Tag Archives: IT contractors

Productivity in IT

IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA are all aware of the evergreen issue of keeping IT consultants as productive as possible.  There are two general reasons why IT staffing agencies might find that their IT contractors are not as productive as they could be.

The first reason IT staffing firms might hear that IT professionals are not meeting the expectations of their IT jobs is actually related to IT managers and other co-workers.  Constant interruptions—including personal, email, phone calls, text messages, etc all take time away from productivity.  IT recruiting companies have noticed that these interruptions take time away from productivity in two ways: in the moment of the interruption and response, time is lost.  However, IT staffing companies also point to the adjustment time in getting back into work after the interruption.

The second major reason IT recruiting firms hear that IT contractors might not be living up to the potential of their resumes is their own ability to focus in work.  Information technology positions, like most others tend to be affected by the availability of the internet, smartphones, or other office distractions.  Thankfully, some of the same technology that distracts us can also provide solutions for maintaining focus.  IT recruiting firms can point to plenty of apps that help workers stay focused, rather than checking irrelevant websites or various phone messages.

Performance Reviews in IT: Harmful or Helpful

Information technology is a field that revolves around quantifying things precisely.  Yet, IT professionals might benefit from not quantifying one particular thing:  performance.  Performance reviews in particular, especially standardized ones are not the best way for IT managers to gauge how well IT consultants are doing in their IT jobs.  IT staffing firms can testify to the damage that performance reviews can sometimes do to IT contractors’ productivity.

While IT recruiting agencies are aware of particular spikes in lowered productivity before and after performance reviews, mostly due to lowered morale and stress, technical recruiters can point to an effect throughout the work year.  IT recruiting firms could easily recount stories of communication breaking down between team members and managers and subordinates due the constraints of impending performance reviews.   In addition to the effects these reviews have on workplace culture, IT staffing companies can also easily argue that ‘standardized reviews’ are simply flawed tools anyways.  Like in the job search, IT recruiting companies would never simply judge candidates by their resumes.  The same is true of performance: it’s not quantifiable by a few numbers.

 

Communication Techniques Are Becoming Imperative in IT

IT professionals, despite their reputation for being kept behind closed doors in the information technology department, are becoming integrated into the office more and more. This change means that communication skills are becoming far more imperative for IT contractors and IT managers.  IT recruiters are finding that they aren’t just looking for perfect resumes any more, but IT consultants who work well within larger team and company environments.

In particular, IT contractors can make themselves more attractive to IT staffing agencies trying to fill IT jobs by working on both their verbal and nonverbal communication skills.  Verbal skills that technical recruiters look for would include things like knowing how to actively listen, encouraging the speaker to elaborate and suppressing the urge to contribute to a conversation.  IT staffing companies notice when somebody is good at making a speaker feel like the only person in the room and that everything they have to say is valid.  IT staffing companies like nonverbal skills like mirroring body language or giving ample personal space.  If IT job candidates can sharpen both nonverbal and verbal communication skills, they will make themselves irresistible to IT headhunters.

How IT Professionals Can Deal With Difficult People

Technical recruiters, IT contractors, and IT managers alike all encounter difficult people at their IT jobs.  Information technology, like most professional fields, is not exempt from unfortunate work relationships or clients.  In particular, IT professionals are likely to handle difficult clients who are upset that their technology isn’t working.  The good news is that there are plenty of tactics IT recruiters and IT contractors can employ in dealing with difficult clients, co-workers, or managers.

The most comprehensive approach to dealing with difficult people is to remember that co-workers, managers, etc are more than their resumes.  They have their own personal concerns, values, and communication styles.  If IT staffing agencies try to mirror the communication styles of difficult clients, they will suddenly get much further with them.  IT recruiting companies will also find far more success with difficult clients if they try to understand their priorities.  IT headhunters can easily overcome a difference in priorities once it’s identified.  Lastly, IT consultants and IT staffing companies will find a great deal of success keeping interactions with difficult people as short as possible without being rude or incomplete in their work.  Letting any kind of abuse or anger build is not necessary and won’t make the interaction any better or more productive.  This also means the less response IT recruiting firms give to difficult people’s tantrums, the sooner they are over.

Weakness and Mistakes are No Longer Taboo in IT

IT professionals are experiencing a new trend: information technology companies are reporting their mistakes and weaknesses in real time (or something very close).  This means as a startup’s founder admits to his massive error in front of a large collective audience including IT recruiting companies, IT headhunters, and IT consultants, the damage from that mistake has just barely been fixed.  IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA are finding a new kind of candid attitude that might be a direct product of the etiquette and speed of social media.

IT contractors and IT managers are participating in social media that demands blatant honesty and moves at the speed of real time.  Technical recruiters could be tweeting what they’re eating for breakfast as they eat it.  This tweet, of course, will be followed by a slew of more throughout the day.  This kind of pace and honesty is possibly making startups and other companies far more willing to share their weaknesses with IT staffing firms.  If IT recruiting companies become aware of a company’s weakness or mistake, this will not seem so odd in a culture influenced heavily by a digital culture of honesty.  And furthermore, this information will probably be replaced by new information so quickly that IT staffing companies will forget it quickly.

 

IT Sees An Infusion of New Jobs

As big data pervades more and more of everyday life, new IT jobs crop up at a faster pace for IT contractors.  IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA are seeing a new infusion of very different kinds of jobs into the IT market.  IT staffing agencies are noticing new job openings at companies that previously had no or very little need for IT headhunters.  Industries like fitness and weight loss are suddenly seeking IT recruiting companies and IT professionals at a far more frequent pace.  IT consultants are not only finding economic value in this expansion, but chances to take forays into new industries.  IT recruiting firms can bring IT professionals’ resumes into intriguing new fields where information technology is suddenly more useful as big data becomes sought after.  Of course, the best part about big data is that it’s here to stay and IT staffing companies will only see more business from this growth in the market.

 

Making Matches in IT– Management is Key

In information technology and any other professional field, it’s important for IT recruiters to make sure that IT consultants not only are placed in IT jobs that work well for their resumes, but also a great fit in terms of IT managers.  IT contractors will work best and enjoy their work, which of course leads to better performance, with a boss they can be honest with and generally get along with.  IT headhunters will be more successful in placing IT professionals whose work style and management style are complementary.  IT staffing companies that make such placements will have more satisfied clients and IT job candidates.  This will mean more repeat business for IT recruiting agencies.  Thus making good matches between IT professionals and IT managers will be fortuitous for many people, including IT recruiting companies.

 

Free Office Perks in IT Have Hidden Costs

IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA are fascinated by the lore of fantastic office perks that information technology companies are offering.  IT consultants and IT managers are being wooed by more than just interesting IT jobs.  IT staffing companies are promising IT contractors, on behalf of their clients, things ranging from free food, to free laundry, to free haircuts.  These perks all tend to come with hidden price tags, though.  IT professionals who work at companies with extensive perks are probably expected to work similarly extensive hours.  IT headhunters are noticing that the perks make those long hours easier, as distractions from life outside work are taken care of.  IT staffing agencies have also noticed that the toll of these perks can be even more obvious—in the forms of protruding bellies.  IT recruiting companies can certainly point to the unfortunate side effects of extensive perks: it’s all in the waistline.

 

The High Value of Praise in IT

A recent Pew survey suggests a very bleak view of the information technology and other professional worlds.   Supposedly 70% of most American workers, apparently including IT contractors, IT recruiters, and other IT professionals, are not inspired by their jobs.  While there is much speculation for the reasons for so much disgruntlement, IT staffing companies and IT consultants who dislike their jobs can benefit from some very simple actions.  IT managers can make a huge impact by increasing the praise they offer to their reports and the technical recruiters who work for them.  IT jobs, like any other job, are always made more pleasant when supervisors are encouraging.  Even when resumes and productivity reports suggest somebody is meeting all expectations, hearing praise for it verbally makes a big difference for IT headhunters, IT recruiting agencies, and the clients and candidates they work with.  With a free, easy change to management style, IT recruiting firms and many other kinds of companies can make a big change in their employee job satisfaction.

IT Work Environments: Silence Isn’t Golden

IT managers and IT recruiters have confirmation of what they’ve suspected for a long time: the best work environments for IT contractors are not quiet, but rather have the slight buzz of a public place, like a coffee shop.  Recent studies have shown that IT consultants, and many other professionals who need to think creatively, will benefit from a slightly noisy environment rather than a perfectly quiet one.  Information technology requires IT professionals to think creatively about how to solve problems.  IT jobs not only require resumes full of technical skills, but also more intangible creative ones.  The studies that have been done about noise reveal what IT staffing firms have long known: perfect quiet makes it hard to actually get resolutions to complicated technology-oriented issues.  IT recruiting companies tend to practice this themselves, as well. Technical recruiters often work to the soundtrack of their IT headhunters co-workers’ murmurs and a radio or two.