Been quiet on the blogging front because I finally have clients for my "side" work. I haven't even put it on my site yet, but I have been working with a contracting firm to help screen candidates with technical interviews so they can place them in interviews at the appropriate positions. It's been interesting, and so far the candidates have been very strong. Strong enough that if I was a development manager again, I would have hired them in a second.

In my last position where I was interviewing and hiring, I was surprised at how poor some of the candidates were. Part of it was the method the company was using to locate candidates. I understand they were trying to save money, but when it comes to quality people, you can't skimp. One thing I will tell any developer is make sure you establish good relationships with recruiters. Yes, it takes some effort, but it can reap benefits when it comes to a job search or even in learning about unlisted jobs, or the environments there. As they get to know you, good recruiters will match you to the environments where you will thrive. I am amazed when developers complain that recruiters only want to close the sale. While this is true of some, as a developer, you have a responsibility of establishing the relationship with the recruiter so they look for your interests. You'll quickly learn which recruiters they are.

I also have my first interview coaching session coming up. One of these nights I am going to get this information up on the Rubicon Computing site, but for now, it's all been word of mouth and careful marketing to recruiters and developers I know. I have a nice AJAXified information request form, but I need to work on some of the verbiage first.

At some point things will slow down enough to put some more tips up. I have been developing a list of them to write, so likely it will be a lot at once!