General Questions

• Q = Does it cost me as a candidate to use your service?
  A = No, the service is free to you as the employers pay our fees.
  
  
• Q = I am a fresh Graduate and want to know if you can help me find a position?
  A = As a general rule, companies only use us to bring experienced candidates on board who have two or more years of on the job experience.
  
  
• Q = If I already have contacted a company, can you also represent me to that company?
  A = The general rule is that we cannot represent you to any company that you have already had representation to within the past 12 months.  This includes self-submittal as well as other recruiters.
  
  
• Q = How much is a reasonable amount to expect in salary increase when I change to a new company and position?
  A = Generally a salary increase of from 5-7% is the norm during these recent challenging economic times.  Additionally, the cost of living may be also factored in to any final salary calculation.  With consideration of the internal equity (current employees's salaries) it may be necessary to factor in this aspect as well.  If a company is not careful, a newly hired person, at a salary that is too high, may lead to current employees becoming unhappy and even leaving.  In summary, the compensation issue can be delicate and needs to be handled with care and consideration of all factors and all people affected.
  
  
• Q = Will Quality Search ever send me to a company without my knowledge or permission?
  A = No, we will not send you without your prior approval.  There is an exception where you have given us permission to market you by sending you to a host of potential Employers.  Even with this, we would not disclose your actual name and contact information.
  
  
• Q = If I see an opening that I am interested in, which recruiter should I contact?
  A = All recruiters do work on all jobs so you should go through the Quality Search Recruiter that you have been recently working with and established a relationship with.  However, if you have no preference or established relationship with a recruiter, you should contact the Recruiter who has posted the Job as the primary.  You also may simply inquire directly to Quality Search and a recruiter will be assigned to you.
  
  
• Q = Why does my resume need to be in Word format rather than a PDF?
  A = Your resume will be parsed in to our extensive data base when we receive it.  The advantage of this is that "key words" and other "unique" background experiences are then captured for future retrieval by our search engine.  A PDF will not allow this to occur.  In addition, the vast majority of our clients also have parsing systems that automatically transfer information from the resume to their data base.  A PDF appears as a photograph to such parsing systems as well and therefore we are almost always asked to supply a "Word" version document rather than a PDF of any resume.
  
  
• Q = Why don't you show the actual City of the Job Posting rather than just the Reqion?  It would make it much easier to know if I am potentially interested.
  A = It has been determined that some competitors and even a few candidates would be able to guess the actual client and bypass us by going direct.  Our client openings are our bread and butter and we do need to protect that information.  If we have your current resume and receive an inquiry from you, either by Email or a call, we will, in most cases, give the location and the client name once we have established a record of the two way dialogue with you.  There are thousands of candidates and also a fair number of other recruiting agencies that compete, and we need to protect our information in this way.
  
  
• Q = Why don't you show the salary on your postings.  It seems as though it could save valuable time on both sides.  
  A = Salary ranges can vary widely and the ranges given by companies are often expanded when a unique candidate is presented.  If we put a definite amount on our posting, there will be individuals that are not within the range who will never inquire or be considered for a particular position.   Over many years we have seen far too many examples where the beginning parameters are altered and therefore we choose to have a brief conversation , either by phone or in an Email to assess your potential fit for a job.  This also works in reverses on the Candidate postings.  If we put a bottom range that you would accept in exact dollars, such as a minimum of $80,000, then we would not call you if the company is willing to only go to $79,999.  Most candidates would want us to call and have the final decision in their court considering all the factors that effect a decision.  In other words, the salary, the company, the location, the job itself, etc..
  
  
• Q = Why doesn't my Co-Op or Internship experience count towards my years of experience?    
  A = Unfortunately, Co-Op experience and Internships do not count for any candidate as working experience.  They are considered a part of your educational experience, not work experience.  As a general rule, only the post graduation experience is looked upon as valid work experience by our client companies.  A full time position with no college relationship and credit and being worked at in lieu of attending school will count. 
  
  
• Q = Why don't the salaries I see on your postings seem as high as the ones I have seen in salary surveys recently?    
  A = Unfortunately, there have been various salary surveys that were compiled from voluntary feedback.  Some of these survey results have indicated salaries that were different and much higher than the records that we have seen that are based on actual placements and jobs that were published and available.  Therefore this difference has sometimes led to an unrealistic expectation of salary on the part of many candidates.  Survey figures, sometimes anonymously given, can be either inflated or even the result wishful thinking.  The resulting inflated salary expectation can even cause a candidate to turn down a very fair and reasonable offer.  This then results in a candidate basing their expected salary on such a survey and then subsequently expecting a much higher salary as a result.  For actual salary comparisons of Packaging Professionals that are based on "Real World" data see here.  
  
  
•  Q = Why don't I fit your Specialty?  I have been around packaging and manufacturing for much of my career and think I could be a good fit. 
   A = You must have primary package design and development as a current or relatively recent job function in your work history for us to be able to work with you successfully.  In addition, you need to have hand's on experience with various packaging materials, including proto-typying, CAD, testing, line trials as well as some validation of the package being run on equipment.  Almost 100% of our clients want you to have a four (4) year degree in Packaging Engineering, Packaging Science or the equivalent.  Finally, they usuially expect you to be a Certified Packaging Professional (CPP).  Because of this very specialized and narrow focus, we can usually only work successfully with candidates that fit these very tight specifications.  An analogy that is often used for us is that "we find a hole and shoot a bullet through it".
  
  
• Q = Other than the Base Salary, what else should I include in my consideration and avalysis of a company's Compensation Plan or Offer?  In other words, what makes up the "Total Compensation" of a company?
  A = Often employees, or potential employees, look at the Base Salary as the main incentive and measurement of income value provided to them by a hiring company.  During these challenging economic times when salary increases are low or nonexistent, undersatnding the true compensation can be a benefit to any employee or potential employee.  Generally, "Total Compensation" ranges from 30 to 50 percent above base compensation for an organization and most employees are not usially thinking of the nature and cost of these additional benefits to a company and the benefit.  As mentioned, compensation is far more than simply the Base Compensation, Bonus and Commissions.  It also includes many other items such as Government Mandated Benefits, Voluntary Benefits, Nonmonetary Benefits, Stock Options/Plans, Cost of Workers' Compensation, 401(k) Actual Match, Paid Time Off for Family Emergencies, Tuition Reimbursement, Vacations, Paid Holidays,  Insurance and various related Benefits and Co-Pays that are included as well as various Performance Bonuses etc. to name a few.  As mentioned, the upcharge for these additional benefits can easily equal another 30-50% of the base salary in hidden benefit cost that a company is paying in your behalf.  
  

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