Perl Developer Needed

I have a client in New Providence NJ who needs a developer with experience in Perl, PHP, and Oracle. Any background with Catalist or Ruby-On-Rails would be great but is not essential. Please send resumes to hblevin58@gmail.com or harold@smartstaff.jobs.

A Suggestion for Hiring Managers

I know some of my readers have the power to hire staff for their companies. This is definitely a buyer's market in many industries with many people currently unemployed or under employed. Certainly, this could be the time to attract new recruits at much lower pay rates than in recent years.

The old phrase, 'buyer beware', comes to mind. unless you are hiring a contract staffer for a finite period of time, try not to come in so low on salary offers that your new folks will be gone the minute the economy loosens up. While people are generally appreciative of the chance to be gainfully employed, they are not going to justify staying with you if better opportunities appear. Please remember that a happy employee is a long term investment!!

Market is Not Totally Dry - Just Different

I heard a financial analyst on an all news radio station this evening who believes that small and midsized businesses are having a great week in spite of the incredible changes among some of our largest and oldest financial companies. The mainstream media is certainly hoping for increased readers/listeners/viewers, etc. My experience in the last 72 hours is that jobs are opening up and people are being interviewed and actually hired. There are some items to keep in mind in this very odd marketplace.

First, if you are gainfully employed, sit tight! I receive calls everyday from people who want to change employers or worse yet, they want to leave their field for something different. NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR DRASTIC CHANGES OF ANY KIND!!!!!! SIT STILL UNTIL THINGS STABILIZE!!!!

Second, if you are out of work, consider contract positions for the time being. Offers overall will be lower than you are used to. Rather than lock in somewhere at a lower rate, take something short-term which makes it easier to keep your options open. Many employers will select new permanent staff from the pool of available temps since they are already familiar with the company's procedures.

Finally, do not decline any realistic interviews. The pool of people competing for jobs will grow exponentially in the next few months. You have to interview to get a job, don't rely on fate. Please own your job search and treat it like a precious gem!

Believe it or not: New I.T. Job Opening in NJ

All is not hopeless during on of the strangest weeks in a very long time! One of my clients needs a Programmer/Analyst with experience with Ruby-on-Rails along with CGI/Perl and PHP. The job is in Union County, near Routes 78 and 24, is starting as a 3 month contract but should most likely go perm at that time. Fastest way to reach me today is harold@smartstaff.jobs.

Job Search Engines

I am curious to learn which job search engines are catching the attention of both job seekers and hiring managers today. There seems to be a shift away from CareerBuilder for job seekers and certainly a shift toward more third party visa holders who could only be hired with sponsorship for contract work. JobCircle's candidate pool is growing quite a bit and responses to postings there have improved significantly. I have become a friend of Craigs List in the last few months after experimenting with a few postings out there. Response to those postings was so strong that I now post with them almost daily. The only real drawback is you have to post in metro areas individually which takes a little time but, for now at least, postings are free! Please write me with your favorite engines.

Fort Monmouth to Host a Public Job Fair!

I just received word of a job fair on September 16 at Fort Monmouth. This fair is open to everyone but the link listed below provides very specific instructions if you wish to attend. If you have never attended a fair before or if it has been a long time, please contact me for tips to make your day a great one!

http://www.monmouth.army.mil/C4ISR/services/mwr/jobfair.shtml

Dig Deeper!

I had an interesting chat with a young candidate this week. She called looking for any work we might have to help pay back those ugly college loans. This individual had graduated over a year ago with a degree in Hospitality Management and Food Service Marketing from a well known university in Rhode Island. While the school has not done much to help her find a job in NJ, I was dismayed at how easily she had thrown in the towel.

Her job hunting had been limited to places such as Applebee's, Olive Garden, Marriott Courtyard, Comfort Inn, etc. Most offered her part-time work at around $10 per hour. I inquired as to whether or not she had checked out the well known, privately held catering facilities and the boutique hotels and the answer was no. next, I asked which assisted living facilities and specialty food purveyors were on her list and got the same blank answer.

Your profession does not matter. The best jobs are the ones you go out and creatively seek.

Newsflash-Engineering Jobs in NJ!

One of my clients is jumping into hiring mode! They have asked me to locate Mechanical Engineers with ProE, Electrical Engineers with Power, mid-level and senior Project Engineers with strong electromechanical experience and a little bit of design as well, a Director of Project Engineers, and RMS (Reliability, Maintainability, and Serviceability) Engineers with strong statistical analysis and testing backgrounds. Please feel free to spread the word or contact me yourself via 908-508-0300, ext 205 or hblevin58@gmail.com or harold@smartstaff.jobs .