Employment recruiters in California, like staffing company professionals, offer us valuable insights into the state’s labor markets. They are on top of who is hiring and what jobs they’re hiring for on a daily basis. Andy Moy is a recruiter who is in the middle of current hiring boom in tech, and he offers advice for job seekers that are applicable to tech jobs and other sectors and occupations.
Mr. Moy is a member of the recruiter team at Beyondsoft Consulting Services, the giant China-based firm. He started his career as a recruiter with Robert Half in Chicago and since 2011 has been a recruiter in the Bay Area, specializing in IT workers and connecting them to IT jobs throughout California and nearby states.
Mr. Moy’s a recruiting world is highly competitive, with employers giving the same job announcement to several staffing companies or more, and recruiters being paid only as candidates they recruit are placed. The recruiter must move quickly, must close placements, and must make hundreds of contacts a day with both job seekers and employers. The situation is less corporate process and decorum and more Glengarry Glen Ross—“ABC: Always be Closing”, “Coffee is for Closers”.
Mr. Moy is involved in hiring decisions every day, and offers the following three strategies for job search today. His first strategy, overarching, is that job seekers must put themselves out by all means possible for employers/recruiters to identify them. This means many of the techniques well known to job seekers in California today, including getting their resumes on job boards, and participating in on line networks.
He explains: “Once I get a job announcement, I will identify key duties and skills that the employer is seeking and do a search to find candidates from a number of the major job boards and technology sites including Dice and Stack Overflow. I likely will also check in on some of the more general sites for candidates, LinkedIn and perhaps Monster, because of its size. So any job candidate will want to get his resume out widely.”
Mr. Moy’s second strategy involves a targeted and skill-specific resume. “To be effective the resume cannot be general, but must identify skills and achievements. When I do my online searches I am looking not only for job history and general references, but for the specific technology and programming skills you possess. Employers care most about how you can help them now.”
Mr. Moy’s third strategy is one that is not often mentioned, reaching out to recruiters. “Most job seekers think they need to wait for a recruiter to contact them. However, the job seeker can also reach out to contact recruiters, and let them know of availability. The recruitment process need not be a one-way street.”
Mr. Moy adds: “I am constantly looking for candidates to fill job orders. So if I am contacted by someone with tech skills, I will be impressed by their initiative, and add them to my potential candidates. Staying in front of recruiters is a good way to make sure they consider you for the many jobs that pass their desk.”
Mr. Moy has been participating as a volunteer on a project to help long term unemployed workers in the Bay Area (those unemployed more than 26 weeks). He reflects on the project, as follows: “Among these workers there is a mix of reasons why they have had difficulty finding employment, though a common thread is that their networks have gone cold. Another common thread is that their resumes are not specific with skills, or at least with the most up to date tech skills. We work on reviving the network, improving the resume with up- to-date skills and also connecting with recruiters, rather than waiting to be contacted by a recruiter.”
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2014/11/recruiters-can-help-current-future-job-search-california/
