Sending Paper Resumes To IT Recruiters
As an IT recruiter working for one of the fastest growing IT staffing companies Boston, we periodically receive paper resumes blindly sent from candidates in the information technology industry. Here are 3 reasons why prospective candidates should not send paper resumes to technical recruiters:
1) They get thrown away: IT recruiters Boston typically look at paper resumes as a sign that the candidates are not technically saavy enough to utilize email. Therefore, paper resumes are more of a red flag than a summary of one’s life technical work.
2) It “ages” you: Mailing your resume a decade+ ago was your only option of getting your informatioin to IT recruiting companies. Therefore, this is typically associated with a technique someone from an older generation would do. While you cannot IT job descriminate, this certainly does not help your chances of landing one of the technical jobs that the IT recruiting company has posted on their website.
3) They will not be added to the database: Because it’s paper, technical recruiters will have to scan the resume in order add it to their IT job database. When you’re looking at hundreds of technical resumes every day, and cal easily parse them with a click or two of a button, then human nature is going to win over and you’re not going to take the extra steps involved in scanning a resume into your IT staffing database (especially knowing #1 and #2 above).
Therefore, if you’re a prospective IT job candidate, save your forty-five cents and email your resume to as many IT recruiters CA and IT staffing firms as you can. Most will be added to their respective resume databases.
IT Staffing Sales is Like Fishing
IT staffing sales can be like fishing. Ultimately, the more lines that you cast in the water, the better your odds of catching that big fish (client). From the perspective of IT recruiting companies, the more calls that their salespeople put out, the more clients….and ultimately IT jobs….they’ll likely receive. While there are a number of important intangibles needed to be a successful salesperson in the technical recruiting industry, the one constant is activity.
If you’re considering working in a sales capacity for any of the local technical recruiting companies, you’ll have to understand that it takes heavy call volume to be successful. However, while many of the calls to prospective information technology managers are cold, they don’t all have to be. With the advent of Google and Linkedin, IT staffing salespeople can research the client company as well as the manager’s background before each call to try to find a commonality or value-add. Maybe IT recruiting firms Boston worked with the company in the past or the hiring manager worked at a pervious client. Whatever the reason, any knowledge can turn the call from cold to warm.
Not many IT recruiters truly like to cold call. However, the most successful IT recruiting firms teach their salespeople that it is a means to the end. It’s a means to make money. Therefore, if you’re going to go fishing, cast as many lines in the water as possible.
The Importance of Customer Service in IT Staffing
IT recruiting companies need to separate themselves from the competition. Outside of having the best IT recruiters and IT jobs, the best way for technical recruiting firms to do so it by providing excellent customer service. This means treating candidates they way they would want to be treated in return. IT staffing companies can treach their technical recruiters to go above and beyond by communicating, even overcommunicating, to candidates. If a high-tech candidate interviews for an IT job, their respective IT recruiter should keep them as updated as they are with the feedback. If a week passes and they don’t hear from the client, a simple call to the candidate saying they didn’t fall through the cracks or were forgotten. The IT staffing agency is still trying to reach the hiring manager for feedback.
Additionally, IT recruiters Boston should return every call as well as every email from prospective IT job candidates (unless of course they receive an excessive amount of communication from one individual).
Lastly, after a placement is made, the relationship should not end. Staying in touch with the information technology contractor and even going to their work facility to grab coffee or lunch are additional ways technical staffing companies can separate themselves from other IT recruiting firms.
IT Recruiters Work Late
The IT staffing industry is certainly not a 9-5pm. IT recruiters typically get into the office at 8am, then work until 6-7pm at night. The most successful technical recruiters then check their Blackberry or iPhone throughout the night and respond back to any strong/interested candidates for their IT jobs. The very best IT recruiters Boston also jump back online to conduct additional IT job searches from the comfort of their own home.
Due to the fact most all job boards, such as Monster, Dice, Careerbuilder and now Linkedin, and now many IT recruiting companies also have web-based databases such as Bullhorn, technical recruiters Boston can do much of their work from home and see the same user interface as they would in the office of their respective IT recruiting firm.
Therefore, if you’re entertaining becoming an IT recruiter, be sure you know what you’re getting into and the hours you’ll need to commit to in order to be successful. The harder technical recruiters MA work, the more commissions they ultimately make.
Identifying Top IT Talent
There’s an old saying that the best candidates are typically working and that that has never been more true than it is today in the world of Information Technology. With all of the gloom and doom that we are constantly being fed by the media about the economy, someone outside of the IT staffing industry would be forgiven for thinking that there would be an abundance of high tech candidates competing over a few IT job openings. That couldn’t be further from the truth. For that last few years as the economy as continued to falter, the demand for IT resources has increased at a rate that IT staffing companies and IT recruiting firms have struggled to keep pace with. While you won’t find most technical staffing firms and technical recruiting companies complaining about being one of the few positive growth areas throughout the recession, it has provided the unexpected challenge of finding, then retaining, IT candidates for their clients.
While most IT staffing firms and IT recruiting agencies will still use the traditional methods of searching for candidates such as the job boards and their proprietary database, the lack of quality information technology talent has forced many of the successful companies to go back to their roots and harvest candidates like they had to in the pre-internet days by doing a better job with networking, asking for referrals, and mining passive candidates. While some IT recruiters find some of these “old school” activities to be outside of their comfort zones, those IT recruiters Boston that have embraced these method have found themselves becoming increasingly successful. Gone are the days where a recruiter could be successful with a Monster password alone, today’s technical recruiters have to be much more aggressive and proactive and truly think outside of the box.
Great candidates are out there, and they are likely working, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be found or that they don’t want to be found. The difference is how we have to search.
Before Accepting an IT Job Counteroffer….
You have frustrations with your IT job, the company or the IT manager that you work for. Ultimately, you decide that you’re better in a different environment so you begin contacting IT recruiting companies to find your next opportunity. IT recruiters set you up with technical job interviews and you land a position that meets your skills and requirements.
When you give your notice, your IT manager comes back with a substantial counter offer to try to keep you from leaving. Do you keep it or leave your IT job? It’s a tough decision, but think about the following:
1) If you stay, management will always know that you were on the look out for other IT jobs.
2) If you stay, you’ll likely have a bulls-eye on your back as the company will know you were willing to break your loyalty and leave.
3) There was a reason why you contacted IT staffing companies in the first place. There was a reason why you accepted to go on IT job interviews from various technical recruiters. There was a reason why you wanted to leave. Unless it was purely financial, those reasons aren’t likely to change.
Contact our IT recruiters Boston here at AVID and jump-start your career.
Evaluating IT Staffing Companies
When it comes to choosing the right IT recruiting firm (among hundreds of IT staffing companies) to represent you with your job search, there are many options. A quick internet search for an IT staffing or IT recruiting company in any given location can yield overwhelming results. This can be a particularly challenging issue for many IT job seekers as choosing the wrong company can make the difference between getting their ideal job, or getting the runaround.
There are many factors one should consider when reaching out to IT staffing agencies or technical recruiting companies but here are a couple of quick tell-tale signs that let you know if you are on the right track. First off, doing a little research on a company can prove very revealing. Typically, where there’s smoke there’s fire so if you see a number of negative Google or Yelp reviews that should serve a good indicator for what you may be getting. It takes time for someone to add a review (good or bad) so if someone has taken the time to share their experiences with others, they’ve typically felt pretty strongly about what happened to them.
Next, what happens when you finally connect with IT recruiters. Do they seem genuinely interested in helping you with your career, by asking you questions about your past positions and experiences, in addition to your goals and aspirations moving forward. Or do they seem more interested in the positions they are currently working on and if you’ll be a fit for any of those openings. Reputable technical recruiters will want to spend a great deal of time getting to know you and what drives you, so they find the best opportunity for you. If you’ve determined any follow-up steps after your initial call or meeting some IT headhunters, does the IT recruiter call and/or email as scheduled. If they don’t do these basic things and appreciate and respect your time then there’s little chance that things will improve. You only get one chance to make a first impression and if this is a snap shot of the recruiter at their best, then you wouldn’t want to see them at their worst.
Ultimately, it’s very important for a candidate to remember that while IT staffing firms will be evaluating them as they search for a new position, they should also be evaluating the IT staffing agency. Making the wrong decision can seriously impact a candidates career.
Submit Your Resume to An IT Recruiter or Client?
You see an IT job posting for a company that you’re very interested in working for – then you see the same position posted by various IT recruiting companies. Who do you submit your resume to and do you submit to mulitple IT recruiters. The answer might surprise you. Submit your resume to the technical recruiter at the IT recruiting firm that is most reputable and/or you have a relationship with. Here’s why:
1) Submitting directly to the client could go into an HR black hole. Remember that not HR are trained to recruit on IT jobs. Therefore, even if they receive your resume, they may not know whether your a fit for the position.
2) Once you submit your resume directly to the client, you’re “their property.” Therefore, if IT recruiters Boston try to submit you thereafter, the company could reject it (then never even contact you).
3) The IT staffing company may have a relationship with the direct hiring manager. Therefore, by working through the IT recruiting agency, your resume may not only go directly to the source, the IT recruiter may be able to pursuade the IT manager to speak or meet with you based on their relationship.
Therefore, working directly with IT recruiting agencies is your best chance of landing that next information technology opportunity.