Wendy Weber on Executive Recruiting

Many social media marketers are eager to tie a hard number to the value of their efforts. To that end, firms have attempted to analyze the worth of fans and followers on social networking sites like Facebook.

Digital consulting firm Syncapse and research company Hotspex have come up with an empirical formula that puts an average value of $136.38 on the Facebook fans of the site’s 20 biggest corporate brands.

To read the article, found in eMarketer,  in its entirety, click here.

Controversial piece in Daily Worth resulted in a lively discussion in the Bucks Blog of the  New York Times:  http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/on-lying-about-your-salary-in-job-interviews/

The piece was written about a woman who lied about her current salary to a recruiter for a potential job, saying she was earning $5,000 more than she was.

Then, when the recruiter called to offer her the job and to let her know the employer would match her current salary, she asked for more…and got it.

Misrepresenting one’s salary while interviewing for a new job is commonplace, to be sure.  I certainly understand the job seeker’s desire to receive the maximum salary offer from a new employer, and I am well aware that there is no better time to maximize one’s earning potential than when taking a new  job.  And in the interest of full disclosure, as a recruiter whose fee is earned as a percentage of the new hire’s salary, I don’t want to see my candidates shortchanged.

However…

We have been recruiting long enough to have developed a broad network of relationships, often with multiple members of a department within an organization.  I have a pretty good idea of what you are making, what your peers in the industry are making, and even what your boss is making.   I have seen it all…candidates who forget which salary they claimed to be making the last time we spoke…candidates who include the value of healthcare benefits, paid holidays, gym membership and potential bonuses that haven’t been realized in years when I ask them for their base salary…and candidates who may simply have received bad advice about career negotiations.  As a recruiter, my job is to bring job seeker and employer together, so that both feel a happy marriage has been made, and neither feel unduly compromised.  It is a tremendous asset when both parties lay their cards on the table.  Job seekers need to be honest about what they are making, and what they are looking for, in terms of salary.  If their current salary is below market, I will do my best to bring them up to a fair level of compensation.  And employers need to offer compensation that is equitable for the level of talent and experience they seek.

Some of our clients ask for substantiation of your salary claim, including a recent pay stub or last year’s tax return, before extending an offer.

It’s only natural to wish to maximize your salary.  But I ask candidates to look at it a different way:  At what salary would you be “happy enough”?  Because if you are making $100,000 and you would be happy to make a move for $115,000, but you hold out for $125,000…maybe you will get it.  More likely, you may be going up against candidates that are already making $115,000, and have experience commensurate with that salary.  When the client hires the more experienced candidate at $125,000 will you feel remorse at having “required” that salary?

The piece raises many interesting questions, including whether lying about one’s salary is a lie or a negotiation tactic…unethical or just a bluff…

The Daily Worth post was later retracted, under a firestorm of criticism.  A host of legal and ethical issues were cited.

In the end, I see the road towards a hire much like the negotiation of real estate.  Both sides want to feel that they were well represented, resulting in a fair deal.  Perhaps both feel somewhat compromised, and the buyer wonders if an offer of a little less might have been accepted.  The seller wonders whether they could have pushed the offer up.  Neither feels bloodied and taken advantage of.   All in all, both end up winners.

Online advertising spending will surge 10.8 percent in 2010 to $25.1 billion, according to a new report by the digital researcher eMarketer. That double-digit growth prediction would seem to provide a clear sign that the market has bounced back from a rough 2009, during which eMarketer tracked nearly a 5 percent spending decline.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

A recent article by Ruth Mantell for the Wall Street Journal entitled Employers Are Lowballing New Hires sums up something that we as recruiters have seen over the past year.

It begins, “The job market may be recovering, but some salary offers are still a few years behind.”

With a high level of unemployment over the past few years, competition for existing jobs has been fierce.  “An offer that might have been $100,000 a few years ago is now coming in at $85,000 or $89,000.”  The article encourages those who receive a low offer to compare that offer to what they can get elsewhere in the current market, rather than what they could have received before the recession began.  The longer a worker remains jobless, the harder it is to impress companies.

In my opinion, while  it can be distressing for job seekers to settle for a salary that they feel is not comensurate with their expectations, if the job offers  the opportunity to grow professionally  it may be more valuable to get back into the game, and acquire new experience, than to “hold out” for a salary that is more palatable.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Years ago, the executive search process was more time consuming.  We actually mailed resumes to our out of town clients.  Then came the fax machine, which revolutionized our business, and the speed with which we could present candidates.  And finally, email!  Now we can get off the phone with a candidate, and have a presentation in a client’s inbox within minutes.

So why does it take so long to finalize a placement these days?  One would think a motivated client could fill a position in the span of 2 weeks.

Well one just did!  We made the presentation on May 27th, and the offer was accepted this morning.  Three interviews took place; 2 phone and one face to face.

What a pleasure to work with a client and candidate that were decisive.  The client interviewed 4 of our candidates and moved the process along daily.  The candidate, who was employed, juggled his schedule as required to accomodate the client’s interview requests.  And when the offer was extended…he accepted.  He didn’t take 3 days “to think about it”; he had been thinking about it all along.

Over the past year we have seen search processes take so long that by the time the client was ready to extend the offer the candidate had already accepted employment elsewhere.  This search never lost its momentum.  We initiated our efforts immediately, and with the constant effort and follow through of a client that was serious about making a hire, the process moved along seamlessly.

Truly a pleasure!

From an article in Web Worker Daily, some are beginning to find endless updates on social media sites exhausting.  According to one social networker, “I’m on Twitter hiatus until I have something awesome to report”.    Hmmn.  How can I go on without knowing that ”I just took my barrettes out of my frizzy hair and looked in the mirror and had a flashback to middle school.” Yes, that was tweeted just today.

I have long thought it was silly to post continuous updates as to ones comings and goings, thoughts and meals.

Maybe even the writers themselves have had enough?  Click here to read the article.

Every week I talk to job seekers who seem to think so.

I will talk to a candidate who has been out of work for, let’s say, 8 months. They were making $95K at their last place of employment. They have run out of severance money, and are doing their best to exist on unemployment assistance. Now they are “asking for” a salary of $110K.

Far be it from me to tell someone their worth in a free market.

But I would think that after months of unemployment, simply getting back in the game would have real value…even at slightly less than what they used to make. I certainly don’t think a prospective employer would choose to reward them for their months of unemployment.

As a recruiter, I make a percentage of the candidate’s compensation when they are hired. I am certainly motivated to help the job seeker maximize that number. But at a certain point, nobody wins. The prospective employer is put off by the lofty salary demand, the job seeker does not get the job, and I am back on the hunt for a suitable candidate.

I talk to my candidates about the concept of buyers remorse. If they learn that they are being passed over for consideration for the job because there is another candidate presented at a salary of $95K…or even $90K…or even $85K…would they wish they had allowed me to present them at that salary? If so, perhaps they should reconsider their salary requirement.

Once they are gainfully employed, and demonstrating their value to their employer, they will be in a much stronger position to re-negotiate.