Survival Requires “Half-Full” Mentality
Carmine Marinaro has a unique view of the economy. He is filling jobs in an industry struggling to survive. As the owner of Corporate Information Systems, a Rutherford based executive placement service- or headhunter- Marinaro specializes in placing sales executives in high-tech companies.
Q. How would you describe the economy during the last two years?
A. I use the word “challenging”. It’s tough on everybody because of a combination of things. The high-tech industry that lifted the economy got to the point where things started to level off. It hasn’t been the best of scenarios.
Then you have Sept. 11. New York being the financial capital of the world, the attacks put a damper on a lot of things. Also, the business we are in requires a lot of flying to get to different parts of the country to interview people. That came to a screeching halt for a while. We’re starting to come out of it slowly.
Q. What hiring trends are you seeing?
A. I see CEOs are hiring, but they are doing it in different ways.
They are either replacing people who are not performing or adding selectively to their staff. It’s not like it was a couple of years ago when there was a lot of venture capital out there. Now if it is being distributed, it’s being distributed very carefully.
So, business has to be very careful when it hires or expands. And companies that want to hire are taking a lot longer to hire. Where we used to be able to expect a hiring in 30 days, it now takes three to six months. And there are no guarantees. Companies will take us through the process, and after three months decide not to hire.
Q. How are you adjusting?
A. First, you have to make sure you stay in business.
We’ve definitely held our own over the past couple of years, where other search firms have gone under. Two, some say you should look to expand in bad times because there may be opportunities you might not see. You have to look at being creative and innovative and trying to do things differently because times are more challenging. You can’t sit back and wait for the economy to improve, not as an entrepreneur. You have to be aggressive. So, I am looking. Maybe high tech is not growing.
We’re looking to diversify into other areas of discipline that are growing- health care, pharmaceuticals and biotech.
Q. Are you confident times will get better?
A. If people really focus and be somewhat proactive instead of sitting back waiting for things to get better, it’s only a matter of time until the economy turns around and we will be better than we were before.
It’s going to be a slow road, but overall 2003, when all is said and done, will come out in a positive way. This is the third recession I’ve been through. When you look back at all three, it was very simple. I went back to basics.
You have to work harder and things maybe you didn’t do in the past just to get back to even. Business owners have gotten away from some of the basics. You have to look at the glass as half full, not half empty.
