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IT recruiters in most areas generally work on a
contingency basis, where they are only paid their recruiter fee if and
when they find a systems engineer candidate who ultimately joins your
firm.
Many recruiters firms will prorate their recruiter fee if
the newly hired systems engineer candidate leaves within a certain time
frame (usually one year).
Because recruiter fees can range from 20 to 50% of the
candidate's first year salary, IT recruiters are often beyond the
financial reach of most small business computer resellers and system
integrators.
Systems Engineers and Salaries
While on the subject of costs that may be prohibitive, you
also need to consider the salary ranges for systems engineers that you're
able to pay potential hires. As a small business computer reseller or
systems integrator, the salaries that you can pay staff will generally be
driven by the hourly billing rate that you think a potential systems
engineer hire will be able to sustain with your current and future Small
Business Server client projects.
You'll also need to factor in such expenses as overhead
and benefits, as well as anticipated weekly utilization rates (how many
hours a week you can bill out staff members like systems engineers on
average).
Competition for Systems Engineers
Despite your most careful planning and most
"generous" or "competitive" job offers for systems
engineers, you need to understand the nature of the job market for skilled
IT professionals and systems engineers.
When a candidate is interviewing with you, it's pretty
likely that the candidate is also interviewing simultaneously with other
competing firms. It's not unusual for candidates with "hot"
skills to see multiple job offers and counter-offers from prospective
employers.
You and the candidate often discover that the IT job
market is more akin to the free agency concept seen by sports stars. As a
result, you may be "outbid" by other computer resellers, systems
integrators, or Fortune 1000 IT departments with "deeper
pockets."
This failure doesn't necessarily point to any weakness in
your recruiting process. Rather, it just may be indicative of a competitor
having a roster of clients who are willing to pay higher hourly billing
rates for their systems engineers.
Other Ways to Recruit Systems Engineers
Job fairs are another recruiting tool for systems
engineers used by computer resellers and systems integrators with varying
success. Depending on the scope of the job fair, whether industry-specific
or just geographic in nature, your "booth" may be along side
other technology providers or just next to other local firms in a variety
of industries.
Because job fairs tend to be staffed by internal human
resources (HR) recruiters from much larger companies rather than a typical
small business computer reseller or systems integrator, get a grasp on the
scope and demographics of the job fair before sending in your deposit and
signing on the dotted line.
Speaking opportunities are an interesting indirect
recruiting method for systems engineers. Although not a
"recruiting" opportunity per se, by keeping your name and expert
status in front of trade groups, chambers of commerce, and user groups,
you'll be building your reputation as an "employer of choice" in
the local community for technical employees like systems engineers.
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