Pat O’Donnell’s Placement Genius

Jobs to Target

As a recruiter, I am not actually seeing any evidence of a Recession although that may change. I am seeing a mixed market, but that has been true since 9/11/01. The most obvious exception is the Financial companies which have been disproportionately affected by the mortgage market defaults. Whether or not we evolve in to a Recession, many of the strategies that protect you in a bad market also will help you get ahead and be more promotable than your co-workers in any market.

These are the more secure roles and companies to target if possible:

• The companies and product groups which cannot afford NOT to innovate continuously or they risk falling behind their competitors. Examples are medical device companies in highly

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If you dread the thought of networking, you are not alone. Most of us can describe networking that is not effective:

Good networking is not a three martini lunch.

Good networking is not standing up in a crowd of strangers and announcing you are a sales manager looking for a contact at company X.

Networking should have two elements:

First, networking should be a long-term campaign to establish your value in the business community. It is about defining and establishing your brand - what makes you unique or different amongst people with somewhat similar backgrounds. It is about building awareness for your brand with an ever-larger audience. It is about keeping your value proposition top of mind over the long-term so that when someone in the community has need of your services, he/she remembers you are out there and reaches out to you. Your objective is to craft your message so that the right (more…)

Most job hunters do not know how to market to the “Hidden Job Market.” If you find yourself saying, “That’s me. I don’t know how to do that,” then listen up. Not only is this job market hidden from you, YOU are invisible to all the people awarding jobs in the Hidden Job Market.

A job is said to be “hidden” when it is not public knowledge (such as being posted in a newspaper or on a job-posting site like www.monster.com.) Very early in the life cycle of a job posting it is only known by the hiring manager and perhaps 2-3 key execs who work closely with the hiring manager. It frequently is not even approved by HR before the hiring manager has 2-3 candidates in mind he intends to interview and is biased towards because they were recommended by someone he knows well.

Industry studies show that 30-35% of people hired are identified before the knowledge of the opening gets beyond this stage. (more…)