JSfirm AV-FACT 01/15/04 :"JSfirm In The News"

JSfirm - IN THE NEWS!
Aviation Maintenance Magazine
December, 2003 Issue
"Log on to JSfirm"

The exception to the perception that there aren’t many jobs in aviation maintenance would be the success JSfirm has had in helping technicians find good jobs in today’s less than upbeat market. Want proof? Better yet, want a new job?

"We average 450 fresh help-wanted ads per month on our website," explained JSfirm co-owner and manager, Joel Meanor. "Right now we have nearly 1,500 aviation companies using our services, and they’re all over. I remember one month when we had jobs available in every state in the U.S., every province of Canada, and most of Mexico."

Meanor also said that JSfirm has more than 15,000 candidates’ resumes available for companies to search.

What’s the secret to their success? JSfirm is not your typical web-based job site. JSfirm is a proactive aviation job board and recruiting service and unlike a static job board, the company offers employers and candidates a number of ways to maximize the employment search process. And the services are all free to job candidates.

For example, candidates can post their resume for employers to search, but also use that posting to manage their career. "We call it Candidate Career Management," Meanor said. "When you post your resume with us you get your own private web page and URL that you can paste in e-mails or put in letters so people can go straight to your information."

Meanor added that with the career management tool, candidates can change their resume to reflect new job skills, promotions, or whatever, so it’s always current and fully up to date.

JSfirm also has tools that clients can use to manage and sometimes protect their current job, such as making a posted resume confidential or inactive. We’ve all heard horror stories of people responding to job listings from their own company. By making the resume confidential, the applicant’s skills are still searchable, but the name and contact information are blind to the searching company. If someone is interested, they can contact JSfirm, which will forward the inquiry directly to the candidate, who chooses whether or not to respond.

When a resume is inactive, it’s just that. It’s still in the JSfirm database but it’s not searchable by anyone. The inactive function is there for when you are happy with your current position and aren’t interested in the temptation from all those job offers you will receive. But when your boss gets on your nerves, it just takes a few minutes to turn an inactive resume into an active resume.

JSfirm also offers a variety of recruitment services to companies that just don’t want to be bothered with the hassles of searching through endless stacks of resumes looking or Mr. or Ms. Right. "About 50 percent of our business right now is in recruitment," Meanor said. "My partner Sam Scanlon and I both have aviation backgrounds—we are both A&P mechanics that worked ourselves up to mid-management. It really helps when you know what you are talking about."

According to Meanor the most active areas today are in the general aviation/corporate arena. "These jobs are available all over the country," he said. "We see lots of technical jobs: mechanics and avionics. And there are lots of skilled jobs like paint, interior fabrication, upholsterers, and woodworkers."

The pay is just as good today as it was pre-9/11, Meanor said. "In my opinion, companies are willing to pay good money for the skills they need. If a job is worth X-dollars an hour, no one is going to offer, or accept half of that. A good job will earn you a good living." — By Dale Smith

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