Number 206 - July 2000

My Job Search
by Jim Hoisington, North Texas PC NEWS, April 2000
As some of you know, I'm looking for a new job. This article summarizes some of the things that I have learned in my journey. While my search is specific to Information Technology (IT) jobs, much of the information applies to other professions. The Jobs Are Not in The Newspaper     Most IT jobs are no longer listed in the newspaper, they are to be found at Job Fairs or on the Internet. My guess is that the newspaper no longer reaches the target audience and it is much more expensive than posting the jobs on the Internet.       Concentrate On The Internet Internet Job Sites are Overwhelming     Many sites on the Internet link job seekers with job listings. The first thing that a prospective job seeker has to do is to decide which job sites are best for him.     As an example, I recently searched a job site that I monitor regularly. I asked to see:There are good job sites and there are bad job sites. The best strategy is to find two or three sites that attract job postings of interest to you and to monitor those sites on a regular basis. Otherwise, you will suffer from information overload and you will miss some really good position postings.     1. Jobs posted to the site in the last ten days,     2. Serviced by telephone area code 214 or 972,     3. With a position description containing the two key words that are used to describe the type of position I am seeking.     The search engine returned 1,483 postings! There is no way you can review that many postings every ten days. A Good Job Site     The first and foremost characteristic of a job site is that you should not have to post your resume and make it available for everyone to see. (By keeping your resume private, you avoid putting it in the hands of resume collectors. More on them later.)     I'm also suspicious of sites that let you post your resume but tell you it is private. On one Web site that had a private posting area, I found my resume marked public after the Web site went through a major redesign.     The second characteristic of a good job site is that the search engine lets you fine-tune your search. If the smallest geographical area that you can specify is Texas and you are only interested in Dallas, you will be overwhelmed by all the jobs in Houston and Austin.     The third characteristic of a good job site is that it should have a link from the job posting to the posting company's Web page. And, it should give you an e-mail address at the posting company so that you can ask for additional questions.     Finally, a nice but not necessary feature is an automated search engine that sends you an e-mail when a job gets posted that matches your search criteria. Job Categories     Ok, this section is going to get me in trouble with a lot of my friends. Web Job sites contain three kinds of jobs: jobs posted by companies, jobs posted by recruiters, and jobs posted by consulting companies. And most of the jobs posted either don't exist or have already been filled.     I have gotten jobs through recruiters and I have worked through consulting companies. But, I'm going to say that if you see a job in which you are interested and it is posted by the company that has the position, apply directly to that company. Why? Because recruiters charge a fee for placing candidates and if you apply directly to a company and a recruiter presents someone equally qualified, the person presented by the recruiter comes with a $10,000 or more disadvantage. Good Recruiters / Bad Recruiters     So, why do I sometimes go through recruiters? Because, recruiters have access to positions within the company that are not available to you and me. The smart companies use recruiters who are technical specialists in the company's industry to pre-screen the candidates. The recruiter gets to know the company and the company culture so he can find candidates that have the skills required and personality and that match the company's position requirements and culture.     Companies are willing to pay the recruiter's fee because they will not be wasting their time sorting through the resumes of several hundred candidates that are not qualified for the position or who are a misfit for their corporate culture. How do you find these recruiters? If you apply for a position listed by a recruiter, ask him what it's like to work for this company. If the recruiter comes back with some vague answer like, "They've got great benefits," chances are the recruiter is just trying to match a resume to a posting; he doesn't know the company.     I look for things in a posting that discourage me from applying for a job through a recruiter. If a recruiter not located in the Dallas / Fort Worth area or	your geographical area of interest, that is almost always a reason to disqualify him. If a recruiter's e-mail address is an AOL or Hotmail account or if the recruiter does not have a corporate Web site, that tells me that he is a very small operation and is probably trouble. If they have no phone number, disqualify them. Otherwise, call the phone number during business hours and hear how employees answer the phone.     Here's why I don't apply for positions with these recruiters. Many of these recruiters create non-existent positions to collect resumes. Then, when they see a posting for a job, they quickly submit your resume. If you come along the next day and see the posting, even though you apply directly, the posting company is still obligated to pay the recruiter's fee if they were to hire you. But, the posting company probably won't hire you because these resume gatherers hardly ever take time to get to know you and to present you to the hiring company. They just FAX over your resume with their cover page.     Keep this in mind, most of the positions listed on the Web sites by recruiters, good and bad, do not exist. The only way that recruiters can get their company name presented on a job site is to post a position. So, they post a position, over and over and over so that the position posting always shows up as a new posting. Consulting / Contract Programming Companies - Good And Bad     Ten years ago there were five big IT contract programming companies and about ten smaller ones. They varied in quality from good to very bad. That's no longer the case.     More and more companies use contract programmers as a source of permanent hires. This has pushed the contracting companies into doing more contract-to-hire and permanent placement recruiting. The big five companies have merged, changed corporate names, and changed directions and markets. If you apply for a position with one of these companies, investigate them thoroughly. Ask lots of questions and try to talk with some of the people currently working for the company. Some of them are good to work for; others are not. None of them is similar to what they were five years ago; they've all changed. A Lot of Consulting Companies Don't Exist     The Internet has created a new problem where consulting or contract programming companies are concerned. A lot of the companies that post jobs on job sites don't really exist! Let me rephrase that--non-existent companies are posting non-existent jobs on job sites.     There are people out there that want to make big bucks on the Internet. They present themselves as consulting companies specializing in the latest Internet technology. Right now, that technology is Business to Business Commerce or E-Commerce. To be successful in the consulting business, they need to have clients and consultants. And, since clients want to see resumes of the consultants of a consulting firm before signing a contract, these consulting companies need resumes.     Guess what they do? They post consulting positions with great benefits and good pay in the hope that you will send them a resume. A resume that they will then show to prospective clients claiming that you are one of their valued consultants.     Just like the recruiters, if they don't have a telephone number, a corporate Web site or their e-mail address is on AOL or HotMail, the consulting company and the positions listed probably exist only as a concept. So Why Bother?     If most of the jobs posted don't exist and contact with many of the companies posting jobs will hurt rather than help your job search, why bother?     The reason to bother is that amongst all the non-existent stuff are real jobs and good recruiters and good consulting companies. I'm convinced that the Internet is where the good positions get posted first because it is so easy to post positions there and it is so much cheaper than the other methods of advertising positions.     It's just a game and once you know the rules, it's not only fun to play but it can also be very profitable. With a little practice, you'll start to see the patterns as you look at the position postings and to be able to filter through 200 to 300 jobs at one sitting.     So, Happy Hunting! And the next time you read one of those articles about how many IT job openings are going unfilled, you can guess where the writer of the article got his numbers. He counted job postings on Web sites.     [NTPCUG Editor's Note: Since I will also be looking into the job market after I retire from the VA, Jim's article seemed particularly timely. For newer NTPCUG members, Jim Hoisington is a many-times President, President-Elect, Past President and long-term Membership Chairman of the North Texas PC Users Group since he became a member in 1981. - Reagan Andrews]
Number 206 - July 2000