RECOMMENDATION

REPORT

Unit 2: Employee Recommendation Report

Jake Voigt
Recommendation Report
For
Drew Berens

Prepared for English 320

By Jake Voigt

Distributed 10/12/2010

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 Table of Contents
List of Figures…………………………………….. IV
Summary………………………………………….. V
Introduction……………………………………….. 1
Job Criteria………………………………………... 2
Location………………………………….. 2
Travel…………………………………….. 3
Salary and Benefits………………………. 4
Professional Enjoyment………………….. 5
Conclusion and Recommendation………………… 5
Work Cited………………………………………... 7

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Table of Travel…………………………………. 3
Figure 2: Table of Salaries…………………………………4

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 Summary
This recommendation report is to help Drew Berens, a student at North Dakota State

University, decide which of three possible job opportunities he should take. Drew has a passion

for working with computers, especially with the challenge of making hardware and software

compatible. After college Drew would like to start a career in a field where he knows he is

making a difference while also pursing the ever present challenge of changing technology.

Drew has narrowed his career choices down to working for the Internal Revenue

Service(IRS), the Department of Defense or Laserfiche. I have found the position with the IRS

would be the best fit for you because of the location, amount of travel, salary and benefits, and

professional enjoyment. After reading this report you will be further informed in detail on each

of these job criteria.

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 Introduction

After graduating from college comes the difficult and very important decision of

determining which job would fit the individual’s personal and professional needs. Which career

you choose has a major affect on the path your life may take in the future and also where you

live and raise a family. When you pick a career you need to look at many aspects that come with

this career, such as, location, amount of travel, salary and benefits and finally being able to enjoy

your job.

With your education and degree the sky is the limit. Your skills will forever be in need in

the world and there will always be new technology that needs to be designed and fixed. In this

report I will try to compare the different job offers and look into all the aspects of these jobs and

determine which one would be the best fit for you. In this report I will look further in detail at the

location, amount of travel, salary, benefits and also professional enjoyment of your job.

After reviewing your questionnaire and interviewing you I have created a certain set of

criteria which I believe are important to you. On a professional level I think a constant challenge

is what you crave, while listening to you talk about the integration of hardware and software it

was evident it meant a lot to you. I also believe professionally you want to feel like you make a

difference in the world with your career. On a personal level I think you are a definite family

man, someone who is going to care about their wellbeing and support. You want to raise your

children in a safe environment somewhat like the one you grew up in, in central South Dakota.

You also expressed a desire to watch your children grow both in person and athletically which

shows me just how much you would like to be around home and not on the road. I took all of

these things in to consideration as I wrote this report and this is what I found.

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 Job Criteria

Location

The first thing I decided to consider was the location of the different positions. The

position with the most different options was working for the IRS, which had open positions in

Lanham, MD, Martinsburg, WV, Austin, TX, Memphis, TN and Ogden, UT. The remaining two

had open postions in one city only, San Diego, CA for the Department of Defense and Long

Beach, CA for Laserfiche. Based on the location of each of these positions I believe working for

the IRS in Ogden, UT would be the best fit for you because it is a slightly smaller town

compared to the rest and it is in an environment similar to what you grew up in South Dakota

with it being more of a rural community not far from many outdoor activities.

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 Travel

The next thing I looked at in determining the best opening for you was amount and distance of

travel. For the IRS travel would be very limited and may only be required for additional training

at the most. For the Department of Defense travel would again be very limited with the majority

of your work being from a central office. Finally for Laserfiche regional travel would be required

but only for a couple days out of the month. After reviewing these results I believe the best fit

would be either the IRS or the Department of Defense.

Company Amount of Travel

Internal Revenue Service Limited and for training only.
Department of Defense Limited and for training only.
Laserfiche Regional for a couple days a month

for selling products and also for

additional product service and info.

Salary and Benefits

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Next on my list of criteria for you was salary and benefits. I made this one of the least important

factors because after interviewing you and looking at the possible job openings I determined any

of the three jobs would pay more than enough to support your family and needs also all of the

companies offered excellent benefits. The starting salary for the IRS is $96,000-$155,000 a year

with benefits including, competitive salaries, bonuses and incentive awards, 10 paid holidays, 13

days sick leave, 13 to 26 days of vacation time, vision, dental, life and long-term care insurance

and a retirement program. The starting salary for the Department of Defense is $74,000 -$97,000

a year with benefits which include, health and life insurance, retirement programs, paid holidays,

sick leave and vacation time, flexible work environment, paid employment related training and

education, payment of licenses, certification and academic degrees as applicable, bonuses,

incentives and awards. Finally the starting salary for Laserfiche is $70,000 with benefits

including competitive salary, free catered lunches, 401(k) retirement plan, flexible spending for

health care or child care, medical, dental, vision coverage and paid vacation, game room with

ping pong, foosball and pool tables.

Company Salary
Internal Revenue Service $96,000-$155,000
Department of Defense $74,000-$97,000
Laserfiche $70,000

Professional Enjoyment

Finally the last thing I looked at was the professional enjoyment, for this I looked at what each

job would entail and if by doing this job you would make a difference in the world. After

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researching the kind of work you may be doing at Laserfiche I decided this might not fit this

requirement because you would be doing more of a salesman job compared to working with

changing technology career. The next job I looked at was the Defense Department which would

entail designing and working with system for national defense and helping our troops in different

countries. The third job was the IRS and that position would include working with the

modernization and information technology and security division. Both of the last two would be

rewarding careers because you would know at the end of the day you may have saved someone’s

life or you may have saved someone the worry of making ends meet.

Conclusion and Recommendation

After looking at each of these companies more in-depth and comparing many aspects of

your professional and personal wants and needs I believe the IRS position would be the one to

best fit your needs. With this position you could live in an ideal location like Ogden, UT, with

having to travel being extremely rarely, earn a decent salary with many benefits and most

importantly I believe this job would challenge you every day. On a professional level this job

would allow you to always have that challenge you crave. While you will also be able to keep up

with changing technology because the systems needed to keep track of the finances and people

of our nation will continue to get harder and more complex every day. Most importantly at the

same time you will get a professional sense of satisfaction knowing that you have helped

families keep track of their financial data, allowing them to not worry as much about their

finances.

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Works Cited

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Computer Engineer. “Computer Engineering Opening.” USAJOBS. USAJOBS. 2
Sept. 2010. Web. 27 Sept. 2010.

Defense Contract. “Computer Engineer.” Jobs. Career Builder. 17 Sept. 2010.

Web. 28 Sept. 2010.

Laserfiche “Laserfiche Careers.” Laserfiche. Laserfiche. 25 May2009. Web. 27

Sept. 2010.

Laserfiche. “Presales Engineer.” Laserfiche. Laserfiche. 22 Sept. 2010. Web. 28

Sept. 2010.

Resources for DoD Civilians. “Pay and Benefits.” US Department of Defense. Us

Department of Defense. 21 Jun. 2010. Web. 27 Sept. 2010.

US Treasury. “Careers at Treasury.” US Treasury. US Treasury. 19 May 2010.

Web. 27 Sept. 2010.