New Employment Climate Brings Job Seekers, Bosses Back to Earth

What a difference a year makes. Last summer, employers approached the hiring process as if they had to hire an army ? and fast. Compensation ran high, if not over the top, and was punctuated by perks. This summer, hiring is much more selective and deliberate, recruiters and company officials said. "I think there is less attention to perks and fluff, and more attention to stability and value," said Elizabeth Lewis, an employment lawyer and shareholder in Greenberg Traurig LLP in McLean, Va.Some candidates still express desire for equity positions and stock options and occasionally a signing bonus, but the real perks are a strong business plan, revenue and a clear career path, said Paul Villella, president and chief executive officer of HireStrategy, an executive recruiting firm in Reston, Va."[Employers] are selling a business model, not an air hockey table," he said. Candidates have responded accordingly to the new employment climate. Instead of holding out for absolute top dollar and expecting a short stint in each new job, interviewees are seeking long-term commitment to their new employers and opportunities for career growth, recruiters and hiring managers said."People are starting to think less about where they are going to get their next skill, and more about where they are going to go to contribute and grow within," Villella said.For network engineer Dorsel Spears, the difference between 2000 and 2001 is in the dollars."About a year ago, I could call my shot on money," Spears said. "Now it's a lot more conservative, although I had some bargaining room."Spears also did more interviewing last year, when she juggled at least six offers. This year Spears interviewed at five companies as she planned a move from New Jersey to the Washington area. She was looking for a challenge, decent benefits, a respectable salary and a long-term commitment. Spears found the fit wasn't right at a couple of companies, and the salaries offered by some others didn't meet her minimum requirement. She hopes the fit will be just right at SRA International Inc. in Fairfax, Va., where she started work July 9."I was looking for a company that I felt I would be with for a while. It seemed like the people here were happy, and that was pretty important," she said.The back-to-Earth job market has been welcomed at Nextira Federal LLC, a networking solutions company in Fairfax.Job candidates "want to know the direction of the company, what our plans are for the next three to five years. They want a stable company; they want to work for the company long term," said Steve Snyder, president and chief executive officer. "Certainly, that's what we're looking for." Despite the return to realism, it's not necessarily easier to hire now than it was back in 2000. While last year employers speculated about how long fickle employees would stay, this year they're facing a deluge of resumes and trying to separate the talented from the mediocre. "We're inundated," said Kerri Koss Morehart, director of recruiting at SRA International, where at least 700 ? and sometimes more than 1,000 ? resumes arrive each week.The deluge means hiring managers are busier than ever, said Lovey Hammel, president of Employment Enterprises Inc., a Manassas, Va., staffing and human resources firm."Businesses are spending a lot more time on screening and matching the right person with the job. If you're not doing these things, you're probably going to get some of your worst hires ever," Hammel said, because there are bound to be some undesirables in the candidate pool.The resume onslaught has an upside, however. Increased numbers of qualified candidates means employers have more choices. "I'm more discriminating than I would have been last year, at least in bringing people in [for interviews]," said Trisha Parson, president and chief executive officer of AmerInd Inc., an information technology and engineering services company in Alexandria, Va. "I'd rather have too many resumes than too few." Lorraine Pavelchak, director of human resources at Nextira Federal, has seen a benefit, too. "I probably get at least three calls from recruiters a day. Six months ago, I was calling recruiters, and they were finding it difficult to find qualified network solutions candidates," Pavelchak said. Now, instead of presenting one qualified candidate to Pavelchak, recruiters are presenting three at a time.Because the hiring process isn't so frenzied, recruiters and hiring managers can take the time to make sure they hire people who will fit in well. Last year, "you didn't and couldn't spend a lot of time with candidates, and they didn't want to spend a lot of time with you," Morehart said. "Now we're talking about things in depth ... and I think the candidates are making better choices."Candidates are asking smart questions, Morehart said, such as what their next job at SRA might be and what government contracts the firm is bidding on. They're researching SRA in advance and telling recruiters where they might fit in. "We're enjoying the recruiting process a little more because candidates are asking better questions. Before you were always defending yourself because you weren't a dot-com, and now you can really sell yourself," Morehart said.Like Morehart, Christopher Weiss has found the new employment climate refreshing. "Employers seem to be paying a lot more attention to the people they are hiring. A year ago people seemed too busy. They were just trying to put people in chairs," said Weiss, a self-described poster child of the dot-com fallout. The bankruptcy of his former employer, IT consulting firm marchFIRST Inc. of Chicago, had left Weiss a bit jaded. He found comfort in a "much more pleasurable" job search earlier this year."I was looking for something much more stable," he said. "Employers were doing more homework on me, and I was doing the same thing. Both mentalities changed."Weiss became AmerInd's director of emerging technologies. While he sometimes misses the arcade games and free Snapple marchFIRST offered, Weiss knows he got something far more valuable at AmerInd. "It was comforting to know I was getting involved in an organization that was really dedicated to getting quality people, and not just getting people in the door. I have a greater chance of having a long-term career with them," he said.