Twitter is so Tweet!

I took the plunge.

No – even though it’s Arizona, the temp in the pool is still around 65 degrees. Perhaps I’m too spoiled by some accounts, but what I’m talking about is Twitter.

Do I really think I’ll find value there? Perhaps – but I certainly look forward to seeing what I can do with it. I’m not sure I’m interesting enough to follow, but if you’re so inclined: Art_Pitcher

I do not plan on using it to spam in any way/shape/form. However – sometimes I can offer up a powerful piece of advice in 140 characters.

Do YOU have something interesting to say? Post your Twitter ID here and I’ll follow you – I’m game. After all, I was recently informed we lived in a Twitter nation. Silleh me. I though we lived in the USA

Happy Hunting!

-Art Pitcher

Managers Get Creative In Hiring Freeze Climate

For most of my clients the current business climate is turbulent at best. Since I provide IT Staffing services, I work directly with managers who, despite having strict deadlines for various deliverables, implementations, maintenance and upgrades on everything from networks, applications, modules, databases (you name it), now have the additional challenge of downward budget pressure.

The previous robust economic climate had its own staffing challenges. A highly competitive market for top level IT talent across virtually ALL domains created vast shortages – and significant shifts in company cultures as an effort to compensate. This high level of competition is still evident in the most skilled echelons of IT talent. Currently, we find ourselves in an environment where companies are experiencing reductions in force (RIF’s), layoffs and hiring freezes – so managers are also feeling the labor pinch in a new way – downward pressure to control costs, overtime restrictions for hourly employees, lack of sustainable hiring budgets, and sometimes even the inability to replace good talent when they leave. Add to this the occasional demand to reduce full-time workforce (a decision which keeps many managers up at night trying to determine which resources they could eliminate or redeploy) and you now have a pressure cooker where even the most talented and tenured manager is walking a tight-rope – requirements on one side and resources on the other.

Setting Yourself Apart: Producing Examples of your Work

Many of the candidates I work with are responsible for producing some kind of deliverable – business or technical requirements, software of some sort, reports, manuals, documents…. The list never ends.

 

In this short entry, I want to point out that if you are interviewing for a new job, producing quality examples of your professional work could be the trigger that pushes you into the top tier.

 

The In-Person Interview: A Candidates Guide

One of my responsibilities is debriefing my clients after an interview.  Because of this, I have been exposed to hundreds of different perspectives and interpretations of interview content.  Add to this the fact that I have personally hired or been a part of the hiring process for over a decade and you could say I know a little bit about how people THINK they are being perceived vs. how they’re ACTUALLY being judged.

 

The enormous volume that has been written on interview preparation is, for the most part, targeted to a wide audience and fairly general.  It includes such helpful nuggets as; “research the company you are interviewing with, perhaps by visiting their website.”  Sadly, they fail to mention exactly WHAT you should be looking for, and even more important WHY you should be looking there.  So to make up for the fact I have been absent on my blog for a little over 3 months, I am going to dig into this topic to benefit both candidates and interviewers.

Terribly cool tool for jobhunting impressions

I generally don’t use this blog to showcase products or services except in VERY RARE instances.

Today, I will deviate from my norm.

In my life I cannot begin to count how many resumes I have helped write.  I do this because most job seekers are simply NOT GOOD at it, because they just don’t do it very often.  The alternative is to pay a service somewhere between $50 and $2,000 to do it for you.  I have finally found a great resource that does this for you:

www.getnoticedfirst.com/

$10 for a lifetime membership, and you get all this:

Online Resume Builder w/Resume CD & Career Website: $10.00

• Resume CD that syncs up with your job portfolio. (Burn files to disc yourself)
• 10 Tips Before/After Interview Card (.pdf)
• Web Page that showcases your resume, references and cover letters. You can also upload Word Documents, Adobe Acrobat Documents, .JPG’s and .Tiff files
• Access to our resume, reference sheet, cover letter and thank you letter builder

Far be it from me to sell someone elses services, but I am already referring my candidates.  As long as they keep the price down, I see nothing but good things for this company’s future.

HAPPY HUNTING!

Art Pitcher

A note to candidates AND EMPLOYERS about dress

Let me preface this by reminding you I live in Arizona.  In the SW in general, but ESPECIALLY in the Phoenix Metro area, business professionals dress more casually.  If you would normally find suits, you will find shirts and ties.  If you would normally find shirts and ties, you will find dress shirts (and sometimes short sleeved dress shirts) with no ties.  This culture has evolved because it’s simply better to wear slightly less clothing than appear miserable, disheveled and sweaty by doing something like wearing a suit in 120* heat.  It is also common (even in the most strict of business cultures) to offer a “casual” or “dress down” Friday.

Because of this, I am willing to accept the theory that PERHAPS this advice (and the forthcoming minor rant) are geographically specific.  However I think what I am about to say makes sense, especially since “casual Friday” seems to be commonplace around the country.

Whenever I’m making a sales call, I like to follow something I call the “one up” rule… which means I try to dress one step up from the culture of the company I’m visiting.  If they’re casual – I dress business casual.  If they’re shirt/tie – I wear a suit.  etc… 

For jobseekers (controversially enough) I do NOT advise this practice.  Rather, I inform the candidate what the general dress criteria is for the culture s/he is interviewing with and instruct them to dress in that manner.  Then I explain to my client (prior to the interview) that I want them to get an accurate idea of how the candidate will look coming to work every day.  It’s really simple in theory, but “dressing up” for an interview is a misrepresentation of what the client is ultimately going to get.

Now, let me say this:  In a candidate driven market, a potential employer needs to share some of the responsibility for creating an impression.  What I mean by this is simple: if you are interviewing a candidate on a “casual Friday”, it shouldn’t be a “casual Friday” for you.  I mean, if a candidate drags himself into an interview wearing cutoffs and a tank top and the culture is business attire, you’re going to think he’s an idiot – right?

So when the candidate comes to the interview dressed in business attire, and the employer is wearing golf shorts and a cap, what do you expect that candidate to think?

Hmmmm?

And sure, as a sales leader in my organization I do not observe “casual Friday” if I have a sales appointment.  It only makes sense.

Ultimately, if you care about ANY business meeting, interview or sales call – dress like it!

Happy Hunting!

Art Pitcher

Is your job in jeopardy?

 

This is a list I’ve compiled over time (from various sources) that shows potential signs in 3 areas that COULD indicate your position is in jeopardy.  Now, having a couple of these things going on is normal – but if you notice a pattern then it’s probably time to take some action.  If you choose to distribute this information without linking, I ask that you please leave the identification tag on the bottom.

 

 

Company Level

 

Þ    Motivational Memos or Emails about “change” from corporate – also “new vision” or “new direction”

Þ    Introduction of automation that replaces a human, like a phone auto-attendant

Þ    Closure of divisions, business units or branches

Þ    Company sells or merges

Þ    Downturn related to your industry in the news

Þ    Stock dropping in value, or top Execs liquidate their stock

Þ    Company changes comp plans for the worse or discusses temporary pay reductions

 

 

Supervisor Level

 

Þ    Your boss just doesn’t seem to like you and s/he’s stopped being nice

Þ    Your immediate supervisor (who you get along with) leaves the company

Þ    You get a new boss who plays “favorites”

Þ    Your supervisor neglects to provide you materials or information you need to perform your job function

Þ    You’re getting more written and less verbal feedback on your performance

Þ    Your supervisor assigns other people “pet” or “fun” projects/assignments

 

 

Environment and Workload  or Responsibility Level

 

Þ    Your Workload is Reduced

Þ    You aren’t informed about important or communicative meetings

Þ    No one copies you on important emails

Þ    Your last peer/employee review was negative

Þ    You made a critical error in the recent past

Þ    You get the bottom of the barrel assignments

Þ    Goals are being set for you, and they are higher than reasonable

Þ    You are being offered special “retraining”, “coaching” or “cross-training”

Þ    Your workspace is moved to a less attractive area

Þ    More and more, you feel like your own opinions are contrary to your company philosophy

Þ    Your coworkers are given invitations to seminars but you are passed over

Þ    Your responsibilities are gradually being given to others

Þ    You missed your last bonus or incentive

Þ    You’ve been instructed to take some time off or use vacation time

Þ    You find a “confidential” job posting that reads a LOT like your current job

List compiled by:  Art Pitcher        www.TheArtOfRecruiting.net

A working hypothesis, a transition and a learning curve

 

I’ve decided to transition my blog from Recruitingblogs.Com (which is really intended for the sharing of best practices and social networking WITHIN the recruiting community) to this blog, which will be more directed to those I care most about communicating with:  My Clients and Candidates.

I will probably continue to blog some at that location when it’s relevant to my peers (such as my 12 rules of recruiting success).

My expertise really focuses in one area with two applications:  I specialize in the employment process. 

From a candidate (or jobseeker) perspective, this means I am an expert on all the individual factors that go into getting the Holy Grail; the Job Offer.  And believe it or not there are a LOT of little steps that all require a “Win” for that to happen – from finding the right opportuity, to presenting your credentials correctly, to making the right impression and negotiating the right package – there are well over 80 minor events that have to combine successfully in the process to create a successful outcome.

From a client perspective, that means I am an expert at understanding and implementing the search process (not your job, industry or company), designing and implementing a campaign and one last thing that tends to make me stand out from my competition:  I understand retention.

Every recruiter I have ever trained comes away with an understanding of retention.  It is very uncommon in my industry (3rd party staff augmentation) to make any kind of effort to understand retention, frankly, beacause it’s viewed as being bad for business.  But how many times does a company really want to pay a fee for backfilling the same position?  Along with this, I provide free training for my client companies to help them “recruiter-proof” their organization – a great first step to increasing retention and reducing attrition.  This kind of value-added service is why my client’s consider me a trusted partner rather than just another recruiter wasting their time, and this relationship helps both me and my candidates.

So, I hope readers of this blog find some value in my words – whether you are actively seeking a new position, being represented by me, one of my client companies (or considering becoming one) or even a potential employee wanting to learn the philosophy behind my madness, I will try to deliver value for your time investment.  The employment process doesn’t have to be harrowing and frustrating (although harrowing and frustrating things, sadly, do happen sometimes) because we can minimize the possibility of those types of things happening by adhering to a simple but effective process.

For now, Happy Hunting!

-Art Pitcher