Understanding the Employment Industry

Employment Agencies. There are many reputable employment agencies. However, agencies represent employers—not jobseekers. The majority, focus on lower-level clerical and administrative positions.

Executive Search Firms. Companies use these firms to recruit specific people for specific jobs. A recent survey indicated 75% of search firms viewed being unemployed as a significant liability. The search firm’s ideal candidate is the “passive” candidate—someone who is presently employed and is not even looking for a position! Usually, they search within the same industry—often pirating good people from competing companies (hence the term “head-hunters”). Only jobseekers with near-perfect credentials are sought. The odds are very poor that you can contact a search firm on any given day and be just the right person for a job that’s right for you and happens to be available.

Counseling Organizations. Some national and local employment assistance companies focus almost exclusively on the counseling function. They will assist clients with job-related problems and advise people seeking career direction.

How Most People Look For Jobs

The Resume. The first step people take in a traditional job search is to write what is essentially an obituary. “Here lies John Doe, born this day, went to these schools, had these jobs.” Sometimes a resume service is employed to make the obituary look pretty. If you have ever had the task of reviewing resumes, you know that most resumes quickly start to look about the same. Reading resumes is a bore and a chore. Because a resume is expected, however, it only makes sense to use one that is outstanding—designed to be a marketing tool, not an obituary! If your resume is read by the right people (avoiding the “screeners”), it can be an excellent job search tool—BUT ONLY IF IT REALLY SELLS!

Shotgun Resumes. With multiple versions of their resume, job hunters post their resume, apply online, contact agencies, reach out to a search firm or two, and send resumes to their close friends. But, because the are unaccustomed to marketing themselves, too often they do nearly everything wrong. Even things that are right to do are often done in the wrong way. The result is an ineffective self-marketing approach that leaves them looking and feeling like a needy jobseeker rather than a valuable potential contributor. Consider, for example, the realistic chance that a randomly sent resume will arrive in the right inbox, on the right day, for the right job—which happens to be available—and that it is more appealing than all the others received or that it happens to survive a keyword search as the best fit. The odds are staggering. Yet some people apply to dozens of jobs daily, desperately hoping for exactly that.

And what’s wrong with answering ads? Nothing, really, except that you compete with all the other jobseekers for just a fraction of available jobs. Most opportunities, in fact, are never posted or are posted after they have someone in mind for the position. Consider the largest employers in your search area—companies that hire hundreds of people each year. Scan the postings and you find even those employers advertise only a few jobs—primarily jobs that tend to require very specialized technical skills or a very specific background.

Such a job search can take a long time and leave you physically, emotionally, and financially drained. We can’t tell you that people using ordinary methods will never get jobs, of course, because eventually they do. All methods work often enough to perpetuate the myths and sustain false hope. But there is a better way—a much better way.

New York Times Study. The New York Times published an in-depth study of available jobs. This report clearly demonstrated why a strategic job search is necessary. The study discovered that even if you contacted all the nation’s employment agencies and executive search firms, and looked at every posted position, you would only be exposed to about 18 percent of the jobs that turnover in a year—for the entire country. This is the published or “formal” job market. In a similar study, conducted by a leading human resource consulting firm, looked at positions found by executives, professionals, and managers. The study concluded that a total of 22% of positions were obtained through the Internet, search firms and employment agencies combined. Fully 78% were found through informal and other means.

Why Is This True? Most companies do not want to find a $50,000 employee by paying a $15,000 agency fee. There aren’t many who will routinely pay $30,000 (and up!) in search firm fees to find $100,000 managers. Most companies seek to avoid these expenses and to minimize the time and hassle involved in identifying good people. Approximately 80 percent of all jobs, and most of the best jobs, are found in what we refer to as the “informal” job market. These jobs are filled privately, rarely published or advertised. People are hired from within the company through personal contacts or by approaching the right person at the right time and IN THE RIGHT WAY!

Venturion: A Professional Career Management Firm

In the past, companies depended solely on a good sales staff to promote their products. But the marketplace has grown more complex. To compete today, companies must position and brand each product properly, target the right market, and present the right image. The price must be right, the package very attractive. In fact, proper promotion is the difference between success and failure. The term “marketing” describes these vital functions.

When you look for a new job, the same principles apply. You must target the right market and present an effective value proposition. You must know how to price yourself—how to negotiate for what you are worth. Otherwise, your search will likely be long, frustrating, and unrewarding. Again, proper marketing will make the difference between success and failure.

At Venturion, we work for the individual. We are the oldest and only accredited career management firm in South-Central Texas. We have the people, resources, and expertise to provide a personalized, comprehensive program in career development, career management, and career transition.

We address counseling needs, of course, but also deliver the effective coaching, training and professional services needed for you to get results. Whether a person seeks a position with a new company or growth with a current employer, we will guide and support all aspects of the search.

Together we will create an outstanding personal marketing and branding strategy that opens doors. We work with a client to develop and implement a personal marketing plan based on fundamentals of human relations, marketing, and common sense.

We will help clients identify job opportunities (even where there are no published openings), market themselves into a position, and negotiate their salary and benefits package. In other words, we will work with a client from start to finish in order to conduct a structured, disciplined, and effective marketing campaign.

Who qualifies? Not everyone. Success has always come through hard work and sacrifice. We can’t help people who don’t believe that. We like to work with people who have marketable skills, are highly motivated, are thinking strategically, and are a pleasure to work with. We can even help people with serious obstacles as long as they have potential and a strong desire to improve their career.

Any clients we accept must be willing to commit to winning a new position and giving their search high priority. Before we accept clients, we must evaluate their potential for success. In fact, one purpose of our preliminary meetings is to ensure that you are ready, willing, and able to make a positive change.