Tag Archives: IT consultants

New Ways to Consider Time Management in IT

The information technology field can be pretty hectic, and IT professionals with time management skills are certainly at a premium.  Some new research might help IT consultants, IT recruiters, and IT managers think differently about how they can work at their IT Jobs most efficiently.

The first thing IT contractors and technical recruiters can do to maximize their time is to think of it in terms of quality not quantity.  The hours when one is at their best (mentally, if not also physically) are the hours that should be saved for the toughest projects.  Even if these are only 2 hours in the morning, they may be far more valuable than the 4 hours after lunch.

The second thing to consider is what to do with off-time.  Nights, weekends, and vacations can all bring a vital boost to productivity during work hours.  IT staffing firms note that after a vacation, IT headhunters and IT professionals are far more productive.  Some studies suggest the impact lasts up to a month after the vacation.  The same boost can be seen after weekends if they’re full of valuable, quality time spent relaxing and getting away from work. 

Interruptions in IT

As open plan offices become more and more common and information technology departments are less and less often relegated to the basement, IT professionals are experiencing exponentially more interruptions during their IT jobs.

After various studies, it seems that most IT contractors are experiencing interruptions so frequently that they spend about 3 minutes at a time uninterrupted.  This number seems to rise more for IT managers.  3 minutes is shockingly small amount of time.  Perhaps what is even more shocking is how often IT consultants might actually be interrupting themselves. 

Technical recruiters and the IT staffing firms they work for must find new candidates that not only have sparkling resumes, but also IT job candidates who can work despite these interruptions.  They are clearly not going anywhere any time soon.

Major Resume Mistakes to Avoid in IT

Creating perfect resumes in the information technology field isn’t hard.  IT professionals often have the benefit of IT recruiters and their praise accompanying their resumes to IT managers.  Even if IT consultants have this added benefit, though, they certainly won’t get anywhere in their job search (with hiring managers or IT staffing firms) if they make big mistakes in their job hunting materials.  These are some of the biggest mistakes IT contractors should avoid in their resumes:

1.   Not listing skills: In IT, skills are everything.  Giving a concise run-down of skills and certifications provides a distinct advantage in the job hunt because it makes it so much easier for technical recruiters to identify if you match a job’s requirements.

2. Listing an unprofessional email address for contact purposes:  This error is particularly egregious because your email address can be considered a reflection of your personality.  Either make it too bland to actually reflect anything about you, or make it reflect something positive.

3. Copying extensively from job postings on resumes: Not being able to reflect upon your own job experience and communicate it in your own words is a terrible sign for IT staffing agencies.  If you really got something out of a job, you’d be able to at least write about what you did in your own way.

4. Including photos: Information technology is different than acting.  Headshots are not required and it may puzzle people if you provide them.  Better to just save them for your grandma. 

 

IT Certifications and Degrees: Coming Soon from Pepsi?

IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA have been seeing some surprises on IT contractors’ resumes: corporate schools.  Brands like Red Bull have been creating programs that provide traditionally more academic type training.  With new technologies coming out all the time, the information technology field is particularly fertile for such “corporate schools.”  The ability to hire splashy speakers on hot topics is practically second nature to a lot of big brands.  Selling seats for the lecture is only a problem when they are just that: seats that are sold.  The educational value is still debatable when these schools have to weigh their desire for consumers with things like testing, student evaluations, and grades.

For now, these collaborations are a little controversial.  IT headhunters are less than thrilled to find IT consultants with credentials they so obviously paid for and have far less reputable names.  However, IT professionals are pointing out that many credentials already fit these bills (no pun intended).  Additionally, charter schools and online education long ago starting paving the way for these corporate schools.  IT certifications seem more likely to start coming from corporate schools more and more frequently in the future.  It’s only a matter of time.

“Failure” in IT Still Tastes Sweet

The information technology field and the IT professionals who work in it have certainly portrayed a different version of ‘economic downturn’ than any other field in the economy.  Even as the economy slowly crawls back, IT jobs multiply exponentially, often outnumbering the amount of IT consultants who can take them.  All this success means that failure is also portrayed pretty differently in the IT field.  IT contractors and IT headhunters have some rather inspiring “failures” to look up to.

Myspace can show IT recruiters and IT contractors just how sweet “failure” can taste.  The New York Times recently reported that Myspace’s founding team has created a menagerie of startups, each member going on to find their own success in a new company they have founded or co-founded.  While Myspace is arguably pretty much irrelevant now, its failure is certainly not an indicator of the success its founders have reached.

Another example of “failure” that doesn’t taste particularly bitter is Andrew Mason, ex-CEO of Groupon.  Mason’s very public firing didn’t even seem to faze him as it occurred.  His tongue-in-cheek letter to employees telling them that he was fired showed a pretty relaxed attitude towards the whole debacle.  Mason is currently consulting at Y-Combinator and has put out a CD of inspirational career songs.  The second part of that statement is odd, but the first is pretty telling.  Mason is not worried about where he will end up, and is likely just fishing for his next opportunity while working at Y-Combinator.

 

“Fall” Into Your IT Job Search

IT recruiters and IT contractors are just beginning to dive into fall job searching after the slower, vacation-addled Summer season.  IT professionals searching for new IT jobs can certainly expect to find IT headhunters and IT managers with arms wide open in a great candidates’ market.  It seems that a few factors will be driving growth in the Information Technology sector this Fall:

  1. Companies have been trying to make do with fewer employees and fewer resources for too long.  This Fall they will begin to finally hire and fill some of the positions they may have been trying to combine or divvy and thrust upon some employees. Understaffed companies will swing open doors to IT consultants as they expand to a more comfortable number of employees.
  2. The economy is obviously recovering slowly, but IT is certainly one sector that is growing faster.  Maintaining an enviable 3% unemployment rate over the last quarter or so, things will only get better as the economy as a whole recovers.

Introverts in IT

Information technology is a field that draws an unprecedented number of introverted IT consultants and IT managers.  The long hours alone by a computer screen certainly appeal to a great number of IT professionals.  This high concentration of introverts makes Susan Cain’s research on how to utilize them in the workplace particularly relevant to the field and IT staffing firms and IT headhunters.

Cain’s research suggests a few tweaks to current corporate practice.  Firstly, instead of overlooking quiet, introverted types for leadership positions and jobs in general, it is best to delve deeper and look for the ideas and creativity they can provide.  Secondly, Cain considers the standard corporate practice of celebrating, and generally forcing, extroversion, to be counterproductive.  It makes working difficult for the 33 to 50% of the population that tends to be more introverted than extroverted.

These changes could certainly start with IT recruiting agencies, which might be more likely to overlook quiet IT job candidates. The IT headhunters who work directly with candidates can advocate for them as alternatives to the typical extroverts they might be drawn to.  Taking more time to consider the introverted candidate could make IT staffing agencies instrumental in Cain’s ‘Quiet Revolution.’ 

 

The Time to Prepare for Your Next IT Layoff is Now

It might seem completely counterintuitive, but because information technology is a generally robust field at the moment, it would behoove IT professionals to take time now to prep themselves for layoffs.  This is not a doomsday prediction for IT staffing firms or IT contractors.  Hopefully the next recession is many years off.  However, it’s best for IT recruiters and IT consultants to prepare for layoffs and hard times on the job market far in advance of when they hit.

The first thing people can do to prepare themselves is to polish their resumes and other job hunting materials.  Making sure to have ideas of great references in mind, if not actually asking IT managers if they are willing to act as a reference should you need it, is just as important as having a spotless resume.  When these materials are perfect, it’s not a bad idea to find IT staffing firms that you want to establish relationships with for when times are hard. Having IT headhunters who already have your materials and needs in mind, even if they’re not actively marketing you, is not a bad thing

Beyond prepping job hunting materials, there is also the very important matter of prepping a financial cushion for emergencies.  Having 3 months of living expenses in savings is great.  Having 6 months of living expenses in savings is better.  No matter what field you’re in, or how well it’s doing, you can never be too careful.

Leaving Your Email Away Message in IT

As the Labor Day weekend draws near, IT recruiters, technical recruiters, and IT managers are all preparing for one last office-sanctioned escape from IT jobs and into summer weather.  IT professionals are particularly vulnerable to pressure to be ‘on call’ even when they are on vacation.  However, with a good away message on email, IT contractors and IT headhunters can, at the very least, diminish office disruptions to their vacations.  Below are some suggestions for IT consultants and IT staffing agencies for creating their away messages.

Keep the message simple and short.  It’s better not to ramble on or give multiple alternative points of contact.

Do make sure to give that alternative point of contact.  It could be a co-worker (that you have not coerced into the role), or it could be to your personal phone or email.  If you choose the latter, be clear about how likely it is that you will be able to respond to business inquiries to that number or address.

Avoid bragging about your luxurious vacation.  Nobody working during that time appreciates it.

Be friendly and courteous in your message.  You may feel like leaving everyone in your dust and not looking back, but you will be back.  On Monday.  So make sure you come back to a warm welcome.

A little appropriate joking can’t hurt either.  Better to leave ‘em laughing– with you, not at you.

 

Why So Many Have Forgone Vacations in IT This Year

As the summer draws to a close, the information technology industry, like many others, is seeing a record number of people who have decided to simply forgo their vacations.  IT recruiters, IT managers, and IT contractors have simply been too busy to take vacations this year.  There are two major reasons why the owners of IT staffing agencies, IT headhunters, or IT consultants may have made this decision to forgo vacations and stay at their IT jobs instead of flee to the beach.

The first major reason for a lack of vacations is that the economy is slowly but surely making a recovery.  The bump in business after such a long recession has made IT professionals reticent to leave any opportunities on the table.   Thus while the short term consequences weren’t as pleasant, they are only the symptoms of a good thing: a more robust economy.

While the lack of vacations might be good news, there’s also a reason why they may be bad news.  Sometimes the summer brings a slump in sales because business in generally slow.  IT hasn’t been doing as poorly as other industries, but like many fields, IT may have hit some snags over the summer.  IT professionals may have been forgoing their vacations in order to work overtime and bring the slow summer sales up.