Taking a new job?

2007 should be a great year for certain jobs and industries, if you're looking to make a job change. No matter what your motivation for making a change, you need to evaluate new potential employers carefully. A friend of mine recently made a job change, but I think he should have done a better job of screening his new employer. I've coached thousands of people on interviewing, negotiating, and evaluating potential employers, but most people don't do these things as well as they do at their job.

Checking in on my friend after his new job started, this was the response to "How is your new job going?"

To be determined... Only been there one day - Tuesday. Unlike my last company which would open if a glacier slid through the parking lot and surrounded the building, this company likes to take days off when the weather is inclement. Unfortunately, that keeps my wallet empty. I'm not real happy with the company rules; they treat people like children here - not professionals. Zero tolerance for personal emails, surfing the web, personal phone calls, etc. Hell, 95% of my web development at my old company was surfing the web getting ideas and stealing code. You can't eat anything but fruit, gum and candy at your desk. I'm thinking of bringing in caramel apples and cotton candy every so often.

Can't drink coffee unless it's in a company approved container (they give you a coffee mug with a lid on your first day - I used it to piss in). You have to lock your computer whenever you leave you office - regardless. This is fine and I understand to a point but you have to perform a shutdown on it if you are going to be gone for over a half hour. Evidently, productivity is secondary here. Forgetting your access badge is multiples of $50 per incident and the fourth offense termination. That may be real tempting in a few weeks but I just may prefer to skip the $150 payments and just split. Those are the worst ones but there's a lot of other petty ones.

That aside, technology-wise they are clueless regarding web development and most technologies for the most part. Their primary DBA doesn't even know how to write a trigger.

I've already updated my resume on Monster last night... Sorry for the rant but let's have a beer, scratch that, a martini sometime soon.

Don't let this happen to you. Pay close attention to what is going on, and ask insightful questions that paint the picture for you. In this job market, employers are starting to realize they have to put their best foot forward in the interview, and they need to impress you as much as you have to impress them. The companies you want to work for are those that have already realized this. If you have your own job horror stories, let's have them!

Soon I will post questions to ask and signs to look for in interviews that will give you some insight into how things are really done at your potenially new employer.

Start Making Your 2007 Career Resolutions Now

Time is running out - the clock is ticking as we all near the dreaded new year's resolution revelation. I came across this article this morning while browsing headlines. 'Hope it helps those of you considering changes in your current career status.

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/resume/New_Year_Resolutions_for_Your_Career__20061213-101046.html?subtopic=Other+Resume+Topics

PJC

More Crystal Ball Antics

JR posted a great set of predictions of things to come in 2007 - I'd like to piggy-back to that with some additional thoughts.

If our current employment trends continue we'll be looking forward to 2007 for a decent unemployment rate (unchanged at 4.5% in November 2006, down from 4.6 and 4.7% in QI & II 2006), a continued increase in average hourly earnings (up .2%/3 cents in November 2006 to $16.94; over the year the increases were in 4.1% range), and a large new-job addition in the Professional/Business Services sector (computer systems design, architecture/engineering, management consulting, etc.) - 426,000 in 2006.

What does all that mean for the job seeker? Check back with Career Zen Technology to find out!

Looking Ahead at 2007 (from a Recruiter's standpoint)

Are company's still going to pay fees? Will we be in a candidate driven market? How will the economy affect the industry? Are Hiring Managers going to get better at giving us solid, quick feedback? Will we be better at taking that feedback and learning from it? All of these questions (and many many more) are being bounced around the halls at recruiting firms and HR departments all over the country these days. Being a recruiter during the end of the year, I myself ponder these questions constantly. I would like to open this post up to your own thoughts on what 2007 will hold for all of us in "the business" so to speak. My predictions? Here's a few:

- Companies will lean towards an RPO model more, incorporating agencies into their daily grind, while avoiding per head fees.

- Contract dollars will be big this year. I think large companies are going to be in desperate need for long-term hired guns and they'll be willing to pay for it

- I think we are starting to experience an over-saturation in the market from a candidate perspective, and we are going to see a shift in '07. My guess is that companies start seeing through overpaid RFT's and will be looking for the most experienced again for the bargain price (kind of like '05).

Welcome to Career Zen

Hello, and thanks for stopping by. We’re hoping to provide a forum for job seekers, and let you take advantage of our decades of experience helping people get great jobs they love. We’ll detail strategies and techniques that will help you identify and get the job you want, and we’ll address specific questions you have about the art and science of putting your best foot forward.