Looking for the Utah geeks, bloggers and coders? You’ll find them at the Utah Geek/Blogger Dinner. This month, we’re meeting at Paradise Bakery. If you have been feeling lonely for computer conversation in the Salt Lake Valley, you’ll find it all here!
THEY HAVE WI-FI, so you can bring your laptop if you want!
We are hosting a job-fair/open house tomorrow (July 23) from 4pm until 8pm at our offices in Orem, Utah. If you are curious about the Utah Technical job market right now, or you know someone who is, send them by!
We’ll be taking resumes and conducting interviews, and likely playing some pretty mean Mario Kart on the wii.
SOS Engineering & Technology
1256 S. State #101 (West Doors)
Orem, Utah 84097
A friend called on Saturday, frantic, because they have a telephone interview Monday morning. They had never had a telephone interview before, and her nerves were getting to her.
The key is to control what you can control, knowing that you are as ready as possible. Here are some other tips to help you out:
Attend to your surroundings.
Taking a tip from Penelope Trunk, make sure your surroundings are right. Be ready, place and time. This is a crucial first step that many people overlook. Life is busy, but being ready speaks a lot:
“Don’t take the interview when you are at your desk and can’t talk freely. Don’t take the call when there is too much noise in the background. And don’t walk from one place to another because the breathlessness that comes from walking and talking at the same time subconsciously conveys lack of authority to someone who doesn’t know you.”
Keep Notes at the Ready
This is an excellent benefit to phone interviews… you can keep NOTES!
Maureen Crawford Hentz over at QuintCareers says it like this. You should “consider keeping some notecards or an outline in front of you to remind yourself of key points you want to cover with the interviewer. You don’t want your responses to sound scripted, but you don’t want to fumble for important points either. Do also have your resume in front of you so you can remember highlights of your experience and accomplishments.”
Get Some Practice
Alison Doyle at About says, “Talking on the phone isn’t as easy as it seems. I’ve always found it’s helpful to practice. Have a friend or family member conduct a mock interview and tape record it so you can see how you sound over the phone. Any cassette recorder will work. You’ll be able to hear your “ums” and “uhs” and “okays” and you can practice reducing them from your conversational speech. Also rehearse answers to those typical questions you’ll be asked. “
Know your skeletons Nobody’s perfect, but everyone has reasons things happen. Be ready to answere questions about things like “job hopping, being fired. Avoid weak excuses. NEVER CRITICIZE YOUR FORMER EMPLOYERS.Role-play and rehearse your responses to difficult or uncomfortable issues that may come up in the conversation.” [Source: HimJobs.com]
“Unemployment is still below the generally-accepted measure for ‘full-employment’ of 4-5%,” Robert Merrill, Technical Account Manager for SOS Engineering and Technology, said. “This means that people who would otherwise choose not to work are taking jobs and staying employed.”
“Current travel prices have become a particularly poignant concern for job-hunters,” said Robert. “Many recent placements we have made resulted from people wanting to limit their commutes or ’stay closer to home’”
“I would be cautious to believe that we have hit bottom,” concludes Robert, “but Utah seems to have an interesting connection with industries either benefiting or otherwise unaffected by national events (energy, transportation, natural resources, military). The combination of those things leads me to believe Utah will likely have an even-stronger opportunity to take-advantage of the new technologies and innovations our companies are already investing in.”
There’s no question something interesting is happening with Utah’s professional/technical workforce right now, and I think there are no less than four competing factors at play any business-owner should be paying very close attention to:
Real and Wage Inflation
Intense Competition for Talent
Corporate cost-cutting
High Energy/Commute Costs
The hardest part to pin-down is that the economic indicators show a market that is schizophrenic. Utah’s high tech job market is part recessionary and part booming. There’s both signs of weakness, but signs of boom-cycle madness.
If there were ever a time to unveil the invisible hand and see what’s really going to happen to this economy over the next six-12 months, now is the time… those who navigate this juncture well stand to gain a lot of opportunity, while these massive icebergs of clashing forces might very well crush entire sections of our economy and workforce if we’re not paying close attention.
Real and Wage Inflation
The Fed won’t admit there’s inflation yet, even though everyone else is worried about it… but one trip to the grocery store tells you a dollar doesn’t go as far these days. This plays into issues 3 and 4, and is the driver for issue 2.
Bottom-line: If the same amount of money you made last year isn’t cutting it, talented people will demand higher wages for the same jobs they were doing a year ago.
If the company they currently work for won’t pay up, no problem, they’ll just move.
Intense Competition for Talent
As a recruiter, I use every tool I can find. The job boards, these days, are as silent and un-exciting as a Hillary Clinton rally in Payson. The war for top-talent has moved from remote, tactical operations using unmanned email probes and remote-controlled resume submittal to (continuing the analogy) hand-to-hand, street fighting. Candidates are being approached at every angle, from every recruiter, in very creative ways…. and they’re getting hired, too!
At the Blogger Dinner last Thursday, Steve Spencer quipped something like:
This is just like the late 90s. It doesn’t matter if you can actually do any of the stuff on your resume, but if you have the right acronyms, you’re hired!
This hyper-sensitive focus on costs can be unacceptable to a workforce already in high-demand.
One jobseeker for a Salt Lake-based IT Outsourcing firm told me last Thursday that his current employer has”implemented a new performance-based pay plan where you get a “very low base wage” and, if you hit certain quotas every day, you will get paid more.
The story goes that these employees, if they are industrious little busy bees, can earn even more than they have been making, but the employees don’t quite see it that way.
“Its a joke,” my jobseeker friend told me. “I’ve done the math. It is impossible to make anything close to what I have been making. I am outta here.”
“It costs a lot to let someone go,” said Don McNamara, president of Heritage Associates Inc., a management consultant company based in Laguna Niguel, Calif. “So we’ve got to circle the wagons and pull in a little bit.”
Businesses, he said, can cross-train employees in multiple roles to boost productivity and restructure to remove inefficiencies…. but employers can’t cut too many expenses and perks without risking driving workers away.
“You’ve got to be sensitive to your people and make sure morale isn’t one of the things you cut,” McNamara said. “If this comes as a surprise to them, they might be tempted to update their resumes at another company.”
High Energy/Commute Costs
Even thinking about high gas/energy prices makes me exhausted, but the simple fact is we are receiving regular calls and updates from our candidates seeking more commute-friendly work options, telecomuting, shorter commutes, or other benefits to offset the incredible rise in fuel costs this last year has seen. For once, the State has taken a lead here, generating (I predict) pressure on many new fronts to allow employees to have more control over when, where and how much they work.
On the flip-side, a lot of people who otherwise want to keep their current job are interested right now in part-time, flexible, contract-based work options too. That is an unforeseen consequence of these higher prices.
Summary
At the end of the day, companies are asking their employees to do more with less, while these same high-demand employees are not afraid of feeling out their options and making a more lucrative move if needed.
I fear, for companies too cost-conscious, this will become a race to mediocrity unless they very creatively examine their work demands, and be very open and honest with their employees. Find out what they need/want and even while cutting costs, you can make work fun and, heck, maybe even more productive.
On August 4th, Utah will begin its move to a four-day work week, a move that should save up to about 20% of the state’s expenses by 2015.
The change will apply to about 17,000 employees, roughly 80% of the state workforce, [Utah State Governor] Huntsman says. Public universities, the state court system, prisons and other critical services will be exempt. Residents still will have sufficient access to state offices, many staying open from 7 a.m.- 6 p.m., and more than 800 state services are available online, he says.
[USA TODAY: Most state workers in Utah shifting to 4-day week]
The move, which will have employees working the same number of hours, but just cramming those hours into a 4-day week, should help save state employees money, keep some cars off the road, and reduce the other energy expenses they have just to keep doors open and lights on.
By shutting down 1,000 buildings statewide on Fridays, an estimated 3,000 metric tons in carbon emissions will also be cut. Admittedly, though the energy and fuel savings is not as great as telecommuting, the idea of a four-day work week is probably more appealing to reluctant employers who are willing to test more moderate, but still viable, alternatives.
My thoughts on the 4-day work week move is that, as long as crucial state services are still available when needed, this is a good thing. For a long time, the biggest problem I personally have with the “public good” is that there is so much over-availability required to make sure that services are always available to everyone.
It does make sense, however, to keep offices open later than normal 8-5 business hours… I have often been annoyed that I need to take time off work to take care of something at the government.
“LinkedIn gives professionals, even the most hopeless wallflower, a painless way to follow the advice of every career counselor: build a network.”
Author and Speaker Lindsey Pollak noted not only the article above in her blog post this morning, Why you should use LinkedIn (if you aren’t already), but also jotted several notes down she received from a PR manager at LinkedIn on how you can use LinkedIn more effectively:
Study people you admire.
Tailor your profile to look similar to the people whose careers you want.
Research people you are scheduled to meet.
Ask for… and Give advice.
If you want to increase your Google-ability, set your profile as public and choose a vanity URL
She also points people to more information about using Linked in smartly here, here and here.
Finally, Kiley Newboldpointed me to a court-ruling in England where the High Court orders an ex-employee to hand over LinkedIn contacts apparently used to compete with his former company. Nevermind the random and really-trying-hard-to-include-relevant-news image of Obama in the article, the point is that companies are trying to clamp down on the rolodex of their past-employees… is that fair? What do you think?
It’s likely a result of the current economy, but we have noticed a very high percentage of people coming to us and looking for part-time or extra work on graveyards/evenings/weekends.
These are generally very talented individuals who like their current job/employer, but are looking for additional work to take on.
Likewise, these same people are usually willing to take a decrease in their “day-time wage” for a flexible work opportunity because of the, well, flexibility of it.
Some are cutting their pay-rate down as much as 75% of what they would deserve in a day-time/full-time gig because they are not looking for just income, but additional income.
If you are a software development manager and I was willing to experiment with adding flexible/additional staff (especially if you’re already considering outsourcing where there are time-differences anyway), this might be the time to seriously consider bringing on a swing/night shift (your programmers are already there all night anyway, right?) and acquire some excellent talent at a discount.
Of course, finding the people to do this is what we do all day (at SOS Engineering & Technology, where I work). Even if you had your own person in mind, contracting them through an agency like mine (so you would not have to hire them permanently, or deal with 1099 messes) can remove a lot of headaches and legal issues down the road.
If you’re curious about how an agency like mine could help you, please feel free to contact me.
If you know of companies that are accepting candidates for non-traditional work hours, and you want to share, please feel free to leave a comment!
Well, lets just say what I read was, um, more of the same:
Take the bus
Carpool
Ride your bike
Telecommute
With oil predicted to hit $150/barrell in a month, and prices at the pump currently over $4/gal in most parts of the US, what real, significant improvements can be made to these ideas?
At the pump, the national average price of a gallon of regular gas rose 1.8 cents overnight to a record $4.023, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices first moved above $4 nationally on Sunday, though they’ve been higher than that in many parts of the country for weeks.
…
At $150 a barrel _ the Morgan Stanley price prediction that helped ignite Friday’s oil rally _ gas would cost about $4.40 a gallon, [Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J.] said. [Source: marketplace.org]
What is a real, seriously CREATIVE way to cut your commute costs?
Rob is a very tenacious individual who really loves what he does. He has the ability to comprehend complex projects and make them appear simple. His intelligence and hardworking, positive attitude make him someone that executives and co workers alike seek out and trust. He has a bright future as his passion is obvious by all who come in contact with him. I highly recommend Rob at whatever challenges he decides to take on. He is a real winner! November 27, 2007
Kathy Dawson, Regional Vice President, SOS Staffing
There’s no question something interesting is happening with Utah’s professional/technical workforce right now, and I think there are no less than four competing factors at play any business-owner should be paying very close attention to:
On August 4th, Utah will begin its move to a four-day work week, a move that should save up to about 20% of the state’s expenses by 2015.
There’s a lot going on out there about 
It’s likely a result of the current economy, but we have noticed a very high percentage of people coming to us and looking for part-time or extra work on graveyards/evenings/weekends.
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