Tag Archives: IT headhunters

Education Strives to Keep Up with IT

In a struggle to keep up with the constantly changing demands of the information technology field, universities are creating new educational programs to create IT professionals ready to participate in the hottest areas, such as Big Data.  IT recruiters will able to select from pools of IT contractors with new degrees in very current areas, like Big Data or social media-oriented marketing programs.

IT staffing agencies will no longer stretch to reconcile resumes with IT jobs that require very specific and very new skills. Cornell is creating, aided by a grant from NY, a school specifically geared towards the skills needed to develop start-ups.  These graduates may well be the CEOs and IT managers that IT staffing companies help to develop teams for.  IT headhunters may also be contacting graduates of Columbia, the University of San Francisco, or many other universities, where programs are being developed specifically to graduate big data specialists.  Whichever new hot area IT recruiting companies are especially interested, they will soon have a specified pool of IT consultants to choose from.

Job Hopping in IT

IT jobs are certainly not meant to be proverbial lily pads.  However, in a tough economy with an even tougher economy behind us, IT recruiters and IT managers are exercising more leniency towards so-called “Job Hoppers.”  While IT staffing agencies would not consider resumes full of short stints ideal, they are far less likely to simply throw them out than other industries might be. IT recruiting companies know that with a dramatic start-up bubble, and of course its dramatic burst, in our past some IT consultants are likely to have at least one or two short blips of jobs on their resumes. Additionally, with contracting being much more common in information technology, short blips also are far more welcomed by technical recruiters than perhaps in any other industry.  While IT staffing firms are likely to be more accepting of erratic resumes, IT contractors need to be able to properly explain the brevity of these jobs.  Suggesting to IT recruiting firms that one has left a job quickly because of boredom or to seek out more earning potential will raise some red flags.  Suggesting to IT headhunters, on the other hand, that a job was short-lived because the company was, will ameliorate their image of oneself as employable.

Why the IT World Is Obsessed with Yahoo

Why are IT recruiters and IT consultants obsessed with Yahoo’s moves?  IT staffing firms and IT consultants, along with most other IT professionals, seem fixated on most, if not every move that Yahoo and its new CEO Marisssa Mayer make.

Mayer’s Telecommuting policy sparked a nation-wide debate by IT recruiters CA to IT recruiters Boston.  IT recruiting companies couldn’t stop talking about Mayer’s initial appointment.  And now as Yahoo acquires Summly and other start-ups, IT staffing firms are just continuing the conversation.  Of course IT recruiting agencies are generally concerned with the goings-on in Google or Facebook, However, Yahoo has ignited the information technology field’s interest in a special way.

While there could be many reasons IT headhunters can’t look away from Yahoo and Mayer, the answer could largely be that Yahoo is not so different from the America right now.  After a devastating fall from grace, Yahoo and America are attempting to pick up the pieces.  And with a very strong symbolic and real correlation between the two, IT staffing agencies are waiting with baited breath to see if they can successfully put themselves back together.

IT Recruiting by the Numbers

IT headhunters would certainly pinpoint generations X and Y as controversial generations to hire for IT jobs.  There are plenty of prominent complaints IT recruiters get about generation X and Y IT professionals.  However, the generation IT staffing firms have a hard time getting a consensus on is actually the baby boomer generation.

Plenty of IT recruiting companies hear highly conflicting opinions on baby boomer IT consultants.  Some IT managers praise baby boomer IT contractors for their work ethic, their ability to set and achieve goals, and their easy acceptance of authority and rules.  On the other side of the coin, IT staffing agencies can encounter plenty of negative arguments for baby boomers for IT jobs.  Some IT recruiting firms hear that because of baby boomers illustrious resumes, they are too costly for IT companies.  IT headhunters also hear arguments that completely nullify experience anyways, in a world that is full of break-neck paced change.  In addition to these conflicting points, there are also varying views on how late a company would like to invest in an IT professional’s career.  No matter the source, the opinion on baby boomer IT consultants is bound to be a complicated one.

IT Perks are Growing Despite a Bad Economy

IT staffing companies and IT consultants are seeing a trend that feels incongruous in today’s job market: more perks at tech companies.  In an economy with unemployment rates at an uncomfortably high amount, pay cuts everywhere, and people being forced to double-up on job responsibilities, the information technology industry is booming and working hard to keep the supply of IT contractors as high as the supply of IT jobs.   IT recruiting agencies are likely to be familiar with Google and Yahoo as examples of the elaborate perks offered to entice IT professionals.  A deluge of free services make IT staffing firms working with Google and Yahoo more like sirens than IT recruiters.

Of course, IT staffing companies only submit resumes to companies like Google and Yahoo for candidates that are ready to commit a larger portion than 40 hours of their week.  IT managers at tech companies may be offering amazing benefits and perks, but they are also offering incredibly demanding jobs for IT headhunters to fill.

The Best Qualities in IT References

Great references are a must for IT contractors looking to attract IT recruiters. IT staffing firms certainly appreciate sparkling resumes, but to get further in the process nothing beats the marketability of IT professionals with references that are impressive, relevant, well-spoken, and easy to contact.   IT consultants should consider a few major things when assembling references for IT recruiting agencies to use on their behalf.

Firstly, IT staffing firms would prefer references who are as impressive and relevant as possible.  Using past managers for jobs in the same or similar fields is preferable.  The better the title (while still being somebody who can speak thoroughly about your abilities), the more impressive it will be to IT recruiting companies and the IT managers they work for.

Secondly, IT recruiting firms are looking for references who are up to date and easy to contact.  A great verbal reference is worthless if the IT professional has lost their contact information or worse, lost track of them entirely and has old and useless contact information. One way to avoid this pitfall is a necessary prior step: getting permission.  It’s polite to make sure you have permission to use somebody as a reference.  In getting that permission, the second part of the conversation should be getting the best method of contact for IT staffing companies to use for this reference.

Lastly, IT headhunters most prefer an organized, thorough listing of references laid out for them in one document.  IT recruiters CA to IT recruiters Boston will appreciate a list that is easy to use themselves or to hand to IT managers they work with.

IT Certifications: Honey for Hummingbirds

If IT recruiters were hummingbirds, what would be IT professionals’ honey, so to speak?  IT certifications are certainly a possible solution for the metaphor. IT staffing firms appreciate IT certifications for many reasons.  Perhaps the most obvious reason IT recruiting companies appreciate IT certifications is that it makes candidates eligible and more likely to get IT jobs.  IT staffing companies feel confident in passing resumes for IT contractors for positions who have relevant certifications.  Even if the certified candidates don’t get the positions,  simply suggesting them to IT managers still reflects well on IT staffing agencies.

While IT certifications are generally a great investment that attracts IT recruiting firms, it is imperative to note that experience will always trump a certification.  If IT consultants don’t put a certification to good use, IT headhunters will be generally uninterested and move on to the next possible job candidate.

Mentoring in the IT World

Mentoring is an effective practice across a myriad of professional fields, including information technology.  IT professionals can certainly make themselves more attractive to technical recruiters nationwide, from IT recruiters CA to IT recruiters Boston by working with a mentor to hone their technical skills, professional demeanors, and resumes.  IT staffing firms will be especially excited to find female IT consultants who have had strong mentoring.  In a male-dominated field, women are certainly sought after by many IT headhunters for the unique perspectives they can bring to IT jobs.

What are some ways IT contractors can find mentors for themselves?  IT recruiting firms can suggest companies with strong mentoring programs.  One can also network online or in person at local meetups.  It is important to consider the search for a mentor to be fluid—one can multiple mentors and the time it takes to grow these relationships is not fixed.

Bridging the Gap: IT Recruiters For All Ages

The information technology field, being relatively new as a professional field, is particularly inundated with generations X and Y.  It is also inundated with the problems that generations X and Y can cause in the workplace.  IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA agree that generations X and Y certainly approach work and the workplace in different ways than their boomer generation counterparts.

There are many examples of disparate views IT recruiting companies see between generations as they attempt to fill IT jobs.  For instance, IT staffing agencies know from experience that while baby boomer managers tend to have experienced the workforce in only one or two companies, generations X and Y don’t operate on the same sense of a strong loyalty between company and employee. IT staffing companies also know that generations X and Y will/have already begun making more moves in their career field than baby boomers.  This means that IT job interviews can be especially fraught with tension as interviewers see vastly varied resumes that they do not expect.  It is the role of the IT recruiting agencies to help mold the resumes and the IT managers’ expectations to something closer to the middle.  IT managers can be persuaded to have more realistic expectations of a generation X or Y candidate, while IT staffing firms can coach IT consultants to understand and work harder to meet the expectations of a baby boomer IT manager.  The best asset technical recruiters can have in a market with two largely clashing sets of generations is to know how to bridge them and their expectations.  Happy generations X and Y and baby boomer IT professionals make for happy clients and candidates.  And happy clients and candidates make for very happy IT headhunters.

IT Recruiters: The Best Way to Avoid Multiple Job Interviews

The information technology field has yielded yet another new reason for IT contractors to work with IT staffing firms: avoiding an endless parade of job interviews.  IT recruiting firms build relationships with their clients that yield a more streamlined job interview and hiring process.  With the new trend of IT consultants going on 6, 7, or even 10 interviews before hearing feedback, IT staffing agencies and their streamlined processes have become an even more attractive option.

Why are so many companies requiring a myriad of interviews?  Despite growth from the recession, the economy is still not back to full health.  This makes hiring managers nervous about investing in new employees who may not even be a good fit.  IT recruiting companies provide extra knowledge and experience in the hiring process that speeds up the interview process. Clients, especially repeat clients of IT staffing companies can trust that IT professionals they recommend for jobs have already been vetted extensively.  Using good technical recruiters saves a company some energy in the process of filling IT jobs, making only one or two interviews necessary instead of 6 or 7.  Of course, this process also benefits IT job candidates.  One or two interviews is just as preferable for a hiring manger as they are for an IT consultant, which means both should very seriously consider working with IT headhunters.