Ahhh that must be why my firefox defaults to Yahoo. I use mint as well. And the first thing I do is change the defaults to google.

Hope you didn't bork your system too severely. I've been using mint since unity came out and have found it to be excellent.

I run both side by side because I have one site I need which for some completely unknown reason doesn't work in Chrome. Outside of that though I use chrome for everything. There are a couple of things I wish I could do in Chrome that firefox does - vertical tabs for one. But then I discovered Tabs Outliner which fulfils my requirements better.

I like having synced bookmarks, history etc across all my devices and I don't care about google harvesting my data. (I don't think I have ever clicked an internet ad on purpose)

Don't people change the default search as part of the first set of things you do when you install a browser?

I'm sure I have had to manually add google as the default search on firefox for ages (not in the us)

I have issues with traffic lights seeing me on my motorcycle. Not often admittedly but still often enough to be noticeable. It tends to be on 2 lane roads which have been subjected to heavy traffic. I'm not sure if the loops have been damaged or if it is me using a different position due to the damaged surface but they cant sense me. (Bike is a Honda CBR1000rr)

There was a wind turbine near me that was removed by local council order. It was one of those spiral tube looking ones and the person had put it up in their front yard on essentially a flag pole with guy wires.

The thing had a fair amount of slap in the pole which was kinda scary to watch. But the main thing was this thing screamed when its speed got up. Not sure what it was, whether it was the bearings, the motor or maybe the brakes but it started to sound like a jet turbine spinning up when it was going fast (and bloody hell did it spin fast!)

I used to drive past it on the way to and from work and could comfortably hear it over the car's engine and aircon with the windows closed.

I worked for 3 years in recruitment in the UK. I don't know Computer Futures personally, and all I will say is that I have seen vastly different levels of skill, capability and ethics in recruiters inside the same company. It is a very difficult thing to manage.

Some of the things you have mentioned there are illegal (advertising a role without one for example). Some of the things are pointless. Why do I want to see the CV of someone I cant place? Why send someone on interview when the salary is 20% + out? It wastes everyone's time, including the recruiter.

Then why does anyone specialise in high salary areas? Why aren't we all just placing unskilled labour? I have addressed this elsewhere but simply put, in the highly skilled area, you do not place the raw number of people to make this work and negotiating salaries is easier and takes very little time. Compared to getting someone a job the negotiation part is less that 1% in time.

And believe me I wish this wasn't true. I actually like what I do and I think I provide an important service for people. But I am always battling against the actions of others.

With regards to the impediment to the hiring manager though. I would disagree with that point. A good recruiter will have the contact details and relationships with people you won't even know. So they should be facilitating your contact.

As I have said before I have been operating in the same area for a long time. So I organise about 20% of my interviews without having a CV from a candidate. I do this because I have tracked the right person down, approached them and got them interested in a new role. The clients I speak to trust my judgement and will interview the person on my recommendation alone. This is where a good recruiter can open doors for you.

Yes and no. While it is true that the company is the person who pays the bills it is often the candidate that is more valuable to you. Your example of swapping Person B for Person A is often the opposite in high skilled industries. It tends to be Person A has to choose between Company A,B or C. So though I am technically being paid by the company it is the candidate that means I will earn money. I will be the one who has represented that person to all 3 companies. So which person is my client then?

Also the agent description you have described is illegal in Queensland (not in all states of Australia). I completely understand your definition but operating as an agent like that here is prohibited by law because there were lots of scummy companies that charged people to find them a job then did nothing.

The engineering space saw the same thing as well. I actually felt sorry for one guy who made the mistake of uploading his CV to a job board and his skillsets made him incredibly rare. He basically got a new phone number. But most of those recruiters have flamed out. It was a time when recruitment was relatively easy, the market is much more difficult these days.

Not so far. Though there are some areas where the line seems to blur such as ITC (Intelligent Traffic Control) and instrumentation design for plants. But I specialise on the physical side so the closest I come to those are the mechanical engineers and electrical engineers doing piping design or HV/LV transmission design. I don't really ever cover the next step along so it is out of my experience window.

I was trying to give an example. I know absolutely nothing about the film and sound industry, I was basing that off your previous comment. If you wanted to talk about civil infrastructure, drainage, pump stations and land development then I know the industry.

Recruiters don't just work in IT. No idea why you would be getting calls like that if you aren't in the IT industry. That seems really really odd to me.

But I am also sure that there will be recruiters that work in film and some of them will specialise in sound. I was working on the premise that you were getting a call to talk about your line, not something totally random. Hence not understanding why you would yell at them.

I would hope that if you got a call along the lines of "Hello iluvcapra, My name is Harlequin80 and I specialise in the recruitment of sound specialists in the TV and film industry. Have I got you at a time you could talk? The reason for my call is your name was given to me by, (someone you actually know who has given me your name), or I came across your background on LinkedIn and your experience appears to match what I have been asked to find." You would at least be polite in telling me you weren't interested.

It's one of the reasons I didn't stay in IT recruitment. It is almost impossible to judge the skills of a candidate.

At least in engineering, if you were a Structural Engineer on the Gateway upgrade I know that you have at least some skills. And what's more I know the manager on that job so I can ask them what they thought of you.

I guess it is more of an art than a science.

Couple of generic points (and these are guides rather than set in stone)
* Good people work with good people.
* Good people tend not to boast
* Good people are willing to say they can't do something or that it would be a challenge for them
* Good people are specific in what they want
* Good people tend to have longer stints in each company

On top of that I have been in the civil engineering space for a long time. And while I couldn't design or build a bridge I can hold a conversation about what is involved in doing it. So when someone is talking to me I can get a feel for if I am being spun a line or not.

Finally, after 10 years in the same market I am close friends with a number of the managers in the consultancies and have long working relationships with many more. One of them will know you or of you.

I normally don't post about work on here so try to keep it separate - send an email to harlequin80@mailinator.com and I will email you directly with my contact details.