Web Recruits: Xylan Corp., a Calabasas computer...
Web Recruits: Xylan Corp., a Calabasas computer networking firm, relies heavily on Internet job inquiries worldwide. E-mailed resumes are scanned for key words to winnow applicants. In a recent week, Xylan got 47,000 hits on its job Web site and filled a Far Eastern post via the Net. “You know you are getting computer-literate people, which is a big advantage,” says Xylan’s John Mazzaferro.
Phone Leads: Walt Disney has a recorded job-opening hotline. Jobs range from day-care teachers to graphic artists. Each listing is detailed, sometimes humorously. An example: A security guard with the “ability to stand and walk for extended periods . . . [and] climb industrial catwalks. With good night vision.”
Scalp Collector: Marshall Mahl, above, an executive headhunter for 20 years, contacts up to 500 folks for each of the 12 to 20 posts he fills a year. Corporate clients pay him a cut of the new hire’s first year’s pay. Mahl once employed two headhunters but now works solo in Woodland Hills. “A successful recruiter knows when things are turning soft.”
Gentle Liftoff: Layoffs at Rocketdyne have marked this decade. But contracts for a new space shuttle prototype and the space station mean the Canoga Park company is hiring again, with recent job fairs in Sacramento and Phoenix. “We’re in the early stages of a recovery,” says Tim Violette, human resources director.
Situation Wanted: A 35-year-old Guatemalan is a day laborer near Home Depot in Van Nuys. LAPD officers on bikes often chase him away, but for eight years he’s hired out for $5 an hour. On a recent three-day job, though, he didn’t get paid. “Sometimes people are no good.”
