November 2, 2002
Can you believe another year is almost over? I've been running this site for about a year and a half now and have been a professional search professional for since March of 1972. I've seen good times and I've seen bad ones. Guess which one this falls into?
The marketplace is extremely competitive. Recruiters and employment agencies continue to drop like flies around a can of Raid. TMP, the owns of monster.com, is spinning off their employment agency and executive search business saying that they wanted to create less steess to their employment agency users, Funny, when the market was strong, Monster didn't care, acquiring all these search firms. Spinning them off indicates that those businesses are suffering and that they are trying to please all the other agencies that feed their coffers.
There are technologies who have been out of work for more than a year and have probably lost their careers. When clients post jobs on the web, they are inundated with resumes that are not qualified for the position from people all over the country.
Yet, here's a sign of hope. I'm starting to notice more consulting assignments coming available.
An increase in consulting utilization is often an early sign of things improving. Why? Because it means that it matters that something get done, maintained or supported. During slowing economic times, management is cancelling projects and creating fewer heads to be supported. For most of the past 18 months, consultants have been cutback even more dramatically than staff people (if you can imagine that) and have spent this period trying to switch back into the fulltime arena.
I'm still not seeing many positions for project managers and above. This is indicitive of a time when new projects are not being created. Stuff is being maintained and maybe enhanced, calling for staff level positions to be filled. And jobs are still hard to come by.
So what do you do?
I'm going to repeat some earlier suggestions.
There is an article on my website that speaks about how to get better responses to the resumes you email (Resumes that Work at http://www.newyorkmetrotechnologyjobs.com/ResumesThatWork.htm). Follow the suggestions there, particularly the one about submitting point by point responses to job postings you see and explaining how your experience fits the requirement.
Conserve capital NOW! What expenses would you totally eliminate if you were not working 6 months from now. Cut them back NOW! Give yourself some staying power in the market for as long as possible.
Network! Network! Network! And don't expect too much. You friends are trying to save their jobs and their companies have probably been laying off people too.
Look at companies that you've never thought of before.If you're a Wall Streeter or a telecom person, did you know some firms have been experiencing growth and have been increasing headcount throughout? Have you thought of consulting for a while?
What are you seeing in the market? Email me at jeffaltman@cisny.com and I'll post your emails to this weblog for others to gain from your experience.
Good luck!
Jeff Altman
Can you believe another year is almost over? I've been running this site for about a year and a half now and have been a professional search professional for since March of 1972. I've seen good times and I've seen bad ones. Guess which one this falls into?
The marketplace is extremely competitive. Recruiters and employment agencies continue to drop like flies around a can of Raid. TMP, the owns of monster.com, is spinning off their employment agency and executive search business saying that they wanted to create less steess to their employment agency users, Funny, when the market was strong, Monster didn't care, acquiring all these search firms. Spinning them off indicates that those businesses are suffering and that they are trying to please all the other agencies that feed their coffers.
There are technologies who have been out of work for more than a year and have probably lost their careers. When clients post jobs on the web, they are inundated with resumes that are not qualified for the position from people all over the country.
Yet, here's a sign of hope. I'm starting to notice more consulting assignments coming available.
An increase in consulting utilization is often an early sign of things improving. Why? Because it means that it matters that something get done, maintained or supported. During slowing economic times, management is cancelling projects and creating fewer heads to be supported. For most of the past 18 months, consultants have been cutback even more dramatically than staff people (if you can imagine that) and have spent this period trying to switch back into the fulltime arena.
I'm still not seeing many positions for project managers and above. This is indicitive of a time when new projects are not being created. Stuff is being maintained and maybe enhanced, calling for staff level positions to be filled. And jobs are still hard to come by.
So what do you do?
I'm going to repeat some earlier suggestions.
There is an article on my website that speaks about how to get better responses to the resumes you email (Resumes that Work at http://www.newyorkmetrotechnologyjobs.com/ResumesThatWork.htm). Follow the suggestions there, particularly the one about submitting point by point responses to job postings you see and explaining how your experience fits the requirement.
Conserve capital NOW! What expenses would you totally eliminate if you were not working 6 months from now. Cut them back NOW! Give yourself some staying power in the market for as long as possible.
Network! Network! Network! And don't expect too much. You friends are trying to save their jobs and their companies have probably been laying off people too.
Look at companies that you've never thought of before.If you're a Wall Streeter or a telecom person, did you know some firms have been experiencing growth and have been increasing headcount throughout? Have you thought of consulting for a while?
What are you seeing in the market? Email me at jeffaltman@cisny.com and I'll post your emails to this weblog for others to gain from your experience.
Good luck!
Jeff Altman
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