Making the placement process, specifically the offer process, all come together can be a delicate ordeal, but during the crunch time that was the holiday season can make it a potential nightmare if something goes wrong.
As a 3rd party recruiter I’m accustomed to sometimes having to push the process forward from time to time, but typically once a company has actually made an offer HR is all on board with the process and moving full speed ahead as to satisfy their customer (the hiring…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on January 7, 2010 at 5:58pm —
No Comments
It funny how people get so anxious and nervous about interviewing. Sure the people you meet with during an interview aren’t people you know and it won’t be easy to judge the meaning of their words and inflections much less their body language, but is it really that different from what you do everyday?
In your current position you’re constantly making sure your boss, peers and clients/customers are pleased with your work, attitude and effort. So aren’t you really interviewing everyday…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on November 19, 2009 at 9:26am —
No Comments
For months we’ve been talking with those unfortunate IT professionals that have been affected by the economic downturn through RIF, layoffs, outsourcing, etc. about being flexible in their search. Flexible in the type of work they’ll do, their commuting distance, the salary they’ll accept…and finally we told them to be flexible in where they live and that while selling a house may be daunting there career livelihood may depend on it. However, after hearing…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on November 10, 2009 at 11:57am —
3 Comments
Making placements is hard and recruiters always have various theories for their anticipated success or failure on any given position search. Most typically it begins with such things as their depth of knowledge of the company, the hiring process, position requirements, their knowledge of the available talent pool, experience working with the hiring official and the preferred personality traits of the team in addition to many other moving parts. However, the hardest placement that you’re ever…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on September 17, 2009 at 4:07pm —
No Comments
I had a hiring official call me back on a marketing call to discuss a position that was going to be created in his group just six months after his company had had layoffs and he himself had to let one of his team members go. Unfortunately he told me he wasn’t going to be able to use my services to fill the position, and not for a typical reason like no funding for recruiters fees, but because he was bringing the team member he had let go back in as a contractor.
Sure you’re thinking…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on September 9, 2009 at 11:27am —
3 Comments
Recruiters crave feedback during the interview process, and why not? As contingency recruiters we are always accessing where our energies and efforts have taken us on a recruiting project and deciding if we need to continue recruiting, move towards an offer between both parties or simply move on to a new project altogether. However, most people mistakenly assume that feedback is only for the recruiter’s benefit when in reality it should be a prime concern for both the company and the candidate…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on August 13, 2009 at 11:18am —
2 Comments
As a recruiter with 20+ years of experience I’ve heard the phrase “no thanks I’m very happy where I am at now” more times than I can count, and as recruiters all the world over know this is the equivalent to the brush off “no thanks….I’m just looking” that many of us use with retail sales people. However, what I’m finding as I recruit now is that that very few (and I mean VERY FEW) people bother with such comments as more now prefer to get more details about the job/career…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on June 30, 2009 at 5:44pm —
No Comments
With the state of the current economy this topic is highly premature, but as a recruiter who is out there speaking with employed people everyday about the limited number of jobs out there I can’t even begin to count the number of them that have gone into detail about how their employer-employee relationship has changed. While they have no other recourse but continue the status quo and keep there jobs, they are certainly of the mindset that as soon as things get better they are out the door. Now…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on June 11, 2009 at 5:10pm —
No Comments
When it comes to recruiting there are many aspects to focus on in the process. Some focus on the sheer quantity of resumes to provide with an acceptable pool of talent in which to choose from while others are more focused on the quality of the candidates and accessing more than just the individuals that are hitting the job boards to insure they are looking at the highest level of talent available to them.
As we know during a downturn in the economy many candidates that have been impacted…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on June 9, 2009 at 3:41pm —
4 Comments
No surprises here, but we’re in a recession/downturn/what ever you want to call it and as always it doesn’t affect everyone (yes, some companies are actually hiring). The difficulty with working with these companies is that they aren’t looking to fill run of the mill IT positions, but instead high end niche roles (ERP experts/BI/DW/Architects/etc.). Additionally they have requirements for specific technology skills, and with only one or two hires for the entire year these people have to be…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on April 1, 2009 at 1:41pm —
No Comments
As a 3rd party recruiter I’ve talked with my client companies and candidates about how one of my major roles is to take the fear and mystery out of the interviewing process and to fill that void with information and certainty. Well it now looks like some companies may finally be getting around to understanding the benefit.
In doing some recent marketing research I found one company that actually spelled out their process for candidates on their website, and even explained both the…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on February 23, 2009 at 5:28pm —
No Comments
I know it’s not my imagination, because I’ve seen it with my own eyes…companies are filling positions with less than ideal candidates (not all of the skills, not the depth and breadth of experience, etc) to avoid paying for relocation.
It’s amazing; companies are still insisting that they are committed to getting the best possible person and are willing to pay relocation expenses to get them. However, as we continue to put candidates in process that would require relocation they…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on February 3, 2009 at 10:43am —
No Comments
With more and more companies reducing headcount a trend has emerged that has me baffled. As you might expect we’ve targeted companies that are performing poorly because they are easier to recruit from since logically many more people are looking to “jump ship”, but what we’ve seen is that while many of these potential candidates are expecting to be let go the are actually waiting around for it to happen.
The big reason….the severance package…Huh?
Yes it seems the belief of…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on February 2, 2009 at 9:11am —
4 Comments
Well while most people would be happy with a job in this tight market we actually had a very surprising call last week from a former candidate. We had expected the typical conversation asking how the market was for their skills or discussing how their trying to get ahead of the curve as their company was about to let some people go, but no bizarrely enough they wanted us to help them ask their boss for a raise.
Wow! A raise……In the instant clutter that was my brain my…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on January 27, 2009 at 5:39pm —
No Comments
I’m sure that The Clash didn’t have your career choices in mind when they wrote “
should I stay or should I go”, but in conversation after conversation with both clients and candidates it continue to be a major theme.
Candidates continue to worry about the uncertain economy, and even if their current employment is in flux with layoffs or cost cutting happening they remain hesitant to even look at new positions much less…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on January 22, 2009 at 7:59am —
No Comments
I’m an optimist so I look at things with a slant towards the positive, but I’ll give you the straight story and let you know that things are looking tight all over. As a recruiter who has been through three recessions in my career I know there are only a few things to do to get more business (make more placements) and that’s making more calls to earn the business of old and new clients alike and continue to get better at our jobs (through automation, training, better industry knowledge, etc.).…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on December 3, 2008 at 2:54pm —
4 Comments
As more and more people are hunting for jobs a lot of their interview experiences feel a lot like they are chasing their own tails. Unfortunately working with the wrong recruiter can do this to you and may cost you your next job.
In the mindset of the unemployed there is no job that they can’t do, but unfortunately there are lots of jobs for which our clients won’t hire them. However, if you’re working with a highly skilled recruiter they can tell you quickly if your skills are even…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on November 12, 2008 at 2:53pm —
No Comments
We all understand gambling (i.e. the house wins) and its high risks and long shot rewards, but what many people don’t understand is that most recruiters do it everyday and lose.
Contingency search is the bread and butter of our industry allowing companies to view prospective candidates and only incur a fee if they hire the candidate and on the surface it looks like a win-win. However, with the state of the economy many companies are unintentionally using this search model against…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on November 6, 2008 at 3:47pm —
2 Comments
We all know that in IT technical skills and experience are highly transferable and its nice to know that in these tough economic times you can change from one declining industry to a more stable or growing industry. However, one of the things that we are seeing in recent years that is making such a change more difficult is that of the size of your current organization. Yes, size matters to your ability to switch positions, and specifically the size and scope of your role and function needs to…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on October 29, 2008 at 11:14am —
No Comments
To all the contractors making more money than there counterparts in permanent (FTE) positions congratulations, but unfortunately a trend that we’re seeing is people who take the inherent additional risk of contracting and unfortunately aren’t reaping the associated benefits.
Now benefits come in many forms and of course various people enjoy many different aspects of the contracting lifestyle (and it is a lifestyle choice) including having more control over projects and their career…
Continue
Added by bill martineau on October 15, 2008 at 3:19pm —
No Comments
