Why You Should Use Us

We believe this is your decision – not ours. However, in order to make the best decision, one needs to consider all the facts. Weigh the Pro’s and Con’s so to speak. We’d like you to consider the below when making a decision about using us.

Basically, there are two routes that you can take to find your next opportunity. One is the most well known road.  This road is the most often traveled. It is the most heavily traveled road.  We call this the “Resume Route”. The other is what we call the “Specialized Recruiter Route”.

Before I go on let me emphasize that not all Recruiters are created the same. For the purposes of this discussion, I define a recruiter in the “Specialized Recruiter Route” as someone who specializes in a given industry and perhaps even discipline and/or geography within that industry. Let me put it this way… everyone knows that movie stars, musicians, sport’s athletes, and celebrities of all sorts have an “agent” they work with. If you were a college basketball player looking to get into the NBA you might want to work with an agent. But not just any agent. You would be looking for someone who knows the game of basketball, knows the Owners, General Managers, Coaches, and Players of the NBA. If the agent knows the game of football and interacts with those in the NFL, they wouldn’t be the right agent for you, right? So, as you read this please keep in mind that every agent is a recruiter but not every recruiter is an agent.

We are an “agent” of the Civil Engineering industry. There are recruiters who do Temp-to-Perm. There are recruiters who will charge you. And there are recruiters who basically just send resumes because they don’t specialize. Far too many try to help everybody, work various industries, and sling resumes around to get a 20% or less “Finder’s Fee”. If you want to know whether a recruiter can BEST help you, just look at what they say they do. How many Brain Surgeons do you think are also General Practioners? If a recruiter is placing Civil Engineers, IT Professionals, Accountants, and Pharmaceutical Sales people – just how “specialized” do you think they really are?

We do none of those. We only work with civil engineers who want to be in a private consulting company. We only make permanent placements. We only send resumes to a company after we have your permission and we don’t ask for that permission until we come back to you and tell you we have the opportunity you were looking for – and you agree with us. And finally, we only work with professionals who understand the difference between a job and a career. Those who are looking for long-term, career enhancing opportunities and want to work with a company who will make an investment in their talents because they know our 30% Service Charge is a benefit to them in that they become an investment and not just a free hire. In fact, no company is going to make that kind of an investment in anything they don’t intend to keep and take care of.

Now, let’s go back to the Resume Route for a moment. As stated, this is the route where the majority of people looking for an opportunity travel. Why? Because that’s the way it’s always been done. You might say it has to do with Economics 101 – Supply and Demand. Companies have been demanding resumes with ads in the paper, ads on their website, ads with professional organizations, ads on job boards, and even when personally contacted. When was the last time you saw an ad that said, “If you know you are qualified and this is the exciting opportunity you’ve been waiting for, come on in and let’s talk!”

Essentially, there are three ways to send resumes:

  1. You can take the “Do It Yourself” approach. The benefit to this is that you have total control. You decide who gets your resume and who does not. Your resume is not only your property it is your power and you should NEVER give your resume to anyone unless you know exactly what they will do with it. The DIY approach allows you to know who got your resume, when, what they’ve done with it, how long they’ve had it, etc. The downside to the “Do It Yourself” approach is that it will likely cost you more time, effort, and perhaps expense than letting someone else do it.
  2. The “Job Board” approach. There are numerous job boards such as Monster, Career Builder, and others where you can post your resume and get maximum exposure with very little time, effort, and expense on your part. Some of the downsides to posting a resume on a job board are:
    • Maximum exposure means anybody that wants to see your resume can see it. That means there may be folks who see your resume that you don’t want to. Unfortunately, we’ve heard numerous times of people who have had their resume go to their current employer. Most big engineering firms have an HR Department who have electronic resume agents on the major job boards. You could find your resume immediately being sent to your HR Department the second you post it to a job board. If you’re in a small company, ask yourself if those in your company ever talk to (or play golf with) engineers in other companies. Perhaps your company subs for others? I have also been told that the job boards have been used by others that have nothing to do with employment. I’m not trying to be an Alarmist here, but, for example, if I were an Environmental or Military Engineer, I don’t think I’d want my name, address, phone number, etc. out there for just anyone to see. And if you think that a “Confidential” resume is truly confidential, think again. I have often received “Confidential” resumes from job boards, and other sources, and immediately knew who it was just from the resume. There was no name and no company but I knew who it was. Do you think it’s likely their company would to? I have also received “Confidential” resumes where all the information was still showing.
    • Perception. What kind of perception do you want to create? Resumes, especially those posted on job boards, scream “Job Seeker!” Ask yourself, if Michael Jordan wanted to come back and play ball, would he be sending resumes around? Would you find him on a job board? Of course not. How do you want to be first perceived? As a job seeker, a Lookie Lou, or a talented professional discreetly and confidentially looking for a career enhancing opportunity? Michael Jordan caliber candidates engage the services of an agent. Why do you think that is? Once you understand the answer to that question, I’m sure you will want to as well.
    • Target Audience. Resumes tend to target those companies who are advertising for an open position. An open position is only one of three reasons why anybody gets hired. How often do you think a position is created for a superstar because a resume was sent to some “Careers” page or posted on a job board?
    • Activity and Effectiveness. Which do you prefer, sitting on a job board and waiting for someone to come find you or having someone like me pick up the phone, call the person who would be hiring you, present you as a top talented engineer discreetly looking and conduct the first interview for you? Resumes may answer (but often do not) the question of what you can do for a company but can your resume ask them what they can do for you? How would you like to build a relationship with someone who will pound the phones to find or create the opportunity you are looking for?
    • Wasted time. How often have you been called by a company, perhaps their HR Department, and then never heard from them again? How many times have you interviewed somewhere only to be told, “We’ll be in touch.” and never heard from them again? How many times have you had perhaps 2, 3, or even 4 interviews only to find out at the end of the process that they can’t make you an offer you want? At Engineering Journeys, we don’t send you out on a blind date unless we expect you to end up married. In other words, we conduct the first interview for you. We make sure that you can not only do the job they want you to but that they offer you the opportunity you’re looking for. And we ensure they can meet your compensation requirements before we ever set up the first meeting between the two of you.
    • It may close doors. Here’s one downside I don’t like to talk about. But the fact is, you need this information. The fact is, there are some recruiters out there who I have been told will take your resume from a job board and fax/email it to companies without your knowledge or permission. Thankfully, I don’t believe this happens a lot – but it happens. Most states have laws that say “First resume in the door wins and collects the fee.” How many companies do you think will pay two fees? What happens to people where two or more recruiters send their resume to the same company? What perception does that create? Also, some companies frankly just will not use a recruiter – ever. They are rare but what do you think they are likely to do with your resume should it come into them from a recruiter?
  3. Recruiters. Yes, I said “Recruiters.” This is the third way to have your resume sent to companies. Recruiters have been around a long time before the job boards. But remember, not all recruiters are agents. Because about 80% of the people who are looking for another job are sending resumes, about 80% of all recruiters are just sending resumes. Recruiters who just send resumes are still more proactive than a job board because they can get your resume into the places who might be looking for you. Many of them keep a list of various job postings from companies. Even these recruiters can save you time, effort, and expense because they have the manpower and resources to get your resume to the companies and at their time, effort, and expense. That’s what they do. The downside, however, is that you’re still in the Resume Route. Most of these recruiters are dealing with and through HR. So, once again, you’re getting about 3-8 seconds of exposure with somebody who probably doesn’t know what you do and who knows whether your resume happens to be on their list of priorities that day.

In summary, let me paint a picture that I think best describes what I’m trying to show here. Most folks are familiar with the pictures on the news a few years ago when Houston was trying to evacuate the city due to incoming Hurricane Rita. There were four lanes of traffic, bumper-to-bumper going nowhere fast. You could have been a Millionaire sitting in a cab, trying to get to your private Learjet at your private airfield BUT from the outside looking in, you’re just another Joe sitting there, waiting in line, trying to get out of town like everybody else. To your left is 10 yards of grassy median and on the other side is four lanes of traffic that nobody is on! Ever ask yourself why somebody just didn’t drive across the grassy median, get on the other four-lane interstate, and get out of town? Because that’s not the way it’s always been done. Well, the Resume Route is the four-lane, bumper-to-bumper route and that’s because there’s simply too much traffic on the road coupled with the HR bottleneck.  That’s why you have to send a hundred resumes to finally get an interview.

Why not come on over to our lane? To our Route, where we take you straight to the Hiring Manager. Present you as something much more than just another Joe trying to get out of town like everybody else.  The folks who are getting hired today are not Job Seekers desperate for a paycheck but rather professionals who know who they are and what they want to do.  They have a passion to get that done and are looking for a company that will put the resources they need behind them in order to support them in their success.  In return, well, they will make the company all the money they can.  That’s what the company wants.

So, interview the company before setting up an interview to make sure that not only are you qualified for what they want but that they will deliver the things you need as well. Verify before they meet you that if they do like you (and you like them) and they want to make an offer, that it is one you will accept.  And finally, that once you accept their offer, you have the confidence and assurance to know they will follow through and you will be there a long time because they have invested in you by paying us 30% of your first year’s salary to have you bring your talents to them instead of a competitor.

If this makes sense to you and you’d like to find out more, please call me at your earliest convenience and let’s talk more.  I look forward to hearing from you.