Welcome To JMD Partners Web Blog

Hello Everyone,

My name is Alex Dubovoy, & I am the President of JMD Partners, Welcome To JMD Partners Web Blog. I have been in the IT Staffing & Consulting Industry for over 15 years & decided that it was time to create this blog in order to give any advice I can to job seekers & employers. This will be an open forum in which I encourage everyone & anyone to make a post as well as put up topics for discussion. The blog will be checked daily be myself & I will put up new topics every week on Mondays for discussion. I beleive that through communication, we can all help each other in our job searches & our searches for staff. I am one of the people lucky enough to have a job that is also my passion.

In the posts, you can expect topics for job seekers such as Interview Tips, How to address reasons for leaving, salary negotiations, couter offers, background checks, resume creation, setting expectations, time management for interviews, & many more topics.

For hiring managers & HR Professionals you can expect topics such as resume screening, how to effectively use a recruiter to save you time, salary negotiation, setting expectations, how to keep a candidate interested in your position, how to tell if they are interested, & many more topics.

Finally I want to stress that I encourage everyone who takes the time to post on this board to share your insight with the rest of us. Even though I’ve been in the staffing business over 15 years, I see & learn new things, meet new & interesting people, & learn new ways to evolve with the staffing industry. We have seen many changes over the years & without the insight of everyone I have interacted with, I would never have learned anything. Please feel free to post new topics, add to current discussions, & contact me anytime with any questions. My direct email is alex@jmd-partners.com My direct phone # is 646-536-3319. I will do my best to answer any post, comment, or message as quickly as I can. Thank you very much for logging on to this site & I look forward to a great forum in which we can all learn from each other & help each other reach our common goals.

Regards.

Alex Dubovoy

President

JMD PARTNERS

Giving Notice and The Counter-Offer

Hi Everyone,

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. I was out of town for quite some time, but am now back in the office & finally all caught up. Anyway, this post will cover a very sensitive & stressful issue. "Giving notice and the counter-offer".

Giving notice is a very difficult thing to do. It’s a loss regardless of whether you are leaving on good terms or not. I speak to many people every day & I am asked how do I give notice to my employer & maintain a good relationship with them & even get a positive reference if they are called. My answer every time, is be 100% direct, respectful, & to the point.

Times are getting better. You found a new job & are looking forward to the next step in your career. You received more money, more room for growth, more flexibility, or a better overall position that fits what you need. It is now time to tell your manager that your time with your current firm is over. My suggestion is to first, write a resignation letter, but not to send it. It is easier when you give it to the manager personally. It goes a long way. The resignation letter should state that you are giving your notice (which should be 2 weeks) & though you appreciate your time with the company, it is now time for you to move on. The letter should be short, direct, & professional, as it will be put into your employee file (think future reference)

The time has come. You are now in a meeting with your manager in which you need to share the news…First, get to the point. Let them know that you’ve decided to make a move to a new opportunity. Let them know that you appreciate everything that they’ve done for you, all of the experience you gained at the company, & that you will miss being part of the “team” Also, make sure that you tell your manager that you are happy to give 2 weeks of notice & will be at the forefront of knowledge transfer in order to make sure it is a smooth transition. Also, let them know that you are starting a new position in 2 weeks & it will be a great growth opportunity for you. Don’t answer the question “What can I do to make you stay” It leads to many things that do not benefit you at all. Make sure that in this meeting, there is nothing negative thrown around, as you will need your manager for a reference in the future. As you leave the meeting, again, reiterate to your manager that you appreciate everything they have done for you, & even after the 2 weeks are up, you will be available within reason, for anything that they need help with.

After the initial shock wears off, management at your current employer may realize that it will be very difficult to replace you. It is also common for someone who gave notice to “romanticize” their current job. The thought “This place isn’t really so bad” & the fear of making a change to an unknown environment is very common. That’s where the counter offer comes from. Your current employer may or may not do this, but be prepared in case they do. They will make you an offer of considerably more salary, more flexibility (work from home 2-3 days a week), more responsibility, & so forth. Pretty much anything that they can do to make you stay, even for a short time. This is when you need to remember “What are my reasons for leaving in the first place?” Why are they offering me this now & why did it take me giving notice for them to notice me? How long will this stay?

I can’t say for certain everyone, but a vast majority of job seekers who accept counter offers are no longer employed by their employer within 6 months of accepting a counter offer. I have seen counter offers pulled away after 2-3 weeks or after 2-4 months, but eventually the job seeker or the employer will cut ties. Once the job seeker gives notice, they are labeled by upper management as “disloyal”. If any budget cuts happen in the future, you’ll be on the block sooner than others. Also, when you accept a counter offer, it rarely gives you the solution to the reason you were looking in the first place. Those things will usually creep up again.

In conculsion, it is not an easy choice to leave your current employer & move on to a new job at a new firm. If you have decided that it is time for you to do that, & you accept an offer, stay with it. If you are not that interested in the new position, then stay at your old one & wait for something that is a better fit. Once you make the difficult decision to accept a new job, stick to it. You’ll find yourself happier at the end of the day with much fewer regrets.

I hope this helps & good luck in your job searches. As always, feel free to contact me any time with questions, comments, or any help I can offer.

Alex Dubovoy

Finding The Right Recruiter

Hello. In this week’s posting "Finding The Right Recruiter", I wanted to focus on both job seekers & employers on a question that I’m sure has crossed their minds. Which recruiter is the “right” one for me. It’s a tough question, especially in this day & age of literally hundreds if not thousands of recruiters that work within 5 miles of each other in a limited market with limited jobs & limited qualified job seekers.

First, for job seekers. What I suggest is apply to every position that you feel that you are a good fit for. Use the job boards that you are comfortable with, use word of mouth, & dont think that it’s too pushy to call. It’s really not. What you want to look for in a recruiter is honesty, character, their business connections, & most importantly, WILL THEY FIND ME A JOB. If you come across someone who is asking all the questions & won’t let you get a word in, they may not be the right fit. If you find someone who never calls back with feedback, they are not the right fit. If you took the time to interview, then the recruiter should take the time to let you know how things went. That’s just common manners. Look for recruiters that take the time to not only understand what you’ve done before, but take the time to understand what you’re looking for. Those are the recruiters that you will ultimately have the most luck with. I use the word luck intentionally as sometimes, it all comes down to timing, etc…however, the recruiter you want to build a relationship with, send referrals to, & think about calling the next time you need help in your job search, should be someone that took the time to listen to your needs as well as just pitch you a job.

For hiring managers, the solution is similar. You get hundreds of calls per week from every agency under the sun. Out of those hundreds, who is good? How do I know I can work with this person? Of course, if you have a healthy relationship with a few agencies & recruiters that have shown you results, stick with what works. If your recruiter can deliver candidates to you that you know you will be on the money, stay with them. My suggestions are for the managers who are thinking about adding a new agency & how to pre screen recruiters at those agencies.

Adding an agency to your vendor list may not be a very easy process. You need to get approvals, go to your upper management, get signatures, etc…You can’t do this for everyone who cold calls you with a new “pitch” every other day. How do I know who I can count on? My suggestion is to look at the way that they value your time. The top reason for a hiring manager to use a recruiter is to save time. If you find someone who is pushing you too hard to do something you are not 100% comfortable with, is that the kind of person I want to develop a long term business relationship with? If you ask the recruiter to call you later (even after hours) & they hesitate, is that the type of person that will value your time? Also, if you take the time to give the recruiter the job description, did they ask probing questions that will allow them to pre screen candidates for you? After you gave them the job description, did they send you resumes that actually made sense as per your conversation, or did they just flood you with 10 candidates that has a few buzz words on their resumes? Did the recruiter look into availability, reasons for leaving, salary history, motivations, communication skills and overall fit? In this digital age, it is very easy to just exchange emails with a candidate. The recruiters I suggest using are the ones who take the time to speak to each candidate before they send resumes & truly pre screen them. Then it is a matter of results. Hopefully those recruiters are the ones that will consistently find good fits for your organization & in general be easy to work with.

Anyway, I hope the New Year is treating everyone well. Thanks for reading, & as always, please feel free to post any ideas, comments, or suggestions, or feel free to contact me directly.

Alex