Using the Back Door

Sometimes It Makes More Sense to Avoid The Front Door

When you see ads in newspapers or on the web, often the ad will direct you to email your resume to an address like hrmgr@nameofthecompany.com. There, it sits waiting to be evaluated by the person who is probably the least experienced in the department.

Even if you are interviewed by the company, you will probably start by meeting a human resources person who is charged with interviewing everyone from receptionists to accountants to technology professionals to security guards. Larger firms will compartmentalize the recruiting function because they have more jobs available.

What if your resume is buried and never called on? What if you are interviewed by human resources and nothing else happens? What can you do?

If you have a friend, contact them and see if they will dig to find out who the manager is who is hiring for the job. Although the likelihood is small that you know someone, never skip the step.

Your second choice is to call the company and ask for the person who heads up the function that the job is in and work your way down. For example, call and ask for the head of security and ask if they or someone reporting to them is hiring for the _________ position.

You can also check your local library for whether it has access to www.hoovers.com or other services.

If that doesn’t work, see if your contacts on www.linkedin.com, www.ryze.com, www.openbc.com, www.soflow.com, www.myspace.com or others can point you in the tight direction.

Lastly, if those don’t work, try www.jigsaw.com. Jigsaw carries more than 3.5 million names at more than 370000 companies. The service is free if you input 25 email contacts per month (a contact is name, title, email address, phone number and address) or costs $25 per month to access 25 contacts.

I’m also going to take a demo of www.spoke.com; Spoke claims information about more than 30 million people and costs $60 per month for unlimited access. Again, I’m going to do a demo of the product but it seems interesting.

Any way you look at it, sometimes, it is far better to go through the back door.

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).

Broadway Musical Cast Teaches The Importance of Great Interviewing

Several years ago, I was sitting in the audience of a show, watching the cast of the show sing their hearts out, when I thought, “How can they do this night after night, 8 performances a week for several years?”

It must be hard to put in a great performance every time you step on the stage night after night, yet the audience is paying the same amount for the ticket to the show as the people who are in the audience on the second night after the show opens (opening night audiences often pay more).

And isn’t that like interviewing?

Years ago, I coached an applicant for an interviewing; he was someone with great skills who I knew to be very talented but something just wasn’t clicking for him. He thanked me for meeting with him and we sat down for a mock interview. I asked him three questions, paused and said, “John, I have the answer.”

“John, it’s boring to answer the same questions over and over again, isn’t it.” He nodded.

“Well, you may have answered this question 20 rtimes before but the fact is that they are only hearing the answer to your question for the first time. Think of your audience and not yourself. Focus on putting on a good performance, just like the cast of a Broadway show does and remember that the audience is only seeing the performance for the first time.

John went on 5 more interviews and received 4 offers.

So remember that when the phone rings and it’s time to step out on the stage and belt out the answers to all the same questions over and over again, think of the cast of ashow you saw and how well they did, despite singing lyrics, night after night for years on end.

Then belt out the song.

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).

Lying Doesn’t Pay

Lying Doesn’t Pay

I started in the search business in 1972, joining a company that has long since disappeared. I was trained by a man who I referred to as “Swami” (it was not a reference to his ethnicity but to his being my teacher, my guru) who taught me the three jobs of the search business.

Q. “How can you tell a company is lying to you?”

A. “Their lips are moving”

Q. How can you tell a recruiter is lying to you?

A. Their lips are moving.

And, of course:

Q. How can you tell an applicant is lying to you?

I’m sure you’ve guessed the answer.

The problem with lying is that in almost all cases, you will be found out. Companies do background checks that will expose whether you are lying about salary or responsibilities.

The dumbest thing to lie about is whether you have a degree or a degree from a particular university. It will always be found out.

Work for a company that doesn’t officially comply with referencing? Trust me. There are back channel approaches to finding out about you. An employer recently Googled a person I referred to them and discovered their penchant for day trading; it wouldn’t be such a problem if it were not for the fact that the employer was a hedge find and the person was going to be exposed to their trading model.

And, having received phone calls from people who were greeted by security when they returned from lunch one day, their personal belongings in a box to be taken home after they were escorted from the building, I assure you that lying can be exposed.

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, sign iup at www.headhuntyournextjob.com. To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, go to http://www.jeffaltman.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).

Thank You Letters

I’ve been in the search business for what often seems like 100 years.

In the good old days, people would mail resumes to companies on great looking parchment paper with a watermark visible to the reader because that meant class!

After an interview, they would send a thank you note (by mail) on either personal letterhead or a card to express their interest in the job.

Now in this mile a second world, thank you notes have disappeared from proper interview behavior and tat is a tactical mistake.

Sending a thank you email after an interview accomplishes several things. First and foremost, it leaves little doubt about your interest in the opportunity being discussed . . . and, in a lot of situations, breaking the logjam by expressing interest can be enough to separate you from the pack.

But probably more important is that it gives you an opportunity to (a) address any concerns the interviewer might have about your experience, (b) correct an answer you missed on and (c) give you another opportunity to sell yourself to the interviewer.

So, to be clear, I’m not suggesting that you mail a thank you note; I’m suggesting that you email one within 12 hours of your interview.

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 toJeff’s free job search ezine, Head Hunt Your Next Job, sign up at www.headhuntyournextjob.com. To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, go to http://www.jeffaltman.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).

Contract to Nowhere

InfoWorld Writer Yaeger Exaggerates and Stereotypes but Misses the Mark

I want to start by saying I’m not a fan of temp to perm hiring nor am I supportive of sleazy and cheesy practices by employment agencies. As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago, I wrote an article called, “Being a Contractor Isn’t Always Such a Good Deal.”

Reading through Yaeger’s article, I kept thinking, “How many more stereotypes can one writer use in one article? And such a key mistake?

References to opportunists.

Honest employers and job candidates (the school marm in the Wild West)

Black hat employers

Boiler-room operations (employment agencies that take advantage of everyone)

Employment agencies “where staff changes faster than the seasons”

A greedy agency doesn’t work for employers. It works for itself.

When the ideal worker who was born to work for you applies for the job you’ve listed, he or she becomes real estate

More profitable to rent than to sell

The most wonderful thing since child labor

scam

top-rung permanent workers with the promise that if they prove themselves worthy during the contract period

That’s for chumps

The best, most excited, and most hopeful talent in the workforce is getting siphoned out of the permanent job market and re-used until they get wise or burn out.

Workers searching for work already know direct listings are preferable.

An employer who uses boiler-room agencies to look for help misses out on prime prospects, and can end up with the agency’s dregs

So many stereotypes in one article.

Here’s what I see from my perch in search.
1. A temp-to-perm situation generally exists because the employer has decided it needs to be that way. Sometimes, it’s because they have funding in their budget for a consultant but not an employee. In most cases it is NOT becausse some nefarious recruiter is trying to manipulate you for profit but because that is what the client wants to do.

2. If you don’t ask them about the criteria for the conversion during your interview with them it is your fault, not the “bad employment agency” or the evil employer.”

3. Black hat employers? Is he saying that what is being done by the employer is illegal?

4. Scam? Let’s look at the definition: A fraudulent business scheme; a swindle (from www.dictionary.com) Don’t you know it’s possible that you might not be converted? If you quit a job to do temp-to-perm without asking the employer about the risk you’re taking, you are making a huge mistake . . . but it's not a scam.

I could go on and on with this but the fact is if you join as a contractor, it takes you working at least 15 weeks for a recruiter to earn the same amount of money as they might if you took a full time job . . . and there you would only have to work for 90 days.

Respectfully, don’t quit a full time job for a temp-to-perm arrangement unless you are willing to (a) become a contractor or (b) willing to risk being fired after the probation period.

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, sign up at www.headhuntyournextjob.com. To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, go to www.jeffaltman.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).