How's the market for people in the staffing industry? (year, different)

[chicagocubs]

Originally Posted by djkkt6

Are you in the industry? I ask because I'm surprised at your comment about "only two years of experience." A lot of staffing firms, at least in St. Louis, actually prefer to hire younger people. My current company has an office in Chicago and is the exact same way. Surely we're not the only one in the industry in Chicago that operates that way.

To chicagocubs... that's just not true. Good people can get good jobs. It's not as doom and gloom as you think it is.

Thanks to both of you for the replies.

Sorry, I work for a major bank as a mortgage underwriter. NO. There are no jobs out there. I also live in Charlotte, NC, the second largest financial district outside of NYC. NO. There are no jobs. sorry. Would love to have your optimisim, but, it isn't reality!

[supernerdgirl]

Originally Posted by chicagocubs

Sorry, I work for a major bank as a mortgage underwriter. NO. There are no jobs out there. I also live in Charlotte, NC, the second largest financial district outside of NYC. NO. There are no jobs. sorry. Would love to have your optimisim, but, it isn't reality!

no jobs? not even McDs?
what are these ads i keep getting in my email then? even careerbuilder is looking for a graphic designer right now.

there might be TONS of applicants for one position, or jobs that people don't necessarily want, but there are jobs. there's not possibly ZERO jobs out there.

[chet everett]

A little perspective is in order.

Sure, when looking at ranking by ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT for statistical purposes having the HQ of Wachovia and BofA down in Charlotte made for quite an impressive ranking. But lets dig a little deeper courtesy of our benevolent host.

Compare the number of PEOPLE employed in Finance in Charlotte to, oh say BofA's old HQ, San Francisco:
http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/T...e-Economy.html
financial activities: 69,000

http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/T...o-Economy.html
finance: 88,200

Then do a quick monster serach to take the pulse of the generic FINANCE field in each town:

finance Jobs in San Francisco, California | Monster.com

About 750

VS

finance Jobs in charlotte, North Carolina | Monster.com

About 180.

Not saying everybody looking for work in the Tar Heel State can/should move to The City By The Bay, just saying that people need to have a little faith in the DATA that places like City-Data make available...

[At1WithNature]

The staffing inudstry in chicago is cut throat and with all of the economic problems, i'm sure it won't be too hard to recruit candidates (capable ones too). there are over a thousand staffing companies in the chicagoland area. i'm sure you'll have no problem finding a job if you do your best to meet with as many as possilbe (here's the key: in person). maybe go in first like you are looking for a job and once you sit down with them sell yourself on your ability to work for them. Good Luck...the staffing inudstry is a snake's game. you have to watch your back at all times as there is no loyalty in the staffing industry.

Originally Posted by djkkt6

Are you in the industry? I ask because I'm surprised at your comment about "only two years of experience." A lot of staffing firms, at least in St. Louis, actually prefer to hire younger people.

Yes, ALL staffing firms love hiring young people because they are inexperienced, can easily be molded the way they want them to be, the firms can pay them low wages, and generally take advantage of their lack of knowledge and inexperience. There are positions, especially in the staffing industry, that are looked at as "2 year jobs" or "6 month" jobs...the trick is they don't tell that employee when they hire them that they will only have use for them for 2 years...lol

[djkkt6]

Originally Posted by At1WithNature

Yes, ALL staffing firms love hiring young people because they are inexperienced, can easily be molded the way they want them to be, the firms can pay them low wages, and generally take advantage of their lack of knowledge and inexperience. There are positions, especially in the staffing industry, that are looked at as "2 year jobs" or "6 month" jobs...the trick is they don't tell that employee when they hire them that they will only have use for them for 2 years...lol

Pay them low wages? You are way off. There are three guys in my office who make consistently make 200K+ and a fourth who makes 150K+. All four of these guys are under the age of 30, by the way.

If you're good, you will make a lot of money in this industry. If you're not good, as with every other industry, you won't stick around long.

[djkkt6]

Originally Posted by b0nb0n

Thats what I figured, I guess people just love to make everything seem worse then it is. Maybe there are a lot of bad recruiters out there giving all the good ones a bad name, but it seems like it shouldnt be an impossible/horrible job if you care about your applicants and clients and if you know about your industry...
Also, from your point of view is it better to work as lets say a technical recruiter or a legal recruiter then a general one? I have interviews with two companies one for a technical recruiter and one would be a general recruiter and I'm not sure if one would be a better choice...another thing, how is the commission broken down normally, i guess i can wait till next week to hear what they'll tell me on my interviews but I've been hearing all sorts of info ranging from 2% to 40%.
Thanks in advance and you can DM me with the responses if you feel more comfortable answering that way.

Commission varies by company. Sorry, but I don't want to get into the specifics. Just ask on your interview.

Working for a staffing firm will always pay better than working for a company as a Generalist. Again, assuming you're good at finding people.

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by djkkt6

Pay them low wages? You are way off. There are three guys in my office who make consistently make 200K+ and a fourth who makes 150K+. All four of these guys are under the age of 30, by the way.

If you're good, you will make a lot of money in this industry. If you're not good, as with every other industry, you won't stick around long.

Umm...the majority of staffing companies do NOT have at least 3 people under 30 making 150k each...especially in st. louis. the majority of staffing companies have people making mediocre money. There's robert half type companies out there but the majority are far from Robert Half.

[djkkt6]

Originally Posted by At1WithNature

Umm...the majority of staffing companies do NOT have at least 3 people under 30 making 150k each...especially in st. louis. the majority of staffing companies have people making mediocre money. There's robert half type companies out there but the majority are far from Robert Half.

You're right, the majority of staffing firms out there aren't as good as the one I work for, and as a result, don't have that many people making that much money.

I just took issue with your comment that firms pay low wages. They don't. At least not the good ones.

[Mojo Riley]

Originally Posted by djkkt6

I'm considering a move to Chicago sometime in the next few months or so. Curious to know how the market is in the staffing industry. I've got 2 years experience as a recruiter. Would be looking for a job as a recruiter either for a staffing firm or as a Corporate Recruiter, or something similar.

I don't know what your niche is, but I am an attorney who WAS working as an attorney recruiter until last month when I lost my job. The market sucks, and my draw got too high, so out the door with me. My company had people working in a variety of niches, and ALL were hurting! Best of luck to you, but understand that it's pretty freaking dire out there.

[Mojo Riley]

Originally Posted by At1WithNature

Umm...the majority of staffing companies do NOT have at least 3 people under 30 making 150k each...especially in st. louis. the majority of staffing companies have people making mediocre money. There's robert half type companies out there but the majority are far from Robert Half.

EVERYONE at my company who had been there for two years or more was making well over 100K- and the average age in my office my ~28. Top producers were billing 600-700K and bringing home half of that. Of course those numbers were from last year's billings and this year will be a far, far different story.