Bill martineau's Blog (74)

Cyclical markets require adjustments

Six months ago most Information Technology recruiters were still telling their client companies how it was a candidate driven market and that yes they had to pay more, be less picky and if need be pay to relocate candidate. While that may still be the case in some corners of the world we are seeing the market evolve, and in turn our message to our clients & candidates must change as well.

So as the economy slows, companies, in turn, slow their hiring process, and it’s causing a… Continue

Added by bill martineau on June 10, 2008 at 2:45pm — No Comments

The simple things bring down most interviews

After the long memorial day weekend I found myself without a topic in which to blog about so to try and break the writers block I was reviewing many of the recruiting/career blogs that I frequent for some interesting topics in which to play off of in my article, and wouldn’t you know I found something here.

In a survey about interviewing etiquette Valut.com goes through many questions about how people approach and handle interviewing and while you can pick it apart and read a lot… Continue

Added by bill martineau on May 27, 2008 at 11:58am — 1 Comment

Personal information in the 21st century

We’ve all heard the horror stories of people getting their identity stolen and having piles of bills to pay, but after reading a privacy quiz on darkreading.com discussing how your personal information can be bought and sold by just about anyone who has it I felt a little uncomfortable. Sure most of the answers I would have gotten correct, and of course I don’t provide such information unless I absolutely have to, but as someone who likes their privacy that was certainly a depressing… Continue

Added by bill martineau on May 20, 2008 at 6:18pm — 1 Comment

Today's bargains can cloud future hiring decisions

Everyone loves a bargain, but when hiring talented professionals it can sometimes come back to bite you as you continue to grow your staff. We recently worked with a client that has experienced just such a problem and the fix is hard to swallow. The client has (with our help) found some very talented professional as they moved from a three to a ten person team. Originally they weren’t able to offer top dollar salaries, but because of the strong growth and current technology they’re jobs were… Continue

Added by bill martineau on May 15, 2008 at 11:19am — 1 Comment

New not necessarily better

We’ve all seen it. Summertime is over and you head back to school and inevitably there is a new girl on that first day. Of course, everyone suddenly wants to date her and is falling all over themselves to do so. Why? It could be any number of reasons, but the real answer is that’s she’s new. That’s it, but in our society, as we all know, new is better. Ok maybe not everyone believes this, but that doesn’t stop every IT professional from pulling the high school equivalent when a new company… Continue

Added by bill martineau on May 8, 2008 at 4:14pm — No Comments

On technology and recruiting

As an owner and manager of an IT recruiting company we are constantly talking to candidates and clients alike about the advances of technology and how it can impact our industry or potentially help us run our business better. Over twenty plus years I’ve gone from a 100% paper environment to an almost paperless existence and seen the rise of the fax machine, PC’s, the Web, company websites, job boards, social networks and many different software tools developed specifically to assist our… Continue

Added by bill martineau on May 7, 2008 at 10:39am — 1 Comment

You're not qualified

Most recruiters by nature aren’t trying to offend people as they go about the job of recruiting candidates for their client customers. However our quest to find the perfect person leads us to find many more really talented “close but no cigar” candidates that after showcasing our opportunity to and gaining their sincere interest we must now let them know that they just aren’t a good fit (insert reason here).

Of course, some people take this better than others, but generically… Continue

Added by bill martineau on April 22, 2008 at 5:14pm — No Comments

Communication 101 - Information exchage

Communication: \kə-myü-nə-kā-shən\ - a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system

I think that we’ve all heard how email communications are a poor substitute for speaking on the phone, and that most of us believe that since the aspect of understanding someone’s emotions or sense of humor is just so tough.

However, I’m not here to complain about misunderstandings that email creates (deal with people). I’m here to talk about how the… Continue

Added by bill martineau on April 17, 2008 at 11:34am — No Comments

Salary and relocation don't mix

We recently commented on how information, through the various media outlets, can be reused and unfortunately create more misinformation in the process. However, I wanted to step back into the guts of that article to discuss one of the key points on relocation and compensation.

On many levels the article is spot on about making sure that the actual costs of the move are covered including not only the movement of household goods, but all of the other aspects that go along with turning… Continue

Added by bill martineau on April 10, 2008 at 12:03pm — No Comments

Career adults please

I’m sorry, but in working a recent recruiting effort for a mid-level developer I’ve run across a string of applicants that while their age indicates adulthood, their career actions precludes them from inclusion.

Understand this isn’t a bias that I have against younger generations as this is about how your actions show the world what’s important to you (quote of the day), and by no means am I saying that these people aren’t responsible human beings in other aspects of their lives.… Continue

Added by bill martineau on April 8, 2008 at 10:43am — 1 Comment

Sometimes it's the only way

Some people love them (count me in) and some hate them, but analogies are what assist many people in getting their point across where otherwise it would have fallen on deaf ears.

So it was funny for me to read in the Brazen Careerist the other day as Penelope Trunk was making several very valid points about how people should invest in their careers and make decisions that will help them along the way, and to see her use a rather interesting analogy (that of Ashley Dupre – call girl… Continue

Added by bill martineau on April 1, 2008 at 10:34am — No Comments

Where's the beef?

Prime beef that is! What I mean by prime beef is those individuals whose talents and skills exceed the average person in the market, and quite frankly companies are finding them in short supply. Not because they don’t exist, but because a lot of companies aren’t prepared to pay the higher price for the level of talent they desire, and as we all know in a supply and demand world if you can’t pay the market price for the goods then you need to look at different goods. Can you say Grade… Continue

Added by bill martineau on March 13, 2008 at 9:43am — No Comments

Big Billers don’t run fool’s errands so why do you?

We all know that at every recruiting industry meeting there is either a round table discussion about how to become a “big biller” or a “big biller” giving the speak about what it takes to make the big bucks. Now while I’m certain there are a lot of little things that they do that make them successful, but in my twenty years in the business, far and away the most repeated comment at these meetings is about being choosy (i.e. good decision making, having business acumen, etc.) about your projects… Continue

Added by bill martineau on March 6, 2008 at 3:17pm — 1 Comment

Dating analogy valuable tool with client companies as well

We’ve all heard and understand how the process of dating equates nicely to the interview process. Hell, someone even wrote a book about it. As a recruiter I’ve used the dating process as an analogy for the interview and offer process with candidates for over twenty years. Mostly because it works so well to help candidates understand the emotions that they are going through and deal with them more effectively so they won’t interfere with their decision making process. However, in working with a… Continue

Added by bill martineau on February 26, 2008 at 9:18am — No Comments

Why recruiting searches fail

Recruiters are great (can you tell I’m a recruiter). Seriously though when companies need people, people that they can’t find or find fast enough companies call their trusty recruiter, and expect that they will fill the need quickly. Of course sometimes it works just that way…other times…not so much. The question that needs to be asked is why did it fail?

As we know sometimes the company picks the wrong recruiter (your competition), they utilize the wrong search…

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Added by bill martineau on February 14, 2008 at 12:50pm — 2 Comments

The problem with relocation

If you ask almost any company about relocating new employees in today’s market they’ll probably tell you that they have no problem doing so, and in the same breath they’ll tell you that their recent experience with relocating candidates has been poor. Meaning that the candidates they been interviewing aren’t interested in moving, chose not to move once the process was complete (i.e. turned down the job), or have been making excessive demands on the…

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Added by bill martineau on February 5, 2008 at 10:53am — No Comments

Candidates want to make them laugh

I’m not sure of the actual number of times, but in the recent past (6 months or so) it seems that this (“I made them laugh”) is a typical response from my candidates when I ask them how they think they did on the interview.

Sure this could be a good (but isn’t necessarily)…

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Added by bill martineau on January 22, 2008 at 3:48pm — No Comments

The end of sourcing/recruiting?

Open Question to sourcers & recruiters: What happens to our industry once we have “full market” involvement with Social Networks?

As any economist knows 100% employment (meaning 0% unemployment) is neither possible nor good for the market, and they (you know those experts) typically believe that something in the range of 3-5% unemployment…

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Added by bill martineau on January 17, 2008 at 9:49am — 10 Comments

How do you buy?

What is your personal process when buying a big ticket item (car, boat, house, etc)? Never thought about it? Well you have one, everyone does, and it’s this process that both managers and candidates alike go through in deciding to offer someone a job or to accept one.

So if…

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Added by bill martineau on January 3, 2008 at 3:19pm — No Comments

Nobody’s partying like its 1999

We here at Martineau Recruiting Technology have been preaching to both client companies and client candidates for several years now that the current market is a candidate driven market in which the supply of talent falls well short of demand and that companies need to be flexible as the pursue candidates in the marketplace. However, from recent conversations with candidates and colleagues in the industry I think…

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Added by bill martineau on November 27, 2007 at 10:45am — No Comments