Testimonials
A Few Client References:
“Another approach, is to hire a stellar recruiter like Jim Butler”
"Great recruiting post!"
“Enjoyed working with Jim Butler. He is very personable, professional, and he gets it. Jim was able to successfully place several candidates with us. In fact, at one point I was working with over 10 I.T. recruiters at once, and twice as many candidates were placed by Jim than all of the other recruiters combined”
A Few Candidate References:
“your words of wisdom this week is helping me deal with the stress of the interview process which is long, grueling, and full of emotions”
"Exciting times ahead...thanks again for all your help in getting me to such a great place professionally."
"I worked with Jim Butler...in pursuing a career change. I had worked for the same company for 27 years so getting me to change was not an easy task. Without his patience and willingness to work with me, to get all my questions answered, I never would have accepted the job. I'm happy to say that over a year later I am very glad I made the change."
Candidate Responses to Email Marketing:
“Hey Jim, Just had to let you know how much I appreciated your very creative and funny ad for the Cardiology PACS position! Although I’m not qualified, I’d certainly share this with my colleagues.”
"Such an intriguing email that I have to send you my resume"
“(Area) is not a possibility but I really like your creativity in describing the position.”
“Well, for goodness sake. Don’t think I have ever seen a position described as colorfully as this. Ever. Did you write it? It is killer."
"This is funny. You definitely caught my attention. I have worked with Cardiology systems and Epic integration. I'm curious, was I referred to you for this role?"
Reference Letter for Jim Butler (9/2009)
As a job hunter and sometime contractor, I have worked with quite a large number of recruiters and staffing account executives. An astonishing number of recruiters are not very good. Of those who know their profession, Jim Butler is one of the best, the cream of the crop.
So many recruiters rely on keywords to match candidates to open positions. They may try to develop a relationship with a candidate, but they view it more as a sales technique than as a means to making a better job match. Jim carefully reviews resumes and talks at length with his candidates, getting to know their skillsets, strengths, styles and preferences. He then uses this information to find positions that appeal to the candidate, and that the candidate will fit well. For me, Jim has not only sought software quality assurance jobs, he has made me aware of other areas to look into, such as implementation and applications analyst positions.
Jim not only gets to know his candidates, he knows the people on the hiring side as well. He learns their needs and desires, but also their personalities and styles. One of the ways Jim has been most helpful to me is in how he uses this knowledge to brief me on what to focus on and what to expect in an interview. This lets me present myself in the best light and averts potential misunderstandings. For example, Jim advised me that a certain hiring manager would keep a neutral tone throughout the interview. Had I not known this, I would have felt I wasn’t getting through, wasn’t making a good impression. Jim’s insight allowed me to accept that this was the manager’s style without trying to push for a reaction.
In fact, Jim’s coaching for interviews is one of the most unique things about him as a recruiter. Having contracted for years, I am experienced at interviewing. Most recruiters offer standard, basic advice that I learned long ago. Jim has given me a totally different approach to interviewing. While this might be summed up as “Look at it from the interviewer’s perspective,” Jim explains just how to do this, in depth and with meaningful examples. He is so good that I’ve asked his advice on interview issues for jobs for which he is not the recruiter – and he has been kind enough to provide that advice.
Another area where Jim stands out is in his follow-through. Every recruiter wants to hear how an interview went, but few will give more than the briefest feedback about what the client thought. In part this may be because clients don’t always specify what they disliked or where a candidate fell short. This means the candidate has no way to know what went wrong or how to correct it in the future. Not only is this hard on the candidate, it makes the candidate less valuable to the staffing agency. Because Jim knows the hiring people, he often gets better feedback from them. He then turns around and uses the information to help the candidate do better next time.
Even fewer recruiters actually bother to let a candidate know that a decision was made not to hire. For all too many recruiters, once the hiring decision has been made, the candidate’s value to the recruiter is over. They don’t have the basic courtesy to call or email. Often that candidate’s calls are ignored and not returned. This is pretty poor behavior for any recruiter. To a job hunter, it is more than just a courtesy, because knowing that a job has closed means they can direct their efforts elsewhere. Jim always lets a candidate know the outcome promptly, and he is always willing to discuss it.
Jim Butler is a superior recruiter and account executive. He not only does the job right, he has extensive, valuable knowledge and savvy about the staffing industry. He is a decent, likeable guy who would be a top asset to any company.
