Week One Observations

Week one is just about in the books at my new gig. Already, I’m shocked at the number of key differences between what I previously did (contingency-based direct-hire recruiting) and my new role (contract recruiting for ERP consultants.)


Since I know you’re curious :) I’ve listed them below:

1) Orders Need To Be Filled Much Faster: Often times our manufacturing clients were patient and were willing to wait for the perfect candidate. Not in this world. It’s competitive and our companies seem to already know exactly what they want. What I thought would take 3 months to fill could be two weeks.

2) Location is Not a Major Issue: I used to deal with mainly people from WI that usually were born here, raised here and want to stay here. I’m amazed how open our consultants are able to temporarily relocate to where the work is.

3) Phone Interviews Are the Key: Interviewing candidates nationwide, in my current role clients make decisions on project-seekers from one or two phone interviews. It’s a big change from the 3 on-site interview process which was standard from my manufacturing clients.

4) Need to be a Math Wiz: We make money based on the bill rate vs. the pay rate on our assignments. With burdens, W2’s, corp to corp situations, and non-taxable income for living expenses, there are a ton of variables to determining a final profit margin. It’s a little different from the straight-forward 25% placement fee.

5) Unique Searching: After about 4 years in manufacturing recruiting, I had determined there are only so many engineers in WI, and only so many ways to get in touch with them. In nation-wide contract recruiting, the Internet is your friend. Through unique Boolean searches, there are a seemingly limitless combinations of keywords to find new resumes and new potential candidates.