Oh, and I’m currently placing for light industrial, a variety of office jobs, welding and machine operators, CNC guys, and I just got something Friday before I left for one IT and two managerial type jobs. I need to look at those more closely. I’m in Michigan.
I understand. I try to be patient and treat everyone with respect, but there are limits. These are the same people that say they never get a break and they look for jobs all day long and nobody will hire them. I had a lady come in with no makeup, no bra, wearing what looked like her husband’s old t-shirt, dirty tennis shoes, and sweat pants with holes in the knees. She smelled like three day old sweat and the wind had styled her hair. How can you not get that no one will hire you if you don’t even care enough to bathe?
OTOH, a guy came in because he saw my sign as he was driving by. He was dressed very casually in jeans, sandals, and a polo shirt, but that was fine. He presented himself well and I placed him at a local company. They hired him after 90 days and he is doing very well. Casual is fine, slovenly is not.
Do you see yourself as finding jobs for unemployed or as filling vacancies for employers?
What percentage of people who come looking for work are you able to find something for?
Do you ever give people advice on how to make themselves more employable?
Besides bathing and wearing clean clothes, what do you think would help the average job-seeker the most?
Will you take resumes cut/pasted to you as a PM?
Both. I see myself as the go-between of job seekers and the companies that want to hire them. I pre-screen the applicants and make sure to the best of my ability that they will be a good fit for the job. When I do my job well the client is happy and the employee is happy. A mismatch results in unhappy managers, a frustrated employee, and a frustrated me because I have to start all over again.
The percentage of people that I’m able to successfully place is less than 10%, unfortunately. A lot of this has to do with people that are unqualified in one way or another, some of them at very basic levels. If you don’t have a high school diploma or GED I can’t place you. If you have felonies only one place will take you, and they can’t be for any form of theft or violence, including domestic. If your English skills aren’t very good you won’t do well during the orientation/testing process because you don’t understand my directions. If you don’t understand me, how will you do on the job? Not well.
Then there are the people who float from job to job and agency to agency because they repeat the same patterns over and over again and I have to counsel them and eventually, let them go. A lot of them blame the people or situations around them instead of realizing that the common denominator is them. I had a guy in my office Friday and was very honest with him, even so, IDK if he got it. He had been placed at four different companies and was released each time for incompetence, excessive cell phone use, tardiness, coming back late from breaks, and so on. I showed him my notes from each place of work and told him that I can no longer work with him. I also told him that he should take some time over the weekend and examine his own behavior before accepting another job.
His response was to give excuse after excuse. I stopped him again and said that it wasn’t anyone else’s fault, that the truth was he was not an effective employee. He seemed puzzled.
From what I’ve noticed, there are people in the world who have no idea how they appear to others. They are the ones that are shocked when their test scores are so low, surprised when bringing their kid to orientation will get them shown to the door, and completely unaware that their body odor and alcoholism is obvious to recruiters, managers, co-workers, and so on. I know that we each have our own self-deceptions, but how can you not realize that you are pitching a product (you) and kick it up a notch? These are the same people that probably show up for a first date with bad breath and dirty clothes and wonder why they don’t get a second date. “But I’m a nice guy…”
Sometimes I do give advice, but only when asked or when the applicant seems to be receptive to my input. The most common tips have to do with resumes, and when they try to conceal alcohol or drug use. Unfortunately I’m all too familiar with both and I will drug test you, so don’t even try. I can see it in your eyes and tell by your mannerisms; both are a dead giveaway once you know what to look for.
What would help the average job seeker is networking, networking, networking. I can’t stress that enough. I see it all the time! People jump to the front of the line when my client knows them or if they are recommended by a family member or friend that already works for the company. The client will call me and specifically tell me that when William Sanchez or David Miller or whoever comes in, that they want them next. Fine with me, it makes my life easier.
The rationale behind this is that a current employee isn’t going to suggest someone that will make them look bad, so many companies actively act on referrals. Usually they are right and the new employee works out very well. That’s how my husband got his job five years ago… it was through my brother. My other brother also got a job at the same place. Both of them worked very hard to return the favor, and still do to this day.
I was at a local event a couple of weekends ago and a small business owner had the booth across from mine. I gave him my card and he sent his resume the following Monday. Guess what? Side job for him within the next week. We had hung out for five hours and I got to know him and saw that he had a lot of good qualities. So far he is doing well.
I’m still in school and people do contact me and provide resumes. I work hard to find them what they’re looking for because I know them, know what they’re capable of, and feel a certain loyalty because we attend the same university. If I can’t help directly I send them to another HR person who can. They will place them based upon my recommendation.
Who you know will get your foot in the door and beyond that it’s up to you. If you have the necessary skills and qualities, score!
Yes, send it my way.
I’d like to follow up on this. It seems from your responses that you do all the screening and pre-interviewing to weed out the unqualified and unsuitable applicants. Your clients presumably understand that the applicants you send are those you consider to be the best. And it looks like that a good number of your openings are for temp or temp-to-permanent positions that don’t necessarily require a lot of physical strength.
So why do your clients favor younger workers? And what do you say when you’ve sent them an obviously qualified older applicant and they say “just send over the younger ones”? Age discrimination is supposedly illegal. If you, a professional recruiter, can’t place older workers into even temporary positions, who can?
What are the odds I could get new career (reasonable pay, benefits, etc.) in this market:
Pros:
Currently Employed
Been employed almost continuously since graduation.
College Educated
Young
Cons:
Degree is in Psychology
Work history probably yielded very few marketable skills.
Can you be more specific about how you can tell someone is a drug user or alcoholic?
Also what is your background? You said you are still in school - undergrad or grad? How did you get your job at the staffing company?
Sometimes what happens is that what’s “after hours” for one person is “in hours” for another, or that they call after hours out of courtesy. Some of the agents I work with make a point of calling “after hours but still at a civilized time” if they know the possible candidate they’re calling has a job (I certainly prefer those to the ones who keep calling at 10:00… 10:30… 11:00… my phone isn’t off at random, I happen to be in a meeting); others simply happen to live one hour after and not be good at taking time zones into account, or just happen to have longer lunch hours than I do.
Two questions: how much of the searches are automated vs manual?
And, having coffee with people who worked in employment agencies (temp, perma, government and private) I’ve heard all kinds of horror stories about the mismatch between what companies ask for and what they really want; from the ones who “want a Mercedes for the cost of a rusty bycicle” to the ones who want “an engineer who speaks two foreign languages, but it must be a guy, over 40 and born in Spain” (not only is it illegal on three counts, but if you find one, let the news services know). Do you get a lot of those people?
When I screen an applicant there are a series of qualifications that are necessary before they can be placed on an assignment. Typically they need to have a high school diploma or GED and no violent or theft-related felonies. Reliable transportation is a must, whether it’s via automobile, bus, or a friend or family member (one of my employees gets a ride every day from his FIL and he’s been on time and at work every day). They sit down and enter their resume into the computer database and then I conduct a very brief interview, usually five to ten minutes in length.
During the interview process we review work history, educational background, the type of job they are looking for, the rate of pay they are seeking, hours of availability, how far they are willing to travel, and so on. This is a good opportunity for applicants to ask me questions and for me to find out a little more about them.
If they seem to be a good match for current or future openings, I schedule an orientation and they return for that within the next week. At that point they fill out a stack of paperwork and undergo a few tests depending upon the area they will be placed. There are seperate tests for office and industrial, and you would be surprised what is monitored; for example, how well do you get along with others in the room? Are you impatient? Bored? Checking your cell phone constantly? Not listening carefully to instructions? Do you race through the tests but score low on quality? Are you asking a lot of questions about things that I have already told you? (A few is great, a dozen and I’ll wonder how well you will do on the job).
If you are ever subjected to any sort of testing prior to employment, remember to listen carefully and be cordial to those around you. Your people skills are just as important as any other.
The test results are important and I can’t place you if there are areas of concern. I also do a drug screen for certain placements, and have had people walk out of the office when they learn that they will need to do that.
At no point in time does it matter to me how old you are. I’m looking for the best qualified people to place on a job, and as long as you’re 18 it’s all good. The reason that the younger workers are easier to place isn’t because of discrimination, it is because of the rate of pay. Temp to permanent work isn’t the most lucrative option around and the rate of pay starts at an average of $9.00 an hour. Someone with even a modicum of household expenses will find it very difficult to live on that, so they will thank me for my time and move on. A younger employee will often times be still living at home or sharing an apartment with one or two others, so their expenses are lower and they are willing to accept the lower paying jobs and work their way up.
I haven’t had an HR person from any company say one word about any quality that they specifically want that breaks labor laws because they know better. Sometimes a shift supervisor will ask for ‘strong guys’ or ‘someone that can hustle’ for the industrial jobs. Reading between the lines I know what they are asking me, but I continue to send who is best qualified for the job, period. I can’t speak for other places and what they do, but to be honest I’m a female in my 40’s and the last thing I want to do is hold someone back because they’re not in their 20’s. I do see your point and I’m sure it happens all the time, but I don’t age discriminate myself.
Okay, I’ll bite: what do you wear? For me, it’s usually a nice pair of dress pants and a long-sleeved, oxford-type shirt with an open collar. But many times, wearing just that, I feel overdressed. Any colors (pants or shirt) that are verboten? I ask because sometimes the pants I wear are black, and I’ve been told that that can come across as overly formal.
Such as?
Do you have clients who are looking for full-time employees?
Clients who have company heath insurance and at least some benefits built into your salary?
Clients who offer & allow you to take PTO with less restrictions than Crapital One Frequent Flier Miles?
Companies who recognize that if you really Are sick, you really Do need to get well/not infect their work force? Some place with at least limited paid sick leave?
I guess I’m being picky, but while I’d like a job, I’d Love a career working someplace that just feels like… Home.
Ok, probably doesn’t exist anymore anyway. Not in this country…
Nothing to ask, but wanted to chime in that not all temp agencies are shit. I got my current job via a temp agency and I love my job and am getting a fantastic promotion beginning next year. I was a temp for three months with the cliche measely hourly pay, no benefits, etc. and they hired me full time and now have full benefits, plenty of vacation time, annual raises, etc. etc. And they placed me in a field I was interested in pursuing a career in so I am very, very happy. Thank you job recruiters!
Since you don’t directly hire someone, maybe you’re not the best person to ask this to, but I’ll give it a shot.
What do the numbers look like? In other words, for a particular job, how many interested people do you get? How many of those interested people are qualified? How many of those people are contacted for a follow-up by phone or email? How many of them are invited in for an interview?
I imagine the answer to this is somewhat job-specific … but is there any ballpark range?
What field are you interested in getting into?
People that have been drinking for a while often have a ruddy complexion and their noses are red, often with broken blood vessels. A beer gut isn’t a myth, sometimes they will have a big belly but the rest of them is average sized. Hands are trembling slightly. Heavy use of mouthwash and cologne. There is also a certain look that people get in their eyes when they are prolonged drinkers that is hard to explain. If you combine these physical symptoms with the smell that comes out of their pores a day or two after a bender it’s easy to tell.
As far as drugs go, if an applicant comes in and reminds me very strongly of my daughter when she was using it’s a sure bet. They too have a look in their eyes, a certain intensity that is always there, that they can’t conceal and that alone is a dead giveaway. Combine it with that jumpy nervousness and slightly shaky hands and there ya go.
When I ask them if they want to tell me about it and that I do drug screens, most tell the truth. That’s fine. Everybody has the right to be respected and I hope they return when they can pass the drug screen test.
I’ll graduate in the spring with a bachelor’s degree in HR management. I found out about the job through the recommendation of a friend. She told the management team that I was a strong candidate and they hired me after a couple of interviews…
The applicants that walk in, mail resumes to me personally, or call me are apt to get more personalized attention. I suppose that would be the manual part of it and easily consists of 75% of my placements. Automated searches are done when there is a request for a combination of skill sets that isn’t as easy to locate, such as an IT professional with accounting skills or a warehouse manager with a background in plumbing supplies or a welder with a firm knowledge of Six Sigma requirements. Let the keyword searching begin!
And yes, sometimes I do get ridiculous requests. “We want a strong guy who has at least five years experience as a CNC operator and we’re offering $9.00 an hour” or “We need an accounting professional/office manager/IT savvy tech support type of person.” Yeah, OK. :smack:
Tan khakis, nice looking shirt. Gray trousers look nice. An oxford is perfect or a polo shirt works too. Even jeans are fine, really, paired with a good-looking shirt. I’ve seen plenty of people wear black dress pants and they look great. Shoes that aren’t scuffed are a plus. You don’t have to be a fashion plate but a little effort goes a long way.
Sometimes people talk to me too much or for too long, which can be stressful. My days are long (10 1/2 hours today) and usually there is a lot to accomplish before I can go home. When you talk to many HR people, please be succinct and get to the point because often there is a pile of work waiting and lots of people to call/talk to/schedule/hire/fire. You don’t have to rush in and out, but don’t hang out with me for 1/2 hour either.