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I’ve been getting loads of career related questions here of late, so I thought I would resurrect an old feature and see if y’all would be interested in it continuing. Let me know!
Hey Kiawah, with you in Seattle now are you still a recruiter?
Ish. It’s not my day job anymore but it is still a side gig. My new job is within talent management and development. I’m a hybrid of career coach, trainer, operations, evaluator and promotion navigator. It’s my job to help people (specifically Veterans) come into my company and get up to speed stupid fast. It’s also my job to then fast-track the shit out of you up the ranks. Figure out what training is pertinent to each individual and what’s not. Who we can promote early, who we can’t. Things like that.
Hey man, I’ve been reading Coffee Thoughts every morning and it seems like everyone is interviewing for new jobs. Is there a trend for hiring to pick up during summer?
Yep! There are three main hiring windows each year and they all correspond to events. The windows are January, June and September/October.
January is the start of a new calendar (and for some companies fiscal) year. Further, almost no hiring is done during November and December so some of that just spills into January.
June is the start of a new fiscal year for a lot of companies. Further, for whatever reason, a ton of evaluations and promotions are done during March and April. Promotions lead to people moving up and bad evaluations lead to people moving out. Throw that in with the FY change and you’ll see hiring ramp up. I knew at my old company nobody would ever quit January-May because of fiscal year end bonuses that were doled out at the end of the FY in May. That’s five months of people not quitting from Jan-May, and then they all leave at once in June.
September/October has everything to do with the Federal Government and more specifically, the Department of Defense. The DoD budget is the biggest driving factor behind that as companies are either ramping up new hires in order to support an existing contract or they are figuring out how to hire for a new contract they were just allocated in the new budget that is now funded.
So why does any of this matter? This all means that it’s hunting season! Now is a primo opportunity to jump ship if you’re considering it. If your current or dream company has a federal contract, I’d get ready to jump ship in September.
Hey Big Tex, contemplating a change of scenery after a bad break-up. Not sure where I want to move or what job I want to do. I just need to leave. With that being said, what areas are looking the best job wise over the next decade?
There are places with crazy growth that aren’t worth it in my opinion. Looking at you SF Bay. Yeah there are jobs but the cost of living is obnoxious. In no particular order, I think the best places for job growth where you’d actually want to live are:
Phoenix
DFW
Orlando/Tampa
Denver
Raleigh
Indianapolis
Austin
KC
Nashville
San Diego
San Antonio
Minneapolis
Boston
There’s a good mix of cultures there. Hope that helps. All of these cities are popping up on a lot of specific industries future growth areas. I guess you could add Seattle on to that list, as well….
Hey man, are MBAs the new SEC football?
I’m going to assume you mean overrated. #hookem.
I don’t think they are, but make sure you nail down a focus area. That, or ensure that you are reaching out to the MBA recruiting teams of big companies. Is an MBA useful in a job? Kinda. But I think the biggest thing it gets you is a foot in the door at some big companies. We assume people with MBAs are smart (which is sometimes the case) so they get their own recruiting teams and everything. An MBA at least gets you an invitation to the big kids table, what you do from there is up to you.
Y’all let me know if you’d like this series to continue or if you’d like it to shift towards career coach type stuff (or just shitcan it all together). Totally up to y’all which way this goes!
Email Kiawah.
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Kiawah Island Strip Club
I'd rather be golfing. Seattle sucks so I write about that. Also work...ish in recruiting. Shoot your resume to kiawahislandstripclub@gmail.com for any and all job hunt questions.
Definitely continue this series! There can be a lot of unexpected tricks during the job hunt and interview stage, and you give great, non-BS advice others won’t give.
If you are getting an MBA focus on networking with classmates but more importantly use the network of the program. Even schools that are not top-tier have tremendous outreach and placement programs within certain geographical locations/business industries. Happy Hour > Study Hour during an MBA. Seriously.
I pray for you every day having to live in the Pacific Northwest. Remember, Texas isn’t just a place, it’s also a state of mind
Also, what’s your email? I’ve got some hot takes/questions for you
Nevermind, assumed the link at the bottom was photo cred not your contact
Phenomenal series, definitely keep it up. It’s great getting the perspective of an actual recruiter with no angle on resumes, interviews and the like.
As a veteran interviewing for jobs I’ll take any advice I can get. I’ve forwarded several of these articles to Army buddies about to make the transition themselves. By all means, continue
Have them email the address on my profile. My job is literally helping Veterans get jobs. I’ll gladly help out.
This series is great to read, as someone who loves his job and used to dabble in recruiting for a bit.
Dropping useful knowledge per the usual. Keep it up!
Can confirm Indy is growing, lotta tech sector companies moving here. Also, very underrated city.
Love these. Always super helpful.
As someone who lives in Austin and went to school in San Marcos, I would highly recommend against living in San Antonio in your 20’s. If you’re getting paid well and are ready to start a family or whatever, it may have benefits, but overall that city is a bore socially speaking.
Another question: Are you related to Kawhi Leonard?