The temperature is 105 F every day in the North Texas area.  But that’s not all that’s hot.  Read on.

The economy is down and unemployment is up. Those with jobs should count themselves fortunate. That is how I viewed myself. Most people don’t like to job hunt. For me, somehow my career has become one of being a professional job hunter. It was not something I would have chosen for myself. But here I am – and I have become pretty darned good at it. My objective for this article is to show that despite the state of the economy, the hiring market is hot right now for those with a good resume and work history.  And with a little strategic self-marketing, you can get a lot of good conversations with a lot of recruiters.

Many times my engagements are extended. But there another side to the coin. About two weeks ago, my “perm” position came to a screeching halt when politics, budget cuts, and reorgs collided. Oh well, that is nothing new in the life of this consultant.

Good news for consultants and contractors… The market is HOT!  I have lots of activity; over 120 recruiters contacted me last week. And this week probably another 60 by EOD Wednesday. I refreshed my resume on Dice and Monster last Sunday night a week and a half ago. In that time my “number of times viewed in the past 30 days” on Dice went from 15 to 171 – which translates to 154 recruiter viewings in 8 business days – and about the same amount on Monster. Many of those viewers went on to check me out on LinkedIn.com and on personal professional website at www.BACommando.com.

Potential clients/employers include BAC, Fannie Mae, Fiserv, MedAssets, RBC Bank, Harris County TX, Pennsylvania Department of Energy, Charles Schwab, Verizon, Capital One, Citizens Bank, Siemens, AT&T, Home Depot, BackCountry.com, SpeedFC.com, Southwest Airlines, Toys R Us, PepsiCo, Fidelity Investments, Raytheon, Johnson Controls, and dozens of others.  (Note: In most if not all cases, I am contacted only by agencies and consultancies, and rarely if every by actual in-house HR recruiters).

Locations include NY, ME, UT, NJ, NC, MI, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, DFW area, Cincinnati, Rhode Island, San Antonio, Austin, Milwaukee, Pittsburg, San Francisco, San Diego, and more. I have been contacted by recruiters for positions in Dublin Ireland and Brighton UK, but they have not followed up.

Positions include Sr. Business Analyst, Process Analyst, Project Manager, and Program Manager. Most are contracts from 6-12 months. Some are as short as 4 weeks. Some are perm. Start dates range from “ASAP” to “in a few weeks”. As you might expect, several recruiters are contacting me redundantly for the same position, so I ask who the client is immediately so as to avoid double submission. Nonmatching inquiries include developer, development lead, QA analyst/lead, systems analyst, security chief, architect, EMC Engineer, UX/UI Engineer, and other technical positions.

My standard quoted rate is $75/hr W2, but I have agreed to local submissions as low as $60/hr W2. (at “a fun place to work”), and as high as $100/hr for most out of state gigs, and one at $110/hr since it is in Chicago for only 4 weeks. $83/hr 1099 for a 4 day/week on site in Houston. $80/hr W2 plus travel/accommodations in NC. $130k quoted for two out of town perm positions. I have declined to pursue about 3 perm positions in the $100-$115 range. I have declined interest in many contract gigs below $60, including some in the $40-$50 range; the ones that really make me laugh are for things like “$48/hr 1099 in NYC” (Ha! Have they started giving away air travel and hotel stays?).

Filling a position has its cycle (and steps within the cycle can have their own cycles/repetitions).  It often goes something like this…

• Recruiter identifies candidate
• Recruiter contacts candidate
• Recruiter presents candidate to client hiring manager
• Resume sits in pile on hiring manager’s desk
• Hiring manager finds time to review resumes
• Hiring manager provides feedback to recruiter
• Recruiter gets more info from candidate
• Recruiter sets up phone screen between candidate and hiring manager/team
• Candidate is phone screened
• Decision is made to 1) Hire, 2) Interview, 3) Not hire
• Offer is made
• Offer is accepted
• Acceptance paperwork is processed
• References are checked
• Candidate receives other offer(s)

There is no telling what I will end up with. It can be very interesting. Sometimes the ones that look the hottest fizzle out, and the ones least expected come through. You never know until the deal is inked.   Sometimes the process can take forever and the candidate is lost to a competing recruiter.  In one case I was being sourced for Time, Inc. in NYC.  Weeks passed without contact from their recruiter.  Then when they finally called, I informed the recruiter that 1 hour before he called I had just accepted an engagement at WalMart’s Home Office.  In another case, a Siebel integrator was in a pinch to backfill a Sr. Business Analyst position.  They rushed me through and had me report to work in Madrid Spain about a week after their first contact with me.  And on one really fast occasion, I was interviewed by key staff at Stanford University on a Friday morning, and by 3pm California time they had made me a very sweet offer.

Though my family is rooted here and I really don’t want to travel, I decided a long time ago that being willing to take on out-of-town gigs can make the difference between putting bread on the table or not.  By the way, when I am between projects and the market is hot like it is now, I spend between 6 and 8 hours a day updating my resumes, communicating with recruiters, and otherwise working on my job search.

Happy job hunting and career building to you!