Interim Solutions for a Rough Job Market

I am a Finance Manager and I know it is going to take me a while to find a new job, but I really can’t afford to have a lengthy job search. What are some ways to speed up the process?
Sometimes the quickest way to a job is a temporary assignment. Right now, many companies have hiring freezes that prevent them from adding headcount; however, that does not mean they do not need specific expertise and projects completed and that is where interim positions can be really helpful because you walk in the door as someone else’s employee and work without adding to the headcount. From your perspective, interim work has a number of reasons to be advantageous:

1. Speed. An interim role rarely has as lengthy an interviewing process as a permanent role and you can be gainfully employed quicker.

2. Professional Development. Working for a company on an interim basis can give you exposure to different processes, industries and cultures that might otherwise take years to gain.

3. Flexibility. You can continue your search for a permanent role while working and as long as you are honest with your employer, you will have plenty of flexibility to interview because you are essentially your own boss.

4. Freedom to try a company before you commit long term. When you work interim, you have the freedom to walk away after your assignment without burning a bridge. You also have the freedom to do your job without getting involved in company politics.

5. Initiative. When you choose to work interim assignments versus being unemployed, you show a perspective employer your initative and drive and your unwillingness to stand still—all traits important in today’s talent market.

6. Networking hands on. Although there are no promises, often interim projects can turn in to full time employment; other times, they can lead to other roles within a sister company or other division as well. Barring that, you end up with more testimonials and references to your expertise as your permanent search continues.


On that note, if you are interested in being considered for interim assignments through RSG, please email your resume to tpope@rsghunt.com


Happy Holidays!

Searching for work in a rough market

I have been laid off due to this latest economic downturn and the news on all fronts is depressing. What approach should I take on my job search right now?
This question has been the topic of the day for the last two weeks as the credit crunch has begun affecting job seekers and their perspective employers. The news from the front can be downright depressing if you stay glued to the news so here is our advice. While the job market takes a breather over the next few weeks, spend this time wisely by doing the following:

Stay focused. News overload is very dangerous right now for your job search because it can take you off center and give you a depressing outlook which can be perceived by any conversations you may have with perspective employers. You can also have your day eaten away with what the Dow or S&P is doing at any given moment.
Don’t go for the buck shot approach on your search—which is another way to stay focused. It does not do any good to apply for every open job you see online-- it will dilute the time you spend on researching jobs that you are actually qualified for as well as dilute the time you have to research the companies that you would really like to work for. Create a business plan for yourself, putting together the best roles and the best employers that appear to have a current or soon to be need for your talents and come up with a marketing strategy to get in front of them.
Network Wisely. By avoiding the buckshot approach to your career, you can focus on working your current network and building relationships with people who are in the industries and/or companies that you see as a potential fit. This does not mean buying email lists and sending a bio to a bunch of strangers in the hope of creating a network. Focus through professional networking associations, friends, family, recruiters, etc…and have a strong personal approach to meeting new people.
Use this downtime to get your “personal house” in order. Normally we are so busy with our jobs and our families to get all of our personal “to do list” completed.
Take some time each day to whittle this list down—whether it is to sit down with your financial advisor, your family attorney, doctor or your child’s teacher, this is a great time to get a head start on personal needs and/or paperwork. This will give you a sense of accomplishment and make you all the more together when you do start a new job.
Recognize the stress of the time and deal with it. Personally, I am suggesting to everyone right now to exercise a lot! It helps and it has the added advantage of making you look better for those upcoming interviews too. And while you are getting your “personal affairs” in order, take some time to do something you have wanted to do that you simply haven’t had time to do—a cooking class, reading a particular book or going to a museum, etc…By keeping your balance and a healthy perspective on life in general you will be in a much better physical and mental space to start a new job in the future and all the stresses and excitement that go with it.

One of the latest questions asked us:

I was told during a couple of recent interviews that I should go back to school and finish my Bachelors degree. I have been consistently promoted throughout my career so why should I go back now?

Completing your college degree—or starting one-- later in life as a working adult with a family at home can be far down the list of priorities, but here is why you should reconsider, particularly if your career has been on an upward track: Keep it tracking upward! Bachelor’s degrees have become a common item on the employment screening checklist. At some point in your career you are going to want a job that requires a Bachelors degree. It may be for that VP title or it may be when you lose a job and need to go back out to the marketplace, but somewhere along the way you are going to have competition for a role you want and it may come down to: Bob doesn’t have a degree and Jim does.

Being in executive placement, we see this all the time with Masters degrees. If there are two great equal candidates with similar experiences and similar compensation structures, sometimes the only thing that sets one apart is the simple fact they went back to school to get their MBA. Do they have better business acumen because of the MBA? Maybe or maybe not, but the perception is that they do and in the business world perception counts.

By not finishing a degree which you started you raise the question on whether you complete projects or leave them half done. By not beginning your degree, the question is often, “Why not”? Did you not have ambition to grow in your career? Obviously, there are some industries where having a four year degree is not the norm, but with technology becoming so advanced in most facets of life, we don’t see the trend reversing itself. By going back to school or starting school later in life you not only show you can multi-task with the best, but that you are a continuous learner and are invested and proactive in improving your career options and learning new tools and best practices.

We all know that most interviewers decide whether they like you within the first ten seconds of an interview. Having a degree or not having a degree can determine on the first run through your resume whether you will even be considered for an interview. Will having a Bachelors degree get you a job? No. But it can help ensure that you get a chance for the job. And in that interview, you can show all those other important skills like leadership and common sense that you didn’t get in school.

Quote of the Day

"I don't want yes-men around me. I want everyone to tell the truth, even if it costs them their jobs.
~Samuel Goldwyn

So Sorry, too busy to write

I have had a lot on my mind recently. Much of it has to do with wanting to take a baseball bat and slinging it around a little bit just to shake things up a bit, but I digress and I haven't even gotten started yet. Of course, for readers who live anywhere around Memphis, you know that the weather, prior to a week or so ago, was enough to start a violent streak in any sane person, but that isn't the problem now either.

No. What I have had on my mind has had to do with personal accountability versus collaborative decision making. Matter a fact, it is going to be the theme of my e-newsletter coming out in a couple of weeks. If anybody tells me they have to go ask for permission or have a meeting to decide something, I think I'll scream. What happened to the days when someone in business could make a decision without going to ask a committee or "team" for their "input?"

Nike's slogan, "Just do it" has lasted successfully --since 1988-- because some brilliant person laser focused a HUGE problem and the solution down to those three words. If all companies could just take that attitude, we might have less economic malaise and more UMPH in our workforce right now.

So besides sitting around and pondering life's issues, RSG has been working on an expansion plan that I'll be sharing over the coming weeks and months. I hope everyone has had a terrific summer and email me at whodges@rsghunt.com if there is a Ask The Recruiter question I can attempt to answer

How Flexible will Oil Drive US

Today is a landmark: Oil hits $138 a barrel. You know the saying, "Its going to get worse before it gets better."
Well, I think this is one of those moments.
How much more can consumers take? I saw today on the news that the city of Birmingham is letting their employees work a four day work week to help with the commuting cost. That is pretty proactive and we have discussed the same option here at our recruitng office as well.

I am curious to hear from my blogger buddies out there about other companies and creative measures people are taking to cut back on their gas consumption.

And on that note, I am outa here--I've got to go fill up my car.

Diagnosis: News Fatigue

It is Monday morning and I'm reading the headlines on all my news channels and I have finally found a diagnosis that fits me: "News Fatigue." Of course, the articles I've read have not really given a great definition of what "news fatigue" is but it feels right. I mean, I read headlines, click on the article, scan it for interest and go to another and another until I am full of useless information and can not for the life of me, recall what led me to look at the news page in the first place.

Of course, the last similar new disorder I can recall is "attention deficit disorder" so maybe "news fatigue" is like that but more focused on being bombarded by facts and bits of news that do not contribute at all, in any way, to my quality of life.

I would like to think this is a side effect to my career as a recruiter since we pick up tidbits of info and trivia from every conversation we have throughout the day. Perhaps I could receive hazardous pay? Whoops. Forgot. Self-employed so probably not.

At least now, when I lose my train of thought, I can say, "Oh, its just my NF acting up." I think I'll got take a couple of aspirin and see what is happening on Fox.

Why I Won't Be Invited to Dinner Again

I just got a phone call inviting me to have dinner with President Bush up in Washington in June! Asking why, I was told because I was a "successful business person" which translated means I might be willing to shell out the thousands of dollars for my invitation for cordon bleu, sour wine and a fine speech or two. Wow. That makes me feel warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.

Do I sound cynical? Maybe just a bit. Its been that kind of week, but it did lead me to down the mental path of politicians in general: I don't know of one that is really qualified to run the most successful country in the world. Matter a fact, I would say today, if it was up to me, I would disqualify all politicians for running for office.

As a recruiter, my job is to access talent. Part of accessing that talent is looking at education, experience, values, competencies, strengths, weaknesses, etc....What candidate do we have that has run a large profitable business? Who has opened up new markets around the world and dealt with the complexities of a publicly run corporation? Am I forgetting somebody? Because nobody in the game today comes to mind.

I would love to have a candidate I could cheer for but I don't.
One day, maybe we can pick a handful of the most successful CEOs in the nation and test them the Donald way, "You are fired!"

Paranoid? Tips on how to search for a job quietly

I want to start a job search, but my current employer is pretty paranoid about people leaving. How do I conduct a good job search quietly?
Confidentiality is always a concern when you are gainfully employed. Before you start an active job search, there are a few Do’s and Don’t s that we can share to help:

DON”T:---Post your resume on job boards—I don’t care how confidential they say they are, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who is who at their company if they choose to look

---Tell your co-workers—The conversation around the water cooler can be dangerous because it often spreads. It is best to keep your mouth shut on your search around the office, even amongst friends early on.

--Wear your new suit to work and then announce you are going out to lunch or have to leave early for a dental appointment. If you need to dress for an afternoon interview, keep your clothes in the car and change somewhere along the way.

--Conduct phone interviews or send out your resume from your office. A lot of people do, but if you are trying to search quietly, you don’t need the IT department seeing your outgoing email and/or your peers walking by your office and over hearing your conversations.

--Check out of your current job mentally. Stay engaged with what you are doing because as soon as you check out, your behavior becomes suspect and worse, can end up costing you your job and/or future references goodwill.

Do’s in your job search:
--Add to your resume and any interviewing correspondence, “ Do not contact my current employer”. Although this seems obvious, some people in the interviewing process, may forget you are still employed

--Use Recruiters and trusted advisors to help you—they can be your eyes and ears while you are still being productive in your current role.

--Be careful about modifying your routine and interviewing. For instance, if you are flying out of town on an interview, tell co-workers you are flying out to see family—If you are seen at the airport (this happens quite often, by the way) no one will question it.

--Plan ahead and bank your vacation time. You want to make sure you have enough time off to really evaluate your options so invest in your future and bank some vacation days for your interviews.

Keep in mind that your employer today will need to be a reference down the road so do yourself a favor and work diligently while you look toward the future.

Firing can be a good thing!

Have you ever noticed that there are always a few dreadful workers that never get fired or laid off? Usually, their manager will get them “a better opportunity” in another department and from there, they get shuffled from manager to manager until someone has the guts to stop and say, “Whoa. NO more” and makes the difficult but real decision of terminating that employee.

Sometimes firing someone is clear cut.
I had to council a colleague today who owns a search firm to fire a person who had worked for her for ten years. This person had broken the terms of an employment agreement which directly involved the erosion of trust. Well, trust is a fragile thing in the best of circumstances, but when you have direct evidence that it has been lost in a business that is based on confidentiality such as ours, there is no time to waste.
The employee had to go. This situation is easier than the employee who just doesn’t really fit or never

Nobody enjoys firing people. Well, ok, maybe a few do, but we won’t talk about them. But as unpleasant a task termination can be, it is a necessary one. One of the few pieces of advice my father gave me that at a young age I took to heart was this: “The first time you think of firing someone is the time to do it.” Now that may seem a little cruel, but if you actually think back through the employees you have had to fire, you will usually remember you waited way too long to do it. And waiting to fire somebody does not do any favors to your other employees who are thinking “why the heck is that person still here” and “if they can do so little, so can I” -- Nor does it benefit your customers or your own ability to sleep at night.

I’m not suggesting you take an axe and wildly chop through your organizations, but the first step in “top-grading” any organization means admitting when you have someone who is not meeting expectations nor can they meet them with a little training. In fairness to that person, there is probably somewhere else that they can be –and will be—successful but it requires you to make that tough decision for them.

Done correctly, firing someone can be a good thing for everyone involved.

IS THE END NEAR?

Sounds foreboding, but hopefully the end of this downturn is near. I’m no economist and don’t pretend to be—even on TV—but I think that the governmental aids over the past year are band aids we can do without. Sure, interest rates cuts are nice, but will they
really make any long term difference? I mean, if your bank invested badly in real estate, it is going to take its licks and if you got caught in an adjustable rate mortgage, you had best adjust or refinance—the $300 or $600 “economic stimulus package” the IRS has in store for you isn’t going to save the day.

If the economy goes on and hits rock bottom then we can all say, “Ok the worst is over”. Let us pull ourselves back up and get on with it.

As recruiters, many of our clients have been hit hard by the slowdown, particularly our consumer product clients, but they will survive. They have good business plans, great brands and taking a little credit, super employees. The upside to downturns is bad companies; shaky companies tend to go under, leaving a better playing field for the rest of us. As a search firm owner in 2001, I can assure you over half of my competitors silently went away and few have returned—most are now in Corporate staffing departments.

2008 is going to be a challenging year for most businesses, but in my mind, there is no such thing as “free money” or a government bailout that works—most of the time, working smart and working hard are the only fixes that stick.

How To Nail The Phone Interview

“What can I do to improve my telephone interviewing skills?”

Excellent question. Today, usually all initial interviews are conducted over the phone. The reasons include costs to time pressures to the sheer number of applicants applying for positions. Unfortunately, for you, the potential candidate, phone interviews are largely used for screening OUT the wrong candidate vs. finding the right fit.

So, you have applied for the job, gotten the phone call to set up a phone screen. Now, how do you clear this next hurdle?

Our suggestions are based on the assumptions that most people do not spend a great deal of time on the phone—like a recruiter does-- and therefore they are not comfortable interviewing without eye to eye contact. Also, most people are not trained to have honed listening skills and therefore need to employ simple techniques to help themselves in what can be a stressful experience. Here are our tips:

1. Stand up during the phone conversation to heighten your awareness level and prevent yourself from becoming too comfortable in your favorite chair. Walking around can also help as long as it doesn’t become your primary activity.

2. Have your resume handy and pen and paper to take notes. Writing down your interviewers key points can help you remember their primary objectives and will help you remember to touch on them with examples from your own experience.

3. Employ the communication techniques you commonly use in any face-to-face dialogue; restatement to clarify, the pause for emphasis, probes to invite the interviewer back- in (i.e. “have I answered your question or would you like to know more?”) and transitional phrases to create bridges.
When asked a specific question, answer with a specific answer and be prepared to elaborate with an example. Make sure you don’t ramble…remember you don’t have any body signals to let you know if you’ve lost your audience.

4. If you normally use hand gestures when you speak, use them while on the phone. Your goal is to sound as comfortable and self-assured as possible.

5. Remember you are also on a fact finding mission, so have questions prepared to assist yourself in this objective. Use questions that convey a willingness to work, an ability to analyze and connect. Don’t ask questions about hours, vacation, benefits and compensation. There will be a time and place for those questions, but the initial interview isn’t it.

6. Finally, relax take a deep breathe, smile (yes, it comes across on the phone) and be you. A positive impression is key to landing that face to face interview—where the real matches get made.

Good luck!

Quote of the Day

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."

- Mario Andretti

Double Whamy Today

Today is not only Friday but it is also turning into a Snow Day for those of us in the MidSouth. Yep. Big Blizzard heading our way--1 to 3 inches. Thats right, folks. 3 inches.

Now those Midwestern friends of mine are probably shaking their heads and grumbling about the work ethic here in the South again.
Ok. I've heard it before. We do believe in our days off: Deer Season--manufacturing plants practically shut down; Christmas season (which starts the day after Thanksgiving) short work days--got shopping to do and Spring--well, we deserve a Spring Break too.
Oh and turkey season begins March 15th.
But today: Snow Day

We are all headed out early to go grocery shopping, pick up a movie, some wine, extra milk (FYI: Snow days require extra milk)
and headed home to stare out the window on occasion to see if the Weather Guy was right for a change.
For those of you living in areas of the country that have an array of snow plows and salt trucks, we wish you a safe day at work and the drive home tonight, white knuckled, prepared to shovel your driveway the moment you arrive at your door.

We will be toasting you as we put in another movie and stuff our face with popcorn.

A Good Question in a Competitive Market

We have identified candidates from a competitor that we would like to make offers to, but they are passive candidates and we are concerned about them accepting. Any suggestions?

Identifying candidates that are not only currently employed but also possess the expertise you need for your particular business requires special handling. Offers are generally turned down because no one has thoroughly researched the candidate’s needs and what they really want before an offer is presented. As a matter a fact, you must know these things before you ever bring a candidate in to a formal interview process.

That is where the value of having a recruiter comes into play. It is not only our job to source passive candidates, but also to assist a prospective candidate define what is important to them, what might be missing in their current assignment as well as defining their next best career move. If an interviewing panel knows what drives a candidate before they sit down one on one, everyone stands a much better chance to pivot the conversation toward the right topics assuring a smoother transition to later conversations, such as the terms of a prospective offer.

In our twelve plus years in business there are some consistent themes that typically drive top performers to make a move. Those are, in order:

A greater challenge and/or more responsibility
A progressive, growing company, including exposure to new tools and/or technology
A company’s culture, employee and community values
Compensation
Other factors that can play a deciding factor can be of a more personal nature such as location and work/life balance.

Bottom line, to be successful hiring top performing candidates you must be prepared to provide them with something, usually more than just compensation, that is important to them that they do not already have.

For more information on this topic, give us a call at 901-367-0778

The Future of the Resume

I just got back from an interesting talk given by my friend and web developer, Dave Barger at LunaWeb about the importance of social networking sites to the business community.

As we all know, the web has taken off in directions many of us could not have imagined five years ago and from what Dave shared today, there is no end to the connectivity in sight.

Back in the fall I went to a conference that talked about the end of the resume as we know it. Most of us forty somethings gasped and thought, how could it be. But folks in the audience were discussing it again today and this afternoon, ERE had an article by Kevin Wheeler called "Web 2.0 Recruiting is Here" that gave an interesting yet ominous scenario on how different our business may look like in the next five years.

Suddenly the concept of Facebook profiles as resumes doesn't seem that odd and the idea of the "digital portfolio" that college kids have been using for sometime on Blackboard could become the norm for all of us. Get out your video camera and your microphone, future resumes are going to take full advantage of multi-media.

On that note, I'd love to hear from any of you out there already taking advantages of the digital portfolio format.....

Wicked Weather Cometh This Way!?

We have had many calls today at Recruiting Services Group, Inc. checking to see if we are ok due to the strong storms that blew through here yesterday. We are all ok but of course there is a story to be told.....



Wicked Weather Cometh This Way!?

Well let us mark another save for us here in little ole' Germantown, TN. We had tornados to the left of us and tornados to the right.....but luckily none right above us. Even our own Whitney Hodges was sent to the interior closet for a period of two hours while she rode out the evening of Tuesday February 5th at the offices of Recruiting Services Group, Inc. It certainly was quite an evening for our part of the Midsouth. Even one of our clients had a warehouse in Southaven, MS partially blown away.

Due to this apparent wicked weather that is occurring all over the US and the recent destruction right around us I thought I’d share some of my CERT - Community Emergency Response Training - with all of you that read our Blog.

It is I again, Suzanne, one of the recruiters here at RSG, Inc. I have completed this training program and thought it may come in handy. As recruiters we like to be fully prepared – our motto…”no surprises”.
Here is a list of Items everyone should have easy access to. Both at their home and at the office.

1. Small first aid kit or a make your own that includes; alcohol pads, wet naps, band aids, some gauze, needle and thread, bar of soap, Tylenol, Neosporin.

2. Small flashlight with spare batteries

3. Batteries - assorted sizes

4. Candles

5. Matches

6. Rubber Gloves

7. Small snack foods, power bars, granola bars

8. Deck of Cards

9. Whistle

10. $5.00 in change for phone calls, cell phone may not be working

11. Swiss Army Knife

12. All important contact information written on a piece of paper and placed in a clear Ziploc baggie.

Not to get overly paranoid, but it would not be a bad idea to have a scaled down version of this list when you are traveling as well. TSA will love you, I’m sure!
From tornado alley in Germantown, TN we wish you all a Super Wednesday!