First Friday

Many of you know that I feel a real calling to be of encouragement to those that are going through difficult times in their lives. The impact that others have had on me by encouraging me when I was in a rough patch is a deep impact. I appreciate the people that have been there for me. I tell them I appreciate it. I seek opportunities to repay their kindness to me by doing the same for others that I know are in a tough spot.

I encourage others by mentoring younger business professionals. Oftentimes I will also encourage young fathers and the newly married men I know. I believe that "everything we go through makes us more valuable to others" and I certainly have been through my share of stuff that has taught me not only a lesson but what it's like to be in need.

In 2008 I started the East Metro Career Transition Group with some guys in Conyers, Georgia. After a year or two the economy picked up (or maybe everyone just got used to it) and we had a real deficit of people attending so we closed it up. I continued to help people in my network both professionally and personally. Now I'm happy to be starting the group back up in the form of "First Friday". First Friday is a monthly gathering of people that are encouraging, people that are in career transition and people that are hiring. We have coffee and talk. That's it. Sometimes.....we help somebody find a new employee or find a new job. But most importantly we tell people that we care for them during their tough times.

Visit us on Facebook at: http://facebook.com/firstfridayconyers

Come see us at the awesome AWAKE Coffee Community in Conyers!

Quick Rant: IT Recruiters

Typically, I try to be positive.......focus on the opportunity......look to the silver lining. So when I wanted to sit and do a rant on this topic I told myself, "Now Scott, you should do something positive! Talk about the Top 10 Ideas for Great Recruiting Practices!"

Whatever. 

Here is my rant: I've known technology recruiters as long as there have been technology recruiters. I've hired from them. I've asked them to find me a job. I've helped them get into my employer to place consultants. I've networked with them, done them favors, asked them for favors and even become friends with many of them over the past 17 years. I actually placed consultants on-site with clients for a brief period. Here are my thoughts, if you are an IT Recruiter, on how to not be a creep.

(By the way, I'll use the term "Recruiter" for both IT Staffing Company Sales People as well as Recruiters that source talent.)

1. Bring value before you ask for something. You don't know me. You've never done anything for me. You should read Ricky Steele's book.

2. If I help you get into my company....don 't embarrass me or drop off the face of the earth.

3. Quit telling all of us how GREAT your company is only to call us a month later to tell us that you are with a new great company. Whatever. I don't actually care about your company. People do business with individuals. People buy from YOU, not from your company. At least they do if you're doing it right. Then they will buy from you wherever you go. So I don't care about whatever company you happen to be working at right now. That's just my opinion. 

4. Don't build a relationship with me and then introduce me to some new kid that is going to "take good care of me" while you are now focusing on large accounts or whatever. I'm not interested in working with Skip or Josh or whatever his name is. This is still a relationship business. What business is a relationship business you ask? Any business is a relationship business. 

5. If you're going to turn your nose up at the rates we pay for resources, that's fine. But quit humping my leg like a horny chihuahua asking me to help you out with just the good reqs. You can't always cherry-pick the good positions if you want to get in with a huge, global company. They aren't going to just give you the top searches to work on. Get over yourself. 

Then, there's the other side of things when you are trying to get me to go to work for you or your clients. 

6. YOU cold-called ME. Good for you. It takes a lot of guts to call me at my desk, or on my cell, and say, "Hey, you interested in talking to me about a position I need to fill with my client?" You get big points with me for reaching out to me as a passive candidate. But.....then, when you start in on the grilling me like I was 22 years old and I was trying to pull a fast one on you you lose me quick. Here's an actual conversation I had yesterday:

Recruiter: "Hi Scott, I'm with Whatever Staffing and I'm looking for a CTO for one of my clients in Atlanta. Would you be willing to talk about this position?"

Me: "Sure, what you got?"

Recruiter: "Well, first let me ask you a few questions. What is your total experience with web technology." (Seriously, "web technology", that's not even proper grammar.)

Me: "You want me to explain to you everything I have done related to web technologies?" 

Recruiter: "Yes, please. Have you worked with web technology?" (Obviously, he's reading off a 3x5 card)

Me: "Let me talk to your supervisor."

I've been a web developer, database administrator, project manager, technology director and business analyst for 17 years. You want to know my total experience with web technolog(ies) on this phone call? Beat it. 

7. When I help you. When you ask me what you can do for me. When I tell you, 'I like Bass Pro Shops gift cards." I'm serious. If I help your company get placements with my employer I may actually want more than just a Christmas card. Ha  Heck, even if you don't place anyone for some assorted reason it's still courteous to remember those that made the effort. (so that they make the effort again the next year)

8. When you place me somewhere, and that place screws me over, it's okay. I don't expect that you knew they would do that I you shouldn't expect that I'm going to be real happy about talking to you. Ever. It's cool. This is why I don't do business with friends anymore. Friendships are harder to come by than jobs and should be protected. 

9. Final one, I promise. You are so hot and heavy to get me to come work for you it's pitiful. Your client (or employer) interviews me 4 times and then either drops off the face of the earth never to be heard of again or (maybe) gives me some lame excuse like, "We decided to hire an internal candidate." or "You're more qualified to be the Online Marketing Director than the VP of Operations. We'll let you know when we need an Online Marketing Director." Then....I see you post a position for an Online Marketing Director two months later and you don't call me I know you were full of it. It's all just ridiculous. You know why.....? Because you're going to call me in 3 months wanting me to help you out. Let's go back to #1 above. Ugh.......

Now, I know a lot of good recruiters. Some of them are reading this now. I also know some recruiters that are new in their career and that are learning bad habits already from bad supervisors and mentors. I also know some crappy recruiters that I secretly hope will find this post and call me out so we can just get mad at  each other and get it over with on the phone or in person. Any way you slice it, there are good and bad people in any profession. Heck, I'm sure somebody out there is doing a post like this and ranting about bad Project Managers, listing out annoying stuff I've done in my role. You know what....? I should get better or not be offended when I'm called out. 

Goodbye. : ) 

5 Things I'll Never Do Again In My Career

1. Work in sales. I'll never work in sales again. This one negates the need for about 10 other things I will never do again like "Sell To The Government" and "Cold Call". This was originally going to be "1,00 Things I'll Never Do Again In My Career" but with this one being #1 I can keep this list down to 5. : )

2. Misrepresent what I'm able to do and what I am interested in doing during a job interview. Friend of mine that is an older gentleman said to me recently, "Scott, I'm too old to lie. I just tell it like it is." I really appreciate that. I'm just getting too old to lie. It's not the lie that kills me it's the rest of the junk that comes after that with trying to live that lie. In my career this is especially true. I can do what I can do and I am interested in doing what I am able to do. Nothing more.

3. Put my career before my family. Jobs come and go but I only have one shot at enjoying my family, raising my children and walking through my life with my dear wife. Whatever I'm doing at work will still be there in the morning....I'm going home to have dinner with my family and to play with my kids before bedtime.

4. Work for a small company because they tell me, "Oh we're serious about growing our company by leaps and bounds. We're expanding and you can be a part of the success!" Whatever.

5. Stay at a company too long. When the wheels are falling off they're falling off. Jump. I'm all about being faithful, since my mantra is Semper Fidelis - Always Faithful. But to my wife, not to a company where they're having trouble making payroll. Not my problem if it's not my company.

I reserve the right to add to this list. : ) I'm making mistakes all the time. Surely I'll make more.......daily.

Let's see if this works....

My professional career has been a series of ill-timed changes that have often caused me to look back and say something similar to, "Well, that really wasn't the right change at the right time now was it?" Ha

I stayed on at a big dot-com too long, then the crash hit. I left a good agency to go to a start-up just as the recession hit in 2008. Bad move. I got into sales and let me tech skills wane. But now.......

I've decided that the 5-year departure from web development, to get into sales, needs to come back full-circle. I'm making the move from sales back into my first love.....web development.

Sales was great. Who wouldn't like being in control of how much they make? Who wouldn't like little accountability and all the flex-time they can handle? Lots of travel. Lots of exciting meetings and trips and dinners and networking events with big names. But....sales is lot of pressure. Lots of pressure. It's not about "Great job Burkey on closing that sale!" It's more about "What are you going to close next?" and "How soon will you be getting ink on that deal???" : )

I'm going to do some contract work for awhile to get my skills back "somewhat current" and then slide into a permanent position again with a target company. I'm doing some work now and will continue to refine my HTML 5, CSS3, JavaScript, JQuery, AJAX, .NET, SQL and other skills while I wait to take just the right permanent opportunity. I'm totally swamped with opportunities and it appears to be a good time to be moving back into delivery and out of "walking the street".

Let's see if this works.....

** UPDATE ** Nov 4, 2011
Just accepted a position back with CNN in their technology group. So that worked..... : )

10 Tips for Job Seekers

Having had the experience last year (2008) where my employer went out of business unexpectedly I know what it's like to be in this economy without a job. As a matter of fact, I had a pregnant wife and three little kids at the time. While it wasn't my fault, it had a real impact on me both personally and professionally. It also changed me spiritually, emotionally and probably physically as I went through quite a bit of stress over the incident. Here are some thoughts I've put together to help others in "career transition" in 2009.

1. File for unemployment - Do it. You will need the money and you've paid your taxes for years so take advantage of it.
2. Get into action – Leave the results up to God or whoever you pray to.
3. You don’t know where it will come from - You might think that your next job will come from source xyz, but my experience (having been on the job market more than once over the years) is that the next job lead will come from perhaps an unlikely source. Stay alert and open-minded.
4. God hasn't forgotten you even in your tough times. He's got your back.
5. Mind your manners – Send Thank You cards, help others with their obstacles, etc. Trust me on this one, you never know who you help up today that will help you tomorrow.
6. Keep in mind that Plan A might not work. Plan E or Plan M may be your Plan A someday too soon.....
7. It could always be worse. It could always be worse, my friend. Keep perspective and remember that this too shall pass.
8. Be realistic - You can't afford everything you could 6 months ago. You will have to adjust your lifestyle during this time. Also, be realistic in the fact that you can't be super picky about what job you take in this economy.....sorry, had to say it at least once in this post.
9. Balance - you still need to eat, sleep, spend time with your family, etc. You have to keep some sort of balance though it will be difficult. Finding a job is a full-time job, yes. But...remember you need to stay in good health and "sharpen the saw" on a regular basis.
10. Journal and talk to people - Something that helped me was for me to write my thoughts down and to bounce my thoughts off of other people to see how they sounded coming out of my mouth. Normally I can think something that makes sense to me in my head but when I say it or write it I can see that it's off......sometimes really off! ha

Hang in there and remember that better times are on the horizon. Stay in action and reach out to everyone with a smile and a handshake. Email me if I can help you. sburkey1@gmail.com