Don’t Count Out Job Recruiting Firms Yet

* Your Feb. 28 Valley Business story regarding the hordes of job-seekers who are making it unnecessary for companies to engage search firms to assist them attributes this to the recent downsizing, layoffs and firings in the marketplace, and suggests that there are qualified people at every turn.

While I am aware that Southern California has high unemployment numbers and a large percentage of laid-off government contractor employees, I would suggest that this is not the market an effective recruiter would be working. The recruiter you quoted, saying the only business he gets is a covert operation to replace a current employee, sounds as if he is in a time warp. I would suggest this recruiter move with the times and stop trying to live on yesterdays.

The recruiting industry is not only alive and well but it is busting at the seams. Our value to an employer has more to do with our ability to identify and capture select candidates in their market than just filling a job. We should not be seen as taking the place of a company’s networking abilities or other sources, but as a cost-effective addition to their efforts. As a small national recruiting company in the San Fernando Valley, we are growing as quickly as space and our ability to find qualified recruiters will allow. Don’t count us out yet.

DON J. SPETH

Canoga Park

Speth is president of Independent Resource Systems Inc.