Miles from the Curb

Where've you been all my (professional) life?

Alright, I'll admit it.  I just started using linked-in.  I had read about this networking software through the ERE and just starting using it recently.  In a word: Wow.  This is the perfect recruiting tool and it's taken me 3.5 years in professional recruiting start putting it to use. 

For those of you who are not familiar with it, LinkedIn is an online social networking tool.  Basically, you put your profile out there and network with other people whom you have similar interests with.  The cool part is that they have a google-esque search engine feature which lets you search on specific parameters.  However, in order to actually get in touch with people outside of your direct network, you need to have some sort of connection with them.  It's kind of like that Six-Degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon movie game where you can link any actor to any other actor through Kevin Bacon because he's been in 50000 movies.  Same deal here, the bigger the network the easier it is to connect with the people you're looking for.

I've seen tremendous results in less than a week.  Here's how I made it work for me:

First step was putting out a profile showing that I'm an IT recruiter who does permanent placements in the Wall Street community.  From there, I just sent an invitation out to the best clients and candidates I know asking them to join my network.  It snowballed from there.  By emailing my hotlist, I now have 43 people in my direct network (and rapidly expanding).  I can now also contact everyone in their direct network which adds up to 4,100 people.  Go one degree further and I have 485,000 in my network.  Just keed in mind you can only access people within 2 degrees of you without having to pay a small fee to contact them.  But, if you make your network big enough you should have enough connections to get to the people you want.   
                                                                                       
To put this in more practical terms, I have had a number of junior level java development roles come up with two of my investment bank clients in NYC.   Utilizing linked-in's search on java developers in the 10014 area code,  it will bring up the profiles of all java developers in the NYC area within my network.  That's well over 1,000 java developers.  I have to imagine there are some good ones in there. 

In a sense, I've basically combined my hotlist of the best people I know with their network of the best people they know.  I now have access to an absurd amount of people in my industry, a good number of whom are probably top-shelf talent.  You know what they say, good people know good people.

Wanna join my network?  Just send me a note. 
 

A message from Mike Biedermann

Hi All,

While the stock markets have been up and down this year, the market for IT professional within the financial industry is absolutely booming.  Below is a guest commentary from Michael, CEO of our search firm.

2005 Progress Report
This has been an exciting year. We have seen a 245% increase in our revenues, and 820% increase in net income H1 ‘05 over H1 of ’04. Hiring levels within our niche of Financial Services IT are high. Clients are no longer just “kicking the tires” but pulling the trigger. All of our clients are looking for strong developers, primarily with deep skills in C++, Java & C#. Business drivers for these resources include Equity Derivatives, where new revenue opportunities are being uncovered both in the US and Asia. In addition,  the explosion of the Hedge Fund industry has resulted in IT needs in this space, as well as in the corresponding Prime Brokerage business within the larger firms. Here at NaviStaff we’re looking to grow our firm to handle the increased volume of requirements. If you are an experienced Recruiter or someone looking to get into the business, please let us know.

VC++/MFC Developers needed for Financial Technology firm in Roseland, NJ.

My client, a small financial technology firm in Roseland, NJ develops software used by the world’s top electronic publishers. Both real-time financial news, and newspaper syndication. A five-year old company, it is strongly cash-flow positive and growing nicely in a controlled fashion. They have marquee-name customers, no debt, and no outsiders calling the shots.  If interested, please email me your resume  .

Position description:

Windows Visual C++ / MFC GUI programmer, who also has some knowledge of real-time programming (especially for financial data), sockets, and tcp/ip (particularly higher-level data transport protocols layered over tcp/ip; knowledge of and experience with Web-based systems a plus).

Reasons to work for  this firm:

· We’ll offer you an excellent compensation package because we know you're worth it.

· Your hard work never goes unnoticed or unappreciated.

· There are no office politics.

· You get to "own" your area of expertise, and you call the shots.

· Customers will use your code immediately, and that's quite a thrill.

· News, especially breaking real-time news, is fun -- you will be a well-read, "aware" person just by virtue of working here.

· Most of our news is financial news, for investors, which means you will be qualified to work in finance and brokerage, where the really big money is, should you ever leave (only if you have to, of course.)

· You get to use BOTH your tcp/ip skills and your U.I. skills ...and re-learn the latest Microsoft technologies ... important!

Additional Information:

Firm is located in a suburban office park (Roseland, NJ). The office is nice – typically you get a roomy shared office, no cubes (and a single office when you have been around long enough). They pay for your high-speed Internet at home, a new laptop, and your basic cell-phone plan.

The energy level is high, you often get to interact directly with clients, and there is very little direct day-to-day supervision (and no office politics). They count on you, depend on your internally generated motivation coupled with your drive for excellence, and expect you to produce phenomenal results.

Once every n weeks, n is roughly 6, you will be on support, a 24x7 assignment that re-directs out-of-hours technical calls to your cell-phone. You’ll be an expert on everything they do, so helping callers is easy (but you have to plan your nights and weekends a bit more carefully that week).

On the server side they program mostly in C (some C++) under Linux (Red Hat, ELV3 at the moment). MySQL holds the non-critical stuff; they manage the crown jewels (real-time news and metadata) themselves using our own hash tables, memory maps, indexed files, etc.

On the client side they support Win32 writing in C. They write directly to WinSock API for the TCP/IP stuff, and we use a layer (“XVT”) on top of the Win API for the user interface (they are considering eliminating this layer – that is part of the job I am recruiting you for).

There is also some JAVA on the client side (none on the server side), but the position we have open is for C/C++.

So you have to love raw C/C++, the Win32 API, and WinSock to be happy in the job, and have some affinity for Linux and MySQL to be happy with the company.  

MFTC Explained

First off, some exciting news from MFTC.  My blog has been added to the blog feeds (RSS) section of recruiting.com.  Apparently, Jason Davis saw some potential in this bare bones, busch-league excuse of a blog.  I have to admit, this really motivates me to put together some well thought and and well written articles.  Of course, they will all be from my Wall Street/IT recruiting perspective.

So, now that I'm getting some increased traffic, the legions are wondering aloud...'where did you get the name Miles from the Curb"?  Well, it's a reference to a story dating back to my 17th birthday and my attempt at getting a drivers license.  Long story short:  I made it through the obstacle course and was told that I needed to successfully parallel park to pass the test.   I closed my eyes and threw the car in reverse.  When it was all said and done, my Jamaican driving instructor opened the door, looked down and said...."YOU ARE MILES FROM THE CURB MON!".  I failed.  To this day, my high school buddies still say that every time I park my car.

So there it is.  In essence, the blog title "Miles from the Curb" has no actual relavence to recruiting or blogging at all.  I just think it's a cool sounding phrase.  Now leave me alone.

Question of the day

A recruiter is calling.  Should you answer?

See what the New York Times has to say.

Googlepoachin'

Excellent article from Business Week on how Google has managed to poach away some some of the top engineering and business minds from Microsoft.  Great read.

Click here for the article.

Q and A with Durbin, Part II

What is your philosophy for penetrating accounts once you're put on vendor lists?

Hmmm.  Timely Question for St Louis, as is seems every company with more than 10 contractors as some kind of vendor list.  For those who don't know, vendor lists are the approved staffing firms that a company wishes to utilize.  Combining your business into fewer companies gives them more work, which allows you to set lower prices, and also consolidate invoice payments.

Most large companies have invoice costs of $70-$150 per invoice. It's easier to  write  a monthly big check instead of hundreds of smaller ones.  I first learned of the why of this in 1999, from Lawrence Aldridge, who was at Disney.  He had an interview titled Focus on the Value, that I've really tried to utilize as my staffing model in the last five years.  Lawrence agreed to sit down with me at Starbuck's one day and discuss his staffing needs.  Not in terms of who he needed, but in terms of how he planned to use his supply chain management experience to alter the way that Disney managed it's staff augmentation needs.

Why do I bring it up?  One - it's a great article, and it deserves to be disseminated. Two - it is the heart of how to further penetrate into companies where you are already on the vendor list.  When you have a license to hunt, there has to be something you can offer managers to consider using you.  just because someone in Purchasing or HR signs you approval papers doesn't mean you should get the opportunities for business.  To me, this is one of the major problems with not allowing manager contact.  Recruiters have a lot of information at their fingertips, and wise managers recognize that there is more to a good recruiter than how many resumes they can shuffle their way.

Recruiters have to bring added value to the manager-recruiter relationship.  This is the single most important factor in your client relationships.  Many times in the past, this has been distilled down into how many donuts, bagels, and ball tickets you bring to a client site - but the manager isn't using all of those tickets, eating all of the food, or even managing the people you bring to him or her.

Those trinkets and the food allow the smart managers to help out their staffs, to give them a little extra something for working besides a paycheck.  Sadly, upper management in some staffing firms learned that the ball tickets and golf outings worked, without thinking that the person offering the prizes was the important factor.  No one wants to waste an afternoon with a weasel, even if he is paying.

So the answer to penetrating accounts is having something to offer managers that goes above and beyond staffing.  To be sure, you must have the staffing part down - but on your cold calls, on your visits, and in your creativity - you must be interesting.  You have to add value to that manager's day.

This, incidentally, is one of the major problems I have with college degrees (especially MBA's).  Most people would be better served taking an advanced degree in something they enjoy, even Music or Art or Literature, than the would in a business or economic or even IT degree.  Human Resource departments and short-sighted executives might not see this - but a degree in something you're interested in can spark a life-long interest in a subject.  Having that knowledge is much more important to your career than learning MBA level economics.  Very few people need, or eventually use their MBA's.  How much would it enrich your life to enjoy Art History for the next fifty years?

And it does have a business application.  Sales is about telling stories.  It's about connecting with your managers.  They work all day.  A few minutes with you talking about new translations of Josephus or their latest trip to Prague may be exactly what they are looking for.  And it doesn't have to be that esoteric.  Telling them about new software, new trends, hot technologies, good conferences, networking opportunities, or the blogs you write and read are all good strategies.  In fact, the more the better.  When they start sending you information they think you will find interesting, you'll know you've made a connection that goes far beyond, "I need a business analyst by Thursday."

Penetrate accounts by calling managers and asking them to give you the opportunity to introduce yourself.  That's the easy part.  Getting the managers to say yes, and then providing them with a reason to count you as an information resource is where you distinguish yourself.

 

Hmmm.  Timely Question for St Louis, as is seems every company with more than 10 contractors as some kind of vendor list.  For those who don't know, vendor lists are the approved staffing firms that a company wishes to utilize.  Combining your business into fewer companies gives them more work, which allows you to set lower prices, and also consolidate invoice payments.

Most large companies have invoice costs of $70-$150 per invoice. It's easier to  write  a monthly big check instead of hundreds of smaller ones.  I first learned of the why of this in 1999, from Lawrence Aldridge, who was at Disney.  He had an interview titled Focus on the Value, that I've really tried to utilize as my staffing model in the last five years.  Lawrence agreed to sit down with me at Starbuck's one day and discuss his staffing needs.  Not in terms of who he needed, but in terms of how he planned to use his supply chain management experience to alter the way that Disney managed it's staff augmentation needs.

Why do I bring it up?  One - it's a great article, and it deserves to be disseminated. Two - it is the heart of how to further penetrate into companies where you are already on the vendor list.  When you have a license to hunt, there has to be something you can offer managers to consider using you.  just because someone in Purchasing or HR signs you approval papers doesn't mean you should get the opportunities for business.  To me, this is one of the major problems with not allowing manager contact.  Recruiters have a lot of information at their fingertips, and wise managers recognize that there is more to a good recruiter than how many resumes they can shuffle their way.

Recruiters have to bring added value to the manager-recruiter relationship.  This is the single most important factor in your client relationships.  Many times in the past, this has been distilled down into how many donuts, bagels, and ball tickets you bring to a client site - but the manager isn't using all of those tickets, eating all of the food, or even managing the people you bring to him or her.

Those trinkets and the food allow the smart managers to help out their staffs, to give them a little extra something for working besides a paycheck.  Sadly, upper management in some staffing firms learned that the ball tickets and golf outings worked, without thinking that the person offering the prizes was the important factor.  No one wants to waste an afternoon with a weasel, even if he is paying.

So the answer to penetrating accounts is having something to offer managers that goes above and beyond staffing.  To be sure, you must have the staffing part down - but on your cold calls, on your visits, and in your creativity - you must be interesting.  You have to add value to that manager's day.

This, incidentally, is one of the major problems I have with college degrees (especially MBA's).  Most people would be better served taking an advanced degree in something they enjoy, even Music or Art or Literature, than the would in a business or economic or even IT degree.  Human Resource departments and short-sighted executives might not see this - but a degree in something you're interested in can spark a life-long interest in a subject.  Having that knowledge is much more important to your career than learning MBA level economics.  Very few people need, or eventually use their MBA's.  How much would it enrich your life to enjoy Art History for the next fifty years?

And it does have a business application.  Sales is about telling stories.  It's about connecting with your managers.  They work all day.  A few minutes with you talking about new translations of Josephus or their latest trip to Prague may be exactly what they are looking for.  And it doesn't have to be that esoteric.  Telling them about new software, new trends, hot technologies, good conferences, networking opportunities, or the blogs you write and read are all good strategies.  In fact, the more the better.  When they start sending you information they think you will find interesting, you'll know you've made a connection that goes far beyond, "I need a business analyst by Thursday."

Penetrate accounts by calling managers and asking them to give you the opportunity to introduce yourself.  That's the easy part.  Getting the managers to say yes, and then providing them with a reason to count you as an information resource is where you distinguish yourself.

 

Opening Accounts

Now that I've located some relavent blogs through recruiting.com, I decided to reach out to a few to ask a number of  specific recruiting/account management questions.  The responses were few and far between, and at best, unthoughtful.

Except for one, Jim Durbin at STLrecruiting.com.  He's a technical recruiter/account manager  much like me but with a few more years under his belt.  It shows.  Below are my questions....and his answer to question numero uno.

My Questions:

1. What is you strategy/philosophy for opening new accounts?  what are the most effective methods you use?
2. What is your philosophy for penetrating accounts once you're put on vendor lists? 
3. How much time do you spend using job boards vs. looking for referrals?
4. How many positions do you normally work on during a week?  how many interviews a week?  placements a month?

Jim's response:

"I'm a big believer in taking the long view.  My goal is to work with companies, and candidates, that I respect and like.  If I like you, not as a friend, but as someone who is interesting, open, ethical, and committed to their work - then I'll spend time with you and call on you for business.  If you think that recruiting is a step below newspaper reporters and IRS agents, I'm less likely to waste my time filling your job orders.

Referrals are a big deal.  They aren't as effective as I would assume.  I've met some great people, but rarely actually get business from a referral.

My favorite strategy is helping managers and excecutive find new positions.  When I sit down with a manager, I rarely have a job for them.  I'm not an executive recruiter.  I do know how employment works, and so I attempt to help them, knowing that if I do, they will call on me in the future.  It's the ultimate win-win.  It's even better than placing them myself.  Placing a manager brings up all kinds of weird ethical issues for managers.  They want to reward you back, but they don't want to owe you, and the fact is you got payed for helping them, so maybe you weren't that altruistic in the first place.

The most effective strategy, though, is cold-calling.  Nothing trains you up better than 20 phone calls each day before 9:00 to people you do not know and asking them for business.  It keeps you sharp, it increases the number of contacts you have, and if you hit the right person with the right pitch, you win business.

So my overall strategy?
1) Make it a goal to only work with people you like.
2) Call early, call often.
3) Offer a helping hand whenever the opportunity presents itself."

Stay classy recruiting world.

Apparently, all great writers start with a quote.  While this quote has nothing to do with blogging whatsoever, it does have to do with jogging...which rhymes with blogging.

"Ron Burgundy: Oop... I almost forgot. I won't be able to make it fellas. Veronica and I trying this new fad called uh, jogging I believe it's jogging or yogging. it might be a soft j. I'm not sure but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It's supposed to be wild."

Good chance that won't be the only time I make reference to obscure movie quotes.  Anywho, my name is Patrick and I'm an account manager/technical recruiter for an IT recruiting agency in Summit, NJ.  I've been in recruiting for 3 years since I graduated from Loyola College in 2002.

I've always been into researching/discovering new things and ideas in recruiting which initially led me to the Electronic Recruiting Exchange.    I've always looked through the ERE and have fairly recently come to realize that blogging is and will continue to be an incredible recruiting tool.  With that being said, I've decided to start-up my own online recruiting community to articulate recruiting ideas, advancements and perhaps even inspire.

I'm not sure how this blog will turn out, but hopefully it will be worth 4 dollars a month in webhosting fees.