<Some comments inline> On 23 Sep 2002, Lisa Hylas wrote:
--snip-- > > As a corporate tech recruiter in South Florida, the salaries are about 25% > lower than the DC, CA, WA, and NY metropolitan areas. However, we do not > have state income tax here and cost of real estate balances this out. I > personally moved from CT and took a 25% cut from my NYC salary (when I was > in an infrastructure management position). But it evens out in the long > run. It's the sticker shock that gets you! WA has no state income tax. I suspect the variation of salaries is primarily based on supply & demand. > > Also - market/economic conditions make this a buyers market. However, and > this is a BIG however - recruiters are not out to nickle and dime > professionals because of this. We know that if you don't offer a salary > that the candidate is worth, come Q1 2003 our hires will be walking out > the door. And guess who has to replace that person? You would replace them.. But here is where I show my demonstrated lack of trust with headhunters (This is not at all directed to Lisa Hylas, as I have never worked with her): Headhunters make money with churn. Each headhunter has different policies, but some of them are quite aggressive. Here is some of the stuff I've seen: Contract Labor: 33-50% markup typical. Contact to Perm: 30-50% 1 year salary due at 'signing' New Perm hire: 30-40% 1 year salary due at 2-6months from hire date. Most of the time, it's close to impossible to find out this type of information in advance when dealing with a new headhunter, so it helps to ask around... Anyway, my point is that churn is _very_ good business for headhunters, and I doubt any of them would really mind finding new people, provided they've made their cash on the last one. They are not out to nickle & dime the professionals - - - they are out after the companies. > My two cents: I believe the best way to apply for a position is to > include current and requested salary and attach a resume as a Word or .rtf > document. I also believe that the market will not open up until 1Q > 2003. Keep that in mind when you're requesting a salary that's over 10% > of your current salary. If you are not working, I would ask for the same > salary as your last. Personally, I will never provide this information until directly asked for it. > > Oh, and by the way, I don't know burger-flippers who make 65K to 110K - do > you? Let's all realize that the dot.com craziness is over and come back > to reality. Well put. I think most folks have realized this by now, but I still end up interviewing a few stuck in the .com mindset. Best Regards, Eric Johanson
