I like to think I don’t complain much, but when I am trying to find A-players for a client……and then the client goes silent and doesn’t communicate, it tests my patience. It’s not just about me…it’s about the perception it creates about the client’s company and employment brand. I think hiring managers sometimes forget that the hiring process puts them under a microscope. They’re not only hiring talent, they are representing their employment brand. The candidate’s first impression of the company is most often through the hiring manager. And it’s a lasting impression, whether they are hired or not. That’s why it’s so important to create a great first impression…on both sides.
Let me give you an example of a recent engagement we worked on. The hiring manager sent out an email to a number of recruiters. It was a juicy job order and we had some great candidates we were working with, so we sent a few resumes over. Eleven days passed, no word. The candidates were wondering what was happening. We told them we didn’t know, we didn’t have any word from the hiring manager. More follow up with the client. A week later I talked to the client and discussed the candidates. We agreed there was interest in moving forward some of the candidates. The client wanted to talk to one of the candidates directly. We let the candidate know. The candidate was waiting for the call, no time was set. A week went by and the client didn’t call. The candidate called us, any updates? We try to “cover” for the client. Another six days pass until the client calls the candidate and schedules an in person interview.
So what’s my point? Hiring managers are working with a recruiter, and may not think it matters if they have an active dialogue, keep them up to date. The reality is that we are representatives of the company in the candidate’s eyes. And while we will do everything we can to give a good impression for our clients, there comes a time when if the client isn’t straight with us, doesn’t have open communications, the candidate knows it.

It’s all about setting the right expectations. Remember that age old golden rule? Think about how you’d feel if you were candidate. If you let that guide your actions, your employment brand will be Stellar!

Don’t know about you, but I’m glad to see us welcome in a new decade, change is good, and most people are ready for some positive momentum. I’ve been reading a lot about the positive economic indicators in the job market–if positive thinking can create jobs, there’s enough of it around to make it happen! Here’s a link to an article in the WSJ “Uptick in Executive Jobs Seen for 2010”, read it for yourself.
I’ve talked about the signs of improvement in the market in earlier posts, so let’s talk about what it means for candidates and clients. There are still too many candidates that are out of work despite their best efforts at networking, applying to company websites, and working with recruiters. If you’re one of them still on the sidelines, now is a good time to refresh your resume. I’m not talking a total overhaul, that’s probably not necessary. Reread the first page. Make sure you’re highlighting the contributions you made to the company in your last position, not just listing your responsibilities. Hiring managers are seeing too many resumes, make yours stand out by stressing the ways you’ve saved money, improved efficiency, or prepared a company for an IPO. Emphasis results, dollars saved, percent reduction in inventories, preparation of an S-1 that never got filed. They are all important.
And candidates, don’t forget, if you’ve done some consulting, even if it’s a short project, put it on your resume, it’s important. Perhaps you’ve worked with some colleagues on a pro bono basis to start a business, prepared a business plan to raise money, or volunteered for a non-profit. It makes your resume look fresh instead of stale.
Hiring managers need to be ready for the uptick as well. First and foremost, make sure you’re connected with your key employees to make sure they are engaged and motivated in their roles. Nothing makes people happier than contributing to a successful organization, so remind them how they are making a difference. And then, get a jump on top talent. “A” players are just beginning to consider jumping into the job market. Turn up your recruiting efforts a notch and get to these candidates before other employers do. It pays to be ahead of the curve. And carefully assess resumes, some of the candidates that are out of work are A players. You’ll benefit by finding those “needles in the haystack”. If you need help, call me, that’s our core competency!

Recently I’ve been seeing numerous comments about employee turnover. This is good news and bad news. The bad news is that hiring managers are at risk of losing some talented people. The good news is it means employees are feeling more confident about the economy and are willing to take the risk of moving to a new company.
According to a survey of U.S. workers released by Right Management, many workers are unhappy with their present jobs and 60% of employees intend to leave and an additional one-in-four are networking and updating their resumes. Only 13% of employees say they intend to stay.
“Employees are clearly expressing their pent up frustration with how they have been treated through the downturn,” said Douglas Matthews, president and chief operating officer at Right Management. “While employers may have taken the necessary steps to streamline operations to remain viable, it appears many employees may have felt neglected in the process. The result is a disengaged and disgruntled workforce.”
Information is power and there is still time to act. As a hiring manager myself, my experience is that you can definitely change employee discontent into content. The number one reason employees changes jobs is unhappiness with their manager. And often that can be as simple as “my manager doesn’t recognize my work”, or “there’s no work/life balance” at my company. These are problems that can be solved quickly and the results are immediate. So take a look around, and make sure your top talent is happy and engaged. We all know it’s much easier to retain talent than replace them.

Everyone is interested in understanding the state of the job market, including me. With unemployment in the double digits, we all want to know when employment will turn around. So I thought I’d check the numbers and see what I could find. Here is some data on the temporary employment market:
• U.S. temporary help payrolls rose by 33,700 jobs in October, according to seasonally adjusted preliminary numbers released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• The temporary employment category actually started adding jobs in August when employment increased by 3,200, according to revised numbers from the BLS. September also posted an increase in temporary employment of 7,200.
• In total, temporary employment added 44,100 jobs since July. However, temporary employment had fallen by an average of 44,000 jobs per month between January 2008 and July 2009.
• The temporary help penetration rate rose to 1.4% in October from 1.3% in September.
• The employment services industry as a whole added 36,000 jobs in October after adding 10,100 in September and 6,100 in August.
This data is consistent with what we’ve seen at STRe. We’ve seen an increase in orders for temporary talent, but there are still a lot of people still looking for assignments, but the cutbacks seem to have abated.
Here’s some numbers provided by public companies in the staffing industry:
• Kforce Inc., a Tampa FL-based professional staffing firm, reported third-quarter revenue fell 9.0% to $228.3 million from $250.9 million in the third quarter of 2008. However, third-quarter revenue rose 1.0% from the second quarter.
• Kforce’s finance & accounting division fell 19.3% to $41.3 million. Third-quarter finance and accounting revenue rose sequentially, from the second quarter, by 0.5%.
• Randstad Holding NV, the world’s second largest staffing firm reported third-quarter revenue fell 28.2% on a pro forma basis. However, the company cited positive signs in several markets. “It is encouraging that the revenue trend has become a little better through the quarter on average, a trend which has continued in October,” CEO Ben Noteboom said. The company’s professional business is stabilizing while other staffing is gradually picking up, he said.
• Spherion reported revenue per day in the first three weeks of October was up about 5% higher than in the third quarter.
As we enter the traditionally slower time between the holidays it’s encouraging to see improvement in the numbers. There are still a lot of people out of work, and the job market is adding jobs much slowly than we need. But at least the charts are moving up and to the right!

The Landscape has Changed
I was struck last week by how many articles I read that were upbeat and positive about our economy. Everywhere I looked a vendor, partner, company, was reporting “slightly improved activity”. And this week Seagate raised its outlook for the current quarter as did Brocade. So what does this mean? Are we getting back to business as usual? I don’t think so, but the outlook is definitely improving.

An article in the NY Times a couple of weeks ago entitled “In Silicon Valley, the Jobs Picture Has Changed” talks about the industries that have been winners and losers since the dot com bust. Keep your eyes open for opportunities in new industries and be prepared to explain why your skills are transferable!

I know…your mother gave you this advice when you were growing up, so how does it apply now? It just reminds me of the simple truths that permeate our lives. Simple advice, simple truths. Let’s talk about some examples.

• You really never know when you’ll run into a potential hiring manager, candidate, client, significant other, just fill in the blank. One of our account managers was walking his dog on a Sunday afternoon when someone jogged by and stopped to admire his dog, because it was similar to the jogger’s dog. Lo and behold they struck up a conversation, and the jogger was a venture capitalist. Now we recruiters would pay almost anything for an introduction to a VC, but when dog walking! You just never know.
• Last week my partner and I went to visit a potential new client. They are not a Silicon Valley icon, in fact they are a central valley family owned business. And what a first impression they made! Before we arrived we had an agenda (and remember, we’re trying to sell to them!), clear directions, and plans for a tour. Everyone we met from receptionist to tour guide was professional, knowledgeable, and polished. They ran a comfortable, but precise timetable. The tour was fantastic, humor mixed with story telling and history. After 2 ½ hours with the team I knew that ANY candidate I sent to this client would get the “royal treatment”, because if they treat their potential partners this way imagine how they treat potential employees! Simple stuff, but BIG impressions.
• But sometimes impressions can inadvertently go awry. Take one of our clients trying to close a candidate for a “hard to fill” position. The candidate had a great interview experience and really enjoyed the people on the team. There were high expectations on both sides. And as sometimes is the case, the salary discussions became a little uncomfortable. Our client wanted to participate in the “offer dance” and despite our best efforts, the candidate’s salary expectations were just a bit high. Unfortunately the client pointed out that the candidate was “unemployed” so their current salary was zero, which implied the candidate should be happy with any offer. In this case the client had a point, and the candidate did come to realize this, but the message was perceived to be delivered in a blunt, hurtful way that changed the candidate’s impression about the company and questioned their perception of the people. Five hours of interviews and endless hours of reviewing candidate and resumes gone in a 15 minute conversation. The message is, even if you are right, impressions still matter.

So what’s my point? Twofold, it’s that no matter what situation you’re in, whether it’s business or pleasure or both, remember that even the off handed, non-consequential comments you make can leave a big impression, and have a bigger impact, both positive and negative. Second, always be alert because you can never make a second first impression. Especially in today’s social network environment where the lines between business and friends overlap, it’s best to always be aware of the impression you’re making.

With the release of the 2 American journalists held in North Korea, it’s a day for good news, so let’s continue. In case you missed one of today’s top articles, there is certainly some good news on the job front. Almost half of workers who got laid off in the last 3 months have found jobs. And more good news, According to Careerbuilder, “Looking at workers who were laid off in the last 12 months and found new jobs, more than half (56 percent) reported they were able to negotiate comparable or higher pay for their new positions. Forty-four percent of workers took a pay cut, down from 49 percent in March.”

At STRe, we have seen a definite pickup in jobs that clients need help on, and pay has stayed fairly constant. This isn’t the time to look for a 10-15% increase when changing companies, but most companies aren’t expecting candidates to take pay cuts. The only area we’ve seen reductions in salaries has been in contracting. Both candidates and clients are putting pressure on rates for consulting positions. If you’ve been out of work for a while, hang in there, help is on the way.

A column in the Mercury News last week got me thinking about this topic that is near and dear to my heart. Chris O’Brien wrote a piece about the new VC start up that Marc Andreessen and Benjamin Horowitz founded. They are confident that they can crack the top 10 VC firms pretty quickly and O’Brien asked them why? The reply may not surprise you. They said they don’t have any dramatic new approaches, no “secret sauce” so to speak. O’Brien wrote “Instead, they think that too many in the industry are professional VCs, rather than former entrepreneurs such as themselves. It’s a kind of “back-to-the-future” mindset, hearkening to the early days of the valley when most venture capital flowed from entrepreneurs.”

And I agree with Marc and Benjamin. Experience does count. That’s exactly why I founded STRe Solutions. Because we are a team of former operating executives that have been there, done that. We’ve walked in your shoes. And our experience benefits both candidates and clients. We have a perspective that professional recruiters don’t have. And it works. But most importantly I love what I do, and so does the rest of the team of STRe. It keeps us engaged in the “real world” and allows us to leverage our skills and expertise.

I was on vacation last week and was catching up on email last night when I came across an interesting article that is a great follow up to the WSJ article “Only the Employed Need Apply.” Paul Boutin in Wired writes, if you’ve been laid off in Silicon Valley, don’t fret – it just might be a good thing. “[T]o start the next wave of opportunities, we need to revive the kind of wanton cross-pollination that got us this far,” Boutin writes. “That’s why being pushed out the door could be just what you—and the Valley—need.” Boutin says he’s been fired five times since moving to Northern California in 1990 and has bounced back every time.

While being fired five times might be a bit hard to explain on the resume, it certainly proves that resiliency and hard work can get you employed! Here’s a link to the whole article.

Bet you can’t guess what the topic of this article is from the title…..No, I’m not going to write about how you can log on and submit comments to my blog. But talk about creating a story that creates water cooler conversation (i.e. comments in today’s Web 2.0 world), the Wall Street Journal article entitled “Only the Employed Need Apply” was a lightning rod for comments!
If you didn’t see the article in the June 30th “Getting Ahead” section of the careers journal, you can check it out here. There are 144 comments and as I write this blog, the most recent comment was posted only 12 hours ago. And check out the “corrections & amplifications” note. Guess one of the companies featured in the story was getting overhelmed with calls from recruiters!

As I read the article I had mixed feelings. Sure, everyone wants to hire superstars, A players, best of breed employees. And of course they must all be working, not consulting, not out of work, because when would anyone ever let them go? Of course that’s just not reality. I don’t know the statistics, but particularly in Silicon Valley I have to believe there are a large percentage of A players that have been unemployed. If you’re taking a risk on start ups, there’s a risk the company won’t make it. And it’s not always well communicated to the team that the company is about to run out of money, or that they can’t raise their next round of funding because the market has tanked, or their niche has gone out of favor, or the VCs latest powerpoint slide presentation caused a tsunami of deep cuts at your company. And what about the fact that “success comes from being able to accept the risk of failure.” (1)

So, if you are in the unfortunate position of being unemployed in today’s market, here are a few suggestions:
• Focus your energies on your existing network of colleagues and co-workers. People who have worked with you before, seen you in action, will be your best referrals and references for your next position, even if you are out of work.
• Ask for recommendations on your LinkedIn profile. They do make a difference to recruiters who are sourcing candidates.
• If you take a consulting job to bridge the gap, UPDATE YOUR RESUME. We always recommend this to candidates in transition and I can’t tell you what a difference that makes. Same candidate, same skills, but all of a sudden they start getting calls when their resume says they are working.

And hiring managers, don’t always assume an unemployed candidate is a poor performer. Sure, a fair percentage of them are. We all know companies use economic downturns to cut out the bottom 10%. But a resume alone generally won’t indicate whose job was outsourced, which company cut a whole product line out and everyone with it, or which companies couldn’t get funding. Do your homework, do back door references, work with recruiters who thoroughly interview and assess candidates to understand if the candidate is the top or bottom 10%. If you do this, you can find great employees who will be totally committed, motivated and energized. It is well worth the time invested.
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(1) Daily Motivator email edition. June 19, 2009
Copyright (C) 2009 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved.