We get straight talk from two recruiters about the current job market and how to suss out opportunities.

Adam Strauss and Sanjeev Sharma are recruiters at Michael Page International. Strauss focuses on Consulting and Internal Strategy and Sharma’s specialty is Investment Banking and Asset Management.

Q: Is there any recurrent theme to the types of candidates you are seeing these days (i.e. a lot of junior bankers, or perhaps ballroom dancers)?

SS: Given the state of the Structured Credit and Leveraged Credit markets we have seen steady increase in candidates with from those markets. Fortunately, candidates with strong leveraged/credit skills will find alternatives given the size of those markets. Structured credit markets are essentially frozen and it will be some time before these areas look to add headcount.

AS: As always, we see a very broad range of candidates, however the real hot backgrounds are people that have Big 4 or top consulting firm experience as well as good experience working in derivative (any flavor) trade processing strategy or change management. Technology is increasingly hot, especially Straight Through Processing and Data Warehousing.

Q: What are your top three recommendations for someone who’s out of a job and brushing up that resume, reaching out to headhunters and generally pounding the pavement trying to get a job?

SS: Be proactive and specific. Posting your resume on efinancial Careers or Hotjobs and expecting to get results is naïve. Determine what your background and skills set are relevant for. Reach out to your network and recruitment firms with that game plan. And most importantly, listen: your network and recruiters will tell you what is realistic.

AS: 1. Resume: Don’t deviate from the norm. A nice, simple format with bullets and not paragraphs is key. Hiring managers want to look at a resume and make a decision in under 30 seconds. No one wants to read your life story or flowery prose about what you did for the last 3 years. I also am a big proponent of catering a resume to a job spec. Unfortunately a lot of people don’t read between the lines in a candidates background and they just want “buzz” word matches.

2. Interview: Always have clean, pressed business attire and shined shoes. Get a hair cut, and guys be cleanly shaven. (Simple things, I know, but it still has to be said - even to Wall Streeters.) If you have not interviewed in a while, work on walking through your resume, answering basic questions, and bone up on recent market news.

3. Exposure: More is not necessarily better. Sure, it’s a numbers game, but supply and demand works with job hunting as well. If you over expose yourself, you could face diluting your value or marketability. I would never post my resume on Monster, efinancialcareers, etc. Anyone can take it, change it, send it anywhere, any number of times.

Q: At what point is a multi-page resume justified?

SS: A multipage resume is only recommended for senior-level candidates. It’s also acceptable for mid-level candidates in Banking or Private Equity who want to highlight a transactional track record.

Q: What is the best way to get a recruiter’s attention in an introductory email?

SS: Again, have a game plan. Do not spray the inbox of a recruiter regarding positions you have little qualifications for. A follow up call is key.

AS: Keep it short and sweet. If you know that the recruiter is looking for OTC derivative experience, introduce yourself as someone that has that experience.

Q: What about advice for those who are trying to enter the sector for the first time — either undergrads and MBAs?

AS: As a recruiter is it very difficult to assist someone in a career change or starting a career. This might be overly simple, but our clients pay us relatively large sums for our services, and they do that only to get the best talent — talent that is hard to find. As you can imagine, it’s easy for Goldman Sachs or Boston Consulting group to find a recent MBA grad to work for them, they don’t need to use headhunters. With that said, my advice is to really work your personal or academic network, don’t be bashful.

Q: There’s been some reader questions about SAT & GPA and whether they should be on resumes. What’s your opinion?

AS: There’s no hard and fast rule here. My personal opinion is that unless you are around the 90th percentile, it’s pointless. If you had good SAT scores, you probably went to a good college, which means a lot more to employers than test scores. Of course, we do have clients that have minimum GPA (and sometimes SAT score) requirements; but I always let them ask, there’s no need to have them reject you straight away.

Q: We’re hearing a lot about investment banking layoffs, but how are private equity firms, hedge funds and venture capital holding out? Any firing, or just less hiring?

SS: Given the lack of liquidity in the credit markets is very difficult for Private Equity firms to get large deals done. However, PE firms focused on Middle Market are able to get funding. Hedge Funds that have not been hurt or blown up because of the markets, are opportunistically hiring especially in the Stressed/Distressed space, Emerging Market and International Equity

Q: What about pay for those in PE/HF/VC — any noticeable movement there?

SS: Private Equity – returns will come down, thus compensations will follow. Hedge Funds – compensation will be highly variable. Performance bonuses are fund/individual specific and generally there isn’t a “market rate” for hedge fund professionals that exists to a degree in Investment Banking and Private Equity world.

Q: How do recruiters evaluate resumes with a considerable (let’s say 1 year+) gap between jobs? For instance there’s probably a number of people with gaps after the dot com bust, how did they fare?

AS: First and foremost; if you fall in to this category, DO NOT lie about it. It will come back to haunt you. Be open and up front about the reason for the gap and if you are a great candidate with an invaluable skill set, it seldom makes a difference. People with gaps from the dot com bust are fine now - large industry trends are well known by hiring managers and as long as a hiatus is well explained, it’s generally fine. This also goes for recently laid off victims of the credit crunch, mortgage crisis, etc.

Q: In your opinion, where are the opportunities for those with an M&A background, if not at the major Wall Street banks — Hong Kong ? Dubai ? Perhaps in-house dealmaker?

SS: An M&A background is a highly valuable skill set. If you also have a language proficiency to match, Asia/Japan/Hong Kong and Latin America may be viable options. Going In-house is a bit more of a career change. It takes you out of the day-to-day pulse of the markets, but does offer work life balance and longer term stability.

AS: I see a lot of activity in Singapore, Dubai, and Brazil. M&A backgrounds are highly coveted by the Big 4 as well if that move makes sense for someone in M&A.

Q: Thanks for your time.

AS: My pleasure.