With more and more companies reducing headcount a trend has emerged that has me baffled. As you might expect we’ve targeted companies that are performing poorly because they are easier to recruit from since logically many more people are looking to “jump ship”, but what we’ve seen is that while many of these potential candidates are expecting to be let go the are actually waiting around for it to happen.

The big reason….the severance package…Huh?

Yes it seems the belief of most is that a severance package and a job search are better than finding a new job now with a career path in a stronger company. From my conversations it seems that they want a security blanket for their search, but it seems like they aren't looking at all the information.

First off severance is provided for two major reasons (1) To pay a debt of gratitude to long term employees as they must massively readjust to a new market place and (2) to provide a short term financial bridge between jobs. (Or if you’re a skeptic like me it’s to control the damage to their public image created by the layoffs). Now if you’re a long term employee this may make financial sense when the industry average is two weeks of severance for every year of service, but the typical IT candidate over the last decade has had at least 2 if not 3 or 4 (if not more) jobs so what’s the payoff for these people? The answer is no much of anything!

In the current job market the average IT pro will spend 6-12 weeks looking for a job before securing their next opportunity. So while that 4 or 6 or 8 weeks of severance looks good on paper it’s either gone or mostly gone by the time you get your next job. So with no financial gain why wouldn’t you look at jobs right now? Benefits of a search now include:

• Less competition from your peers as they wait on their severance packages
• Control your destiny as you are proactively looking for your next career move and not just accepting whatever job is available once you’re unemployed.
• Social stigma still associated with losing your job: Why them? Didn’t they see the writing on the wall? What’s the motivation of a person who waits to be let go? (sorry to say, but these are real questions posed by real hiring officials)

So if you’re one of those candidates in a company where you’re facing the real possibility of losing your job you may want to get ahead of the curve, and be more proactive in your search especially with no real financial gain from any severance package.

Well while most people would be happy with a job in this tight market we actually had a very surprising call last week from a former candidate. We had expected the typical conversation asking how the market was for their skills or discussing how their trying to get ahead of the curve as their company was about to let some people go, but no bizarrely enough they wanted us to help them ask their boss for a raise.

Wow! A raise……In the instant clutter that was my brain my first thought was you must be nuts, but upon further review why not? As we continue to note some companies are doing well enough to continue to hire so why shouldn’t people continue to get raises?

The difficulty here is in truly understanding your company’s situation and your place within it because as with any negotiation over playing your hand will cost you in the end, and in this case, possible put you in the unemployment line. So the brief rules of engagement include:

• If your company has taken money from the Federal Government so they don’t go bankrupt you shouldn’t be asking for a raise.
• Don’t leverage long-term career goals with your company for small short term gains in your personal bottom line.
• Having a conversation with your boss about your value and that as a team player you’ll be patient and wait until times are better for an increase may be a more effective path for you, but you must have the conversation at a minimum.

So if you’re feeling under appreciated, unloved or down right stepped on because times are tough do take action, but make sure the action (risk to you) is warranted in this economy.

Recruiters are viewed as “arm twisters” and for that reason many people have a highly negative connotation of what we do. However, the recruiting process shouldn’t work that way at all. While it’s true that we are salespeople and that we have a vested interest in moving the process forward and doing so quickly, good recruiters view the steps in the process (recruiting, qualification, interviewing, offer & acceptance) as a path that will only get traveled if moving forward is the next logical step (for both the company and candidate).

Obviously I don’t live in Utopia so I know that not all parties in the process put all of their cards on the table up front, but a talented recruiter asking the right questions of both sides and with a mindset focused on not wasting anyone’s time should be able to determine the viability of the process as the candidate and company move through the steps.

The problem most recruiters have though is when the eventual bump in the road occurs and they aren’t sure if it’s “real” problem or just a scared/emotional candidate that needs some support/understanding to help them feel more at ease with the process. The good news is that this is a learned skill and the better a recruiter can become at knowing which is which the less headaches they (their clients and their candidates) will have and they’ll spend more time making placements instead of chasing placements.

Many recruiters, including me, will tell you that in the tight job market that you need to possess the key skills required by companies to be successful in your job search, but what most people aren’t hearing is that they need to be more flexible. That means flexible with the job/function that they will accept, flexible with the salary that they will take and finally flexible with the location for their next position even if that means moving.

Most candidates are still accustomed to the standard concentric circle search where they look for the ideal job, salary and location and over time they slowly move away from the ideal to finally accept a suitable position. However, we’ve gone completely in the other direction with our candidates. In fact we walk our candidates through a conversation that discusses their widest possible options to include three roles/functions that you would accept, the associated salaries with each and finally the widest possible geographic range, and then we have them look at EVERY SINGLE JOB that falls within those parameters. In doing so they will find a better job faster and most likely have be in a better situation with the career moving forward.

I’m sure that The Clash didn’t have your career choices in mind when they wrote “should I stay or should I go”, but in conversation after conversation with both clients and candidates it continue to be a major theme.

Candidates continue to worry about the uncertain economy, and even if their current employment is in flux with layoffs or cost cutting happening they remain hesitant to even look at new positions much less actually leaving as they frequently site LIFO (last in first out) as a “real” concern. Of course, this is impacts companies by having a reduced candidate pool in what most would think would be a great time to hire with unemployment up.

For candidates this situation can be remedied with more information. First off most organizations no longer use the seniority model (LIFO) as the preferred method to make cuts as more have gone with a highly targeted business/product line mentality. Additionally, remember to really investigate the new company, check their financials and see what their direction is moving forward, and above all take note that while most companies may be down there are those that are still growing and that can only solidify them as positive places for your career growth once the economy rights itself.

As for all those companies that thought hiring talented IT pro’s was suddenly going to be easy…well let’s just say sorry. While unemployment is up, IT employment has remained very solid throughout most of the country so don’t be deceived into thinking you’ll be seeing floods of high caliber resumes on your desk as more and more of the companies we’re talking to are having difficulties with specialized needs or specific skills sets and are still actively seeking the assistance of recruiters to source the talented folks they want to see.

In closing as we complete another year I’d like to thank all those readers of “the Voice of IT” and wish you all the best with your career and of course a very Happy New Year!