May 20, 2013
 The ZOPA of Hiring
By Sandy Cavitch
The ‘Zone Of Possible Agreement’ is not a physical place, but rather an area where two or more negotiating parties may find common ground. It is this area where parties will often compromise and strike a deal.
Every hire is a negotiation about an exchange, make it a success. The employee will be dedicating time, brains, effort, focus, and loyalty. The company will be paying salary, employment taxes, benefits, and investing in training and career development. What are each of these exchanges worth?
On either side of the equation, a full assessment and appreciation for the value of the contribution should be done as objectively as possible. But one size rarely fits all well. Understanding perspectives and priorities will help rule out hard stops from the get go, and identify the ZOPA of a hire.
For example, as a candidate, your present salary doesn’t always equate to your worth in a new position at a different company. The value you bring to a new role may be greater or less than what you were last earning.
And salary isn’t everything, far from it. Quality of life is important. Work environment is huge. Perks, benefits, equity, are all quantifiables that come on top of your salary. When comparing two opportunities, throw the apples and oranges into food processor and then compare the fresh squeezed cup of juice that results from each.
Understand that each company is different, and starting salaries may be lower or higher depending on the upside or an outstanding culture that unifies and attracts talent. Know your own hard stops, and identify what makes up an employer of choice for you.
As a hiring manager, understanding where the company has flexibility, how it will incrementally gain from certain hires, and whether the perfect candidate on paper has what it takes to success in your company’s culture.
The ability to tailor an offer must be weighed against any issues of fairness, while fully recognizing different people are motivated differently. Immediately rule out those who lack the right qualifications, those who aren’t a cultural or personality fit, and those who cannot demonstrate a passion for the mission.
Go from there. For the right person, what can you do to reach agreement within the role’s allotted pay grade or other company hard stops?
Rule out what doesn’t work, focus on where you can make it work. A recruiter or HR staffer often has a pivot role to play, in a sense investigating and mediating between parties to come to the zone of agreement more quickly and efficiently.
About the author:
Sandy Cavitch is a human resources management consultant. Sandy works with companies on tailoring employment contracts to create motivating environments that meet company goals and staff priorities. An avid equestrian, Sandy enjoys spending time in the outdoors when not otherwise engaged in creating HR success stories.
April 1, 2013
7 Different Ways You Can Be Job Searching Today 
A nationally recognized resume expert, Jessica Holbrook Hernandez is President/CEO of Great Resumes Fast and a former human resources manager and recruiter.
http://www.greatresumesfast.com
So you have this great, marketable resume that showcases your potential as an employee. You’re ready to launch your job search and start using your new resume as vigorously as possible. But where do you start and what do you do? I recommend starting with reading one of my most recent articles: I Have A Great Resume, Now What Do I Do With It? It shares advice on how to start social, professional, and in-person networking to jumpstart your job search. But what else can you do besides jumping on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter and networking with people in person?
Here are some additional ideas to really help you diversify your job search and make the most of your job search time (more…)
March 14, 2013
Recruiters Square Off to Settle the Redfish Office Squabble Once and For All in “The Run Off”
 The Run Off – One Recruiter Will Be Left Standing Win a $100 Starbucks Gift Certificate
Eight days from today, the recruiters at Redfish will settle the office squabble once and for all. The Redfish debate “Who Can Run Farther” will be settled in “The Run Off”. Play on Redfish’s Facebook page to enter drawing for a $100 Starbucks gift certificate.
Office squabbles are common-place enough, but at Redfish Technology the squabblers are taking it to the street. In an all-out race to the finish, Greg Schreiner and Logan Knight, IT Recruiters, will face off to settle the question of who can run farther once and for all in “The Run Off” on March 22. The last man running will earn eternal bragging rights.
You can win! As the recruiters at Redfish Technology prepare a race to the finish, the public is invited to participate – the lucky winner will receive a $100 Starbucks gift certificate. (more…)
March 11, 2013
 Rob Reeves, Recruiter, President, CEO Negotiating Yourself Right Out of an Offer
By Rob Reeves, Executive Recruiter, President, CEO
So you fancy yourself a skilled negotiator? That will hopefully serve you well, just don’t negotiate yourself right out of an offer. We recently had a fantastic candidate who did just that.
It is important to understand that negotiating a job offer is the beginning of an important relationship between hiring manager and employee. “Don’t lose sight of the human part of negotiating.” cautions Rob Reeves, executive recruiter and CEO of Redfish Technology for over 17 years.
Salary negotiations can be challenging. The market is heating up for great sales, marketing and engineering talent in the technology sectors. Candidates often want a step up in salary when making a move. Even if you are the greatest thing since sliced bread, and you’ve got negotiating in your blood, listen up! (more…)
February 4, 2013
 Recruiting, Staffing & Employment News
Contingent Recruiter Confidence Growing; Jobs Report Good Not Great
Redfish made placements at the Director, Executive and Project Manager levels in January. The preponderance of the hiring was in the Cloud, Software-as-a-Service, Enterprise Systems & Network Management, Intelligence Software, and Solar Technology industries. The biggest challenges to January hiring was candidates receiving multiple offers. “We expect to see this trend continue,” states Logan Knight, IT Recruiter at Redfish. “The pool of talented candidates is drying up with all the current growth, leading to good engineers getting multiple offers.”
Execunet reports that a recent survey found that recruiter expectations of job creation increased in at the end of 2012, recruiters indicated that they anticipate approximately one in five companies adding executive jobs in the next six months. Contingency search firm confidence reached 41 percent in December, its highest in eight months; retained recruiter confidence dropped to 31 percent, its lowest since the debt limit crisis in late summer of 2011. (more…)
December 31, 2012
Resolve to Hire the Best Talent in 2013!
Hiring Advice from the Experts at Redfish Technology
Human capital, the most important asset of most companies, comprises the totality of competencies, knowledge, social and personality attributes, and creativity, embodied in the employees’ ability to perform labor so as to produce economic value.
Recruiting the right talent to advance your company’s mission and goals requires finding the right fit for these myriad of considerations. As the demand for leading talent continues to increase, there is more competition over top talent. Companies that are winning at attracting and on boarding the best talent are those who survive and thrive.
The recruiters at Redfish are in the trenches everyday with hiring managers and their teams, and with passive and active candidates, putting together winning combinations. Based on their in-depth experience building out teams, here are their suggestions for hiring managers in 2013.
The Top Resolutions every hiring manager should make in order to hire the best talent!
“Identify 6 to 10 traits you’re looking for in a candidate and then narrow it down to 4 “must haves”. (more…)
June 29, 2012
The Best-Kept Secrets of Successful Job Seekers
 Jessica Holbrook Hernandez By Jessica Hernandez
Do you ever wonder why other candidates are bombarded with calls for interviews and are fielding offers for jobs left and right … while you’re struggling to garner any attention at all from hiring managers? It could be as simple as the resources these candidates have available to them and how they utilize them. (more…)
May 14, 2012
Puffing, padding, lying, -
What a yahoo!
The Merriam-Webster Online defines the noun yahoo as a boorish, crass, or stupid person. And while we certainly wouldn’t want to call former Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson a yahoo, he did make a very stupid decision.
How his bio dating back to his PayPal tenure came to include a computer science degree from Stonehill College is still unclear. This fictitious degree has replicated itself throughout two companies’ bios and into corporate documents recently filed with the SEC.
Scott Thompson tried to blame the introduction of the fictitious degree on the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. “We’ve are often asked to help candidates with resumes, to give feedback on organization, content, style,” said executive tech recruiter Rob Reeves, Redfish Technology. “However a recruiter would never add or invent information. It is absolutely an absurd claim.”
Ultimately, whether you puff, pad or lie, a day of reckoning will come. And the loss of credibility that comes on the day of reckoning will be severe. The collateral damage in this case is pretty large, disrupting a large company, interrupting focus on business, calling into question judgment, and undoubtedly damaging morale at Yahoo!.
Between the internet and background checks, it is never a good idea to puff or pad, and certainly never to lie. Interestingly, with the public-ization of resumes via the internet, especially sites like Linkedin, there has been an improvement in the honesty practiced on resumes. At least in terms of prior work experience and responsibilities. This is according to a Cornell article “The Effect of Linkedin on Deception in Resumes” by Jamie Guillory and Jeffrey T. Hancock. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. March 2012.
“Compared with traditional resumes, Linkedin resumes were less deceptive about the kinds of information that count most to employers, namely an applicant’s prior work experience and responsibilities, but more deceptive about interests and hobbies.”
May 7, 2012
Staffing & Employment News
April Showers Turn Out to be a Drizzle.
April didn’t shower us with an abundance of jobs; with an increase of only 115,000 net, and 130,000 in private payrolls. This slow-down disappointed after March’s 154,000 new jobs and February’s 259,000. The biggest gains were in professional & business services at 62,000, retail trade increased by 29,000, health care rose by 19,000, and leisure & hospitality added 12,000. Goods-producing jobs increased by 14,000 after a 38,000 rise in March. (more…)
April 23, 2012
How to Deal with Job Search Frustration
By William Frierson, staff writer for CollegeRecruiter.com
Author Website: http://www.collegerecruiter.com/
Is your job search getting the best of you? With so many people competing for jobs, it is understandable that you are frustrated about not having landed some opportunity. However, you can’t give up on your search. Instead, learn how to deal with frustration productively. Remember these tips:
Create a goal list which includes target companies, people you have networked with, and any follow ups with job applications you have completed- By knowing what you want to do and tracking your progress, you will have this information for future reference and a reminder of your goal, which is getting hired.
Have your resume reviewed by a professional recruiter or resume writer and make the adjustments needed- It can’t hurt to have someone else look at your resume for mistakes that could make a difference in getting more interviews.
Take a day off- While you should spend much time on your job search, it might be beneficial to take a day away from it. Focusing on something else will loosen you up, and release any stress you’re feeling before returning to the job search.
For more tips on dealing with job search frustration, see the source below.
Experiencing job search frustration is a possibility. How you handle it will factor in to whether or not you land a new job.
Information provided by Paula-Anne Sherron.
-Source-
http://thecareernews.com/newsletter.php?news=2656
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
March 19, 2012
Job Search 101: Without a Well-Written Resume, You Won’t Get Results
By Christina Archer, Executive Recruiter, Resume Writer, Social Media Consultant and Author
Author Website: http://icareersearch.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/job-search-101-without-a-well-written-resume-you-wont-get-results/
I often hear candidates say they’ve been applying for numerous jobs, but all they receive is an auto-responder message from the employer or recruiter, stating their resume has been received. As a candidate, you need to realize that you won’t get answers to every application; neither employers nor recruiters can respond personally to each and every resume they receive.
If you do not get a response, re-evaluate your target and approach. It may be that you did not meet the exact specifications for a position. It may be that your resume isn’t properly presenting your experience, talent, and qualifications.
As a job seeker, your resume is your marketing brochure, with the goal of selling your skills and experience. I review many resumes that simply list in chronological order, all of the positions an individual has held over the span of their career. Does that really market you?
A quality resume has to spotlight and focus on your most relevant skills and experience, to the position you are targeting. One of the biggest mistakes I see candidates regularly make, is creating a one-size fits all resume, and actually thinking this will land them interviews. It can’t.
Here are 3 tips to ensure your phone starts ringing with interview appointments, today!
1. Know what your target job is. You cannot apply for every position out there, when you don’t meet the qualifications. Be deliberate in your approach, and know what position you want to get. Don’t give up too quickly; if you meet the qualifications, and your resume is crafted appropriately, you will receive calls.
2. Do your research before writing your resume. They can vary greatly, based on your industry and specialty. If you’re writing your own resume, look at the job description for the position you want, and include keywords you see within that description. In order to get results, your resume must be very focused and specific.
3. Consider hiring a professional resume writer. When you’re out of a job, it may seem like an unnecessary expense, but it’s literally one of the most important investments you can make in your career. Once you have a well written and impactful resume, you can easily update it as your career expands. Many candidates who utilize the services of a professional resume writer, find they obtain interview invitations and job offers exponentially faster than candidates who did not.
Receive your complimentary resume analysis now, and receive feedback via email with specific instructions on how to improve its performance.
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
February 27, 2012
How Jim Got a Job, or The Long and Winding Road to Employment
This is a thought provoking info-graphic on today’s hiring process.
It describes a fictional person’s job search starting online and spending a bunch of time filling out forms, only to get an automated email (Ug, yes another one of those – we use them too!) and a long wait. Success at last, someone from the employer he applied to calls about a different job. Next is a lengthy wait, then interview, then another waiting period, then another interview with an on-the-spot offer, followed by a wait and an official offer with a different title, manager and salary than was verbally offered!
While the road to new or re-employment can be long and twisty, does this process ring true for you? What crazy hiring processes have you been subjected to?
February 20, 2012
 What are Your Interview Takeaways?
Job Interviews are not the most natural situation for most of us. Typically you are meeting the interviewer(s) for the first time, most likely in a new place with a company you don’t know intimately. You need to convince the person that you are the best person for a job that you have not practiced with that employer. And hopefully you only do this every few years, so you may not have had a lot of practice lately. Ug.
Whether you are speaking with a recruiter or a hiring manager, there are proven ways to make a good impression and effectively communicate who you are and what you have to offer. First of all, prepare several talking points (and don’t forget the last one like happened in a recent political debate). Have the main points you want to make to the interviewer down pat. This will allow you to say on point.
Identify the company’s or the hiring manager’s priorities ahead of time if possible, or at the outset of the interview. If you work with a recruiter or have an opening conversation, ask what those priorities to prepare for the interview. Dialogue with colleagues and industry professionals to learn about what the company/position/sector really needs to succeed. Research the company’s culture, track record and mission/vision. Now tailor your talking points to how your skills and abilities will fit the company’s needs and strategic vision.
Armed with your talking points, you should relax and dialogue naturally incorporating your message into your responses. If you are asked about your track record, know how your successes will match up with what the hiring manager needs from his next hire. If you are asked about previous challenges and how you overcame them, choose an example that shows that your decision making would be an asset for this company’s needs. Align your answers to support the takeaways that you want to leave with the interviewer.
Remember, this isn’t a social call, it is a sales pitch. You must sell yourself, your experience, your abilities, and your fit, while demonstrating how you meet the company’s needs and effectively communicating your takeaways.
Redfish offers a number of job serach and career managment articles on the Redfish website in the Candidate Resource Library. Check it out!
February 6, 2012
Staffing & Employment News
Recovery Gaining Speed
The economy produced more jobs than expected in January, with an overall net increase of 243,000 and a private sector addition of 257,000. The last two months of 2011 had a net upward revision of 60,000. Private-sector gains were led by professional and business services (+70,000), leisure and hospitality (+44,000), and manufacturing.
Unemployment dipped as well, falling to the lowest rate in three years. The household survey indicated a drop to 8.3 percent from 8.5 percent in December.
The U.S. Economy grew by 2.8 percent in Q4 2011 according to the Commerce Department. This was 1% higher than A3. The Federal Reserve’s Business Outlook Survey showed regional manufacturing activity continued to expand moderately in January, and firms continued to report hiring increases. The survey’s broad indicators stayed in positive territory again this month.
Recruiters in specialized sectors are staying busy. Greg Schreiner, Clean Tech Recruitment Manager at Redfish Technology, reports that 2011 finished off with a bang and January 2012 hasn’t showed any signs of slowing. “The hiring managers I work with a expressing continued optimism overall” stated Schreiner, “it is an exciting time in CleanTech recruiting, especially in Solar, ESCO, and renewable technologies.”
A recent survey by Talent Technology reveals that 63.4% of respondents see signs of economic pressure letting up within their organization in 2012, and 51.4% expect to increase in size within the next 12 months (by about 12%).
The Vistage CEO Survey reported the largest quarterly gain in confidence since 2009 as of Q4, and the employment picture in 2012 is looking rosy. Starting off the year with strong signs of improvement in the economy, hiring too is on the rise. The Q4 2011 CEO Confidence Index reported 94 percent of CEOs expecting their firm’s total number of employees to increase or remain the same in the next year.
October 24, 2011
Best Practices for Online Job Postings
from The United States Department of Justice
The Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination with respect to hiring, termination, and recruiting or referring for a fee.8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(1)(B).
Employers may not treat individuals differently because they are, or are not, U.S. citizens or work authorized individuals. U.S. citizens, asylees, refugees, recent permanent residents and temporary residents are protected from citizenship status discrimination. Employers may not reject valid employment eligibility documents or require more or different documents on the basis of a person’s national origin or citizenship status.
Over the past decade, the Internet has proven to be a valuable resource for matching employers with job seekers. The following list of best practices is intended as a guide for Internet job search engine sites and employers and recruiters who post job ads on the Internet.
DOs for Internet Job Search Engines
- Do require employers, recruiters, and others posting employment ads to sign a membership agreement and client contract that require compliance with all applicable equal employment opportunity laws, including the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, and:
- Prohibit any posting that requires U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residence in the U.S. as a condition of employment, unless otherwise required in order to comply with law, regulation, executive order, or government contract.
- Prohibit any job requirement or criterion in connection with a job posting that discriminates on the basis of citizenship status or national origin.
- Do create a link for employers posting directly on the website that outlines prohibited employment practices and email the link to employers prior to permitting a job posting on the site.
- Do send employers an email each time the employer posts mass job announcements via file transfer protocol (FTP) that includes a link to the prohibited job postings link mentioned above.
- Do create an Equal Employment Opportunity page or an Employer Resources page discussing EEO issues and prohibited job postings. For further reference, these pages can link to the website of the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) at http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc
- Do monitor employers’ postings and pull ads that use prohibited discriminatory language or criteria.
DOs for Employers and Recruiters
- Do treat equally U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, temporary residents, asylees, and refugees in recruitment or hiring.
- Do embrace equal employment practices, including: refraining from discriminating on the basis of national origin; and/or immigration and citizenship status.
- Do avoid making the assumption that only U.S. citizens are authorized to work in the United States.
- Do avoid the following language in job postings:
- “Only U.S. Citizens”
- “Citizenship requirement”*
- “Only U.S. Citizens or Green Card Holders”
- “H-1Bs Only”
- “Must have a U.S. Passport”
- “Must have a green card”
*UNLESS U.S. citizenship is required by law, regulation, executive order, or government contract.
- Do allow all employees (including non-U.S. citizens) to provide any permissible documents to establish their identity or work authorization during the employment verification process.
- Do recognize that refugees and those newly granted asylum who have not yet received a Social Security number may not be fully able to complete on-line applications even though they are authorized to work in the U.S. indefinitely, and avoid creating unnecessary hurdles for such individuals.
For further information on immigration-related employment discrimination, contact OSC at 1-800-255-8155 (Employer Hotline) or at (202) 616-5594 (main line).
Get more directly from the Dept. of Justice
The original DOJ article can be found on the United States Department of Justice website at:
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/htm/best_practices.php
October 3, 2011
Secrets to Impressing your Recruiter and Landing the Job
 Rob Reeves
Whether you are applying directly to a company or working with an independent search firm, you need to impress the recruiter! The recruiter is likely your first point of contact, you need to impress them and do your part to streamline the process.
How? (more…)
September 5, 2011
Staffing & Employment News
Losing Momentum
Friday’s BLS economic report clearly shows that momentum in the labor market has stalled: nonfarm private payrolls increased by a meager 17,000, but as government payrolls declined by 17,000 the net job creation for August was nil. This is the lowest increase in private payrolls since February 2010, and the 4th consecutive month of weak growth. In the last consecutive 18 months, the economy did add 2.4 million private sector jobs.
What is the problem?
The pundits cite: The Verizon Communications strike that caused decline of approximately 45,000 in nonfarm payrolls last month. The recent federal debt ceiling debate fiasco, the S&P downgrade, and the stock market debacle of August. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index published for the month also showed a sharp decline. The lack of demand is by far the largest problem, leading to this slow pace of hiring, especially in small firms in “core” services. And yet, thankfully, for the moment layoffs have not picked up.
Staffing Professionals Predict
Staffing organizations and recruiters seem to have a more optimistic projection. (more…)
August 29, 2011
Winning the Tech Talent War
 Andy Nacsin by Andy Nacsin, Executive Recruiter
In today’s economic situation, companies are facing multiple new challenges when it comes to staffing. According to Forrester Research, today’s recruiting growth rate prediction is at 8%. Many theorists believe that this is because of the looming talent shortage and disconnect between positions open and skills of candidates applying. Another factor is that companies, while emerging from recession, are still remaining cautious on spending and are very selective when acquiring talent, regardless of their growing need to add headcount. Our nationwide overall unemployment rate has been hovering around 10%, and yet when we take a closer look within technology these numbers are closer to 4%. Other considerations that are affecting this climate are employee turnover, Baby Boomers retiring, more restrictive policies on foreign workers, companies resistant to relocation costs, and overall reluctance from employees to change jobs. So our challenge is how to cope with a growing talent shortage within the high tech and green tech industries.
The battle for top sales people and engineers is extraordinary in Silicon Valley and New York – These are our Talent War battle zones. The majority of technology growth occurs in these two large geographic regions and they also typically house the greatest number of top tier talent. (more…)
August 18, 2011
Salary Negotiation – Tips You Can Use In Any Job Market
 Shannon Tinker By Shannon Tinker
The ‘how to’ of negotiating salaries has likely been a hot topic since the invention of employment. In reality, there are no hard and fast rules for determining salary and an Internet search on salaries can sometimes prove helpful and other times is sadly, misleading. (more…)
July 7, 2011
Shannon Tinker Hiring the Right Candidate:
Set Bait, Cut Bait
By Shannon Tinker
While staffing industry pros are acutely aware of the ins and outs of finding and closing candidates, I’d bet the rest of the world doesn’t spend much time contemplating the hiring process. In fact, during a candidate rich market, employers may land their dream candidate by skipping a bunch of hiring “steps,” including “the close.” But what happens when the market shifts?
An improving job market isn’t all roses and smiley faces. Simple supply and demand dictates, and unfortunately a flourishing job market also, lead to losing more candidates to competing opportunities. While tragic, some losses are unavoidable. Yet, other times a quick re-read of the “Closing Candidates 101” handbook may give you the upper hand.
Closing the right candidate really requires little or no sales ability whatsoever and is remarkably simple. Really. (more…)
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