Don Gee's Recruiting Blog

How a Candidate can Evaluate a Recruiter/Recruiting Agency

To compliment your job search, you may want to consider utilizing recruiting agencies.  This option enables other people to work on your behalf to land you an opportunity.  Here are some things to consider when you engage the services of a recruiter or recruiting agency.    

A recruiting agency invests an abundance of time and resources to identify and foster relationships with businesses in assorted industries.  They may be able to pave a direct channel to get you in front of the right people exponentially faster than you might be able to do on your own.  

Selecting a suitable recruiter who’s devoted and accomplished might be more pertinent than the recruiting agency you’re assessing. Once you identify a recruiter you can cross check them on networking sites such as LinkedIn. 

How many people have recommended them?
How many connections do they possess?
How long have they been in their profession? 
What type of organizations do they belong to?    

It would also be recommended to invest in additional research a recruiting agency through online discussions, forums and blogs.  Here are some links you can begin your preliminary research:

http://www.yelp.com/topic/chicago-chicago-staffing-agencies

http://groups.yahoo.com/phrase/chicago-staffing-agencies

You can also post a question on LinkedIn and you will most likely get a couple credible responses that can provide you some feedback:

http://www.linkedin.com/answers?createQuestion=&trk=tab_ask

How strong is their relationship with the end client?

Much of a recruiting agencies success depends on the strength of their relationship with their end clients.  The better the relationship the agency has with their client, the better the chance you’ll have with an introduction.  Your goal is to be represented by a recruiting firm who has visibility and credibility with their client; which will only increase your chances of success.

Some questions to ask your recruiter:

How long have you been doing business with this client?
How many people have you placed with this client?
How long has this position been open?
Do you know how many people have been submitted to this position overall?
Is this a new position or replacement?

Leverage recruiting agencies, pursue opportunities on your own, network, do your research and at some point an opportunity will find you or you will find the opportunity.

 

Don W. Gee

Talent Strategy Manager

Escendent

Dgee@Escendent.com

Is Consulting For You?

If you’re seeking a new position, a way to maximize your search during a slow market is to consider consulting (contract) opportunities.  During a softening market, employers may be more prone to hire temp workers instead of burdening their payroll with employees.

If you have never consulted before, how do you calculate your hourly rate? 

Here are a few tips to calculate an approximate hourly rate.   

Whatever the market bears for a full-time employee (in reference to yearly salary) contracting should enable you to make 15-25% more as a contractor.  So if you’re currently making or bearing a market value of $75,000 as a FTE (full-time employee) contracting should enable you to make approximately $86,250 - $93,750. 

To determine a “ballpark” hourly rate, take that number and multiply it by 2080 hours (number of work hours in a year) $93,750/2080 which will equate to $45.07 an hour.  If you want an easy (not exact) way to calculate a ballpark hourly rate, just take the first two numbers of the yearly salary $90,000 (90) and divide that by two = 90/2 = $45 an hour.  $100K = $50.00 an hour, $120K = $60.00 an hour, so on and so fourth.  

Verifying Your Market Worth

If you want to verify or get an idea of what your skills should be bearing, Salary.com provides basic compensation information.  You can do a search by zip code; job title (and level) of which job description best depicts you then the results of your query provides an approximate salary framework. 

If you desire to take your research a step further, Salary.com provides a paid service which will request various details such as; industry, size of company, advanced degrees, specific skill questions and a report is generated that will outline compensation, benefits and tiers (based on a bell curve).  

Don W. Gee

Talent Strategy Manager

Escendent

Dgee@Escendent.com

Posting Your Resume Online

There are pros and cons to posting your resume online.  To compliment your proactive job searching, posting your resume online can enable recruiters and companies to find you.  However there can be some drawbacks such as spam, calls/emails about extraneous opportunities and recruiters pulling your resume offline and submitting it to various organizations without your knowledge.  Believe it or not, this irresponsible act occurs more than you may realize.   

When you create your online resume, you can build your profile manually or you can upload a word copy of your resume and it will extract the data from your soft copy resume and create your online resume for you. 

Confidential Posting Options

If you have any reservations about posting your resume online, you can take advantage of confidential resume posting.  This confidential option will not reveal your name, email and phone number.  You will be assigned a temporary email that forwards electronic correspondence directly to your personal email. 

Keep in mind, if you want to utilize the confidential posting feature, ensure the soft copy of your word resume that you upload has your personal information removed, make sure you check your headers and footers as well.   

If your resume is downloaded, inquisitive minds may still be able to identify your name by viewing the “properties” of your word document.  To clear this information, simply go to the document properties tab and ensure document author, or title or any other information that may reveal who you are is blank.

Company Blocker

If you’re currently employed and you’re trying to keep your job search under the radar, what if the company you work for utilizes the very same service (Monster, Hotjobs, Careerbuilder, etc) that you’re posting your resume to?  Even if your resume is in “confidential mode,” your supervisor or co-workers may be able to recognize you profile through your job history, education and create a very embarrassing situation for you.

To avoid these situations online services such as Monster.com provides a company-block feature.  All you need to do is search for a company name, select that company will not be able to view your resume; it will be blocked for all corporate users. 

For more information on resume block for Monster (privacy plus) you can read more at:

http://help.monster.com/besafe/resume/

Hotjobs resume blocker (Hotblock) you can read more at:

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/hotjobs/confidentiality/hotjobs-23.html

Don W. Gee

Talent Strategy Manager

Escendent

dgee@escendent.com

Does Your Resume need an Extreme Makeover?

You should create two resumes; the first resume should be about one page, the second resume can be 3-4 pages to further elaborate on your positions and accomplishments (to use for interviews).  If you’re in a performance-based role or industry (sales or positions that are tied to revenue) words like exceeded, accomplished, surpassed, awarded, promoted should appear throughout your resume. 

If you need to revamp your resume, you can go to Microsoft.com and download resume templates for free at:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT101043371033.aspx

Keep in mind that Microsoft Office 2007 no longer offers the resume wizard however you can find templates at MS Online.  If you are using MS Word 2003 or earlier, you can use a resume wizard by doing the following:

1. Open the Microsoft Word program. Go to Start >Programs >Microsoft Word
2. Once the program is open, create a new file.  Go to File>New
3. Click on the Other Documents tab and then select Resume Wizard
4. Read the instructions that appear on the screen and click > Next to continue.
5. On the following screen, enter the information that >Resume Wizard asks of you.
6. Click Next when you are finished answering each question to get to the next screen.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until Resume Wizard tells you that it has all the answers it needs to create your resume.
8. Click Finish to view the template you have created for your resume.
9. To put your own information into your resume template, click on “[click here to edit information]” under the subject that you would like to change. (The area you click will become highlighted, and this means that you can type your information there.)
10. Type your personal job information into the resume.
11. Repeat steps 9 and 10 until you have completely filled in the resume template with your own information.

 

Don W. Gee

Talent Strategy Manager

Escendent – Chicago

Email:  DGee@escendent.com

Resume Submission Tracking

When you’re utilizing a Recruiter/Recruiting Agency, who is presenting your and to whom is very important.  You want to know exactly where your resume is being presented to.  Allot of candidates out there don’t give it much thought, they’re just trying to get their profile in front of as many potential employers as possible. 

Maintain Records

When you apply to positions online (especially when it involves an online application) you will receive an auto-response.  Maintain those records, so you can track where you’ve been submitted to and if necessary inform your recruiter of companies that you’ve targeted on your own.  If you’re submitting your resume to a specific email address, you may want to CC or BC yourself and store that email in a subfolder.   

When a recruiting agency submits your resume to any opportunity ask for a receipt for your submission (including client name, position title and position number if there is one). 

If a recruiter requests to submit your resume, but will not reveal their clients name, MOVE WITH CAUTION.  The recruiter may inform you, “Your resume is being presented to a Biotech company,” however they may not reveal their clients name before your resume submission.  If that is a recruiter or agencies policy, you may want to reconsider working with that firm.

Double Submissions

This leads us to the next item; Double Submissions.  Double submissions means your resume is presented to an organization by more than one recruiting agency (to a specific position).  Some may rationalize the more a resume is presented, the better the odds.  NOT TRUE!   In fact it has the exact opposite effect.  For many companies that rely heavily on recruiting agencies, if a resume is replicated by another vendor a candidate may be ruled out of consideration all together.  In addition, the validity of the recruiters’ relationship with the candidate comes into question.  Make certain your expectations are made clear with your recruiter; your resume should not be presented anywhere without your verbal or written permission.   

On the flip side, double-submission to the same company but in a different department/division may not be an issue.  This policy varies from company to company.  Your recruiter will know the respective policy here.   

Don W. Gee

Talent Strategy Manager

Escendent

Dgee@Escendent.com

Interviewing Basics

Before your phone screen or in person interview, make sure you invest the time and do the essential research.  Uncover information on the company, their history, their future and their competitors.  Generate questions that are based on the company, position, department, career path and any other questions that can further educate you on the opportunity.  

Keep in mind that from an employer’s perspective; the extent (and depth) of questions posed from a candidate can directly reflect their interest and level of engagement.

For face to face interviews, always dress professional, plan ahead and arrive at your interview at least 15 minutes early.  Ensure your communication is fluid; make sure you’re not using communication fillers such as “uh,” or “like,” and no matter how much rapport you have with the interviewer, never use profanity.   

Ensure your answers are informative yet concise.  Don’t ramble, keep it to the point.  If you’re not sure your answer was suffice, don’t be afraid to ask “did I answer your question?”  If you didn’t, or the interviewer needs more information they’ll tell you.

Your verbal communication may be good, your answers may be strong, but what signals are you conveying through your body language?  Did you know that what you say only comprises only 14% of communication?  Non-Verbal Communication (facial expressions, eye movements, body language) comprises nearly 60% of communication. 

To learn more about body language you can view my free slideshow on “Essentials of Effectual Communication” at:

http://www.slideshare.net/donwgee/fundamentals-of-effectual-communication-presentation-934183

On a phone screen or face to face interview make sure you communicate your interest in the position and take the initiative to ask about next steps in the process. Make sure you get a business card or contact information so you can send or email a Thank You note.  No matter how well you feel the interview went, continue your job search as if that company/interview didn’t exist. 

In a soft market, you will need to identify 2-3 times more opportunities than usual.  If you possess a certain skill set, especially in an industry that has been hit harder than others, it may require you to take additional steps and some creativity to land the position you want.

As the saying goes, “To get where you’ve never been, you must do what you’ve never done.”   

 

Don W. Gee

Talent Strategy Manager

Escendent – Chicago

Email:  DGee@escendent.com