11 Dec 03

Dice.com – Job search for Technology Professionals

Today, I read through my automated job search agent for DICE.com, and found no less than 5 job postings by recruiters for the SAME JOB. 5 out of 21 jobs returned works out to roughly 25% of my time wasted reading the same job description.

The thing that I’ve learned about many of these recruiter posts is that if you do a little bit of research, often you can find the employer on the web and apply for the job directly. Since recruiters charge a fairly hefty percentage for their services, it makes me wonder whether employers are using them at all these days, or if they give preference to candidates that come to them directly, without the extra price tag.

This is not to say that I haven’t found jobs through recruiters in the past – just that in today’s market, I’m wondering whether they are still of any use…

13 Nov 03

Nurse-Recruiter.com

Nurse-Recruiter.com is one of the top Internet Job Boards devoted exclusively to nursing professionals. The goal is simple: “to help bring nurses and healthcare employers together.”

02 May 03 Thoughts on the Job Fair

I attended a job fair at the Dayton Job Center this past Wednesday, April 30, 2003. I’ve spent a lot more time at the Job Center lately, searching for a job and getting set up with other services. Last fall, I attended another job fair at the Job Center as well.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. I knew from attending the job fair last fall that there were sure to be a lot of people there. I also expected that there would be a lot of organizations looking for people in the health care fields. Both of these expectations were met.

I felt that there were so many people at the job fair that it was hard to be in a one-on-one conversation with any recruiter for very long. I noticed a long line of people waiting to talk to recruiters from one company in particular.

Since my wife Jennie has been ill lately and was not able to attend the job fair, I used the opportunity to network a little bit with the health care companies that were looking for nurses asisstants.

I also went to see which companies would be looking for people in my field. I saw a few of them. Yet, when I talked to company representatives in person, their recommendation was still to send my resume via the company’s website or via email.

I still wonder why these companies were present at the job fair at all if they were just going to ask me to send my resume to the company electronically.

As I left the job fair, I was encouraged to chat with another job seeker who was looking for a job in accounting. We used the opportunity to network and share our thoughts on the job fair.

I still believe that job fairs are great ways to meet companies and network with other job seekers, and I look forward to attending others in the future.

27 Mar 03

Manpower Professional – Dayton Office

Some interesting developments… Yesterday I contacted the local Manpower office (see link above) to speak to the guy with whom I’d been working on my recent assignment. I spoke to someone who stated that he no longer works for the company. I was surprised. I had just seen him with his boss a month ago at the Greater Dayton IT Alliance meeting.

I asked this person if the office had a most recent copy of my resume, and I found out that they did not. Apparently, since my guy had left the company, he did not hand over the updated resume I had emailed. Okay then.

So, I just emailed the office an updated copy of my resume. I sent it to their “catch-all” email address, which I found through the Office Locator portion of the website.

Now, I need to send another copy to that other recruiter whom I’d emailed last week.

Cheers!