Job Search 2K5

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Do any of you guys do any hiring in various software-related fields? I imagine that Sousa does, but I am wondering if it's the case for any of you other guys.

I have a few questions about what I've been doing wrong. I am searching again for the first time in six or seven years. I've been on one interview so far and I am approaching day 90 of my search.

I know you only have to "hit" once to get out of job search mode, which is great, but I can't get that far. Anyone with any insight? I can provide specific questions to our current leaders of high finance and business, should they be denizens here.

[Casual Observer]

I've been working in sales for an IT outsourcing company for the last few years and have seen first hand how difficult the job market has become. It was much worse a couple of years ago and is just now starting to rebound.

I think for US IT people, the key will be to stress management skills and experience. Sadly, companies can hire a developer/analyst/programmer for less than $15 an hour in India (sometimes less than $5 in china) and many choose to do so. I have talked to companies in Colorado (like Coors/Ball Corp/Level 3) who are all looking at outsourcing in one way or another. No matter what a company's outsourcing strategy, there is always a need for local people who can manage projects and understand the business issues.

So if I was looking for a technical job, I would stress any management experience and knowledge about the business issues that are faced by the company.

[Sousa]

I have a few questions about what I've been doing wrong. I am searching again for the first time in six or seven years. I've been on one interview so far and I am approaching day 90 of my search.

I'll speak from experience because, well, I can...

It all starts with the resume. I've recently hired an IT Support Engineer (I went through 93 resumes) and a mid level Java developer (about 20 resumes). I am currently interviewing Quality Assurance folks (about 30 resumes) -- got an interview tomorrow, as a matter of fact.

It can literally take me 20 seconds to decide if I want to read the resume or not. Think about that. 20 seconds before it either ends up in the "no thanks" pile or the "keep for further review". Of the 93 IT resumes, only 9 made it into the "keep" pile.

What I might look for right off the bat:

A concise, well written and no BS Objective.
Not cluttered. I don't have time to read about the great job you did four years ago on some project that is irrelevant.
Too many jobs in a 3-5 year period. I don't want to be your next career step.
Too many "I" references. "We" or "part of a team" is preferred.
Your GPA. You're probably lying. I know I did.

Questions I might ask during a phone screening:
Why are you leaving your job? Don't tell me your boss doesn't understand you. I want to hear that you want to further your career and want stability. If you're unemployed, what happened? Be careful here, one can read a lot into 'laid off', especially if the company is still doing well or if it was limited to a few people. Lie if you have to.

What do you want to do long term? Don't tell me you want my job -- you can have it today. I want to hear all the cookie cutter answers (advancing career, stability, part of a successful organization, etc...).

Why should you be brought in for an interview? Don't stumble -- you'll lose me. I want to hear your strengths, how you've learned from past experience and that you'll be an asset to the company.

What's your salary expectation? A trick question. Don't give an answer. If I'm thinking 45K, you can answer one of three ways. Low; that's good for me, not good for you. High; you'll be considered a risk in that if you settle for the 'lower' offer, you may not ultimately be happy. Right on; that rarely happens. Best answer is that you'd hope to be paid fair market value for your skills and in line with the existing staff. As a manager, I don't want to hear that answer, but it's a good one.

As for the interview itself, maybe I can get to that in another post...

HTH
-- Mike

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

This was a beautiful post. There are some things I am missing like GPA (I got a 2.55) and an objective (I just list a summary of skills).

Gonna read and memorize this and comment further, most likely.

[chris]

For what it's worth, a friend of mine who is an embedded systems programmer has been out of a job for nearly a year now (despite having lots of experience). I dare say that the job market for computer guys sucks ass right now.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

For what it's worth, a friend of mine who is an embedded systems programmer has been out of a job for nearly a year now (despite having lots of experience). I dare say that the job market for computer guys sucks ass right now.

Yeah. Take Mike's example -- 93 resumes for one job. Oi vey. I think I come off reasonably well once I make the first cut, but what a cut.

I've been trying to work my contacts lately as that seems to be a way to get past the thousands of people who are all applying for the same job. If they ever had a mass layoff here at work I'd have to leave the area. There's already crappy competition and nobody has closed down recently that I know of.

[Casual Observer]

Jonsey, let me know what your skills are and I'll keep an ear out for opps as I call companies in colorado. I have run across opportunities for things like J2EE (BEA/ATG,IBM, etc), .NET (c#, sharepoint portal, plumtree), RUP, project management, and others.

[The Adventures of Links]

Adventure!

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Jonsey, let me know what your skills are and I'll keep an ear out for opps as I call companies in colorado. I have run across opportunities for things like J2EE (BEA/ATG,IBM, etc), .NET (c#, sharepoint portal, plumtree), RUP, project management, and others.

You betcha. I'd love anything involving coding in LISP, primarily. But in my three months looking I haven't found a job in that.

So realistically, I'm basically looking for something as a tools developer in C/C++ or Perl for someone who is OK with a Bachelor of Science degree still in the process of being completed. Been learning C# as of late and will probably get good enough to actually be able to function in a mid-level job in a couple weeks.