My New Job - and an earnest plea for a better candidate experience

I don't wish to load this down with personal stuff. But.

I have recently been pleased to have been offered a full time employee job to replace my self-employment. I did enjoy sailing my own ship, but there are particular reasons for wanting to do this now (which I won't bore anyone else with).

As I know my new employer, the process was painless.

I'd have been a fool to take the first offer I got (actually as it turns out not a fool at all); and I took some time talking to recruiters.

I realised that some of these people seem to operate in an odd parallel universe. Most people talking to me seem to realise I am not a young and inexperienced person. I therefore wonder how it is that they can take up so much of my time telling me about a job and then casually mention later that the salary we spoke about is actually 10-30k less.

I mean what on earth is the point of that? They wasted their own time, and mine, why?

Perhaps the funniest was the one who accused me of not ever having been serious about her job after I turned it down. I made it clear at the outset that one thing I'd like to do was reacquaint myself with the house I'm paying the mortgage on, and the people who live there, including a small one who calls me Daddy when she recognises me. In this day and age there is no serious excuse for forcing people to live out of a suitcase all the time.

This lady seemed to understand - then I spoke (telephone interviews) to two existing staff members at the prospective employer - both of them gave the impression that I wouldn't be seeing much of home - "if the client is paying they expect to see you there" and "you'll have to decide if you want to continue living the contractor lifestyle" were not giving me much reassurance.

I just don't get this - do some people just shrug and say "Oh well 10K less than every conversation we had? Not to worry, I mean it'll be a struggle paying the mortgage, but it's a great basis for starting a new employer/employee relationship knowing that they either employed a liar or an incompetant to recruit me - or they are liars and/or imcompetants themselves. Or both"

So please, recruiters, don't waste my time and your own. Tell the truth about the job - including salary and maybe you'll have an easier life too.

I'm quite happy with my new job - and because recruiters couldn't tell the truth, no money changed hands to get me here. Instead I dealt with people I know, trust and have worked with before.