What does it take to recruit James McGovern?

I receive calls from recruiters all the time yet infrequently return their calls due to a variety of factors. I wanted to outline what I believe are some perspectives on what it would take to recruit me and others like me...



Let's start with some analysis of the most typical recruiting call I receive which starts out with acknowledging that I am an Enterprise Architect for a large company that sells insurance. What do you think are the odds that I would like to transition to another large company that sells insurance in the same exact role I am doing today with no real career path (regardless of what the HR documentation says)?

Do you think that a few thousand dollars more a year is enough? While the vast majority of candidates are money chasers, do you think that I am? I am passionate about leveraging technology to realize successful business outcomes and therefore you are more than likely to catch my attention by telling me that my potential new employer is leading edge and not a follower when it comes to technology adoption.

Have you spent any time figuring out that there are some enterprise architects who are savage about process and romance notions such as outsourcing, CMMI, rationalization and other cost-savings constructs while other enterprise architects prefer to instead be on the side of innovation and building out new capability? Which side do you think I reside? It feels as if recruiters almost never know this aspect of the position.



Generally speaking, I tend to return the calls of recruiters who work for the employer over those who are headhunters for a variety of reasons. Mainly, I tend to be somewhat skeptical of headhunters in terms of being successful as the bar tends to be set a lot higher. Headhunters may charge 30% of first year salary as a fee to their clients and if a client can get a candidate without paying the fee then they will which makes it kinda dumb for any candidate to want to work with them. I have always advised my friends to avoid headhunters for positions that are with large companies and to instead apply via job boards or other direct methods. Headhunters should only be used to find jobs in companies outside the Fortune 2000.

Another quirk of working with a headhunter is that it actually takes more energy. They will send you lots of questionnaires that need to be completed before your paperwork is submitted to their clients. They will ask you to make numerous changes to your resume. While this may put you in a better light, it also makes the job search become more extended than it need be. I am of the school of thought that a headhunter should take charge of editing of resumes to improve readability on the candidates behalf and not ask the candidates to do this themselves especially if the candidate is already employed full-time. This is the headhunter's full-time job where at best the candidate would work on such activities after-hours when they aren't at their prime.

If you are an IT employee for any length of time, you may have heard of the likes of Martin Fowler, Grady Booch, James Gosling and so on. Sadly, the vast majority of recruiters haven't heard of these individuals and may only think of them as a name and a skill. If a recruiter doesn't truly appreciate whom they are communicating with and desire for everyone to be walked through the same process then end clients will suffer as well. Recruiters need to do a better job of being able to distinguish between a rockstar and a nobody before a discussion of resume even occurs.



The one aspect of managing a career is the ability to know what one wants to be when you grow up. Many have attempted to articulate this in terms of an objective section on their resume but this doesn't really work in most scenarios.

For example, there are several alternatives that I would be very open to. I would love to become an industry analyst and work for a firm that allows me to work with end customers. The role of enterprise architect by definition requires you to have strong relationships and interactions with C-level executives and therefore is compatible. I would be equally open to being a product manager or even CTO of a product company. The role of enterprise architect as overseer of a portfolio of products is also inline with this role. I think you are starting to see a pattern emerge that simply isn't considered by most recruiters.

There is a big distinction between travel and commute in my mind and these words shouldn't be used interchangeably. I am willing to travel say 25% but that is different than commuting. Many of the industry analysts I know travel where they visit one client one week and a different client the following week, where consulting firms such as Accenture do what I refer to as commuting. It is guaranteed that the client I see on Monday is the same client that I will see next Monday and the following and so on. See the difference?

So, if you see opportunities that fit my background, please do not hesitate to contact me as I am easily recruitable. Hopefully you have gained a few perspectives on what it takes to recruit top talent...

Enterprise Architecture: Exercising your right to remain silent...

There are days when I hear others complain about things and feel their challenges are larger than life. I remind them that there are billions of people on the planet who don't have access to clean water, food or shelter and their problems are minor in comparison...



There is absolutely nothing in the enterprise that is worthy of being stressed out. No matter how your boss or your peers show lack of respect, your personal self-worth as an individual doesn't change. A wise industry analyst who resides in DC and is also named James once told me that no matter what happens, no one can take away your personal brand. This is something you should remember and apply to your daily life.

There is solace is understanding the human condition and considering the well-being of others. Maybe you should feel guilty not because of anything your could have accomplished at work, but because of things you didn't accomplish related to helping others?

Have you considered that being charitable at home, may improve your work situation? Even if you have no money to spare, you could at least take pause and think about what others have to do in order to make a living. Please take a look at the photos below, reflect on yourself as a human and then reconsider your condition and relationship with others...

Enterprise Architecture: Recognizing Top Talent

I previously blogged on Enterprises suck at hiring top talent and wanted to continue the conversation with a few additional insights...



The vast majority of the time when my phone rings and it is a recruiter on the other end, they usually make multiple mistakes in assessing the worth of talent. For example, on my resume I include the fact that I used to write the Ask Doctor Java column for Java Developers Journal which means that recruiters who use keyword searching alone will contact me. What they haven't considered is the fact that my resume also clearly indicates that I am an Enterprise Architect and have been so for the last ten years where logic may indicate that I am probably somewhat higher up the food chain.

Some recruiters never bother to find out if the position truly requires top talent or whether they require someone with mediocre skills. Let's face it, some jobs will never be of interest to those who are truly talented and it is in the employers best interest to know if their work is exciting or boring in the grand scheme of things.

As I have previously stated, an enterprise needs to manage top talent regardless if they are an employee or work for one of your outsourcing firms in India. I frequently observe a scenario exhibited by many IT executives that goes beyond blissful ignorance. Many think that the opportunity for a new generation in India to be gainfully employed in ways that their parents could have only dreamt of is the opportunity to outsource suboptimal work. Reality states that if you are a motivated individual anywhere on the planet and have the opportunity to work on building new software for say Microsoft, Oracle, etc or even developing applications for Wall Street that require pushing the envelope, why would you think someone should be grateful for the opportunity to work o a forty-year old COBOL application?

Staff turnover in India is very high and just like the American generation that preceeded them, they aren't job hopping to solely chase money but want interesting work. No matter how you spin it, if your industry isn't as interesting as another vertical then you may be doomed to finding mediocre talent. If you combine this with outdated technologies can you expect nothing but turbulence in your offshore staff?

If the world is global then you have to acknowledge that outsourcing requires more than just rate arbitrage, but also requires gaining the hearts and minds of those spread throughout the planet. Ask yourself why your recruiting thinking is so local in nature?



Have you ever considered the fact that you may already have top talent within your enterprise but have blinders on? The funny thing about top talent in traditional enterprises is that they usually are beatdown to mediocrity and may not show up on the annual review process as high performers but yet everyone has the utmost respect for their ability to deliver and think outside the box.

Let's say you were lucky enough to have James Gosling, Martin Fowler, Grady Booch and Joel Spolsky on your staff. Above and beyond the job description would you know how to leverage their talent? Would you ask James Gosling to explain the merits of Java Generics to a CIO who would immediately beat him down for being too technical? Would you ask Grady Booch to take charge of all the documentation writing since he is really good at drawing UML? Would you ask Joel Spolsky to work with your arduous software release process since he knows a little bit about building software?

If you are reading this and don't appreciate the silliness, then you are more than likely part of the problem. Recognizing the best and brightest within IT is your job and this emphatically proves that you may not be worthy of your role...