During a call with a "corporate" recruiter today he started to ask how about my SOA and WFC experience. BTW, it's a .net job.

I asked, Do you mean WCF; windows communication foundation?

He responded with,
"You know, I have no idea.  It's written down on this paper cup and you're probably right.  This is way above my head anyway.  How about I just show your resume to the hiring manager to see if he wants to talk to you then call you back later, okay?"

At this point I said okay.

Windows Foundation Classes?

At least the guy admited he had no clue and came up with a reasonable solution.   But it was written down on a paper cup?

 damn, there are too many 3-letter acronyms starting with W.   First thing I thought of was WPF.

clively:

During a call with a "corporate" recruiter today he started to ask how about my SOA and WFC experience.

If he asked for your WTF experience, you could have pointed out your 101 posts.... 

tster:

 damn, there are too many 3-letter acronyms starting with W.

and I'm sure somewhere out there a Boss wants his application to use all of them! At Once!

I always found that the ones who sound like they are from India will end up saying "I'll let you talk to my Manager later." This is after the part where communication is sometimes at it's best in the form the dialog being, them saying an acronym they read from my resume and me saying "yes".  I effing hate call centers in India, and usually never replied to their messages. But I had this one guy from India who just kept leaving me messages, becoming more and more irrate with each voicemail. Never replied to any of em lol.

Vechni:

I always found that the ones who sound like they are from India will end up saying "I'll let you talk to my Manager later." This is after the part where communication is sometimes at it's best in the form the dialog being, them saying an acronym they read from my resume and me saying "yes".  I effing hate call centers in India, and usually never replied to their messages. But I had this one guy from India who just kept leaving me messages, becoming more and more irrate with each voicemail. Never replied to any of em lol.

What does a person being from India have to do with anything? 

Vechni:

I always found that the ones who sound like they are from India will end up saying "I'll let you talk to my Manager later." This is after the part where communication is sometimes at it's best in the form the dialog being, them saying an acronym they read from my resume and me saying "yes".  I effing hate call centers in India, and usually never replied to their messages. But I had this one guy from India who just kept leaving me messages, becoming more and more irrate with each voicemail. Never replied to any of em lol.

Note that not everyone *from* India is *in* India. Also note that hiring Indian managers do exist within the US, and presumably other places which are not India as well. (Admittedly, I haven't actually worked for one, but I've known a few. My prior boss had one dotted-line reporting to him for a few years, for example.) Also note that while some Indians (and, for that matter, Pakistanis) may resemble Apu Nahasapeemapetilon to some degree, others only share an accent with him, and a rare few don't even have that in common with him.

That having been said, I have also had my share of interviews where the communication was poor. It was quite a while before I had the realization the whole thing would work out much more smoothly if I'd simply respond, "Foreign accents easily cause me comprehension problems; I cannot understand you very well at all. This isn't your problem, it's mine - but unless you're willing to give me most of my instruction in writing, I don't think I'd be a good fit for you." Of course, said response was in writing both times I used it. (Note: the two individuals actually had very strong accents. The wording was intended to be diplomatic, however.)

Disclaimer: I realize you could have caller ID or some other means of knowing that said individuals are actually calling from India. However, your verbiage suggested your determination was auditory, rather than something more definite, and so I replied with that assumption.

 My secret to figuring out if a call centre is really a super-long-distance overseas joint?  It's easier than you might think!

 Usually the audio quality is low, but this can happen anywhere.  The real telltale sign is the delay.  Even with VoIP, there is inherent delay, and you certainly can notice it if you train yourself.  :-)

The worst are the calls that aren't VoIP, but end up routed via satellite (do they still use those?).  I recall how it felt like using a walkie-talkie in that case.  :-(

Jeff S:

But it was written down on a paper cup?

Apparently so. 

BTW, the guy was not Indian, nor was there an actual communication (ha ha) problem.  It was simply that he rather quickly admitted that he was not even qualified to ask those questions much less evaluate my response so he punted on it.

tgape:

Note that not everyone *from* India is *in* India

Yes, I also hate call centers from Inda. These particular callers with a heavy accent always had jobs in different states, and would just go on and on when I told them I wasn't interested. It was like instead of a potential job opp, I was cancelling my telecom service all over again.

tgape:

Disclaimer: I realize you could have caller ID or some other means of knowing that said individuals are actually calling from India. However, your verbiage suggested your determination was auditory, rather than something more definite, and so I replied with that assumption.

Hm. I think they were usually 800 numbers. However, even if they were in an area code that was at best in the same state (but none with an accent ever lived in my city, nor did any offer anything in my city) I still didn't return their calls.  And more importantly, from my experience, I usually corresponded via email and telephone as opposed to someome who just mass calls. None of the strong accent callers ever emailed me, however *all* of the local recruiters sent both an email and called in the same day (plus of course were able to mention oppurtunities I was interested in researching).

Vechni:

These particular callers with a heavy accent always had jobs in different states, and would just go on and on when I told them I wasn't interested. It was like instead of a potential job opp, I was cancelling my telecom service all over again.

I guess you never heard of just hanging up ...  I bet used car salesmen like you.