The Value Add of What We Do.

Got a call from a friend of mine this morning. His company just landed a nice contract and once they sign the paperwork they have about 120 days to get the project installed and running (software/hardware, etc). He called me to ask if we could help them find a PM for this project. I said we could.

This is a company that normally uses online job boards to find their people and they've had great success in utilizing some traditional means of finding the employees they need. Why are they interested in FGP Tech now? Well, in a nutshell, they have a tight time frame to fill this position or they'll be in trouble once the contract gets signed with their client. So they don't really have the time to post an ad, then sift through all the resumes that they get, then screen the potential candidates, etc. We can find 3-5 A+ candidates within a week for them and they can concentrate on only interviewing those candidates. Not only does it save them some time, but it gets them up and running without taking time away from the other employees who are busy as it is.

Will they use us? I sure hope so. I'd love to be able to service their needs and show them that we are good at what we do. That's one of the values we provide as a IT Staffing & Recruiting company. I'll let you know if they do come on board.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend! If you're on the road drive safely.

Hiring Time! Secure Your Gmail! (not related)

Now that school is starting up things have suddenly started to come to life again (in comparison to the last few weeks). I actually had 3 people call me back today from messages that I left earlier. Out of those calls I obtained one search order (know anyone with SunGard Banner skills? If so, let me know!) The other calls were from people at least letting me know they didn't have any needs. I really appreciate when people call back. It keeps me from keeping on calling them time after time and usually when I get them on the phone we have a pleasant conversation about life, technology and anything else.

I tell you what though. It's still a bear to find some quality C# and JAVA professionals. It's a great time to be a developer. So many software companies (and non-software companies that need developers) are coming into this area and they all need top-notch personnel.

With all the C# work that we've been doing I finally reinstalled Visual Studio 2008 Express on my wife's PC (since my PC is way too old and my laptop is dead) and started going through the C# tutorials on MSDN. It's been a lot of fun for me. Learning all about event handlers, methods, classes, etc. Old parts of my brain are being dusted off and I'm remembering how to code again. I'm probably going to pick up this book - Head First C#. I went to B&N today during lunch to look at the book and I'm impressed. Has all the info that I'm looking for in an easy-to-digest format.  Maybe I'll become a decent programmer again. Hey, if only to have fun and learn something useful I'm game!

Blog changes coming this week! I promise! No really. For real this time. (I'm finally tired of seeing it looking bad).

BTW, change your Gmail to HTTPS only cause life will get uglier soon.

Man, We Almost Had Some Rain Today...

Well, as I write this and get ready to head out the door the sun is shining. First time today in fact. It's been cloudy all day and the forecast of rain didn't really materialize. I'm bummer. My grass is brown and crunchy and could really use some good rain.

I just installed the TwitterFox plug-in. I'm starting to learn a little more of the value of Twitter. Maybe it's cause of this article and reading up on the how and why of Twitter. Great read BTW. I just turned on updates to my phone from a few local Tech folk that I'm following. Good thing I have unlimited text messaging or else I'd be in trouble. Some folk really like to update their Twitters feeds quite a bit...

This past Monday night at the Upstate Entrepreneur Forum we had 2 great speakers. One was Peter Waldschmidt, one of the founders of TetraData and current founder of Gnoso. The other was Carl Sobocinski the founder of Soby's and a few other great restaurants in our city. They spoke about how they founded their companies, the early trials of a start-up, the creative financing, etc. Great inspiration for those that are looking or are in the midst of creating a sustainable business.

It's people like that that shows how great it is to be in this country and to start a company when all you have is a vision and the passion to succeed. It's also great to have these guys here in Greenville, SC too!

Cool tech tidbit I learned from Troy Tolle @ DigitalChalk today. A good Java developer can become a good C# developer in about 2 weeks. The languages/syntax/processes are that similar. Question is - do you come to the dark side and go C# or vice versa? I think a good developer should know both. You can then name your price when it comes to great gigs.

Speaking of C#. I'm looking for a good number of solid C# and ASP.NET developers. From entry-level to Senior level developers. I can put you to work tomorrow. Literally.

Friday Already? Olympics? 8/8/08?

Wow. Hard to believe it's Friday already. This week has been a blur (as normal). Had some family in town visiting so it made things go by a lot faster.

Read a pretty cool article on Dave Mendoza's Blog about Pat Cronin, one of the Senior VP's with Volt. Talks about his background as a recruiter and the industry, etc. Good read for the most part. Make sure you read both part 1 and part 2. It's encouraging to me as a new person to this industry that I can succeed and do well in this business. Just think, back when he started there was no 'net and online sourcing sources like LinkedIn. Must have been really rough back then!

I've had a pretty decent week. Made a few client visits and am really trying to grow that part of my work week. I'm struggling to get potential clients to confirm a meeting. Really people, I'm nice! I won't bite your head off! I just want to say hello...in person. Been trying to get better on calls as well and followups.

Had a few candidates do some telephone and personal interviews. Some were good and things are moving forward. Slow process at times though cause you are working around the candidates schedule, the clients schedules, etc. It's a balancing act.

Got some new searches going as well! That's always exciting cause that's the bread and butter of our business! No searches = no work = no job! So if any of you are talented Hyperion, Java, C#/ASP.Net, or Web Design gurus let me know! I have work for you! :)

Enjoy the Olympics over the next couple of weeks. Even though it's 08/08/08 for us it's already 8/09 in China. So why are the Olympics on our time schedule? Not like the US started it...