- Data Support Coordinator, Glenview, IL ($13-15/hr.): 1-2 years experience moving files from one database to another in a fast paced environment using Excel and Documentum required.
- Financial Analyst, Glenview, IL ($22-24/hr): 2-3 years experience in a corporate environment focused on financial analysis or planning with knowledge of accounting along with hands-on usage of SAP, Oracle, Hyperion, etc. Background in budgeting, capital planning, forecasting etc. all needed.
- Technical Support, Queens, NY (part-time to 22 hours at $15-20/hr): Hands-on support person needed for about 18-22 hours per week to solve desktop and laptop issues, both hardware and software, on location for our client. Knowledge of all Windows applications from NT onward needed. Must be reliable, people oriented, able to work with minimal supervision, and have excellent communication skills. Trade school diploma or 2 years college needed as well as 1-2 years related experience.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Several New Jobs to Share!
This has turned into a busy week! All of the following are contract positions of varying lengths. For details, send your resume to harold@smartstaff.jobs and indicate you saw this on my my blog!
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Take It or Leave It
I was fortunate to reunite with some old friends at a few different recent events and, naturally, the discussion turned to the current employment market. Both were astounded when I declared that, even though the number of new hires I am seeing is going up slightly, pay rates are still running way below 2008 standards. They were stunned to learn that a 40-60% pay cut from levels of four years back is awaiting those trying to regain employment as the drought slowly diminishes.
One friend asked me how could people accept jobs that were not paying them what they were worth and my answer was simple. There are two options right now. One is to accept the rates being offered even though they are absolutely devastating to some, and hope, that as things improve, employers will realize your value and offer salary increases. The second option is to remain on unemployment until it runs out then tap into whatever resources you have which will ultimately weaken your funds when you eventually become too old to work.
Choices are had to make and everyone has their own personal value system to adhere to. This blogger will certainly never tell you how to make your own personal moves but I will urge you to think long and hard before rejecting a job opportunity. From my work as a recruiter and career coach, I have seen too many people wait too long to jump back into the mix and ultimately end up settling for even less when things reached the point of no return for them. Think long and hard and do some serious soul searching before you decide to take it or leave it!
One friend asked me how could people accept jobs that were not paying them what they were worth and my answer was simple. There are two options right now. One is to accept the rates being offered even though they are absolutely devastating to some, and hope, that as things improve, employers will realize your value and offer salary increases. The second option is to remain on unemployment until it runs out then tap into whatever resources you have which will ultimately weaken your funds when you eventually become too old to work.
Choices are had to make and everyone has their own personal value system to adhere to. This blogger will certainly never tell you how to make your own personal moves but I will urge you to think long and hard before rejecting a job opportunity. From my work as a recruiter and career coach, I have seen too many people wait too long to jump back into the mix and ultimately end up settling for even less when things reached the point of no return for them. Think long and hard and do some serious soul searching before you decide to take it or leave it!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Sleep Talk?
One of my favorite parts of working in and around the staffing agency is that no two days ever play out exactly the same. Sometimes, the differences are subtle but there are many days that inspire to write blog articles. Earlier this week, I had one of those motivational moments.
Before heading out of the office for the evening, I posted a job lead I received earlier that day as I felt I needed outside help in gathering a pool of candidates. Dozens of resumes poured into my inbox overnight and a few folks left voice messages as well. One candidate very enthusiastically left word that he was following up on the resume he submitted and asked me to call in the morning. I could not find his email so I phoned him around 9:30 and told him it did not arrive overnight. The candidate was polite but sounded a bit out of sorts. I asked him for his email address so I could recheck my inbox and he replied that he could not remember which address he used and, since I woke him up out of bed, I was asking too many questions. Eventually, he offered to write down my address but it never appeared. Five hours later he called and said I gave him the wrong address. When I repeated it to him, he admitted he probably messed it up because he went back to sleep right after our call!
There are a few big miscues to point out here. First off, in my opinion, a candidate who is completely unemployed, but professing to be in active search mode, should not be asleep at 9:30 AM on a business day. To me, and I am sure I will get rebuttal arguments, that is way too late to be in bed. My guess is this person starts their search process sometime around 11:00 which is wasting close to half of the available hours to reach someone live. Second, if you do happen to have one of those days where you just cannot get moving early, please do not tell someone on the phone that you were sleeping and they woke you up! A better way to handle the situation would be to say you are not near your computer at the moment but will resend the email just as soon as you get back online.
Granted, most of us get lazy now and then, but no matter what, do not demonstrate this to potential employers. Put yourself into the shoes of a potential employer for a moment. Would you seriously hire someone who gives off the impression that staying in bed is more important than regaining employment? I don't think so!
Before heading out of the office for the evening, I posted a job lead I received earlier that day as I felt I needed outside help in gathering a pool of candidates. Dozens of resumes poured into my inbox overnight and a few folks left voice messages as well. One candidate very enthusiastically left word that he was following up on the resume he submitted and asked me to call in the morning. I could not find his email so I phoned him around 9:30 and told him it did not arrive overnight. The candidate was polite but sounded a bit out of sorts. I asked him for his email address so I could recheck my inbox and he replied that he could not remember which address he used and, since I woke him up out of bed, I was asking too many questions. Eventually, he offered to write down my address but it never appeared. Five hours later he called and said I gave him the wrong address. When I repeated it to him, he admitted he probably messed it up because he went back to sleep right after our call!
There are a few big miscues to point out here. First off, in my opinion, a candidate who is completely unemployed, but professing to be in active search mode, should not be asleep at 9:30 AM on a business day. To me, and I am sure I will get rebuttal arguments, that is way too late to be in bed. My guess is this person starts their search process sometime around 11:00 which is wasting close to half of the available hours to reach someone live. Second, if you do happen to have one of those days where you just cannot get moving early, please do not tell someone on the phone that you were sleeping and they woke you up! A better way to handle the situation would be to say you are not near your computer at the moment but will resend the email just as soon as you get back online.
Granted, most of us get lazy now and then, but no matter what, do not demonstrate this to potential employers. Put yourself into the shoes of a potential employer for a moment. Would you seriously hire someone who gives off the impression that staying in bed is more important than regaining employment? I don't think so!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Graphic Designer Needed-Ramsey NJ Area
2+ years Graphic Design experience needed with InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. Knowledge of educational materials helpful. Resumes to harold@smartstaff.jobs in MS Word format. Position requires all work to be done at the client's site. Harold Levin, SmartStaff Personnel, 908.508.0300, ext. 205.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Pulling Positives Out of Train Wrecks!
Recent conversations with a variety of people have led me to believe that many of us take away more negatives than positives in our lifetime. Several people shared stories of absolutely horrible interviews they were subjected to, temporary jobs that could best be described as train wrecks, and very unpleasant relationships with management which led to resignations. What I rarely heard were the good things that they garnered from past experiences and this got me to thinking about my own encounters. Please bear with me as this might seem like a bunch of mindless babble but I promise to pull it together at the end of the article!
Back in 1980, the job market for Liberal Arts grads was almost as impossible as it is today. I did manage to procure some interviews and received offers to sell life insurance with a very minimal guaranteed draw, work as a trainee in a small bank at minimum wage, or join the management training program of what we now call a big box retailer for a whopping $13K per year. I chose the big box retailer and was promptly tossed into one of their very ancient five and dime operations in an urban setting where most of the staff should have retired decades before. They kicked me around for a year while I unloaded truckls, schlepped merchandise from a basement storeroom up a steep flight of stairs, and chased the local shoplifters on a daily basis! After a 2 year stop at a similar site, I was picked to join a team that would open a brand new location! Imagine, 25 years old and being sent to the Jersey Shore in May! I actually touched the beach 3 times that summer and was too tired to do anything but sleep and get a sunburn! That location involved dealing with armed shoplifters, an inside theft ring, a decrepit building which had been vacant for years, and customers who were totally incorrigible to deal with.
One year later, I was 'promoted' to be the Senior Assistant Manager at one of the firm's busiest sites. However, the General Manager and Co-Manager will involved in a huge power struggle and the District Manager told me to ignore both of them and take charge of 3 less experienced Assistant Managers and 3 trainees as well. I found out I was the third person to attempt this in a six month span. Eventually, I decided enough was enough and moved on.
I forgot to mention that back in 1980, about 3 months after graduation from college, I interviewed with a staffing firm as I already was interested in the recruiting field. The owner told me he liked me but I needed to experience real world occurrences before entering the search industry. This is significant because I feel all the negatives I had to overcome from a series of train wrecks ultimately prepared me for a career in recruiting and coaching.
All the frustrating moments I endured prepared me for dealing with spending many weeks supplying a client with great candidates only to have them hire from another source. Without my past history, I would have given up on the recruiting field very quickly. My past also helped me immensely during my tenure providing career services to trade school students. The students readily threw out reasons why they either could not get a job or retain that job and I was usually able to draw upon my past to help them make the most out of a bad situation. As a coach, most people come to me to help fix their job search process or improve their current work situation. Again, the many stops I visited along my career path have prepared me to help others. Many times, I find myself recalling how I jumped out of a train wreck and found the positives inside a negative!
Back in 1980, the job market for Liberal Arts grads was almost as impossible as it is today. I did manage to procure some interviews and received offers to sell life insurance with a very minimal guaranteed draw, work as a trainee in a small bank at minimum wage, or join the management training program of what we now call a big box retailer for a whopping $13K per year. I chose the big box retailer and was promptly tossed into one of their very ancient five and dime operations in an urban setting where most of the staff should have retired decades before. They kicked me around for a year while I unloaded truckls, schlepped merchandise from a basement storeroom up a steep flight of stairs, and chased the local shoplifters on a daily basis! After a 2 year stop at a similar site, I was picked to join a team that would open a brand new location! Imagine, 25 years old and being sent to the Jersey Shore in May! I actually touched the beach 3 times that summer and was too tired to do anything but sleep and get a sunburn! That location involved dealing with armed shoplifters, an inside theft ring, a decrepit building which had been vacant for years, and customers who were totally incorrigible to deal with.
One year later, I was 'promoted' to be the Senior Assistant Manager at one of the firm's busiest sites. However, the General Manager and Co-Manager will involved in a huge power struggle and the District Manager told me to ignore both of them and take charge of 3 less experienced Assistant Managers and 3 trainees as well. I found out I was the third person to attempt this in a six month span. Eventually, I decided enough was enough and moved on.
I forgot to mention that back in 1980, about 3 months after graduation from college, I interviewed with a staffing firm as I already was interested in the recruiting field. The owner told me he liked me but I needed to experience real world occurrences before entering the search industry. This is significant because I feel all the negatives I had to overcome from a series of train wrecks ultimately prepared me for a career in recruiting and coaching.
All the frustrating moments I endured prepared me for dealing with spending many weeks supplying a client with great candidates only to have them hire from another source. Without my past history, I would have given up on the recruiting field very quickly. My past also helped me immensely during my tenure providing career services to trade school students. The students readily threw out reasons why they either could not get a job or retain that job and I was usually able to draw upon my past to help them make the most out of a bad situation. As a coach, most people come to me to help fix their job search process or improve their current work situation. Again, the many stops I visited along my career path have prepared me to help others. Many times, I find myself recalling how I jumped out of a train wreck and found the positives inside a negative!
Friday, May 18, 2012
Data Support Position
Excellent temp opportunity requires 2+ yrs experience organizing,
managing, and inputting contracts into Excel spreadsheets. Must have
excellent Excel capabilities. Royalties knowledge a plus. Bergen County, NJ Resumes to
harold@smartstaff. jobs or call Harold Levin at 908-508-0300, ext. 205.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Some Quick Resume Reminders
Whether you are a recent graduate writing your first resume or a seasoned professional freshening it up a bit, please remember that accuracy is extremely important. I have written about resumes many times before and will keep doing so as I seem to come across a new crop of errors each and every week.
Spelling is the most important thing to be careful about. Some hiring managers are extremely finicky and one simple miscue could eliminate you from their candidate pool. Of late, I have seen 'width' in place of 'with,' 'graudation' instead of 'graduation,' 'softwhere' rather than 'software,' and my all time favorite, 'manger' instead of 'manager!' Spellcheck is not always going to help so you need to carefully proofread and ask a few other people to do so as well.
Other things to remember include listing the correct phone number on your resume, making sure your font is consistent throughout, not listing your age or date of birth, your religion or political affiliations, and definitely not including your marital status or how many children (or grandchildren) you have. Some of this sounds obvious to many of you but I assure you I would not write about this topic if I did not read problematic resumes all too often. Remember, your resume is your own personal marketing brochure and you want it to sell you to potential employers as effectively as possible! Enjoy the spring weather and have a great job search season!
Spelling is the most important thing to be careful about. Some hiring managers are extremely finicky and one simple miscue could eliminate you from their candidate pool. Of late, I have seen 'width' in place of 'with,' 'graudation' instead of 'graduation,' 'softwhere' rather than 'software,' and my all time favorite, 'manger' instead of 'manager!' Spellcheck is not always going to help so you need to carefully proofread and ask a few other people to do so as well.
Other things to remember include listing the correct phone number on your resume, making sure your font is consistent throughout, not listing your age or date of birth, your religion or political affiliations, and definitely not including your marital status or how many children (or grandchildren) you have. Some of this sounds obvious to many of you but I assure you I would not write about this topic if I did not read problematic resumes all too often. Remember, your resume is your own personal marketing brochure and you want it to sell you to potential employers as effectively as possible! Enjoy the spring weather and have a great job search season!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Graduation Time!
With my daughter becoming a college graduate this weekend, my thoughts tend toward advice to share for all grads about to face the reality of the job market regardless of their field of study. Many, many parents have reached out saying they do not feel their son or daughter is adequately prepared and that their attitude needs a jump start.
My advice will fall into two categories today, one for parents and one for the graduates themselves. None of this is meant to be complete and the parts are interchangeable based on each individual case.
First, to all parents out there, your child needs to own their job search. If you enable them by submitting their resumes and scheduling interviews, they will sit back and let you do all the work! You should encourage them at all times to stay positive and focused, definitely forward leads to them say they may do the follow-up, and serve as a sounding board whenever they ask for your help. Please do not try to direct their search process as each candidate really needs to develop their own connections and set the parameters which work best for them.
To all 2012 graduates, step up to the plate now!! Do not take the summer off as competition is extremely fierce and you must dive in and immerse yourself in the search process immediately! Only you know what types of jobs and employers you are best suited for and only you can tell employers why you are the best candidate for the job! Definitely do not be bashful. Should you need outside coaching, ask for it. If you have not contacted your college career services center, do so immediately. Devoting several hours per day to running your search is essential to being successful. Finally, if anyone offers you a job even closely related to your course of study, strongly consider grabbing it!
One never knows what doors might open for them at any time! No one will ever force you to stay at one job for your entire career but you need to be in the mix before moving onward and upward. Times may be extremely tough right now but you really need to get moving. To all 2012 graduates out there I wish you nothing but great success!
My advice will fall into two categories today, one for parents and one for the graduates themselves. None of this is meant to be complete and the parts are interchangeable based on each individual case.
First, to all parents out there, your child needs to own their job search. If you enable them by submitting their resumes and scheduling interviews, they will sit back and let you do all the work! You should encourage them at all times to stay positive and focused, definitely forward leads to them say they may do the follow-up, and serve as a sounding board whenever they ask for your help. Please do not try to direct their search process as each candidate really needs to develop their own connections and set the parameters which work best for them.
To all 2012 graduates, step up to the plate now!! Do not take the summer off as competition is extremely fierce and you must dive in and immerse yourself in the search process immediately! Only you know what types of jobs and employers you are best suited for and only you can tell employers why you are the best candidate for the job! Definitely do not be bashful. Should you need outside coaching, ask for it. If you have not contacted your college career services center, do so immediately. Devoting several hours per day to running your search is essential to being successful. Finally, if anyone offers you a job even closely related to your course of study, strongly consider grabbing it!
One never knows what doors might open for them at any time! No one will ever force you to stay at one job for your entire career but you need to be in the mix before moving onward and upward. Times may be extremely tough right now but you really need to get moving. To all 2012 graduates out there I wish you nothing but great success!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Excellent Engineering Contract in North Jersey
Our well established client requires 5+ years electromechanical machinery design and development with proficiency in AutoCAD and SolidWorks plus sheet metal, structural steel, machined components, and pneumatics. Must be able to create Bills of Materials with minimal assistance. Prior design of industrial ovens or furnaces highly desired. Resumes should be sent in MS Word format to harold@smartstaff.jobs for this contract-to-permanent position. Harold Levin, SmartStaff Personnel, 908.508.0300, ext. 205.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
A Huge Mistake
About eighteen years ago, a company built a brand new distribution center in Edison, NJ and I was fortunate enough to be asked to recruit three high level Information Technology professionals to get their operations center up and running. The technology being installed was chosen to be compatible with that of their primary retail customer. This was not the most popular system used in NJ at that time and the jobs posed a challenge to fill. From snooping around (internet was not very helpful back then), I learned of a retail company who had just about shut down their distribution center a few miles south that used similar I.T. packages. Word got to me that the people I needed were operating their job search efforts out of a small office in New Brunswick, NJ called the Professional Services Group (PSG) run under the support of the NJ Department of Labor. I established contact with this group and filled all three positions in less than a month. From that point on, I have always networked with the PSG when looking to find candidates with deep experience for hard to fill opportunities.
Fast forward to 2011 for a moment. My wife went to work one April morning to find out that her position with a major telecommunications company had been suddenly eliminated after 24+ years. She was offered three months of assistance from an outplacement service which was good but not spectacular in quality. As her unofficial coach, I strongly suggested she check out the PSG in Somerville, NJ. Even after she returned to work, she has kept her ties with them and volunteers whenever possible.
The PSG consists of eleven groups throughout NJ staffed primarily by volunteers who provide a wide range of services from career coaching, resume writing, and cold calling skills to career fairs and workshops delivered by professionals from a variety of backgrounds at no financial cost to those who are unemployed. The only cost is to donate a few hours of your time each week to serving on a committee, running coaching sessions, etc. Through this effort, I know scores of friends, former colleagues, and clients who have gotten back to work relatively fast regardless of the environment. Check out this link to learn more: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wnjpin/findjob/career/PSG.html
Unfortunately, you may have to act swiftly to participate as NJ's Department of Labor is attempting to shut down the PSG at the end of May, http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wnjpin/findjob/career/PSG.html and reinvent the process in July as job clubs according to Associate Commissioner Mary Ellen Clark. She cites costs that seem unrealistic to me as she mentions each group has a dedicated facilitator which is not accurate. After staffing cutbacks last summer, each group sees a facilitator stop by a few hours per month at best as part of their larger job duties. She claims that only 1% of the state's unemployed utilize the PSG for assistance. Perhaps this number would increase if unemployment offices were better trained to promote this service. My wife never had known of them if she did not hear about them from myself and other friends who had benefited from their programs.
In all fairness, the PSG could probably use some tweaking to remain current and effective but not a complete dismantling. Please read the article I cited in the prior paragraph and also ask around and learn about the great work of the PSG. If you agree with me, contact your local Assembly and Senate representatives and ask them for help. Of course, feel free to share your observations and constructive comments with me as well!
Fast forward to 2011 for a moment. My wife went to work one April morning to find out that her position with a major telecommunications company had been suddenly eliminated after 24+ years. She was offered three months of assistance from an outplacement service which was good but not spectacular in quality. As her unofficial coach, I strongly suggested she check out the PSG in Somerville, NJ. Even after she returned to work, she has kept her ties with them and volunteers whenever possible.
The PSG consists of eleven groups throughout NJ staffed primarily by volunteers who provide a wide range of services from career coaching, resume writing, and cold calling skills to career fairs and workshops delivered by professionals from a variety of backgrounds at no financial cost to those who are unemployed. The only cost is to donate a few hours of your time each week to serving on a committee, running coaching sessions, etc. Through this effort, I know scores of friends, former colleagues, and clients who have gotten back to work relatively fast regardless of the environment. Check out this link to learn more: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wnjpin/findjob/career/PSG.html
Unfortunately, you may have to act swiftly to participate as NJ's Department of Labor is attempting to shut down the PSG at the end of May, http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wnjpin/findjob/career/PSG.html and reinvent the process in July as job clubs according to Associate Commissioner Mary Ellen Clark. She cites costs that seem unrealistic to me as she mentions each group has a dedicated facilitator which is not accurate. After staffing cutbacks last summer, each group sees a facilitator stop by a few hours per month at best as part of their larger job duties. She claims that only 1% of the state's unemployed utilize the PSG for assistance. Perhaps this number would increase if unemployment offices were better trained to promote this service. My wife never had known of them if she did not hear about them from myself and other friends who had benefited from their programs.
In all fairness, the PSG could probably use some tweaking to remain current and effective but not a complete dismantling. Please read the article I cited in the prior paragraph and also ask around and learn about the great work of the PSG. If you agree with me, contact your local Assembly and Senate representatives and ask them for help. Of course, feel free to share your observations and constructive comments with me as well!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Interactive Designer Needed in North Jersey
Interactive Designer /
Information Architect is needed by a healthcare marketing firm. Must have User
Experience (UX) solutions background; Visio and / or OmniGraffle; solid front
end skills such as Flash, CSS, Javascript, etc.; full life cycle architecture
and design including sitemaps, wireframes, prototypes, etc. Resumes to harold@smartstaff.jobs will be accepted
in MS Word format only.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Scrambled Brains!
Do you ever have a day when your mind is kind of clogged up and you cannot separate your thoughts very well and then you go to bed and this scrambled brains concept gives you insomnia? Welcome to my world or, as some might be quick to say, my present state of mind! A bunch of stuff is spilling out of my head right now, some will be things you have read from me before, others will make no sense, but we are entering my zone just about now!
Why would a machinist with absolutely no computer skills respond to a posting for a desktop support specialist with MS Exchange Server experience?
What would motivate a Java Developer / Software Architect to apply for a position as a Certified Forklift Operator?
If someone's unemployment benefits have run out, wouldn't it make sense to accept a part-time job of any type while looking for their next career move?
Should you happen to change phone numbers, I strongly suggest updating your resume with the new information IMMEDIATELY!
Never turn down a job that is offered to you on the spot. Best bet is to say you are quite interested and will make your decision known within a day or two.
Please do not get discouraged if an interview process appears to be dragging along. Thanks to our economy, a lot of hiring managers are wearing multiple hats and just do not have enough time in their work day to get everything done.
Before resigning from your present job, make sure you have a solid plan and that your anticipated destination is in good order.
Democrats will tell you that the Republicans have caused massive unemployment; Republicans will tell you the Democrats are at fault while Independents will blame the establishment! All that matters is you need to perservere and keep hunting until you land on your feet!
Why would a machinist with absolutely no computer skills respond to a posting for a desktop support specialist with MS Exchange Server experience?
What would motivate a Java Developer / Software Architect to apply for a position as a Certified Forklift Operator?
If someone's unemployment benefits have run out, wouldn't it make sense to accept a part-time job of any type while looking for their next career move?
Should you happen to change phone numbers, I strongly suggest updating your resume with the new information IMMEDIATELY!
Never turn down a job that is offered to you on the spot. Best bet is to say you are quite interested and will make your decision known within a day or two.
Please do not get discouraged if an interview process appears to be dragging along. Thanks to our economy, a lot of hiring managers are wearing multiple hats and just do not have enough time in their work day to get everything done.
Before resigning from your present job, make sure you have a solid plan and that your anticipated destination is in good order.
Democrats will tell you that the Republicans have caused massive unemployment; Republicans will tell you the Democrats are at fault while Independents will blame the establishment! All that matters is you need to perservere and keep hunting until you land on your feet!
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