they are choosing the best project team without any knowledge of it?

Not all recruitment consultants have been so rude. Those, who where recruiting to UK government and financial sector, but as foreign person never worked for government, I just cannot have necessary security clearance. And I do not want to work for the governments. My life goal has been always to help innovative small businesses to grow as those are basics of all economy.

I’m also most familiar how to help those with similar problems I have had.

I haven’t yet figured out the meaning of the terms “career level”, “career plan”, “overqualified”, “salary expectations”, etc? How can anyone be “overqualified” giving the best value to business? Are competent persons always “overqualified” to make room for those incompetent ones whose primary goal is their “career plan” and “salary expectations”?

And how can it be, that those persons, who never had written any program, had no part to build the industry, now deciding who can work there?