Most Job Hunters Miss the Sweet Spot in the Job Market?

The propaganda is pretty consistent and it gives the advantage to big companies.

People tell me all the time that they want to work for a large company. Generally, they believe that there is stability working for such a firm that doesn’t exist in a start-up or small company.

It’s all propaganda.

Yes, in the last recession, small companies went out of business. But large companies fired hundreds of thousands of workers, including over 400000 in technology in a two year period. Does this sound like stability to you?

Read the reports from The US Labor Department.

90% of all job creation is going on in smaller businesses.

Why are you only investigating large companies when the greatest opportunity to find work is with small companies?

Jeff Altman

The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2006 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To subscribe to Jeff’s free job search ezine, Head Hunt Your Next Job, go to www.headhuntyournextjob.com. To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you or search for openings, go to http://www.jeffaltman.com. For information about personal search services, go to www.vippersonalsearch.com.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

Is Your Career Path Blocked?

Have you noticed how old your boss is?

How about your boss’ boss?

Do you think they’re going anywhere or are they in it for the long haul?

According to a 2005 survey, the number of baby boomers is 78.2 million. With all the fear that existed in American business circles about the potential loss of labor and their intellectual capital, we now have a new problem and, if you are in your 30’s, you may be acutely aware of it.

The number of workers in their 30’s is only 40 million,

This means that if you are a Gen-X worker in your 30’s, your career path is blocked by a boomer (like me) in their 50’s.

The good news is that companies caught discriminating against an aging worker will get hammered by the government, the bloggers and a million other constituents. They will embarrassed in the media and run the risk of losing access to valuable potential workers.

The bad news is that where do you go? What is the upside for you? If you’re a Gen-X worker, how do you advance your career?

If you’re a Gen-X worker who has successfully negotiated large company systems, send me an email at thebiggamehunter@gmail.com

Tell me how you negotiated the promotion landscape and we'll turn it into another article.

Jeff Altman

The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2006 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To subscribe to Jeff’s free job search ezine, Head Hunt Your Next Job, go to www.headhuntyournextjob.com. To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you or search for openings, go to http://www.jeffaltman.com. For information about personal search services, go to www.vippersonalsearch.com.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

How Long Can I Consider a Job Offer?

A few weeks ago, a young man I was representing almost lost a job. He had interviewed with the firm on Thursday afternoon and received a job offer that day. He wanted to consider the offer until the close of business the following Friday . . . and almost lost the opportunity he ultimately accepted by insisting that he had “a right” to “consider it” until then.

From my client’s perspective, they understood that he was comparison shopping, had actually hired three people from the firm he was waiting for an offer from, were interviewing more people from there and didn’t want to risk losing everyone.

This situation offers an opportunity to examine how long you have to consider a job offer once you receive one.

The correct answer is that you have as long as they will give you.

Most firms would like an immediate or almost immediate response. I don’t mean an answer in 10 minutes. I mean an answer where you sleep on it. After all, in most cases, you’ve interviewed there several times, why haven’t you been thinking about it before now and able to make a decision?

And delaying for too long gives a message to the hiring firm of how you make decisions . . . or that you are shopping for another option . . . or just aren’t that interested.

The fact is everything you do on an interview is a reflection of you and how you will work with your new employer. A day to think is OK (truthfully, now, you’re not going to take a day off from work, sit in a chair in isolation and contemplate the job offer, are you), two days is often OK and more gives the employer reason to feel hesitant about you and your thought process.

Jeff Altman

The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2006 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To subscribe to Jeff’s free job search ezine, Head Hunt Your Next Job, go to www.headhuntyournextjob.com. To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you or search for openings, go to http://www.jeffaltman.com. For information about personal search services, go to www.vippersonalsearch.com.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

Self-Promoting Yourself into a Job

If you’re like most people, you’ve never written a press release to call attention to a success you’ve had.

And rightly so.

But some of you should be sending out press releases or encouraging your company to promote things that you and your group are doing because they are significant.

And most of you can be doing the next best thing to a press release:

The periodic note

An old friend of mine would mail a note to all of her friends bring them up-to-date on the things that were going on in her life, her professional successes, accomplishments and, occasionally, the frustrations. It allowed her to stay in contact with lot of people who would offer her advice, suggestions and jobs.

Today, with email, it is much easier than before.

Every 6 months, send an email to all of your friends, acquaintances and former colleagues to bring them up-to-date. Skip the complaints about your boss. Former colleagues may be in contact with them and you don’t want to generate problems.

It’s easy to add people to Outlook and other products like it; you can also use services like Plaxo (www.plaxo.com) that host your rolodex online and allow others to connect with you, too.

Any way you look at it, since only 22% of positions are filled by recruiters and fewer than 6% via job boards, your connects and their ability to think of you will go a long way to helping jobs land in your lap.

Jeff Altman

The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2006 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To subscribe to Jeff’s free job search ezine, Head Hunt Your Next Job, go to www.headhuntyournextjob.com. To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you or search for openings, go to http://www.jeffaltman.com. For information about personal search services, go to www.vippersonalsearch.com.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).