Lots of openings, but why can’t some companies actually hire? Boston software engineering market can learn from this WSJ article – scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston’s #1 Software engineer recruiter

I get the calls pretty much every day now — some variation of:

*”where are all the good candidates”

*”we hired so many more people 16 months ago, what’s wrong with you, or us, or candidate”

*”what else can we do to attract cool ninja, hacker, superstar, blah blah blah types”

The biggest issues right now for so many companies, is that they seemingly want to fill their entire team with top 1-5%ers — and who can blame them as productivity, and harmony prevails — but, what happens when you combine a red-hot market, with some managers, or HR folks, still thinking about that “next candidate” who just might show up in another day, week or month? You get the market we’re in right now! Where the number of job openings keep climbing, but the number of hires, is actually going down.

This WSJ article pretty much sums it up:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704410004576182780887145442.html

I can definitely echo this comment:

“Nowadays, if managers speak to a really great candidate, instead of hiring him, they take it as an indication that there must be 10 even better people out there,” says Todd Safferstone, director of CLC Recruiting, a unit of the Corporate Executive Board.

My advice — if you see a really great candidate, you’d better start thinking about how to make them a great offer, otherwise someone else WILL hire them while you mull it over.

Want to talk strategy about not just hiring, but actually recruiting/attracting and retaining a star software engineer? Drop me a line – scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston’s #1 Software Engineer recruiter/headhunter.

Frothy Job Market for software engineers/web developers noted by CNN/Money – Boston area just as crazy

I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in several lead stories on hiring on CNN and Money magazine, although not this particular one — I could very well have echoed and shared some of the same observations in the local Boston, MA job market for software engineers — simply put, things are dividing into the “haves” and “have nots” when it comes down to software/coding skills.

I recently had dinner with one of the original architects of the Windows 3.x kernel who has long since retired to the West Coast and had a nice long conversation with a local entrepreneur who has moved his startup to the East Coast – both, lamenting friends, colleagues and companies struggling to attract “top notch” talent — there is definitely no lack of average talent out there, but it’s the top 1-5% where the market is at it’s fiercest for competition.

With Google and many of our clients routinely paying salaries close/at six figures for a recent grad, yet a similar salary for a solid Senior/Principal software engineer — one has to ask “why” — I think this article on CNN/Money covers that ground well:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/07/technology/tech_engineers_wanted/index.htm

The market here in Boston, and in Silicon Valley/New York  are coming up with lots of new companies, all looking to chase a finite number of stars …. if you are a “star software engineer” looking for a top-notch firm, it can be hard to differentiate between the buzz out there — do yourself a favour, and drop me a line to sort out the real star companies from the “pretenders”.

scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston’s #1 Software Engineer recruiter/headhunter

Swimming with sharks – a new Job order, that every remaining recruiter seems to have

Yipee! A new job order possibly developing!!  But wait, is this something unique, special or perhaps even ‘off the radar’? How does a recruiter differentiate themselves from their competitors when recruiting possible candidates?

Well, in the case of a recent job at a company I’ll call “itest” – you tell 2 of the largest, loudest recruiting firms out there – Hollister, Winter, Wyman, and then have all three parties including “itest” post the job on Craigslist within hours of each other:

http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/sof/1091545726.html – Hollister – nice cut & paste job folks.

http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/sof/1090645230.html – Winter, Wyman, well at least the job desc is re-written

http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/sof/1090425704.html – no name given, so perhaps it’s “itest” themselves.

Of couse if you “think like a recruiter” and do a quick couple boolean searches, it’s pretty obvious who this is!! And the award for “Tool of the Week” goes to ____ …. so, if you’ve got some Flex, Java, and you’re a  metrowest software engineer, here’s a nice, easy job lead to figure out for yourself without using a recruiter. Now, if you’re “itest”, perhaps next time you rethink your recruiting partner strategy.

Job Market is like stock market – confidence driven

Anyone looking at their quarterly 401k statement? Ouch… yes the financial mess on Wall Street is a drag, and yet, we’ve been through these tough times before. Learning and growing from our collective mistakes will help us get through. On the recruiting front — the mechanisms by which the system of looking/finding a job works much the same way – as candidates and companies are optimistic about the future, they expand hiring — when the market contracts, some firms suddenly seize up. Some candidates stop looking. History is the key to making sense of challenging times – in 2001-2004 we, and our candidates/clients thrived due to focusing on the fundamentals to a succesful business — and even in the days/weeks/months after 9.11 we were making placements — yes, even in the worst job market in years.

We’re not seeing a huge fallout — yet — but make no mistake — a lack of positive psychological progress  –  a lack of confidence in the market, will precipidate a fall in hiring — but, if you’re a great candidate, a great recruiter, or a great company – this is a market opportunity — to take market share and grow while others are cutting back.

Commitment – what does it mean?

By one common definition – it’s an “interaction dominated by obligations. These obligations may be mutual, or self-imposed, or explicitly stated, or may not. ” In the recruiting industry, much of what I do relates back to explicit or implicit commitments – from me to a client company, to a client candidate and from you (whether company or candidate) to each of the other parties! 

So much of what we do is reflected back by our own personal set of ethos/ethics – if you are someone who is merely saying what others what to hear vs. having a core set of beliefs, that is reflected in your actions, then your commitment is also an illusion vs. reality.  It is critical for both clients and candidates to understand the commitment a talented headhunter will undertake on your behalf -

a. If you accept a job — the client tells other recruiters, and candidates the job is filled – and stops interviewing for the position — they order systems and prepare for your arrival

b. Client – if you interview a candidate on the phone or in-person, we need timely feedback – candidates have many options and we won’t stop the process until a firm offer is extended.

c. Reviewing positions with me — I review over 100 resumes a day, and talk to dozens of candidates a week – not every candidate is someone I can help – but, when I do believe I can make a difference in  your search, MY commitment to you is to work as hard as I can — weekends, late nights, and taking my “do what it takes” attitude to landing you a great position. When I choose to work on your case, the commitment from you to me – is that you will communicate to me in a regular fashion (return calls/emails), be honest in all dealings with me/my clients, prepare earnestly for strong interviews — in this market, the heat is being turned up to know your stuff – if you don’t make the commitment to a strong interview — practicing and preparing technically and interpersonally, then your commitment is merely illusory.  Make sure your character stands firm — when I say I will do something — you KNOW I will do it — when you say you’ll do something – be sure you mean it too!

Recruiters who spam resumes part two – SmartMoney article

I was reading an older article from SmartMoney the other day and wanted to share a snippet that really resonated about candidate resumes being mass-spammed and not being  disclosed, since it seems like I’ve been writing about this a lot lately. Perhaps it’s because I’ve seen this happen more in 3 months of 2008 than all of 2007! , but it’s really becoming quite unbelievable – Candidates: ensure you give written/email permission for each submission, and recruiters – if you won’t act ethically, go back to selling cars. Here at The Bivium Group, we pride ourselves on only sending a resume with your explicit, informed, written consent for a job. If that sounds like a person you want representing you here in the Massachusetts software engineering market- I’d love to hear from you!

The article:

“Since contingency firms get paid only if they actually place a candidate, the temptation is to carpet bomb your name across hundreds of companies and hope somebody bites. At their worst, some firms become like “boiler-room operations in securities sales,” according to Scott of TransPacific Ventures.

The result: Your information could be mass-faxed by recruiters eager to make a commission or traded with others who might do the same. It could even end up in the lap of your current employer. “You should know who it’s going to, and for what position,” says Dudley Brown, head of Irvine, Calif., start-up staffer BridgeGate. “If an agency’s reluctant to do that, it should be a real warning sign.”

Even if you’re careful, you might still get burned. Ask Michael Greiche, an auditor at a Wall Street financial firm, who had insisted on prior permission — but didn’t get it, as he found out when he approached a potential employer earlier this year. “They said, ‘Your agency sent your resume here.’ I said, ‘I never gave permission for them to send it here.’…Sure enough, I found out two days later they also sent it to two other firms without my permission.”

If multiple agencies are sending in your resume, a company might decline to hire you simply because “it looks like you don’t know what you’re doing,” warns Brown. Or it might not want to get involved in a nasty fee dispute between competing headhunters who are pitching the same person — even if you’re the perfect candidate. “