Hunting

We’re taking a slight segue here and going to cover some topics around finding a job.

Having recently relocated home to Sydney Australia after 6 years in the US,  I found myself back on the job market in an entirely different economy.

Some very basic observations after a few weeks of job hunting:

1. Pay attention to when the financial year ends in your job market. Traditionally, Australian companies finish their financial year at the end of June. In the US, it was usually Dec. Either way, the quarter leading up to it is usually slow as companies crack down on budget to hit numbers.

Note: Unless your looking at public sector roles. In that case, it’s sometimes “Use it or lose it” and you will see government departments spending up big in the last quarter.

2. Despite the first point, there are always positions available. Even when it’s “slow” the companies that are hiring are serious about it.

3. Surprisingly – It’s not about the technology. With more and more software development moving off-shore, I found my Project Management background of much more interest to companies then my background managing technical development teams.

4. Linkedin, despite being the predominant networking and recruiting tool in the US,  plays a cursory supporting role in Australia. Use SEEK. That’s what everyone else does.

5. Recruiters are a necessary evil. Almost all companies have PSA’s (Preferred Supplier Agreements) these days, which means they work exclusively with a handful of recruiters. Whilst there are some organizations that will only recruit directly, your chances of getting your resume into a company are much higher if you get it into as many recruiters hands as possible.  Remember – they only have a handful of jobs each that they are trying to fill, so only working with  a few does not get your resume out there.

You can complain about the fees (particularly if you’re looking at contract work) but at the end of the day – They are paid on commission, and you are a commodity that is being sold.

Very early in my career, I spent a year moonlighting as an IT recruiter. It was during the dot com boom at the end of the 1990’s, and it was much less structured.  If you had a very good candidate, it was easy to become their advocate and reverse market them to companies you thought were interested.

With the increased prevalence of PSA’s, that’s increasingly rare. The recruiter’s customer is the Organization. Not the candidate. You’ll see their behaviors change if you get to 2^nd interview stage.  Your best mate will suddenly become a bit more insistent. They will push you to take the role, even if it’s not the best one for you. Which should be expected – they only get paid on placements.

6. It’s not about compromise.  Luckily, I don’t have children to support, so there was no urgency to accept a role that didn’t tick all the boxes. Be careful of falling into the trap of having to choose between a good job and crap pay, vs a crap job and good pay.

That’s a suckers choice.

If you're patient – you’ll find roles where you won’t have to make that decision.

So what was my experience like?

Despite it being the end of financial year, and dire warnings about the GFC,  surprisingly good.  I kept a log of my 2 week search so I could keep all the agencies/jobs/companies straight and the numbers ended up:

• Applied for twelve roles
• Interviewed with Agencies for Six
• Interviewed with Organizations for five
• Second interviews at four
• Offers received for three of them within 2 weeks.

That was much better than any of us expected. Friends, recruiters and myself included.

In the next post, we’ll cover how to make yourself more marketable.