Yesterday I went to a small network meeting and someone asked for a list of local recruiters – the discussion quickly went towards “how do you work with recruiters” and it was quite entertaining! I’m supposed to get a list of local recruiters (in the Salt Lake area) which I’ll put on the Global Map view so everyone can see them, rate them and comment on them. For today I’m adding my absolute favorites (note, I’m something of a techy, so 4 of the 5 have a major emphasis on tech – and only 3 are in Utah…):

Rob Merrill is a tech recruiter for SOS Technical Staffing. I never would have thought of using SOS (I didn’t think they had high-enough level jobs, like what I was looking for) but I’ve learned they do have specialists. I like Rob because he seems to be very candidate-centric and is quite active as a blogger (which shows he keeps up with current issues and has a pretty transparent communication style). He brings the tech community together a little with a blog syndication of local bloggers , which is an interesting daily read.

Dave Steveson is what I consider to be an old-timer here in the Salt Lake area, and it seems that if there is a company serious about getting a hard IT position filled, they call Dave. He is nice but very busy – you need to be on his radar screen – especially if your skillset is kind of unique. Why is he one of my fav’s? Because he is a mover and a shaker – if you are looking for a job in this area he NEEDS to be one of your resources. In the end, its all about you getting a job, right?

I met John Grotegut (sp?) at WhoBlue and I was quite impressed. WhoBlue is a new company in town (this is their second year) but they seem to be very busy and have had an excellent year. WhoBlue specializes in IT, is located in a central point in the SL valley and is very aggressive. I understand that they are very candidate centric and have a slight twist on the “typical recruiting model” but I’m not sure what that was. I just know that John is one of my top 3 in Utah.

Paul DeBettignies is the founder of Nerd Search and apparently has a focus on hiring IT for non-profits. He is out of Minneapolis, MN and has had a terrific blog for almost a year. Paul and I have communicated a few times via e-mail and he reminds me a lot of Rob Merrill as far as his philosophies and what he brings to a job seeker’s table.

Jim Durbin is another headhunting blogger, I think! He is all over the recruiting blogs and has his own which is great, but I can’t where he spends most of his time – as a recruiter or with his marketing company. Nonetheless, Jim is someone that you must know if you are looking at a job in the Missouri area, or anywhere that you are not familiar with, because I think that Jim knows everyone and I bet most people worth knowing know of Jim (just search for “durbin” on recruiting.com). His personal blog has the same flavor of Rob and Paul’s, and I have a lot of respect for that (as a job seeker).

So there are my picks. You can get more info on them, rate them, comment on them, and view other’s ratings by logging in, going to MAPS and choosing GLOBAL MAPS (note I had to put 1600 miles to include Paul and Jim on my view). And go enter your own global companies – whether it is the company your work for, where you want to work, or your favorite recruiter. I guess you could put in your least fav recruiter, but I’m not wasting time on that.

Oh yeah, we’re just testing some new featueres (I’ll blog more on this when it releases – very soon) on maps so that you can print a tabular view of what you see on the map (very cool) as well as get directions from your house to a point on your map! These will be nice little additions! Don’t know what I’m talking about? Get a free JibberJobber account now!