Back in the day…..
Corporate staff recruiters stood out from the freelance headhunter types. Not so much anymore
Guy contacts me through LinkedIn this week:
??…in reference to a Senior Geomatics Project Manager opportunity; a seller/doer role with major project oversight.
We are a full-service engineering group and….of the most prominent survey groups in the Southeast.?
So I had to respond that the start date on the current position on my profile was Jan 2019, so I probably wasn??t looking at this moment.
- 11 Replies
I gave coprorate the opportunity to hire me in 1973 and they were not paying a wage that was enough for living in their own city.
One contacted me that had my interest and then Houston flooded and they were wiped out and are still recovering.
Every time I signed on to a big company it was to basically bring them up to speed and then they soured the deal to want me out for someone at less pay.
The last gig they called be up to say they tan out of work and tried to lock me out of the building so I could not get my own computer system and other equipment.
There are some great people to sign with, it may not be where you are or where you want to be, so get the pay you are worth and for the long term when you can.
good luck
Several years ago I had a headhunter call and ask if would interested in the position of head of the survey department of a large engineering company. He went on to describe the duties, the perks, etc. I asked what the name of the company was, but he said he was not at liberty to say. He could give me the phone number though. When he gave me the first three numbers I stopped him. At that time the prefix (not the area code) gave you the location of the phone (pre cellular). I told him that they couldn’t afford what it would take to get me to drive into downtown Atlanta every day.
Andy
Apparently seller/doer is the buzzword du jour. Sounds nicer than “don’t expect to sit back and collect a big salary while others bring in clients”
i’ve been flat out offered at least half a dozen jobs in the last year. i get messages on linkedin almost daily from recruiters. my response, after seeing the light of striking out on my own, is this: they/you’d be stupid to pay me what it would take to work for you or anybody else again.
bottom line is i can make double what anyone will pay me by being my own boss. and i get to be a surveyor, as opposed to a babysitter.
but it’s nutty times. city electric provider called me yesterday asking me if i’d consider running their survey department, and that they’re having a hard time finding anyone. i’ve seen that posting- it’s for about the same money an SIT is pulling down around here these days.
I have grown so damned tired of hearing the same lie “we can’t find anyone”. Translation is, They can’t find anyone at the crap for wages they are offering.
Right now there is a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth as well as the obligatory hand wringing over the PROJECTED shortage of surveyors in Georgia and I just don’t see it. They are gonna lower the standards to qualify and I will wager they will lower the threshold for passing and once again flood the market with more surveyors than the state can support all in an effort to appease the real estate lobby.
We damned sure need a shortage just to get wages up but I do not believe it will ever happen.
And if those head hunters would offer decent wages then people will accept the offer, until then screw’em.
Back in the day I worked both private and guv’mnt as an employee and the up front wages are a small part of the package. Is the company financially sound, incorporated, owns their own building & has a long history not sullied by lawsuits, etc.? If guv’mnt is their reputation respectable, mandatory union, at will employment, etc.? Salary vs. hourly compensation? Full boat health/dental/eye insurance vs. nothing? Matching 401K/defined pensions plan vs. only Social Security? Reasonable vacation/sick leave vs. nothing? Perks like a company car/cell phone/access to the company cabin/boat? Moonlighting permissible? Work clothes allowance? Paid licensure/professional organization fees? Membeer of the Better Business Bureau with a clean Record?
More importantly if the above are in the ballpark if in a supervisory/partner situation is control over your own budget(s) & equipment needs, hiring/firing, proposal preparation input & project control. Also critical are the people, especially in the 5-20 person shop; are they enjoyable, competent, intelligent & team oriented? Would you go duck hunting with them/bring your family to picnic parties, etc.?
I’ve never utilized a headhunter lead; the good companies don’t need them as they’re regularly solicited by prospective employees & use word of mouth searches when in need. The best way to get an interview is a formal letter w/brief unembellished resume’ targeting exactly what you can do for the company, after careful research of their reputation, present situation & business practices.
That being said, I’m no seer. I’ve hired on with what I thought were good places to work only to learn how wrong I was, and suffered for a few months until I’d built up a kitty, sent out feelers, so I could quit and move on to better pastures. Or worse, showed up for work to see the doors padlocked by the Sheriff & no final paycheck, some sort of tax imbroglio. Also have been fired after a year in a large (60+ employees) engineering company after the bean counters figured out my team was delivering low profits; my boss said he respected me but I was too much of a stickler, in particular “The client does not want the best Survey in the world, rather the cheapest Survey that barely meets government requirements & the contract specifications.” He gave me a one month severance package (company policy was two weeks), wished me the best and surprisingly my phone was ringing the following week with job interview offers from his competitors because he’d called around saying I was a good guy. Weird, huh?
One of the better outfits north of here offered 90 plus to start with 10k signing bonus. No takers. I am getting offers from 90 to 120 per year in low cost areas. The last one was 129 per year with housing and costs covered. My experience teaching heavy weapons in North Africa and Southwest Asia seems to be marketable. Apparently wherever they got my profile doesn’t have my birth date or height weight ratio…
One of the better outfits north of here offered 90 plus to start with 10k signing bonus. No takers. I am getting offers from 90 to 120 per year in low cost areas. The last one was 129 per year with housing and costs covered. My experience teaching heavy weapons in North Africa and Southwest Asia seems to be marketable. Apparently wherever they got my profile doesn’t have my birth date or height weight ratio…
Is there some hidden subtext that I do not understand concerning your birth date and height weight ratio?
I am a little too old, fat and slow to teach in a combat zone…
I am a little too old, fat and slow to teach in a combat zone…
Wait just a cotton pickin minute. Are you saying that some modern day Soldier of Fortune recruiter is offering you a paycheck.
Just say no.
I am a little too old, fat and slow to teach in a combat zone…
Wait just a cotton pickin minute. Are you saying that some modern day Soldier of Fortune recruiter is offering you a paycheck.
Just say no.
Appears that Bionic Man can neither confirm nor deny…
Steve, I agree with your first reply. There isn’t and as far as I can tell never has been a shortage of surveyors anywhere in the US, but rather just a shortage of those who are both qualified and willing to take wages which are 1/2 to 2/3 that of equally qualified CEs doing equally difficult or complicated work.
On top of that here in CA, there is a philosophy that had been voiced by a former Board member and a high-ranking member of Board staff that the best way to increase surveyor clout on the Board was to increase the numbers of licensed surveyors. Thus the gradual dumbing down of the licensing exam and the often sub-50% cut score. Very short-sighted IMO. It won’t be the decreasing numbers that will lead to the demise of surveying as a profession, but the eventual realization by other professions and trades that their members know as much about surveying as licensed surveyors do.
When reading Mike Marks post, I was beginning to wonder if he was fortunate enough to find that one mythical, ideal company that might exist out there. Then after getting past the first 3 paragraphs, I found that he has had his fair dose of reality over his career. I read that with mixed feelings – relief that I hadn’t entirely missed a boat that many others happened to find, together with a bit of sadness that such a company continues to be a mythical enterprise that few if any surveyors have been fortunate enough to find.
If there are any surveyors who feel they’ve found that ideal synergistic multi-disciplined firm that actually does value surveying equally with the other disciplines, I’d be willing to bet that they haven’t been there more than 3 years yet so haven’t had an opportunity, or maybe haven’t yet been forced to see through the veneer presented to them when offered a position. If there are any surveyors who’ve had the experience of working at such a mythical and ideal firm for many years, I have mixed feelings about wanting to know about it. I’m not sure if I’d have some slim hope of finding a position like that before I get much closer to retirement, if I’d be saddened by missing that boat, or if I’m just too cynical after 38 years of surveying to actually believe it actually exists.
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