Getting That Raise
The Information Technology industry can be very profitable as long as you know your worth. You as an IT professional put in a lot of work to do your job and learn new things about your industry. Even after all the effort you put in, some of you may feel undervalued.
The first step you should take is evaluate your work and others who do the same as you. Make sure that you as an IT professional are going above and beyond your job title. You cannot expect your employer to approve a raise when the tasks you are fulfilling are only what are stated in the job description. As an employee in the IT industry, you need to go above and beyond if you want to get ahead.
Next, figure out exactly how much additional compensation you’re looking. This may be as simple as more vacation time or as complex as additional salary and/or bonus. If you ask for an increase in pay, try to find out what other people in similar IT jobs are being paid. Utilize IT recruiters Boston to help provide you with a compensation analysis. Leverage their knowledge of the rates and salaries in the IT staffing industry.
Once you gather this information, make a list so you know what arguments you will use when negotiating your raise.
Before you go into your boss’ office, do some research on your own company. Specifically, try to find out their budget and/or when their new budget numbers need to be reported. Timing is everything – getting in front of your boss at just the right moment may make the difference in hundreds or thousands of dollars to you.
For more suggestions or advice, contact one of the IT recruiters at AVID Technical Resources today: www.avidtr.com.
Is Technology Dumbing Down our Society?
Probably ironic that I pose this question being in the IT staffing industry and the fact that we rely upon technology as an IT recruiting company. However, I see more and more startling examples of technology actually hurting our intelligence. Speed and efficiency is an important driver for technological changes. However, these advances also have repercussions. Let’s take a look at three in particular:
Spell Check: What would we do without it? In the technical staffing industry, improper spelling can damage the credibility of an IT recruiter. Credibility is everything in the technical recruiting world – otherwise how do you expect a prospective candidate to take our IT jobs seriously? Spelling is not everyone’s strength. If you’re one of those who have a difficult time spelling the most basic of words, then you rely heavily on spell check. So why is spell check a problem? It’s a problem because people rely so heavily upon this technology; they are losing their ability to spell some of our most basic words. The result: spell check is actually dumbing down our society.
Phone Numbers: When you need a number, people typically scroll through their cell phones to find it. An individual’s address book in their phone is basically their lifeline and it contains virtually every important person, or place, in their life. However, what do you do if you lost your phone and need to reach out to someone immediately? What do you do in case of an emergency if you can’t access the numbers in your phone? If not for the simplicity of 911, how many emergency phone numbers, or even numbers to your closest friends and family, do you actually know off the top of your head? I still remember home phone numbers of the childhood friends I grew up with. However, I couldn’t come close to providing a single phone number from an immediately family member or best friend.
Text Messaging: This is the most obvious example. I’m amazed to find professionals in the IT recruiting industry send out emails like they’re written in text code. The need for speed and habit of sending short, choppy text messages is the biggest culprit of dumbing down our society. There is no room for such emails in the IT staffing industry, especially when technical recruiters are constantly trying to prove their credibility and value-add to prospective candidates.
In the end, as much as we rely upon the technologies described above, they do have some negative repercussions. Although we obviously should not abandon these advances, IT recruiters should be aware of their faults and make sure they compensate accordingly.