2/22/2010
HEADLINES
Recruiters: Fastener Employers Beginning to Hire

“We are definitely seeing an increase in hiring,” Jodi Stein reported.

“We have seen a dramatic upswing in hiring in the past couple months,” Bryant Lind finds.

“We have definitely seen a positive increase in companies looking for new employees over the past 60 days,” Ken Graham observed.

• One example is Atlantic Fasteners, which announced it has added one outside salesperson and is interviewing through a recruiter for another. Atlantic, a Massachusetts-based distributor reported it weathered the recession without layoffs, pay cuts or reduced hours.

• Another example is Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co, which will double employment this year to 100.

Cardinal president John Grabner told McClatchy Newspapers that business was increasing due to strong demand for the fasteners Cardinal manufactures for wind turbines. With the market boosted by federal wind energy tax credits, Cardinal also is buying new equipment.

• Mac’s Hardware – which promotes itself as the “Fastener Headquarters” – is opening two more North Dakota stores and features an employment application on its homepage.

Stein, president of Tom McCall & Associates finds fastener manufacturing jobs “are few and far between,” but the Chicago-based fastener recruiting firm is “busy with all levels of sales as well as purchasing,” plus some engineering positions.

Small distributors as well as “major players in the industry” have gotten back into hiring, Stein observed.

Lind, owner of North Carolina-based Amalga Corporation, said most new listings for jobs are for “positions that were eliminated more than six months ago or a consolidation of a couple positions that were eliminated.”

Lind described employers as “more aggressive” in seeking staff.

Among Amalga’s current listings are a variety of sales jobs from technical to vice president, a bilingual account manager, a manufacturing engineer and a global account manager.

Graham, who launched FastenerJobs.com in early 2009, pointed out that there is more hiring than just the new positions he sees online. “Our observations exclude the ‘calling back’ of employees who were laid off in late 2008 and most of 2009,” Graham noted.

Lind noted that “many companies retained their best talent during the economic downturn.”

Lind has had employers turn to his recruiting company “because they are being inundated by candidates who are under-qualified or not qualified at all. Candidates from all industries and all disciplines are applying to any job they see. This is an administrative burden to clients.”

“What is very encouraging is that many of our search assignments are newly created positions,” Stein told GlobalFastenerNews.com. “The candidate pool is extraordinarily talented right now due to all of the layoffs and downsizing and many smart employers are getting a jump on things knowing that the talent pool isn’t always going to be this skilled.”

Lind finds “new, strategic positions” on his list as a positive indicator.

• What are the keys to finding a job in today’s market?

“Personal and business contacts have never been more important in terms of securing a position,” Stein said. “The old saying of ‘It is not what you know, but who you know’ has never been more applicable.”

Lind agreed that “networking is essential in a job search, but networking with the wrong people can be deadly. Choose your network carefully, because those people represent an extension of your professionalism.”

“A lot of the resumes I see these days have been done by professionals,” Stein pointed out. “The first page is usually a listing of skills and accomplishments with no mention of employers, titles, or dates. I can’t stand this format. Employers and recruiters view so many resumes that they want to instantly see names of companies, titles and dates of employment.”

One can still highlight achievements and responsibilities under each position as well as in a summary/into paragraph, Stein emphasized.

Stein advises not worrying about covering for recent periods of unemployment. “We are in a market where gaps are the norm. I always advise people to be very truthful in putting together a resume.”

Lind added that “clients usually can see through someone filling the gap, but they want to know that you have been doing something.”

Key words and phrases in resumes are important, Lind said. Resumes today are content driven for the Internet. “Recruiters often use job boards and applicant tracking software and when we query the database the best matches rise to the top.”

• Beyond the resume, “be very careful when editing emails and letters, and everyone should send thank you notes,” Lind advised.

• There are changes from recent years. “Candidates are really being scrutinized,” Stein counseled. “Background checks are more and more common.”

• As far as pay levels, Stein sees “employers are getting a whole lot of talent for their money. Over the past year, we have seen many, many people take dramatic cuts in pay as well as taking jobs that are considerably below their skill set – mostly in high end positions.

Salaries have remained constant with both inside and outside sales positions as well as staff engineering positions, Stein finds

Lind discourages employers from taking advantage of candidates. Although employers may be able to hire for less, “we know that cheap hires will likely jump again in the future,” he explained.

Lind said he has turned away employers who are trying to hire cheap employees.

• One problem Stein is finding is relocation. “Companies are still offering basic ‘relo’ packages. They have not really made any adjustments to the difficulties a candidate will experience in this depressed market.”

The volume of applicants has employers turning to recruiters “because they are being inundated by candidates who are under-qualified or not qualified at all,” Lind finds. “Candidates from all industries and all disciplines are applying to any job they see. This is an administrative burden to clients.”

FastenerJobs.com has 128 resumes posted from qualified fastener industry job seekers. “Nothing would make me happier than to see more job postings than resume postings,” Graham said. “I suspect it will be some time until we see such a trend, but we are certainly headed in the right direction.” ©2010 GlobalFastenerNews.com

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