Recent Articles

Last Tuesday Lamar Binns, Recruiter at St. Jude’s Medical in Plano, presented Get the Offer: Mastering the Interview at the JOB Group at Custer Road United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas.  I participated in a BAD mock interview with Jari Mussotter, as the recruiter, which wasn’t difficult for me, since I’m a recruiter who has witnessed more than a few, awful interviews.  Steve Sinclair and Tom Brown demonstrated a positive mock  interview.  All of us are participants in the JOB Group.

The catalyst for the program evolved from hearing our participants say, “I’ve recently interviewed five times and never received an offer.  I was pleased with the interview, so why didn’t I get the offer?”  Lamar offered practical suggestions such as getting enough sleep and  looking sharp but the main points he emphasized are the following:

• Be prepared: check the website, read other information about the company, make sure you know which requirements you meet and how you will overcome any obstacles.
• Keep your resume beside you and smile into the phone for the pre-screening call. Make sure the dog and children are unavailable for comments in the background.
• Know clearly where the company is located.  You may want to drive the route in advance, if it’s local.
• Provide enough facts to connect with the interviewer but short enough that eyes don’t glaze over.
• Be truthful.  If asked your bad points, share how you overcome the liabilities.
• You are not expected to know answers to 100% of the questions.  Explain how you would find an answer if you don’t know it.
• Explain very specifically to behavioral questions, such as “Tell me about a time you had a difficult boss.”
• Plan the questions you want to pose near the end of the interview to show enthusiasm and reinforce your desire to work for the company.
• Thank you notes are important, as so few thank the interviewing team.
• Prepare your references in advance of any calls from potential employers.

Our priority to stay on time caused us to omit information about closing the interview to assure the offer.   If you have the skills, the experience and the personality, you still  compete with similar individuals.  You must ask “high gain” questions and end the interview with the utmost care.  Asking if the interviewer has any concerns is one way to ascertain whether you need to provide more detail.  You must show confidence and a great desire for the position.  Attitude is more perceptible than you realize.  You have to ooze with the knowledge you can immediately impact their organization positively.  In an article titled How To Get a Job Offer From Every Interview by Dirk Wessels, he mentions not asking a yes or no question, as you want as much information as possible.  A substitute for, “Would it be ok if I call you next week?” would be, “I’m eager to go to the next step.  How soon do you expect to make the decision?  I’d like to contact you for status.”

Closing the interview is as important as the answer to “Tell me about yourself.”  You must clearly tell the interviewer you want the job and would like to work with the team.  Never, ever slink out of the office, but walk tall, with confidence that you did your very best. Your self-assurance, skills and experience will certainly help you get the offer, not just the interview.

A special thanks to Sherri Verner, our photographer at the meeting.

The JOB Group meets every Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. at Custer Road UMC, 6601 Custer Road in Plano, Texas 75023.

On Saturday, May 21, I facilitated panel interview and discussion at University of Texas-Dallas for the Project Management Institute (PMI).  When you receive the PMP certification, you must continue your education.  This was a free workshop for members with continuing education credits.  The topic was Career Development and the classroom was filled.

In the morning Sylvia Karmanoff, President of KEMSI, provided a presentation on many aspects of job search.  The panel discussion began the afternoon program.  Paul Bichler, of Experis (a division of Manpower), Jill Frakes of Oxford & Associates, plus Jonathan Beam of Lewis & Fowler comprised the panel. The audience voted for the panelists to concentrate on aspects of networking in job search, difficult questions and other job search resources, since the extensive training in the morning covered resumes and interviewing.  Their answers demonstrate extra power for your job search.

Should you continue to apply to one company?

Yes, although the process is time consuming, one rejection is no reason to ignore the company in the future.

What are some good ways to “network?”

User groups, such as the .NET group, the Java users group and the PMI group are all excellent resources.  Meet-up groups and the faith based groups in Dallas also provide ways to meet people who can provide leads and even present your resume to the hiring manager. Volunteering through professional associations is a great way to find the “hidden job market.”  Involvement in non-profit organizations pays in alternative ways!

Are the social networking sites actually helping recruiters find people?

Yes, all use Linkedin for professional hiring.  You need to understand how your contacts can be useful for you.  Be sure to update your profile regularly. Connecting with your friends and colleagues may be the best way to help you to your next career step.

What do you hate to hear from candidates?

One recruiter mentioned that candidates seem so fearful to share information which is needed, mentioning several candidates who didn’t want to share where they worked!   Another recruiter said when she asks, “What is important in your next job?” she doesn’t want to hear “security,” as layoffs occur in both start-ups and long established companies.  They like to meet with candidates, if local, as a phone personality can be very different from a face-to-face interview.  That personal interview can make or break the next step.

How do you determine billing rate for contractors?

Bill rate varies depending on many factors.  Knowing the billing rate has little to do with what you get paid if you are dealing with a reputable agency.  Candidates should only be concerned that they are paid fair market rate for their skills.  The places where you can find salary information are usually six months in arrears of reality.  You can ask the range but be sure you can live with the bottom of the range, which, in this economy, can often be the result.  Do not be afraid to discuss your former pay, even if lower than you want and deserve.  The recruiter wants your salary to be as high as possible.

Are references important in job search?

References are extremely important.  You must keep your reference list up to date and prepare your references about the job you would be doing they are contacted.  You want to know what your reference will say about you.

Does your organization do skills or personality testing?

Some clients require testing but most don’t.  If you are asked to test, you should accommodate the request as refusing may raise a red flag that you cannot perform the job.

Also on the program, Neelov Kar, Project Manager at Dell, presented “Essential Project Manager Experience from a Recruiter’s Perspective.”

Sylvia Karmanoff and Kamalesh Donthula, Vice-President of Marketing for the PMI organization and a Lead Project Lead for Thomson-Reuters deserve recognition for planning the event.  Not only was the day excellently executed but extremely valuable, both for career development and meeting new people in the industry.

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Last week I visited my family in Portland, Oregon.  I attended Charlotte’s eighth birthday party and had great fun with the five year old at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI).  Although many high points occurred while I was there, the soccer game with the little guy demonstrated to me how much we resist change when it can yield fabulous rewards.

Lane played his last soccer game of the season indoors, thank goodness, as Portland is well known for rainy and chilly weather.  His mom had to leave early to meet Charlotte after school, so a neighbor would drive us home.  Since it was the last game, the moms and dads played against the team briefly at the end and then the kids had ice cream and took pictures.  I knew I was supposed to play but thought I’d just wiggle out of it somehow.

You see, I’ve never been good at sports. I give the term “klutz” a new meaning.  I never, ever played soccer in my life, although I was an avid soccer mom during my sons early years. I’m aware players kick the ball to one end of the field or the other.  That’s about it.  As the moms and dads started flooding onto the soccer floor, my little guy came to me, “Grandma, I want you to play, too!”  Oh, dear!  So I turned off my fears of failure from my childhood and joined the group.  And amazingly, I kicked the ball…not once, but THREE times.  I was the proudest Grandma on the field (and quite possibly the only Grandma).  The Mamas and the Papas and Grandma lost the game but it proved the importance of exuding confidence in the face of adversity!

Points to Ponder

1)                  We resist change from the time we are children. Change is harder than the status quo.

2)                  The tapes from our childhood remain in our subconscious forever.  Be careful what you say to your kids.

3)                  When faced with a new challenge, you need to try your best.  You may be pleasantly surprised what you can accomplish.

4)                  Thoughts are things! Clearly visualize your desired goal and think positive!

In my recruiting work I often hear hiring managers and HR professionals say, “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”

The truth is trying a new approach may be better for the team.  Trying new processes can actually improve productivity.  A hiring manager may not have tried team interviewing, preferring to have each team member interview candidates sequentially. However, group interviews could improve productivity.

I hear people say, “I’m too old to get a job offer.”

Attitude is paramount.  If you think you’re too old, that attitude will show unless you exhibit confidence and demonstrate ability to exceed expectations.  Negative thoughts from the past can interfere with the present.  “You’ll never amount to anything” better not surface when you are looking for a new job or career change.

If we are open to change, wonderful opportunities may arise.  Not always, but in the case of my amazing soccer debut, I received a Mother’s Day card from Lane with a big stick person and a little stick person with a circle between the two.  His explanation was, “That’s us playing soccer, Grandma.”  I will use that card as a bookmark for the rest of my life! It clearly illustrates that leaving your comfort zone and taking risks can ultimately bring new confidence and hefty rewards!

(The picture attached to this article is a copy of my valuable new bookmark!)

A special thanks to David Schaer for his editing.

This is a re-cycled article I published elsewhere last year.

“Would you like to see my $10,000 resume? I’ve sent 500 resumes which were supposed to result in employment and I haven’t had one interview.” Could this be you?

Predators are combing the Internet for candidates who are looking for professional positions. When contacted by unscrupulous vendors, these executives are told their contacts with C-level people will result in fabulous opportunities. They want to believe it will work. They fail to realize that finding a job is a job, a full time, challenging, sometimes discouraging, hard row to hoe. They think it will be an easy way to simply pay someone to do the job search.

Whether you are executive, manager or individual contributor, the method for finding work is the same:

1) Focus on your skills and strengths. Understand your personality traits.
2) Build an excellent resume, filled with terminology which reflects your focus and the terms that your next employer will need, especially technical terms from your industry.
3) Create your target marketing list and find real people to contact within the target companies. Start contacting them. The phone is your friend!!!
4) Network, network, network and follow up.

Our friend with the $10,000 resume trusted that the thieves who took his money truly knew people in the industry. He didn’t realize they would simply blast his resume to various companies and hope someone might call him. How these “retail” companies appeal to supposedly brilliant professionals is astounding. The stories are rampant!

TIPS

• If you need help with your resume, see a reputable career counselor or coach. Referrals from recruiters or others are probably your best source. You want recommendations that the individuals provide worthwhile services. Some charge a flat fee. Others have a menu of services with prices per service.
• Take advantage of any outplacement service you are provided.
• Use a professional network site like LinkedIn
• Attend networking meetings, especially professional associations

Temptation to take the easy route is often the longest way to success. Put you boots to work for you and move forward with courage and tenacity. You don’t need a $10,000 resume!

Addendum: the person in the story is now working with someone he knew previously in an amazing job, providing quality assurance for a federal program in renewable energy research. He did not use the $10,000 resume to get the job.

In Dallas with over 100 faith based groups for the unemployed, people often attend meeting after meeting, searching for the “right” way to find new jobs.  They listen as if what they are hearing  Jesus’ sermon on the mount and struggle when one speaker says, “Your resume must be only one page.”  Then in the next meeting, the speaker says, “SEO is the way to grab attention.”  Or maybe, “Your resume should never be over two pages.”  Quoting Ken Sharp, a Career Counselor at UT-D, “Your resume should certainly be limited to 1000 critical words, no more!”

This is not an article about resumes, but for job seekers.  This is a plea for common sense.  There is no one right way from my vantage.  As a semiconductor recruiter, I see people find jobs with horrible resumes, if they have the right skills or right connections and enthusiasm in selling themselves once they connect with the correct person.

But how do you find that connection?  When I first started recruiting, I had a wonderful mentor.  I wanted to find the “right way” to place people.  His answer still resonates with me, “All of the above, Ruth.  All of the above!” Just as you find new friends, they come various ways.  People are finding mates online.  People do find jobs online, but the majority of us find new friends through neighborhood functions, school events, volunteer activities, professional associations, relatives and work.  Think about it.  That’s how most jobs (and friends) are found…by connecting with the right people. And by asking many questions.

Yesterday a neighbor rang my doorbell rang.  We are having a garage sale in our neighborhood Saturday and she is loaning me a rack for hanging “shabby chic” clothing for sale.  We visited briefly.  I learned she’s been a stay-at-home mom for nine years and wants to return to the job market.  I never knew about her MBA and Six Sigma background.  And we’ve been neighbors for six or seven years.  We discussed some excellent resources to encourage and motivate her.  And she suggested I should sell MORE than a Paycheck, the book I published, at the garage sale.  Definitely the quick interchange was win-win for both of us.

The point is you will be surprised when and where the leads appear.  You can’t neglect the internet as it is your research tool which includes sites like the Monster, Careerbuilder, and niche sites for your target, such as financialjobs.com..  Linkedin.com is undoubtedly your best source for finding contacts within companies.

But where is the “hidden job market?”  It may simply be a job advertised on a company website you never knew exists.  Perhaps someone in your professional association knows a new position will be opening next week but the company could save the expense of advertising if you fit the job.  Someone you worked with at another company saw you at the super market may share an opening at his company.

Sometimes people seem totally overwhelmed with the amount of advice about job search.  Sift the information.  Develop a target date and plan, as you are the project manager.  Then act on the plan.  You are the manager of your job search, whether you want to be or not.  If the plan isn’t working, revise it.  Believe in yourself and visualize the setting.  Think creatively and look at alternatives.

Take action.  Be confident. Keep an open mind.  Connect with all kinds of people and use the internet resources for research.  You will be pleasantly surprised, rather than confused.

Something must be done about women! Within the past three weeks, I talked with several professional engineering women about their careers. One long term manager shared with me that she quit a few months ago, despite the economy. When her boss changed her responsibilities to coordinating projects, not people, she realized her career was in a downward spiral. She said that the graying of her hair seemed to diminish her ability to continue upward mobility. Under-utilized and unsatisfied, she left in disgust.

A “30 something” woman, with two young children, a nanny, a traveling husband and a big house payment, was told she must complete a project by a certain date “no matter what” or her job would be in jeopardy. She started this job about six weeks ago and she wants to quit. Her nanny can’t stay all hours of the night and the past week-end left no time with the kids. Where is the fairness? Is this the way to treat anyone, male or female?

Recently another woman queried a friendly former CEO on the plight of women. His response was fascinating. He indicated that most “successful” women (translate that continued upward career mobility and leadership roles) are childless or have just one child. He thinks, when the second baby arrives, the woman is just so exhausted with child care, home responsibilities and guilt that her motivation to succeed wanes and she might decide to stay home, rather than pursue her career.

For 50 years Catalyst, a “think tank” regarding working women, has researched what is happening. Women in the past decade gained ground but appear to be moving backwards right now. You might want to visit their website as their research will astound you. Women held only 7.7% of the jobs in engineering management in 2010, yet they hold 21.1% of the Masters degrees and 16.5% of the PhDs.  So why is this? Has the economy played a role in holding back promotions for females? Have women been laid off in disproportionate numbers? Maybe they’ve decided to start a home based business and will never return. That might  make sense, don’t you think?

What can be done?

1. Treat all employees with as much fairness as possible.
2. Try new ways to allow flexible time for both men and women. They need to see the kids after school games and be at home for dinner most of the time. They can log in later.
3. Try new ways of evaluating. Could your top 10% acquire this level only if they are single, no children and no aged parents in their care?  How could you rectify that and still be fair to the childless workers?
4. Monitor your direct reports for evidence they are providing adequate coaching for those they supervise.
5. Hire, hire, hire! If you’ve have permission to hire, get it done. Your requisition can be closed quite unexpectedly.
6. Don’t look for the perfect candidate. Were you perfect when you were hired? Look for candidates with potential. What have they accomplished in the past? The past is a good predictor of the future.
7. Realize there are NO perfect candidates any more than there are perfect hiring managers…well, maybe you are the exception to that!
8. Prepare, prepare, prepare for interviewing; do not decide to hire in the first five minutes of an interview. Choreograph a good hiring process with careful attention to interview guides and assignment of specific questions to team members.
9. Realize that the introvert may fit better than the loud mouth, braggadocios idiot you hired last time, who lasted less than 60 days.
10. Encourage your children in math, science, the arts and sports, regardless of their sex.

If you manage both men and women, feel free to suggest ways to encourage female engineers to continue their march to success. How can we improve this situation?

Upcoming Professional Association Meeting
Especially for Power Management Engineers

Professional associations are important for your career. Attending conferences not only helps you learn new technology and update your current skills, but also creates the chance to meet new people for future contacts and resources. Next Sunday, March 6-10, the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APECS) takes place in Ft. Worth, Texas at the Ft. Worth Convention Center. Be sure to check the website at http://www.apec-conf.org/ for all the information.

I’m very excited about the event as I’ve been asked to participate on one of the Rap Sessions, titled Jobs and Careers: Are Corporate Hiring and Recruiting Practices Helping or Hurting? Several Senior Recruiters and Engineers will participate in what will be a lively discussion on the good, the bad and the ugly, which we all experience in today’s labor market. This session takes place from 5:00-6:30 p.m. in Room 203A in the Convention center on Tuesday, March 8. You can still register for the whole conference, a day or simply for the vendors and attend this particular session. I am wearing an “iron rain coat” so if anyone throws something at me, I’ll be protected!

The main speakers are bound to provide relevant information to assist you with your career in various ways. Be sure to visit with me, if you attend. You know where to find me!

Regards,
Ruth Glover
President of Career Consultations

Last week my article focused on hints and suggestions for hiring managers. Today’s
post offers ideas or reminders for candidates.

Recruiter: What is important in your next job?
Candidate: I really want a job with security!

Security is impossible in today’s job market. If you have a job, it is rarely, if ever, secure. If you want another job, you must venture away from your safety zone. What if you have to drive more than 30 minutes? What if you need to go back to school for a new certification? What if you really need to retrofit your career, by trying self-employment?

Do you like your management team? Is your company ethical? Are you excited to come to work in the morning? Does your manager acknowledge your accomplishments?

Perhaps the questions posed will cause you to assess your career. If you are working for a tyrant, unhappy and stressed daily, maybe it’s time for a change. People, who stay in one job for a long time, are often quite lost with an unexpected layoff.

Let’s take “Bill” for example. He’s moved his family all over the world for the company. He and his wife were separated geographically for months when he was asked to be an ex-pat for a large power management company. After 17 years with the company, his job suddenly became “redundant.” Of course he was angry and upset. They offered a lower level job, but his ego would not allow for a demotion. Once he overcame the initial shock of the layoff, he tried to find a similar job locally, but, after numerous rejections, he realized that he could never replicate the same job and broadened his scope.

Within several months on the roller coaster of job search, he found work through a reputable recruiting agency. In the new, smaller company, both his technical and management skills are valued. He’s earning and learning and proud to be a part of this innovative, growing organization. And yes, it means he’s renting his home until the market improves and relocated his family one more time. “Bill” could still be in Dallas, looking for a job. But this opportunity is the chance of a lifetime.

When looking for a new job or career, you must call people, attend meetings, and connect with former colleagues who can vouch for you. Is that comfortable? Of course not! If you are introverted, picking up the phone can be dreadful. But the risk is better than the security of sitting behind the computer and doing everything electronically. Although statistics vary, only 10-15% of jobs are attained through places like Monster.com.

If you are an extrovert, you may need to listen better. “I’ve hired many people. I know how to interview,” a pompous, former hiring manager may say. Oh! Really?!? Maybe telling people how wonderful you are masks insecurity and pain during unemployment. However, if you take a risk by listening to the recruiter who tells you to revise your resume a little and ask good questions during an interview, your success rate may soar. Your responses may be what the potential employer needs to know, rather than what you want to explain.

If you try to stay safe, the risk is formidable in that endeavor. This week I challenge you to look at the world with different eyes. If you have a challenge, attack it from new angles. Take the risk. It’s undoubtedly safer to risk than to remain immobilized!

The minister’s sermon was titled “When Being Safe Becomes Risky.” We all need to heed those words. The economy is improving. More ads show hiring is increasing. Or is it? How do the words in his sermon apply to hiring and unemployment today?

Hiring

According to an article in USA Today, the unemployment in Texas, which suffered less than many other states, indicated that, “Texas strong economy made it a magnet for job-hunters and the population growth itself is creating more jobs. Strong exports, popularity among relocating companies, stellar credit quality and elevated oil prices all position Texas for above-average growth.”

The tech sector (my recruiting sector) requires very specific skills. Managers often seem unwilling to find time to hire as they are “too busy” to talk with recruiters. They might throw a job description on an email with a huge gap in communicating details to the recruiter. The job description may change rapidly from the time it’s written to actual job offer.

What is the problem? Hiring is like buying a new computer. It must be loaded to work correctly. The same situation arises when a hiring manager wants to fill a vacancy. Two or three years ago, a department manager had to cut three people. Now he or she can hire one person and may pour all the requirements the three departed individuals demonstrated into one opening. “I want A, B, C, D and Q, X, R, Z skills. The individual must have 10 years experience and I won’t take any less. The candidates must have a degree from Stanford, be able to leap tall buildings and put up with my ”management by volume” and never, ever want to leave early or work from home.” No, not everyone is like this but the point, is they are looking for security. The hiring manager may fear making a mistake with this one, precious opening. If the recruiter can find this ethereal individual, the hiring manager may feel secure. But the recruiter will probably fail to find that “walk-on-water” candidate. The position will stay vacant a long time, especially, if the hiring manager or HR professional is too busy for communication.

Hope and Luck Are not a Process, an article by Brad Remillard, is an interesting article which reinforces my thoughts and background. Check the process I use which is on the Employer tab of www.hotcareers.com. It works with a conscientious, communicative team effort.

If the economy is to recover, hiring managers and HR professionals must be realistic in the requirements and communicate effectively. “We’ve always hired this way” is a false sense of security. Do you have security issues?

Part 2 will be posted next week for job and career changers.

When I read Kevin Parmenter’s article, I immediately asked him if I could re-post it for my clients, candidates, friends and neighbors. He’s my first “guest” contributor. The article is longer than my usual rants, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. I certainly did. Feel free to post your comments.
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No company can grow revenues consistently faster than its ability to get enough of the right people to implement that growth and still become a great company. If your growth rate and revenues consistently outpace your growth rate in people, you simply will not, indeed, you cannot, build a great company.

Packard’s Law by David Packard
cofounder of Hewlett-Packard
as quoted in The HP Way

Companies often state that their number one business concern is finding, attracting and retaining the right talent in their organizations. Packard’s Law presents an explanation-it almost reads like a mathematical theorem-of why this is the case. The same ideas are echoed by the popular sentiment, “People are our number one asset.” But as we have so often seen in business, what companies say and what they do, are often out of alignment. This concern has become very apparent as many engineers have been talking with me about a proximate issue of getting jobs in the industry at leading companies and I feel I must share this with you.

The technology field, especially power electronics, is a very close knit group where many people in the field know one another. This may be partly attributed to the fact that engineers working in power electronics have a specialized set of skills, so the overall pool of practitioners is not very large.

In fields such as power electronics, where many engineers know their fellow practitioners, it would be perfectly natural for a company to fill new engineering positions through networking. In days gone by, that was in fact, a common approach. If a company was looking for someone, a person within the organization would recommend someone they thought was a good candidate.

Let”s say the candidate’s name was Fred. The person who recommended Fred would call him and say,”Fred, send me your resume.” That resume would then be given to human resources (HR) to arrange interviews and to start the process of hiring Fred. This was a common-sense approach supported by HR.

Fast forward to the present and note how times have changed. As a hiring manager, I am told that this old approach is not allowed. For Fred to get hired today, he typically must enter his resume into some talent management system that has been store bought by HR from companies such as Taleo, Ceridian, or one of the other suppliers of such software systems.

These systems all have two things in common: they are seemingly hostile to job candidates and as easy to use as braiding sawdust. Most of these systems require you to answer hundreds of questions, upload your resume, and then enter everything that’s on your resume all over again, in drop-down boxes and fill-in-the-blanks on their system.

How are job candidates rewarded for their efforts? Most of the time they never hear back from the company. Or, if they do, it’s a robot-generated “Dear John” letter about how they will keep your resume on file for six months. One individual I know received a we-will-keep-your-resume-on-file letter from a company that had already hired her. What’s more, when the letter arrived, she had been working at that company for a couple of years!

As a hiring manager for an unnamed semiconductor company, I was once told we could hire some new engineers for product definition and applications work. I asked HR if we could use an external recruiter. The answer was no. I then asked if someone in HR could go into our external resume web system (where we make everyone enter their resume) and look for candidates who had the geographic and skill set matches we were looking for. The answer again was no as HR did not have enough resources (people) to do that for me. So I asked if I could log into the system so I could do it myself. Yet again, the answer was no. As HR explained, when the company bought the system, they only purchased X number of seats and could not buy more. This situation was so absurdly funny that I wrote to Dilbert about it.

But sadly, HR did not see the irony in this situation. Nor did they acknowledge that there was anything wrong with the way the hiring system was set up. They maintained I had to follow the system even though the system was not working and could not possibly work. We likely had high-performing candidates in the database we could have had for “free,” only the system would not allow us to get to them.

Most likely, HR departments and many in corporate management believe that the current economic situation makes it necessary to put together systems that shield them from too many applicants. But in seeking to prevent a deluge of applications, is it really desirable to force individuals with at least two advanced degrees to do online clerical work and fight through the online shields to get an interview at a company that really needs them?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has issued grim news that non-farm employment dropped in July 2010. According to the BLS, 6.6 million people have been jobless for 27 weeks or more and 8.5 million are working part time. We need 125,000 new jobs per month just to keep up with the growth of job seekers. So what does this mean to employers? Many companies act as if the only thing job candidates have to do is file online applications and that they have endless hours to do so.

Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not market, or technology, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others…the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.
from Good to Great
by Jim Collins.

An engineer once said to me, “Engineering is the only solution to the challenges we face: these challenges can only be solved by engineers.” We need engineers to solve problems in energy, safety, efficiency, innovation: there’s simply no shortage of issues for engineers to solve. These issues will be solved by engineers not by HR, operations, finance, legal or other departments that may have a role in choosing or implementing these inane systems and processes that impede progress in hiring engineers.

Do organizations really say what they mean about attracting and retaining people? If so, wouldn’t they be concerned that the most talented job applicants may be looking at the company websites and concluding that they have better things to do than try to fight these online hiring systems? How many good people give up?

For companies to succeed they must address the flaws in their hiring systems. As engineers working in industry, it’s in our best interests to help companies deal with these issues. As a start, let’s challenge the assumptions by asking some simple questions.

For example, would it hurt to employ some good recruiters to find the right people and bypass the shields that companies have put up to keep away candidates? What if a candidate could talk to the hiring manager or a knowledgeable HR person instead of being brushed off to the website? Why do HR departments act like they are guarding the hiring manager and actual decision makers like they are protecting a nuclear power plant? What’s the harm in talking to someone for five minutes to see if both parties are interested in working together?

What if we spent the money on good engineers instead of web-based shield software? Why can’t we return the supporting departments within companies to truly supporting roles and let engineers engineer and innovate?

Is the hiring blockade there to keep the horde of unemployed people away or do we have lots of unemployed people because they can’t get past the blockade? What if the right people could get the right positions in the right organizations and contribute to the bottom line? To get there, we need to restore common sense to the process, which can’t happen soon enough for me.

What can engineers do while waiting for common sense to kick in? Use LinkedIn and other social networking sites to connect with people in important roles at companies you admire and want to work for. This is one way to bypass the “go to the website and apply” dead-end approach. I actually had an HR-VP talk to me recently about getting more candidates and ask whether they should use social networking to attract people more effectively. This same company has one of those inane hiring systems. I told the VP to fix that system first, and then worry about social networking.

Another piece of advice for engineers: attend some conferences. For example, the Applied Power Electronics Exposition and Conference (APEC), is a leading power electronics conference coming up in March. This event presents a good opportunity to talk to people about their work and what it’s like to work where they do. Visit with exhibiting companies and find out what they are doing and what skills they need. PSMA now lists resumes online as a service to the industry at www.psma.com. People do business with people, and people hire people. So do your best to meet and make direct contact with people and bypass the robots whenever possible.

Provided by Kevin Parmenter
Director of Advanced Technical Marketing
for Digital Power Products
Exar Corporation

More details will be available on the upcoming conference Kevin mentioned. Thanks, Kevin, for your sharing your frustration with us. You have touched a major problem, not only for candidates and hiring managers, but recruiters who must administer the systems, would certainly rather be talking with candidates!