AVID is Hiring – Ready to Launch Your Career in Sales?
For the past 13 years, AVID has been growing at an explosive pace. From our first office in Boston, we’ve expanded into 12 offices spanning from coast to coast. AVID now has IT recruiters working in Boston, California, New York, Rhode Island, Texas, and Iowa. Even with all this explosive growth, though, one thing hasn’t changed: AVID has kept our team-oriented, work hard, play hard culture.
Work as a team: Everyone at AVID is team-oriented. We reach our goals together, even if we’re having a friendly competition. We provide extensive training and pair new hires with mentors. Managers are deeply interested in feedback from employees and their doors are always open. To read more about this, check out our Glassdoor reviews here.
Work hard: Our technical recruiters work hard to meet their goals, and they get to see their efforts reflected in their paychecks. AVID provides one of the most competitive commissions plans in the IT recruiting firms industry. Additionally, our recruiters enjoy solid base pay, vacation time, sick time, and a benefits package.
Play hard: AVID recruiters don’t just work hard, though. They play hard, too. When we hit our goals, AVID celebrates together. Every office has a TV that we use to recognize people’s accomplishments, run contests, and share company announcements. We have team outings to casinos, bowling lanes, beach houses, and more. We also do happy hours, birthday celebrations, and bagel breakfasts.
If you’re ready to catch on with one of the fastest-growing IT recruiting agencies in the country, check out the list of requirements below. Email careers@avidtr.com with a resume attached if you’re interested.
Requirements
– You are interested in sales.
– You are competitive and positive
– You prefer to be surrounded by a team.
– You have a work hard and play hard mentality.
– You are persistent, assertive and goal-oriented
– You are a problem solver.
– You are looking for a company where you can make an immediate impact.
One Easy Job Interview Mistake to Make– and Avoid!
IT recruiting agencies find that candidates make some mistakes in interviews that are pretty egregious. Maybe they are particularly late, rude, or can’t answer technical questions. However, IT recruiters also see candidates make subtler mistakes in interviews. Here’s one mistake you may not even know you’re making as you interview for IT jobs: not giving your interviewer a genuine weakness (if they ask for one).
What does this mean exactly? IT staffing companies find that often, candidates are tempted to give a weakness that isn’t actually a weakness. IT recruiting firms see candidates give weaknesses like “perfectionism”, that aren’t really weaknesses. The problem with giving answers like this when an interviewer asks for a weakness is that it comes across as disingenuous. Interviewers actually do want to hear a weakness from you. They need to see that you’re being open and honest with them in the interview. They also need to see that you’re a good fit for the job—so when you can’t list a weakness, it’s hard for them to ascertain if you’d do well in the role.
So how would IT recruiting companies suggest you tell an interviewer about a weakness in a genuine, effective way? Start by thinking about a weakness that wouldn’t affect your ability to do the job you’re interviewing for. For instance, for a job that doesn’t require you to manage anybody else, you could say you have a hard time sharing or delegating tasks. For a programming job that doesn’t require any client interaction, you might mention that your customer service skills are lacking.
The next step is to briefly talk about steps you’ve taken to improve on this weakness. You don’t want to go into excessive detail, but this part is important. Technical recruiters find that what really impresses interviewers is evidence that you’re able to improve upon your performance as an employee. This helps them to picture you as a self-motivated employee on their team, always striving to do better.
IT staffing firms suggest you wrap up your exchange about weaknesses by painting an optimistic picture of the future. Just a sentence here would suffice. You want to show your interviewer that you can see yourself continuing to improve on this weakness, perhaps using this improvement to enhance your performance at work.
3 Things Recruiters Will Need for Your Best Job Search
When you work with IT recruiting firms to find new IT jobs, they’ll be doing most of the work. They’ll find opportunities that you’d be a great fit for, set up interviews, etc. However, even with the best IT staffing companies, there are still some tasks you should be prepared to do:
1. Update and polish your resume. IT recruiting companies will help you edit your resume a bit, but this will mostly fall to you. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, nobody understands your experience and skills the way you do. Your IT recruiters can help shape a resume to fit a job opening better, but they don’t know about every project you’ve worked on or certification you’ve earned.
2. Research salary expectations for yourself before you call IT staffing agencies. It’s hard for Technical recruiters to get you a salary or rate you’re happy with if you don’t have at least a little input. And you can’t have valid input without doing some research to see what people with comparable skills and experience make in your area. Think of it this way: You’ll never be happy with the salary your IT recruiting companies get if you think it doesn’t pay you what you’re worth in your area. And you can’t know what you’re worth in your area if you don’t look into it.
3. Be ready to possibly take brief tests, submit some sample code, etc. Not all IT jobs require this, but some do. Obviously IT staffing firms can’t do either of these for you. And truthfully, you wouldn’t want anybody else to do them. These kinds of tests protect you from landing in a job you can’t succeed in. If you can’t pass a required test, you wouldn’t want that job, anyways!
4 Steps To Take When an Employee Resigns
It’s usually difficult for any employer when an employee resigns. However, it’s particularly difficult when you lose an IT professional. In today’s market, it can be difficult to find the right person for your open IT jobs. IT recruiting agencies suggest taking these 4 steps to make this loss for your team a lot easier—even if you have big looming deadlines.
1. Make a plan for knowledge transfer. IT staffing agencies suggest you start by taking time to figure out what information you will need to transfer to this employee’s replacement. Figure out how you’ll get this information. Will you have a meeting with the exiting employee? Will they train their replacement? Make a plan so you can get the new employee up to speed, no matter where the exiting employee was on a project.
2. Figure out what you need in a replacement. IT recruiting firms suggest you continue by pulling up the resume you hired this employee with (if you have it). Think about the strengths and weaknesses they brought to the position. Create a list of what you think you’ll need. The last thing to consider is if you need a full time employee to replace this person or if you need a contractor. IT recruiters can help you find either. There are certainly advantages to both.
3. Call your trusted technical recruiters. Meet with your IT recruiters and share the information you’ve gathered in steps 1 and 2. Be honest about what you need and give timelines for when you’d like to have the replacement employee. Share your knowledge transfer plan. The more you share with IT recruiting companies, the more they can help you find the best fit for your open job.
4. Consider taking feedback from the rest of your team as you complete the hiring process. IT staffing companies suggest you ask for feedback and guidance from you team, as they may have a uniquely useful perspective on what you’ll need in a new hire. It’s also important for the new hire to fit into your team. Corporate culture is highly underrated. Picking somebody who’s technically fit for the role and who gets along well with the team, end users, clients, etc will be far more successful.
Job Search Tip: Employers are Probably Googling You You
Some IT professionals are surprised when they find out that IT recruiters and potential employers Google them. Some even ask if it’s illegal. The truth is, if technical recruiters and employers aren’t running background checks on you, they’re very likely Googling you and checking out what you’ve posted publicly on social media. One of the best job search tips that IT recruiters can give you is that Googling candidates is not only legal, it’s normal.
Candidates should know that IT staffing companies and employers are very likely to see what they’ve posted on social media publicly or to find a blog if it’s obviously connected to them. Recent studies show that somewhere around 75 – 80% of employers will wind up doing at least some cursory Googling on a candidate before hiring them. In the tech field it’s especially common for candidates to be handling sensitive data or a company’s digital infrastructure. Sometimes this means that IT recruiting firms are required by law to run background checks on a candidate. Sometimes it just means the employer needs IT staffing agencies to do a more basic check (like Googling) on a candidate. Being able to trust a new hire, especially if they’re going to have access to a company’s sensitive data or digital infrastructure is paramount.
So what should you do to be ready for employers to Google you or do a background check? For a background check, it’s pretty easy to prepare. Your IT recruiting companies will often run these. They’ll ask you for a little information, your permission, and then they’ll proceed. If you have anything in your past that may hurt your chance at landing the IT jobs you’re being considered for, it’s important to speak to your IT staffing firms right away. Explain what you think they could find and why it shouldn’t impede you from being a great fit for the job. Sometimes IT recruiters can help advocate for you by explaining negative things that come up in a background check. They have the ear of the hiring manager, so they will often listen to the recruiter instead of just taking the candidate out of the running.
To get ready for IT recruiting agencies and potential employers to Google you, there are a few more steps. Start by cleaning up your social media. Delete any political, intolerant, and controversial posts. You should also delete any posts that show you doing things that are embarrassing. (It’s also best to just delete any posts that show you drinking.) Your goal is to edit down your social media to show a version of you that wouldn’t offend or throw off any potential employers. In a recent study by Careerbuilder, as many as 48% of employers have found things on social media that made them reconsider hiring a candidate. Potential employers have so little data about you when they make a hiring decision. For this reason, you don’t want any of it to possibly be negatively perceived. Once your online presence is cleaned up, test the waters and Google yourself. If everything that comes up would be ok for an employer to see, you’re ready for your best job search.
Using IT Recruiters Helps Employers with Healthcare Costs
Employers often work with IT recruiting firms to help fill their open positions for one main reason: because of how challenging it is to find the right candidates. The tech field is absolutely a job seeker’s market, with the tech unemployment rate in 2016 being only around 2%. Studies also show that tech professionals are voluntarily quitting jobs at a relatively high rate. This usually means that either they’ve been presented with better options from other IT recruiters or employers, or that they’re confident they will find a better option easily. But finding candidates in a tough hiring market isn’t the only advantage to working with IT staffing agencies. Many employers also work with technical recruiters to fill their IT jobs because they can help employers save money on rising healthcare and insurance costs.
It’s no secret that healthcare costs for employers have been rising since at least 2011 and will continue to in 2017. Costs will increase for employers by 6.5% over 2016. They’ll likely continue to increase by 5% next year. These increases are huge, but working with IT recruiting companies is one way to avoid them. IT recruiting agencies can help you do more than just hire the best person for the job—they’ll also take over costs like payroll and healthcare for these new hires. This kind of investment will continue to pay off for employers in the years to come, as the drivers of higher healthcare costs aren’t going away any time soon. A higher aging population is one factor here. Longer life expectancy is another. In addition to these factors, the nation-wide obesity epidemic has been pushing increased healthcare costs. All of these factors will continue to be prevalent for the foreseeable future.
So taking all of these factors into account, working with IT staffing companies to fill IT jobs is a way for employers to save money. Even if it were easy to find the right candidate for open IT jobs (which it most certainly isn’t), it will cost far less to hire and employ them long term if a company uses IT staffing firms.
Do You Know This Job Search ‘Secret’?
There are a few ‘secrets’ of job searching that IT recruiting agencies find candidates don’t always know. One of the most helpful ‘secrets’ that IT staffing firms share with candidates is that you don’t need to meet 100% of the requirements listed for a job in order to apply. Here’s why technical recruiters suggest you apply to jobs, even if you don’t meet every bullet point in the description.
1. Particularly in the tech field, things are constantly changing. Technologies change, client needs change, and the scope of projects change. This means a company’s hiring needs are constantly changing too. If a project changes, it could mean a company that needs to fill a job may suddenly tell their IT staffing agencies to seek out candidates with a slightly different skill-sets. If you meet most of the requirements of IT jobs, you may be exactly what an employer is seeking—they just didn’t know it when they posted a job description.
2. A job posting is often more of a wish list. Especially in the US, where there’s a real lack of qualified IT professionals, employers may realize that they can’t find somebody with all the skills or experience they want. Or perhaps they realize that they can’t meet the salary needs of somebody who would match their job posting perfectly. This is why IT recruiting firms suggest you apply to jobs you meet most of the requirements for: you may be the perfect candidate for this employer, even though you don’t tick off every box on their list. Your skills and experience may be enough to take on the role they’re hiring for.
3. The last reason IT staffing companies recommend applying for a job you’re not a perfect match for is that you may have the kind of personality or soft skills that make up for a technical deficit. Tech employees are becoming more integrated in companies and working more with end users or clients, people skills are becoming a paramount part of IT roles. You might be missing a few technical requirements for a desktop support role. However, if you have excellent customer service skills and infinite patience, you could still be the right person for the job.
Hire Tech Talent in a Job Seeker’s Market
If you’re working with (or thinking about working with) IT recruiters to fill your IT job openings, you’ve probably noticed that the tech job market is more of a job seeker’s market. IT staffing firms have found this to be true for a long time, and it will likely continue for a while, too. So how do you attract and retain the kind of talented IT professionals your team needs? Here are a few things IT recruiting agencies see as consistently effective for getting and keeping great tech talent.
Perks or money: Conventional advice for most fields says that perks and money can’t be the only way you attract and keep talent. IT staffing companies do find that money and perks play a slightly bigger role in the tech field, though. Because there is such a dearth of IT professionals in the US, IT professionals often wind up getting passive offers for jobs making more money. IT recruiting firms find that paying your talent market rates becomes more imperative in tech than it may be in other fields.
Management: It’s important to note that research says that perks and money can’t be the only thing you use to attract and keep great talent, though. Management is as important, if not more. Research says that people often leave jobs to get away from bad bosses. Recent studies have shown that people who feel micromanaged are 28% more likely to leave a job. People who feel overwhelmed by their workload are 31% more likely to leave their job.
Problems with management may also be intertwined with problems with compensation. If an IT professional doesn’t feel like he or she can communicate with their boss, they won’t feel like they can ask for a raise. This deprives a company of a chance to keep great talent—maybe they can provide the raise to keep the employee, but just don’t know that they should.
Company culture: Though it seems more frivolous, technical recruiters find that company culture is important when it comes to keeping and attracting great talent. Recent studies show that people who don’t like their company’s culture are 15% more likely to leave their IT jobs. Peer and boss relationships make a big difference too. If IT professionals enjoy working with the people around them, (including their team, end users and clients they may have to interact with) they’ll find a way to deal with problems they may have with their current jobs.
When it comes to attracting talent, Glassdoor is now heavily used by job seekers. So take the time to make sure your company culture is great and that it’s well represented on Glassdoor. Deal with and respond to negative reviews (especially if they have actionable feedback). Consider soliciting positive reviews. You want prospective tech employees to know that working at your company isn’t just profitable– it’s a good way to spend 40 plus hours of their week.
3 Things You Should Do the Old Fashioned Way in Tech Interviews
When you’re working with IT recruiting companies to find your next role, sometimes it can feel like technology rules the job interview process. You might do a skype interview, connect with your IT recruiters on LinkedIn, or maybe complete a coding test online. But there are some things that you really should do the old-fashioned way. Here are 3 things that IT staffing companies suggest you consider doing the more traditional way, even if you’re applying for IT jobs using the most cutting edge technologies.
1. Send a hand-written thank you note. If your IT recruiting firms can pass the note along for you or give you the address, a hand-written thank you note after a job interview can go a long way. This is especially true for thoughtful notes that go beyond a generic template. Time and again IT staffing agencies have seen that good thank you notes can be your secret weapon in a job search—they can be your last, and best, impression on an employer.
2. Bring hard copies of your resume and any presentation or applicable portfolio materials you might use. Sometimes your technical recruiters will bring the hard copies of your resume for you, but you’ll always need to bring your own hard copies of your presentation or applicable portfolio materials. You may be showing some examples of past work on a computer or a projector, but you should also try to provide a hard copy for everyone in the interview if it makes sense to do so.
3. Wait for your interviewers quietly, with your smartphone put away. Even if you have to wait for a while, IT recruiting agencies find that it makes a far better impression if you use that time to look over your presentation materials, resume, etc. Avoid playing games, answering emails, texting, or browsing the internet on your smartphone. Send your interviewers the message that this interview is your priority at this moment—nothing else.
Hiring from a Great Candidate Pool
Most employers know that a bad hire can be very costly. Sometimes employers have a more subtle problem, though: making a final choice between a few candidates. When you have a couple of candidates who possess all the technical skills and experience you’re seeking, how do you pick the one to hire? Here are a couple of tips that IT staffing firms suggest you consider when you need to choose between great candidates.
Think about, or ask the IT recruiting firms you’re working with, if the candidates you’re choosing between have ever worked in a similar kind of company and corporate culture before. For instance, are they used to the kind of autonomy your company gives employees? Or are they used to the kind of teamwork this project or work requires? This is something you may find on their resume, but it’s exactly the kind of info your IT staffing agencies are happy to find out for you. Even if a candidate hasn’t worked in a similar corporate culture before, your technical recruiters can still help you figure out if they would fit into yours. They understand what the candidate is looking for in their next role, including work environment, so they have a more in-depth insight into questions like this.
Ask yourself, and anybody else who interviewed the candidates, a simple question. Which candidate would you, your typical end users, or clients, and the rest of your team, most like to invite to a happy hour? Sometimes a candidate has the right personality to really click with your team or, more importantly, the end users or clients they’d be serving. Maybe they’re laid-back and have a sense of humor that would serve your start-up well. Personality isn’t everything, but IT recruiters have seen time and again that when it comes to roles that support clients or end users, it can be very important. It can also make a big difference when you’re working on a small team that needs to collaborate well. The bottom line is, IT staffing companies suggest that if you’ve got a few candidates that are great technically, use personality as another factor in the decision. The most successful hires for IT jobs are usually people that you, your end users, and clients enjoy working with.
