Making a Match

Curtis Ludlow used all the tools at his disposal, including the Internet, local trade organizations and contacts, to land a job at Heatherwood Construction this past fall.

It was a grueling, three-month process of building on existing relationships and initiating contact with potential employers at commercial construction companies.

Although he didn’t scour national job Web sites, Ludlow used the Internet to research companies and find contact information for executives he was seeking to impress. "It doesn’t take long to find an e-mail address," he says. "I really tried to put myself in front of or communicate to the top person in the company."

Ludlow found that, as a result of the housing-market downturn, few companies were seeking his business development and marketing skills.

The situation was much different than as little as two years ago, when he moved from Boston to Southwest Florida. "You could basically call anybody and get a job at any time," he says. Now, he adds, "You have to really set yourself apart."

His e-mail to Walter Crawford, CEO and president of Bonita Springs-based Heatherwood Construction Co., resulted in a meeting. The company hadn’t advertised the manager of pre-construction services position, but within a month, Ludlow had the job. "It just happened to be the right correspondence at the right time," he says.

This is an employers’ market for most industries, and job seekers are discovering that it takes strategy and timing to receive an offer. With online job boards, company Web sites, newspaper advertising and cash bonuses for employees who help with recruiting, employers are embracing a myriad of ways to find quality job candidates.

Instead of waiting until a position opens and placing a newspaper ad, more businesses are recruiting year-round through the Internet, and some local companies have application processes on their own Web sites.

"The way employers are recruiting has changed in the last several years with the introduction of online recruiting. There are a variety of ways employers can get their job listings out to those who tend to surf the Net for jobs," says James Wall, quality improvement manager for the Southwest Florida Workforce Development Board.

WORKING THE WEB
Employers who use traditional classified advertising look for a way to connect online, either through relationships that newspapers have, such as The News-Press’ collaboration with CareerBuilder.com, or by referring in the ad to their Web site.

"There is a reduction in employers posting the hard-copy want ads, simply because they’re there for a week and then they’re gone," Wall explains. "Fewer people, especially for the X and Y generations, rely on the newspaper for their information. So even though the hard-copy want ads that were traditionally used are not being used as much, we’re seeing the newspapers react to that and get into an online recruiting effort."

Online and print advertising continue to be the most popular routes for job seekers. The nonprofit The Conference Board found that 73 percent of workers who searched for a job nationwide between January and September 2007 reported using the Internet. That’s up from 66 percent of job seekers in the same time period in 2005, the last year of available data.

Those on the hunt for a position also turn to the Internet for gathering employer and job information (59 percent of job seekers), submitting résumés and applications (57 percent), posting résumés on a Web site (40 percent) and signing up for e-mail notifications (30 percent).
Meanwhile, 65 percent of job seekers scoured newspaper ads in 2007, compared with 75 percent two years ago.

The state is in on it, too. The Employ Florida Marketplace (www.employflorida.com) is a free, statewide Web site that averages more than 40,000 unique visitors daily. Companies in the hospitality industry, including the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa, and other major employers in Southwest Florida had positions posted on the site this past fall.

The Hyatt employs a variety of techniques to find candidates. It posts on its company Web site as well as on national engines, such as Yahoo! HotJobs. It offers employee-referral bonuses of up to $750, sends weekly lists of openings to community agencies and schools, participates in job fairs and uses newspaper ads, from which employment manager Stephen Andrus of the Hyatt Regency says they still have "great luck," particularly for entry-level jobs. Another strategy: a free weekend at the hotel for employees whose referrals have stayed in the job for 90 days.
Word-of-mouth and employee-incentive programs seem to work. By October 2007, SunStream Hotels & Resorts had awarded $10,500 in cash bonuses to employees for the year, says Andrea Emerson, human resources director.

The key for employers is striking a balance that opens the door to all types of candidates. The Hyatt, for example, rolled out an 800-number so people can apply over the phone, which Andrus says particularly helps those who speak English as a second language.

Jane Drasites, human resources manager at Radiology Regional Center, which has 10 locations in Southwest Florida, has seen an increase in electronic communication in the three-plus years she’s been in the job. On occasion, applicants fax or send résumés via postal mail. She accepts them, but prefers those sent via the Internet or e-mail, which cut costs.

"As soon as they hit that ‘send’ key, they get a response back from us. It’s automatically built into the system," she says. "That’s prevented us from sending out postcards and U.S. postage."
Drasites believes technology works to candidates’ benefit, enabling employers to respond immediately and store résumés electronically. If a job comes open, she can look at past résumés to determine if someone would make a good fit. "You’re getting most everything electronically, which is great for storage. It’s marvelous," she says.

STANDING OUT
More than 3,000 people attended a job fair organized by The News-Press in early October attended by employers such as SunStream and the Hyatt. Typically, 1,500 is good attendance, Emerson says. "It is definitely an employers’ market right now."

At Radiology Regional, some openings have resulted in 200 or more résumés in one week, all via e-mail. "That’s a lot of sifting to go through," Drasites says.

The economy has created a competitive market, and being online or attending job fairs isn’t enough. Job seekers need to come up with a marketing plan to network themselves, advises Renée Kennedy-Edwards, owner of Coaching 4 Success in Bonita Springs.

"By networking and telling as many people as you can about your interest in a certain position or employment, you have [a] better chance of getting in and meeting the employer versus just throwing your résumé online," she says.

Kennedy-Edwards advises her clients to get creative and get active, such as attending local chamber functions and industry-specific events.

One job seeker followed her recommendation of putting not only her name on a name tag at an event, but noting that she was looking for a full-time position. "She thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is crazy.’ She thought she was being a little bit aggressive doing that," Kennedy-Edwards recalls.
But she landed an interview that way, followed up with a colorful thank-you card and got the job. "It’s all about just trying to make yourself memorable," Kennedy-Edwards says.

When SunStream advertised for a marketing position, using the phrase, "We have a chair for you on the beach," one applicant sent in a child-sized beach chair with her name written on the back, along with a résumé. She landed an interview, Emerson says, although the job ultimately went to someone else.

Following up earns high marks with employers in a sometimes faceless environment. When Andrus receives a follow-up call, he prints the application or notes that the person made the extra effort. "It really shows they are interested in the position and working for Hyatt. That initiative really demonstrates a lot," he says. "What we really hire for is personality and character and integrity."

But how can you display those skills in an online format? Job seekers need to be succinct and tailor online résumés and applications to particular companies. The traditional format of a cover letter serving as a preview to the one- or two-page résumé is gone. "There is no such thing as a cover letter," Wall says. "It’s just, ‘Here I am. Here are my basic skills.’" The challenge for job seekers is to include "soft skills"—such as communication skills or being a team player and problem solver—in an online format that specifies education and experience, he adds.

This varies by industry and level of responsibility. Kennedy-Edwards recommends doing research, including checking out résumés in specific industries online. For example, those seeking positions in the finance industry would keep a clean format using traditional fonts while those in the marketing field would want to be creative to show off their skills. "It’s important to match your approach with the general level of conservatism with the industry," she says.

Wall calls himself a "traditionalist," who believes that some footwork is required in getting hired. "I don’t like to see job seekers scattergun their job search," he says.

In fact, according to The Conference Board’s 2007 data, 51 percent of job seekers reported networking through friends and colleagues.