Pot of Coffee 3 went indoors at Good Coffee to escape the wind and rain on Friday the 4^th. While we missed the fresh air, it was good to be inside and warm.

Unfortunately, many of the folks that joined us had been recently laid-off. That allowed us to talk about topics related to the job search and gauge everyone’s thoughts on the current hiring climate.

We also covered hard hitting topics like pants and zippers. Stretch pants to hard pants, to prescription pants, to stuck zippers and does clothing differ on which side the zipper is? Apparently, some people don’t know that zippers and buttons are on different sides of clothing depending on gender. But, back to stretch pants and the why? I guess they are comfortable. It was appreciated and noted, of course, that most attendees (spot checks were not done) had bravely left their homes by donning hard pants.

In spite of recent layoffs people are not feeling a ton of pressure or concern about the economy or their job prospects. Some folks were already looking and some saw the warning signs, which lead to a discussion about just how bad companies can be when it comes to employee attraction, retention, and dismissal. If it wasn’t such a serious topic, it would be comical.

One person was contacted by a recruiter at a design agency and eventually received an offer, only to have that offer rescinded.  It turns out the hiring agency and the agency where the person was employed have a “no poaching” agreement since they are both owned by the same holding company. Note to internal recruiters: understand the organization you’re supporting and any limitations before reaching out to candidates.

The warning signs of an impending layoff were visible to an attendee when her manager started asking for the status of projects and pushing for early completions. One person was blindsided but had already decided to leave anyway, so the surprise was also met with relief.

In addition to year-end layoffs we have also entered the “circle back” time of year when many put off responding directly to requests by saying they will need to “circle back” after the end of the year. Whether they do or not is debatable but there is no debating how easy is it to put people off with this response.

While some lamented the need to craft specific resumes for everyone job they applied for, a recruiter offered the “the glow one feels when talking about a role of opportunity they are passionate about” as a solid reason to continue the practice. Of course, you better feel the glow of interest in a job, otherwise applying might be a waste of time.

Hopefully, Pot of Coffee 3 was not.