Looking for Projects
Periodically, I get great long-term, out-of-towns assignments where
I work as part of a project team to produce terrific results. Unfortunately, out of town means out of touch with much of my network so I wind up unemployed.
This page is a place where I keep notes about what works for me in finding new projects. I think you will find most of the material on this page is useful for almost any type of consulting assignment.
Mostly, it is convenient place for my personal use. At the
same time, I am happy to share it with fellow free agents. If
you have something to add, a comment or praise, you can send it via email
to hal@lpf.com
A shortcut: Talent Wins, the ultimate list of job hunting links
Enterprise 2.0 Search
Sub-Contract with:
I have had jobs with the following two companies. Good jobs and good people to work with. Registration is free.
M Squared
Northern and Southern California, Texas and expanding
Respond to their job postings which are usually posted weekly and get yourself known
Strategic Resources Alliance
Northern and Southern California
Networking Online
LinkedIn, a service I use fairly extensively.
Groups One way to extend your network is to join Linkein groups. I am a member of Harvard Jobs and Harvard Alumni. To view available groups go to the bottom of almost any page, a link to groups is under the Your Network heading.
Linkedin Notes: strategies and tips for using LinkedIn (try your Linkedin password)
MyLinkWiki
is a collaborative web site all about LinkedIn. It contains article, tips, and links from leading LinkedIn users. Learn tips on using it better, how others are using LinkedIn, and how it can make you more successful.
Social Networking Online
Ning - jobs
Networking Body-2-Body
SoCalTech News, links, calendar of lots of events related to tech.
Professional Networking
Recruiters
Recruiters and Soursers Exchange
Contract Recruiters
The Ruthie List
Oya's Directory-of-Recruiters
Recruiters by Specialty including Computers & IT and higher levels
ERE Blog Central Featuring opinions and perspectives from leaders in the recruiting and human resources fields. Quite a bit of coverage about contract recruiters -- the guys on the other side of the table who control some of the jobs we are looking for.
Information About ...
ZoomInfo, an article in Fast Company says: ZoomInfo, let[s] you create a profile for free. (ZoomInfo also pro actively aggregates Web info about professionals--34 million so far--and lets you verify your identity.) You might want to check this out; they had my long deceased father listed (I deleted that) and an address from many years ago.
Vault information about lots of companies and a job board. Much of the really good stuff, if you believe the headlines, is "at extra charge." March 22, 2008 the job board was down and the the most current job was more than 10 days old.
Job Boards, etc., That Work for Me
Jobs boards are not just a place to look for jobs. They are also a place where head-hunters are looking for resumes: a two way street.
Dice ... the premier job search web site for computer professionals, with thousands of high tech permanent, contract, and consulting jobs nationwide!
You can post up to five resumes, only one of which is be searchable at any one time.
Nice Features: On line application includes option to have a copy sent to yourself, has space to paste a cover letter for each resume.
I have four job alerts set up and get some of my best leads from these alerts.
Have had a number of recruiters contact me saying they had seen my resume on Dice.
Modify your resume every 2 weeks and get a burst of new leads.
Google Jobs, or more accurately, Google Base which, among other things lists jobs. Search by any or all of the following: Keywords, job industry, job type, job function, employer, salary, education, source, miles from zip code -- no option for full, part time or contract but I used "contract" as a key work and got some interesting leads.
Google lists its sources as:
n Career Builder Lots of jobs but mostly
full time and you have to look at specific jobs to determine whether or not they
will consider contractors. Enough lead I use it fairly often.
n Net Temps
Up to three resumes and cover letters. Search Agent with job notifications as often as you want. Lots of nice features on the site, by a lot of entry level jobs.
n Teleportjobs
A free service for employers and seekers. Can post up to five resumes on the site and make one of them searchable by potential employers. On the other hand, limited search options and very limited results. I will rely on Google to find jobs on this one.
n Vedior:
Amsterdam based "... provision of professional/executive recruitment in sectors such as information technology ..." Their jobs also show up under "Think Resources" in a Google search and from a job listed on their Web site. Search is structured by country and then city. One search listed 562 jobs. Much too much work to scroll through that list to find the dozens of cities that could have listings in Southern California. There is no place to register or post a resume. I will rely on Google to find jobs here.
Indeed one search. all jobs. what? where? Have an option for "contract" and job alerts by RSS or email. They link to a lot of online postings.
Sologig Welcome to the free lancer site. It looks interesting but site does not manage searches well. They say it was recently redesigned but it needs to be run around the block a few times before it's ready for prime time.
Comsys
Specialized Job Boards
Consulting
Consulting Career Quest.com
Independent Consulting
Guru ... the Web's premier exchange for connecting independent professionals with contract projects. Some interesting ideas including an escrow to assure satisfaction and payment.
International
4 International Careers & Jobs is an international employment directory selecting and reviewing world-wide top job sites. 4icj.com includes 2200 employment sites ranked by popularity in 190 countries and is a free starting point to find international jobs and work abroad.
Job Boards, Etc., That Didn't Work for Me
Maybe this can save you and me some time in the future. If you have had a success with one of these, let me know.
Job Board Reviews Started in April 2007. Depending upon what you are looking for, you may find it. As of March 2008, nothing on IT but quite a few other specialty listing.
LinkedIn - Search: Jobs
Clicked Search Jobs and entered IT Consultant. 138 jobs but almost all of them "full time." A few were contract. Only took a few minutes to search the list. Probably worth doing periodically. Also tried IT Project manager. Looked at 200, essentially all full time. Probably not worth doing. I do like sub-classification (not sortable)by job level. Love the networking; not impressed with the job search for my needs.
July 2007
Monster is one of the grand-daddies of job search. They allow you to have up to five search agents which you can trigger manually or have generate email. I have set up one and am testing it; surprised so far how few leads I have gotten.
Monster has been in the news (August 24, 2007) for security breaches. Their Security Center reports: "By gaining unauthorized access to employer accounts, the software was obtaining job seeker contact information. The information obtained was limited to the names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of job seekers primarily located in the United States." Looks like a very big pond that is (a) vulnerable and (b) difficult to differentiate yourself. The purpose of gathering this information appears to be sending email disguised as Monster in order to gain recipients' trust, and then attempting to convince users to engage in financial transactions, or lure them into downloading malicious software."
The Ladders, the site for $100k jobs; no contract employment that I could find.
Volt "Register with Volt and have a list of available jobs waiting for you every time you log in!" They do have a classification for "contract." They seem to be working on their Web site. Some of it is very good and some of it is badly out of date.
Quintessential Careers Job and Career Resources for Consultants, Free lancers, and Gurus. I get two or three email job listings a week but so far all of them have been for full time work.
Craig's List has lots of jobs but no way to find project jobs. Even lots of part-time jobs but that means less than 40 hours a week, not less than full-time, life-time employment. If you are looking for a "different" job it is probably here.
Netshare is a membership-based organization dedicated to providing executives and professionals across all disciplines and industries, with quality $100K plus job listings, networking opportunities, and a community of peers for the exchange of strategic information related to job search, professional development and best practices. One small category for contract work; monthly fee to job searchers.
Employment Crossing "... has the largest collection of active jobs in the world." They break jobs into multiple categories, two of which are Consulting (451 California jobs that include a wide range of type of consultants) and Project Management (1276 California jobs that include a wide range of type of project managers.) There is a fee -- unspecified -- but the "first 7 days are free." My best guess is about $40 a month.
TalentZoo look good but not my market: "The #1 Career Site for Ad, Marketing and Media Professionals"
KForce causes Firefox to crash. Seems to work fine in IE but results were limited. Registered, but only plan to use their search when I have plenty of time.
Yoh
Yoh IT is a business unit of Day & Zimmermann. Operating from more than 150 worldwide locations.
Yoh Index of Technology Wages - useful
YohIT Web Site
Contract work
Too technical, not my market.
Aquent "Unfortunately,
we currently do not have much call for someone with your skills and experience.
Our clients rarely engage us to find people in your level - we tend to
have a bigger call for the "production line" oriented positions - web designers,
web page production specialists, sometimes a Creative Director or Art Director
position." August 8, 2000
eWork Exchange I checked them out early in 2007 and most of their jobs are with start-ups or small companies. Good leads but not my market.
FlipDog Powered by Monster.
Southern California Specific
PDS Technical Services in Costa Mesa.
CalNet Technology Group, very Microsoft network oriented and technical.
California Staffing Professionals, a trade association with a limited list of available jobs, appears to be all or at least almost all full time.
TechReq, up to senior technical
A. H. Justice who does have a "contract practice"
Other Useful Information
A recruiter's thoughts about posting your resume on a job board
Managing the Lists
This is the era of the Internet. Jobs are posted on boards, some that are available only to registered job seekers and others that are available to all comers. Your job search day now has to start with a review of the overnight postings and perhaps an evening review to see what is new for the day.
I have a Web page that lists the lists I monitor ranked from top-to-bottom. When I first go to a list I capture the URL and post it on my list. Then I build a search and click and see if the URL changes. Many of them do. If it changes, I add the setting to my Word document and the URL. Now I can be sure I search best lists with the best variables. If something doesn't work I delete it. I frequently look for new combinations and add them.
On busy days I start at the top and check the best sites. Most days, I work the list from top to bottom.
Sources of Information
Blog: Using Google and other online search. Written from a recruiters point of view but some good ideas on how to use Google and other search engines for your searching. Specific to job hunting, but some good advice for any topic.
Fast Company magazine has useful information from time to time:
Job-Seeker's Glossary of Key Job-Hunting, Career, Job-Search, and Employment Terms
ASK THE HEADHUNTER A headhunter's blog with occasional good advice
Links to to other sites
Consulting Firms
Consulting firms with Job Boards
Capgemini, no apparent opportunities for contractors.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, no apparent opportunities for contractors.
I have registered with the following and did not receive any response:
Future Step - A Korn/Ferry Company. They do have a tab for "Interim Management/Consulting" in their job search area.
SpencerStuart "Once registered, you are entered into our database. ...We will contact you only when a search professional qualifies you as a potential match for a current opportunity." There is no user initiated search capability.
Squidoo
Squidoo is one of those funny places on the internet, sort of a flea market for ideas.
What works and what doesn't? I wrote this one, Hal
Job Web Sites that Work (or don't), Lately I have been exploring job sites on the Web. The concept makes sense but too many sites are more like a maze to be mastered than a path to be pursued. I'm talking about Web sites where I as a "job seeker" provide information to you as an agency or employer. Those sites are now the universal starting point for most placement agencies and large corporations. The general format has become generic but the implementation ranges from great to gruesome.
Job Listings - Jobs - Job Search This group assembles lenses that offer information, have listings or descriptions of jobs. Tips for job applicants, interview and CV tips. Anything to do with jobs, job search and the application and search for jobs and employment is welcome. Also tips for part time and summer jobs, work at home and other means to gain an income are welcome.
Job Listings - Jobs - Job Search Lenses sorted by Squidoo ranking
From
Squidoo home page, search "jobs"
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