Bloomberg: The Secret to Getting a Job May Be Not Looking for One

Bad news for people on the job hunt: You may be wasting your time. Roughly three-quarters of job switchers never report having looked for a job, which suggests they were approached by recruiters or got noticed through word of mouth rather than diligently uploading their résumés, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

To read the entire article, go to http://bloom.bg/1Nvu3pc

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Sunnyvale, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

VIDEO: How to Survive an Interview Over a Meal

May 30, 2014 -- (Bloomberg) -- Goldie’s Table Matters Founder Deborah Goldstein discusses business dinner etiquette on Bloomberg Television's “Bloomberg Surveillance.”

To watch video, go to Bloomberg...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Sunnyvale, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Elite Colleges Don’t Buy Happiness for Graduates

May 7, 2014 -- (WSJ) -- A word to high-school seniors rejected by their first choice: A degree from that shiny, elite college on the hill may not matter nearly as much as you think.

A new Gallup survey of 30,000 college graduates of all ages in all 50 states has found that highly selective schools don’t produce better workers or happier people, but inspiring professors—no matter where they teach—just might.

The poll, undertaken this spring, is part of a growing effort to measure how well colleges do their jobs. This survey adds an interesting twist, because it looked not only at graduates after college; it tried to determine what happens during college that leads to well-being and workplace engagement later in life.

The poll didn’t measure graduates’ earnings. Rather, it was rooted in 30 years of Gallup research that shows that people who feel happy and engaged in their jobs are the most productive. That relatively small group at the top didn’t disproportionately attend the prestigious schools that Americans have long believed provided a golden ticket to success. Instead, they forged meaningful connections with professors or mentors, and made significant investments in long-term academic projects and extracurricular activities.

To read the entire article, go to the Wall Street Journal...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Sunnyvale, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Math and Science Pay, But High Schoolers Care Less

April 23, 2014 -- (WSJ) --  Math and science are the peas and carrots of the jobs market: great for a career future, but resolutely unpopular with the young.

Even amid a relatively weak jobs picture, fewer U.S. high school students are taking up fields of study with proven earnings potential than was the case a decade ago.

That has translated into a chronic shortage of workers schooled in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, according to research released Wednesday.

The STEM Index, developed by U.S. News & World Report and RaytheonRTN +0.81% Co., found the number of American jobs requiring math or science knowledge increased to 16.8 million last year from 12.8 million in 2000.

Yet during the same period, U.S. high-school students’ interest in those subjects declined—and now stands below 2000 levels.

To read the entire article, go to the Wall Street Journal...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Sunnyvale, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

San Francisco Beating Silicon Valley With Growth in Jobs

March 25, 2014 -- (Bloomberg) -- When J.M. Myers, a software engineer from Maryland, went west, he opted for San Francisco and a job at mobile-advertising startup TapSense -- and not Silicon Valley. He’s far from alone.

San Francisco is outpacing the traditional industry hub to the south in job creation, driving up living costs and igniting a backlash over a widening wealth gap. The city had 57 percent growth in technology jobs from 2010 to 2013; Santa Clara County, home to Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG), saw job increases of 14 percent, according to state figures.

To read the entire article, go to Bloomberg...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Sunnyvale, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Chinese College Graduates Play It Safe and Lose Out

March 26, 2013 -- (WSJ) --  BEIJING—Xie Chaobo figures he has the credentials to land a job at one of China's big state-owned firms. He is a graduate student at Tsinghua University, one of China's best. His field of study is environmental engineering, one of China's priorities. And he is experimenting with new techniques for identifying water pollutants, which should make him a valuable catch.

But he has applied to 30 companies so far and scored just four interviews, none of which has led to a job. Although Mr. Xie's parents are entrepreneurs who have built companies that make glasses, shoes and now water pumps, he has no interest in working at a private startup. Chinese students "have been told since we were children to focus on stability instead of risk," the 24-year-old engineering student says.

Read entire article here...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Sunnyvale, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

The Next Silicon Valley is Probably Going to be….Silicon Valley

With the exception of New York, major venture hubs have shown little progress in dethroning Silicon Valley as the place for tech VC. Massachusetts and Texas are losing ground while everyone else is flat.

Silicon Valley has long dominated the spotlight for promoting and financing the growth of emerging tech companies. And so when you’re the 800 lb gorilla in an area, there will be others who aspire to knock you off of your perch. And so we see lots of breathless proclamations from other cities and regions that they are the “next Silicon Valley”. Chicago threw its hats in the ring during Groupon-mania but it is clearly not the next Silicon Valley as the data shows. And a quick Googling of the term “the next Silicon Valley” shows Seattle, Los Angeles, Bangalore, Tel Aviv and even the Brooklyn tech triangle (yes – really) have all thrown their hat into the ring thinking they could be contenders.

Read entire analysis here...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Sunnyvale, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Social Seal of Approval Lures Talent

As companies compete to lure young, socially minded talent, they are stepping up their B game.

More companies are touting the B Corp logo, a third-party seal of environmental and social credentials, to attract young job seekers who want an employer committed to both a social mission and the bottom line. As a result, the B Corp logo—a circumscribed B—has been popping up on everything from company websites to office signage to shopping bags, even as some question whether the designation means much.

Read the full story here...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

People Don't Leave Companies -- They Leave Leaders!

I have employed thousands of people over the years. And every time one resigned, a little part of me died. (Okay, I lie. I have actually danced a celebratory jig around my desk on the odd occasion, but that's another post!)

Mostly, my natural reaction has always been a human one I suppose. "What possible reason would they have to do that?" or, "What's wrong with them?" or even, "She must be leaving for money. The fool!"

But I grew wiser as the years rolled by.

Read the full story here...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Silicon Valley is the Only Relevant Market for Venture Capital

“New York is an irrelevant market for us as a venture capital firm.”

At a recent dinner in NY hosted by our friends at Lowenstein Sandler, a Silicon Valley-based VC made this comment to kick off our dinner conversation. While the comment was made at least partially to stir the pot, the sentiment behind it was real.  From his perspective, allocating his own and his firm’s time to NY or any market outside of Silicon Valley was a waste because in his view, the best dealflow is in Silicon Valley and so it stands to follow that the biggest exits will come from the Valley as well. (NY’s first VC-backed $1 billion exit clearly wasn’t enough to impress him.)

After hearing the comment, we wondered if this was more VC anecdote dressed up as data (see here, here and here for examples of those) or whether there was some truth to this.

Read the full story here...

Visit the Netsoft Career Center to read this article and more career tips.

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Salary Increment

Visit the Netsoft Career Center for articles and more career tips.

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

A Smart Investor Would Skip the M.B.A.

Why spend six figures on a business degree? Students would do better to train and network on their own

Imagine that you have been accepted to Harvard Business School. The ivy-covered buildings and high-powered faculty whisper that all you need to do is listen to your teachers, get good grades and work well with your peers. After two years, you'll emerge ready to take the business world by storm. Once you have that degree, you'll have it made.

But don't kid yourself. What matters exponentially more than that M.B.A. is the set of skills and accomplishments that got you into business school in the first place. What if those same students, instead of spending two years and $174,400 at Harvard Business School, took the same amount of money and invested it in themselves? How would they compare after two years?

Read the full story here...

Visit the Netsoft Career Center to read this article and more career tips.

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Recent College Grads Lack Professionalism

Entry-level workers are an entitled, unprofessional bunch.

That’s the bleak assessment derived from new research by the Center for Professional Excellence at York College of Pennsylvania, which offers an annual survey of whether employees are up to the job.

The researchers surveyed about 400 human resources professionals about their experiences recruiting and hiring recent college graduates in a variety of industries and roles. More than a third report that the level of professionalism among new hires has decreased in the last five years. Nearly 45% said that employees’ work ethic has worsened.

Read the full story here...

Visit the Netsoft Career Center to read this article and more career tips.

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Prestigious People and the Power Words - Netsoft Career Center

It's All About Me

Three words can help job seekers ace the interview: "I," "me" and "my."

Job candidates who talk about themselves in the first person come across as more direct and are perceived as better hires, compared with candidates who use the third person. The latter group is perceived as avoidant and low-performing, according to a new study by Leadership IQ, a Washington leadership training and research firm. Read entire article here...

Visit the Netsoft Career Center to read this article and more career tips.

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Thriving During Your First 90 Days - New Article in Netsoft Career Center

Congratulations!  Through a considerable investment of time, you have managed to land that perfect job with the ideal company and proper compensation. The ordeal is over.  Champagne and roses are much deserved.  Time to rest on your laurels? Only long enough to celebrate your victory.

Your first 90 days may prove to be the most crucial period at your new company. Read entire article here...

Visit the Netsoft Career Center to read this article and more career tips here...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Why You Shouldn't Take a Counteroffer

Thinking about using a potential employer's job offer to get your current company to counter and pay you more money?

Stop right there.

Using another job offer as a bargaining chip may be tempting, but too often, it ends badly. If you want a raise, then negotiate it on your own merits--or prepare to move on.

Here's why: Read full story here...

Visit the Netsoft Career Center to read this article and more career tips here...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

5 Things I Look for in a Great Job Interview

Here is what separates a good candidate from a great one.
By Matthew Swyers

In my career I have reviewed thousands of resumes and conducted hundreds of employment interviews for both The Trademark Company and other businesses for which I have worked. In doing so, I got to see the good, the bad, and the downright ugly in terms of resumes, interviewing skills, and the like. For other CEOs looking to hire, here's what I think makes a great candidate stand out from the good ones. Read story here...

Visit the Netsoft Career Center to read this article and more career tips here...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Job Hunting Tips: Eight Things You Should Never Say in a Job Interview

Hiring for Attitude (McGraw-Hill/Available now) is a book intended for recruiters, but in its pages author Mark Murphy reveals the game within the game that applicants need to understand to make the best possible impression in an interview. Managers often seek subtle but telling uses of language to detect trouble signs; certain answers to questions may be seen as demonstrating lack of ability to handle change, challenges, team chemistry or corporate culture. In other words, being talented isn’t enough when hirers are determined to distinguish candidates who know how to work well within the organization. Murphy is founder and CEO of Leadership IQ, a training and management consulting firm. Read story here..

Visit the Netsoft Career Center to read this article and more career tips here...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Job Hunting - Make In-Person Connections - New Article in Netsoft Career Center

In 1938, Lillian Brownstein Chodash had already spent 15 months looking for work. One morning she rode the elevator to the top of an office building in her Jersey City, N.J., neighborhood and started knocking on doors. She worked her way down nine stories, fielding rejection after rejection.

Finally, on the second floor, Ms. Chodash found a father-and-son real-estate and insurance business. The duo had just fired their secretary that day. After a shorthand and typing test, they hired her on the spot. Read entire WSJ article here...

Visit the Netsoft Career Center to read this article and more career tips here...

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.

Your Co-Workers Might Be Killing You - New Article in Netsoft Career Center

Hours don't affect health much—but unsupportive colleagues do

The typical American will spend about 15% of his or her lifetime working at the office. Given this expanse of hours, it's not surprising that the details of our job can have a profound impact on our health. 

Traditionally, researchers have focused on the ways in which different kinds of labor affect the body, investigating the hazards associated with activities such as coal mining, truck driving and professional football.

Read entire WSJ article here...

Visit the Netsoft Career Center to read other articles and career tips.

Netsoft is a Technology Search firm, co-founded in 1992 by Randal J. Prout and Eric A. Thoreson and serving Silicon Valley from our office in Santa Clara, California.

Note our track record and the resulting success of our client companies!

Providing Retained Executive Search and Contingency Search

We are a boutique search firm specialized in attracting top talent for positions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. While we serve Silicon Valley networking and software startup company needs throughout the U.S., we also locate top performers for companies worldwide searching for California-based talent.