Telecommunications Staffing & Recruiting

What Makes a Work Environment Desirable for a Technical Professional?

IT staffers working with top-performing technical candidates know that when it comes to choosing a company, reputation matters. IT professionals at the top of their game want to work for a company that both compensates them well, and has a sterling, instantly recognicable reputation. Driven professionals who worked hard to get where they are now in their career will be conscious of prestige, and hold out for a company that they can be proud to be associated with, and tell friends and family about. In addition, top technical consultants expect a certain level of respect, and will be aware of companies with a reputation for not treating employees well. An IT staffer who tries to interest an advanced technical candidate in a company that falls into this category will be wasting both parties time. These professionals have expectations, and they won’t settle for less than what they’ve come to be familar with in a job environment.

Technical staffing agencies that cultivate good relationships with the best companies on the market, and have a good grasp of which companies have the highest employee retention and satisfaction rates will be able to make better matches with technical candidates that IT firms that aren’t as knowledgeable about these dynamics. Recognition is also important. Top technical talent works hard and efficiently, and if there is no recognition from the company they work for that this type of work ethic sets them apart from the average employee and deserves commendation, the technical consultants will go elsewhere. An IT headhunter who keeps close tabs on the companies that have both the atmosphere, compensation, and recognition levels that top IT techs require will have the best success levels placing candidates, and keeping them.

Models of the Technological Innovation Process

In today’s environment of technological change, keeping track of the increasingly complex innovation process can be aided by tools like models. Past conventional perspectives on the technical innovation process focused on the market pull & technology push theories. These theories about technological advancement evolved into Interactive/Coupling model. Responding to the premise of the market pull/tech push concept, which viewed technological innovation as a reactive force responding to the market as a source of inspiration, the Interactive/Coupling model suggests that the market joins forces with a technological void to fill a need for consumers.

IT recruiters can take these models and their premises into consideration when placing technical candidates in innovative, technological solutions-oriented companies. Technical staffing firms that understand the role of the market in IT job demand, in particular for technical innovators, will be able to meet technical employer demand with IT candidates that have the qualifications for the job, and know what those firms are looking for in a technical consultant. The information technology industry depends on change, and mapping the direction of that change through models of the innovation process can bring clarity to technical job-seekers and IT staffers as they conceptualize the current technological landscape.

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!

Leadership in Tech

Managers working in technology need to have well-developed leadership skills to compliment their technical qualifications. Technical recruiters understand that technical employers that partner with IT staffing firms seek technical candidates that are both tech-savvy and display strong interpersonal skills. Technical managers need to be skilled in technical training, which has it’s own language. Being familar with this language and conveying it articulately to new technical hires is a key focal point of a technical managers responsibilites. IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies speak to technical candidates over the phone to guage leadership ability, and technical employers hiring candidates for a technical management position will definitely ask interview questions aimed at determing a technical candidate’s level of proficiency in that area.

Landing a top-paying technical job involves not just qualifications, but also the ability to recognize the highly subjective nature of the hiring process. A technical candidate who uses these variables to his or her advantage has the highest chance of walking away with a job offer. Complimenting an interviewer on a wardrobe choice at the start of the conversation won’t compensate for an incomplete technical skillset, but if a candidate’s qualifications are solid, and the candidate can convey strong confidence in his or her area of technical expertise, starting the interview conversation on a positive note can only help make a positive impression and break any tension in the air from the start. Keeping these subtelties of the interviewing process in mind will help skilled technical professionals move into management with ease.

How Technical Professionals Can Engineer a Strong Career Path

Entry-level technical professionals starting an IT career in a job market where those skills are in high demand want to set themselves up for long-run success. As IT staffing agencies know, technical consultants in today’s corporate environment need interpersonal skills to compliment technical expertise — being technically proficient along in the current information technology industry is not enough. Communcation skills play a key role in a technical consultant’s success in many roles, but is not a skill emphasized in engineering school. For that reason, technical recruiting agencies need to be able to accurately judge communcation skills in interviews, because technical recruiters will be sure to if they invite a candidate in for an interview.

As IT headhunters knows, success in business cannot be reduced to a simple formula. Excelling as a technical contractor involves a mix of interviewing finesse that IT staffers can help prep a technical candidate for, and the technical skill level required for the role. Technical recruiters can partially assess the skill component by a careful review of a technical candidate’s resume and credentials, but soft skills that can’t be captured fully by a resume (such as creativity), but nonetheless play a significant role in a technical employer’s hiring decision are abilities that the interview is designed to showcase. IT staffing firms can provide interview advice to technical candidates, but ultimately, making the best impression and displaying proficiency during an interview is a responsiblity only the candidate can assume. Being sure of communications, interpersonal skills, and creativity in problem-solving is a technical candidate’s best best at insuring that his or her technical skills are complimented for the full picture. Presenting the full picture is the secret to getting an offer, so technical candidates should focus on these skills throughout their careers, not just on the area of expertise that determined that their career path would be focused on the information technology industry.

Technical Professionals Adjusting to a Project Management Role

Technical Professionals who have become experts in their chosen areas of technical talent may find their career trajectory leading them into a management role, and realizing, once in that role, that their job experience so far hasn’t prepared them for the pressures and challenges of IT management. Project management, a standard step in the promotion ladder in IT, is not only an advancement, it’s a major career shift with a new set of responsibilities and skills required. IT professionals who have become accustomed to a self-directed schedule now need to learn how to manage people, and integrate interactions with others into their daily schedule. Time management, while probably a skill many technical professionals are proficient in, becomes central.

IT recruiters placing seasoned technical consultants in a first project management role are in a position to prep technical talent for the IT job ahead. Technical professionals located on a wide range of the spectrum can qualify for a project management role after a certain number of years working as a successful technical contractor. IT staffing agencies will then see a technical candidate as a desirable placement for a project management role coming from a variety of technical jobs: information technology professionals, engineers, and even medical professionals. Working with IT staffing agencies to make the transition into the new job is a challenge IT headhunters can make easier for technical consultants through solid, targeted advice.

How to Source for Recruitment with Talent Management Systems

Technical recruiters who have been involved in the information technology and staffing industry for a while will be able to attest to the transformations that have taken place in the technical job landscape, and the huge increases in employer demand for IT roles. IT recruiting companies that understand the evolution of best practices in the IT recruiting world, and employ best practice strategies, have emerged as cutting-edge forces in the current workforce environment. Technical hiring managers who recognize IT talent management as the core business function that it is in today’s high-activity technical job market will serve as a valuable resource to other IT staffers for that reason.

Technical recruiters who stay on the edge of recruitment technology trends are in the best position to take advantage of them before they become common knowledge, and perform on a more competitive level than other technical staffers. Ultimately, the technical recruiters who work for IT staffing agencies are one of the best tools employers have at their disposal when developing talent and a solid workforce. IT staffing firms who develop a global perspective on the IT staffing industry, and hiring managers in the information technology industry will stay current and relevant.

Review: “Recruiting and Retaining Employees for Dummies”

IT staffers starting out or looking to polish an already-established technical recruiting career will want to pick up a copy of Recruiting and Retaining Employees for Dummies. Even seasoned IT headhunters working at IT staffing firms with plentiful resources will love Manning’s book – not because it’s actually for dummies, as the playful title references – but because it’s written as the author intended, to be straightforward, free from unnecessary detail, and an easy read for professionals without a lot of free time. Part one of the book includes the term ‘recruiting wars’ in the title – referring to the high levels of competition that exist between IT staffing firms. Becoming competititive in the information technology industy involves mastering steps: first, a solid grasp on the basics, followed by strong lead-generation skills. Finally, the active IT staffer will want to develop his or her recruiting plan based on the goals of short placement periods and low cost.

The book opens with an in-depth look at benefits. Presenting company benefits verbally to technical candidates, negotiating with companies to get technical consultants the kinds of benefits they expect for every level of experience an IT staffer manages, and maximizing the benefits you are able to land for candidates are key skills that will advance a technical recruiter’s placement rates and career trajectory. As an IT staffing firm offering excellent benefits, AVID Technical Resources understands the importance of providing benefits packages that make for happy employees, as well as insuring that candidates our IT headhunters place offer good benefits through either the placement company, our firm as staffers, or a combination of both. Grab a copy of this book today to quickly increase your IT recruiting success quotient.

Considering a Career in Technical Recruiting?

What are the benefits of a career in technical recruiting & how do you know if it’s a career path you want to pursue? Technical recruiting requires the ability to listen to prospective IT candidates & engage in headhunting. Technical recruiters also need to be able to size up an IT professional’s technical strengths and weaknesses and make determinations involving the type of role that might be a good fit and environment that might suit available IT job-seekers as well.

At AVID  Technical Resources, technical recruiters keep in close contact with IT candidates and introduce them to technical jobs fitting their unique IT skill sets. Unlike staffing firms that deal in a broad range of industries and job descriptions, AVID focuses on an area of expertise, specializing in advanced tech roles. IT Staffing Agencies like AVID Technical Resources allow technical recruiters to develop a level of familiarity with tech positions that makes them better equipped to find IT candidates a good fit in a high-tech position.

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.