Infrastructure Support - IT Staffing Services

Re-Adjusting Existing Paradigms in Technology Education

In the interest of cultivating the future technical candidates of tomorrow, educational institutions need to assess the paradigms currently in place for technology education, and recognize the ways in which they need to change. In the rapidly evolving high-tech industry, the leaders in the technology field are not only technically proficient — they need to have strong critical thinking skills and solid communication skills. These are the “soft skills” that supplement the technical expertise of the top-earning technical consultants, and that are the critical factor in their income levels. Technical employers need IT staff that can not only deliver on the technical side, but that can also operate successfully as a member of a team, and as contributor to company culture.

In an increasingly competitive, technology-driven part of history, customers no longer have a small range of choices when it comes to selecting technology services. For that reason, the service itself loses central importance, since so many competitors are offering comparable products, and the true distingishing factor becomes the relationship companies maintain with their customer bases. The ability to build and keep those relationships, and by association, keep client retention rates high, depends on techncial candidates committed to that mission. It also necessitates a certain level of communication and critical thinking ability when challenges do arise. The technical candidates that are able to display those qualities will always have an IT staffer‘s ear, and lots of options when contacting technical recruiting firms.

Building Digital Literacy in the High Tech Industry

It’s said that the 21st century is the information age. Yet, despite a societal overload of information, technical employers often have difficulty finding technical candidates at the knowledge & performance level that they require for company operations. The gap between employer demand and job-seeker skill-sets indicates a lack of digital literacy in the high tech industry. Technical candidates currently working outside the IT industry, and looking to make a lucrative switch into the high-tech world can bolster their marketability by increasing their digital literacy levels. Technical candidates who develop a detailed plan of action for technical self-educating will give themselves a competive advantage over other candidates.

Speaking and meeting with IT recruiters can be an extremely valuable part of the game plan for a technical candidate. Technical staffers have a bird’s eye view of the technical industry, are familiar with the key players, and know what pay grade ranges specific technical skill sets bring, and what level of performance within those skill-sets technical employers require. IT staffers speak with technical employers on a nearly daily basis, and have a good grasp of what they’re looking for. Whether it’s interview tips, resume polishing, or basic skillsets, an IT staffing company can be an excellent resource for a consultant looking to build his or her digital literacy.

The Next Generation of IT Experts

As a society and an economy, the need for technical specialists is global. In an age increasingly dependent on technology, the demand for technical consultants is massive and growing. How do educators cultivate interest in technology in grade and high-schoolers in order to motivate the next generation of technical talent? There are 3 levels on which the cultural & societal biases affect a young person’s exposure to the idea of the field of high-tech as an attractive career path.

The first is reputation. The prevalent social bias is that a career in high-tech is stereotyped as lacking glamor. When high school students envision a dream career, they are culturally pre-programmed to daydream about lucrative careers in the entertainment industry – becoming a pop sensation, or a competitive dancer. Careers that require a higher qualification level than pure talent supplemented with training, but which still project a socially glamourous image — being a hot shot lawyer or politician, also make young people’s radars as a dream job, but a career in tech doesn’t usually strike young imaginations the same way.

The second is a basic lack of information. It’s rare for Java experts to come to a high school and talk about their passion for tech, or even for IT recruiters to visit high schools to network with a potential new crop of tech experts. Teachers who introduce the topic in the classroom, and invite technical colleagues to give presentations in class can potentially spark interest in students still trying to make decisions about a career path. In addition, more classes in computer science can add to student’s knowledge of tech and comfort level with it. The fact that many students take their first computer science course as a college requirement is indicative of the dearth of teaching available on this topic on the pre-secondary education level.

Lastly, the family environment on the microcosmic level (in the US, at least), doesn’t emphasize the importance of advanced technical skills. While parents may stress as part of basic parental advice the significance of academic achievement, good writing & spelling skills, or communication abilities in general, conversations about how lucrative and in-demand high tech skills can be are far from commonplace. Parents who suggest that their children meet with IT recruiters in high school and college to consider the advantages of gaining technical expertise, or speak with counselors to weigh pros and cons will have fully explored options for high levels of income that their peers may never have realized were available. Now that’s competitive advantage.

Technical Consultants in Research & Development

Technical contractors & permanent employees working in technical research & development know that the information technology industry moves at warp speed, and that keeping up-to-date with technical change can pose a challenge. Research & development, especially in technology, is also often key to a firm’s level of success or failure, leading to intense competition. IT specialists who have a strong interest in keeping his or her firm at the forefront of technological innovation will need to have well-formulated strategies in place in order to surpass the competition’s work. New product creation is one way that a company can pull ahead, and the technology behind it is the responsibility of top-performing IT professionals.

Innovative technical consultants are exactly the type of candidate technical employers seek to hire, and that IT staffing firms can place almost instantly. When working with a technical staffing agency, a technical professional should highlight projects in which he or she had a lead contribution to the invention or implementation process for new technologies. Technical employers that sell or market products, systems, & services need energetic technical candidates to develop and design technical applications. Crucial to the process of innovation is the ability of the members of the team responsible for implementing the new technology to collaborate with one another. This requires teamwork skills in addition to the technical skills required to bring new ideas in technology from theory to practice. Technical recruiters are always open to talking to candidates possessing both of these skills, so candidates who are confident in their abilities in those areas should contact an IT staffing firm for opportunities.

Mapping Out a Technical Professional’s Career

For the technical professional, the job-hunting process involves careful planning. Making the next technical career step within the system requires understanding fully what current roles a technical professional can expect to move into within a  few years of time building the skills that are the focus of his or her current role. Aside from planning out his or her individual career trajectory, the technical professional will want to be aware of the state of the IT job market, and the level of demand that exists both for his or her current technical skillset, but also for the types of technical skills that can be gained by obtaining a technical certification, additional schooling, or by seeking a new IT job position.

The interviewing experience is a key part of the career preparation process. Feeling at ease during an interview may not come naturally to a highly skilled technical professional who may not have a lot of interpersonal interaction over the course of a typical work day. A technical candidate may be adept at managing the stress that comes with tight deadlines and highly precise assignments, but not be as familiar with the anxieties that can arise during interviewing when facing a stranger for the first time, especially highly accomplished members of a company’s upper management elite. Technical candidates who work with IT staffing firms have a valuable resource in the technical recruiter that is easy to capitalize on. Asking a technical staffer for advice on resume crafting, cover-letter writing, and interviewing tips or engaging in mock interviews with him or her can be the difference between getting invited in for an interview and getting invited back for an offer. Ultimately, that’s the bottom line – for IT headhunters and technical candidates alike!

Review: “The Inside Scoop: Recruiters Share Their Tips on Job Search Success with College Students”

College students or recent grads considering a career in technical recruiting will want to pick up a copy of The Inside Scoop: Recruiters Share Their Tips on Job Search Success with College Students. A lucrative career in the IT staffing industry can be a great career option for motivated young professionals. As Cunningham points out, an internship at an IT recruiting firm can be a great way to learn more about the industry. Since a big part of IT recruiting is understanding the qualifications for the job, and giving IT contractors advice that may give them a better chance for an open IT job than other IT consultants competing for the job, this book can be very helpful for the novice IT recruiter looking to learn the basics of the job.

As any IT recruiter working in the information technology industry knows, a lot of the work IT staffing firms engage in happens behind the scenes. Chapters covering the best techniques for writing resumes and cover letters can serve IT hiring managers well, so that they are both familiar with these skills themselves but also able to coach IT contractors on those fronts. Interview questions common to various technical positions and dressing to make a good impression are key topics for any IT recruiter to make sure his or her candidate is well-versed in before an interview.  As any successful interviewer knows, the key to turning the interview opportunity into an offer is the ability to close well. A strong thank you note, negotiating skills, and conveying positive qualities through non-verbal cues all play  a key role in the successful interviewer’s arsenal. Technical consultants and IT recruiters will find this book to be a practical guide to success in the information technology industry.

Review: “Top Secret Executive Resumes: Create the Perfect Resume for the Best Top-Level Positions”

A technical candidate who turns to a technical staffing firm like AVID Technical Resources for executive search purposes will want to take a look at Top Secret Executive Resumes: Create the Perfect Resume for the Best Top-Level Positions. In this book, Provenzano culls from over 20 years of experience as a certified resume writer to delve into the elements that go into a high-level technical executive’s resume. Technical Recruiters are well-versed in the art of editing technical resumes in order to highlight past technical experience and skills in a way that markets and develops their skill-set for the highest visibility level for a technical employer’s critical eye.

Provenzano inserts over 150 pages of genuinue executive-level resumes in the book for prime examples of what technical candidates want to use as a model when crafting a technical resume. IT staffing firms looking to keep a competitive edge will find the insights useful for technical candidates, and IT staffers focused on providing solid resume-editing advice. The book also offers before and after examples to display the kind of transformation a technical resume can undergo to bring simply stating technical skill-sets to selling technical employers on their specific value to their company and open position.

Review:”Technical Screening – SQL Server Developer”

Obi Ogbanufe’s Technical Screening – SQL Server Developer helps technical recruiters develop a more efficient technical screening process for vetting candidates. The book discusses how to compare a technical candidate’s skills and background to the technical role requirements, and use cues in a candidates’ technical resume to best determine a match. One challenge Ogbanufe identifies for the technical recruiter is the issue of appearing confrontational when asking screening questions that ultimately determine whether or not the recruiter will get an interview with the employer. The nature of these types of questions is that they weed out the weaker links from the stronger ones, so offending a candidate accidentally by touching on a candidate’s technical limitations during the screening process is an easy mistake to make. The trick to preventing stepped-on feelings in technical candidates during the screening process is a technical recruiters’ savvy and diplomacy when delivering the questions. This book enumerates strategies and tactics to make conversations with the best technical candidates, as well as the not-so-best go smoothly. Technical Staffing Agencies can take cues from these concepts to make interviewing technical candidates a breeze.

The book also tackles the issue of efficiency. The IT Staffing Firm that can land more technical candidates in less time without sacraficing quality in the skills of the candidates submitted will make better use of company time than less-efficient IT Staffing Agencies. Technical Staffing Firms know that time is money, so time well spent means happy technical recruiters and technical hiring managers. If technical headhunting is a game of minutes, Ogbanufe shows how to best track those minutes to add up to hours that count. Technical recruiting companies will find tips in this book on understanding the job description of the SQL Server Developer more fully in order to best understand the type of technical candidate best suited to filling the role, and a guide to the technical terms most common in job descriptions for these roles. Finally, the book delves into the art  and science of building relationships with these technical candidates, and keeping the communication lines open. That’s something that anyone in technical recruitment will find valuable!

Personality Testing for Technical Recruiters & Employers

Technical recruiters at AVID Technical Resources know that personality determines more than just what movies you like or what type of music you prefer. Personality tests, possibly the most famous of which is the MBTI test; the Myers Briggs Personality Test, allow employers to predict a candidate’s potential fit for a specific job using their psychological profile. It might seem counter-intuitive at first — how can something as subjective as a personality shed light on something as fairly objective, like how much a candidate’s level of experience qualifies him or her to perform specific duties? While a personality test won’t tell technical recruiters or employers how well a candidate with Java on his or her resume can actually perform when the timer or the pressure’s on, it can reveal the changes of a good candidate/employer fit.

Fit matters to employers because they’re invested in a specific company, with a unique culture and coworkers who belong to a team. A resume tells technical recruiters and technical employers part of the story, but careful employers want the other piece of the puzzle to be in place also – fit. Anything that’s important to an employer is also important to a staffing firm partnering with that employer. A technical candidate may see a technical job opportunity as a chance to reach career goals, or stay within an industry he or she likes. It may even be a chance to switch industries into an area that interests the candidate. In this way, the candidate may be the victim of a little tunnel vision, failing to take into consideration the big picture for the long term. The right job is more than an opportunity, or the label of the ‘right’ industry for the technical job-seeker. It’s the chance to take a first step up a long ladder of rewarding challenges, and if personality conflicts are going to do in the candidate from the start, no one wins. Employers need to reinstate their search for technical candidate with the right technical skills to fulfill the demands of the role their company needs, and and technical candidates are on the job search again. A better approach is to acknowledge that personality plays a big role in a company – how good of a team player a technical candidate has the potential to be depends to a large degree on the amount of common ground coworkers share.

Technical candidates may be asked to take a personality test for an interview, but they may find taking one on their own just as useful for their job search as it is to employers. A personality test can give a candidate data regarding his or her levels of extroversion versus introversion, and open up job possibilities not previously considered. It could give a candidate clues on which industries are likely to be the best match, or what personality types he or she should look for in potential coworkers when interviewing. You know what? Those Myers and Briggs…they may have been on to something.

Review: Technology Made Simple for the Technical Recruiter

Technical Recruiters will find “Technology Made Simple for the Technical Recruiter: A Technical Skills Primer” by Obi Ogbanufe helpful for developing recruiting strategies and tech skills. AVID Staffing Firm employs IT Recruiting techniques covered by Ogbanufe in her book. Details she delves into include basic programming terms, networking tips, & operating system/network vocab. She even instructs on the art of knowing when a prospective candidate seems to be claiming levels of experience above what’s  present in their work background.

IT Staffing Agencies like AVID Technical Resources will do well to take note of Ogbanufe’s insight and advice. Her experience and familiarity with the topic can be of value to any technical recruiter looking to brush up on a rookie skillset, or polish a seasoned technical career. In an industry that changes at lightning speed, keeping on top of acronyms is key for technical recruiters, and they’ll find the latest and most thorough information in this book. Pick up a copy of ” Technology Made Simple for the Technical Recruiter: A Technical Skills Primer” today, and get smarter!