December 31, 2002

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Now what?

Another sluggish year in IT seems to be ahead of us. Business is lousy for almost everyone. The list of explanations for why this is the case is enormous but the explanations come down to a pretty short list—few firms are making enough money to justify additional expenditures for people and resources. Yet, if you explore the web, you might notice an interesting thing..

The Final Four (the group of professional services firm formerly known as the Big 5 until Arthur Andersen imploded) seems to be going on a hiring binge. One firm is looking for over 200 professionals nationwide; another over 500! Admittedly, few of them are related to technology but, judging by my experience with one of the firms, each listing represents multiple positions so these numbers may be on the low side.

What do these firms believe or know that explains numbers like these? Could this be the ginning of the recovery?

Let's hope so.

From Career Journal

-Job seekers may be in for a holly-jolly holiday season when it comes to finding work. According to CareerJournal.com, the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day is one of the best times to find a job, especially this year. Of the companies that have forecasted improved revenues for 2003, most are looking to get key people in place before the beginning of the year. The holidays are also a terrific time to shift networking into high gear.

December 2, 2002

As 2002 comes to an end, I think we can all agree that it has been a difficult year for employment for technology professionals within the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area. Thousands of technology professionals have lost their higher paying jobs and consulting assignments as financial institutions have continued their cutbacks and consolidations, as firms have maintained existing operations, rather than expand and as the continued impact of a slow or retracting economy have its greatest effects in New York City.

Is there any hope out there? Yes, if you're one of the more recently laid off professionals. Companies are interviewing again, hiring again . . . but in vastly lower numbers than they did before. They are demanding more skills and experience from the people that they interview let alone hire. Salaries are down, but on occasion, an extraordinary story occurs of someone who gets a large rate increase or salary increase when they find work.

On the other hand, more firms are telling us that they don't want to see any resumes of people who have been out of work for more than 6 months. This suggests that people who were laid off earlier in the slowdown may find their sole opportunity to return to work will be as consultants (provided that their technical skills are strong and that their resume spells out their relevant experience). As I've been saying for several months, email resumes that would allow a typical 4-year-old to know that you're qualified!

In other words, there are signs of hope.

One dilemma that I see is that more organizations are functioning as hiring do-it-yourselfers attempting to avoid paying an agency fee. The impact is multifold. Although many corporate recruiters work hard, they have multiple responsibilities including interviewing, wage and salary responsibilities, evaluating you and the other 400 emails they've received, interviewing managers to determine what is being sought in an employee. You get the idea. They just don't have the time to do everything that companies are demanding of them. Your credentials can be easily overlooked.

In addition, once your resume is in a company's tracking system, recruiters may be precluded from referring you for a different position for six moths, more than six months or entirely. The problem for you is that since company recruiters are often very busy, they may overlook your credentials and never re-contact you when something new opens up. Furthermore, when companies try to do a lot of their own pre-screening, you are not "coached" to avoid making mistakes that can cause you to lose an opportunity.

Having done technology search for many years, I've seen these cycles come and go. As we end the current one and begin the next upward cycle in the market, the seeds for labor shortages have already been planted and wages will move up again

But in the mean time, keep your technical skills sharp, prepare for each interview as though it might be your last one, and keep hustling! Oh, yes, email your resume in Word to me at jeffaltman@cisny.com (include your most recent compensation), join my Yahoogroup to receive job descriptions by email, and keep coming back here often to check for new positions.

Good luck!

Jeff Altman