Tag Archives: IT headhunters

Handling Big Mistakes in IT Departments

There are some fields, like information technology, where mistakes can make a big impact.  When IT contractors make large mistakes with big consequences at their IT jobs, how should their managers respond?  Here are some tips for both IT consultants and IT managers about how to handle big mistakes.

For the IT professionals who made the mistake: Start by taking action.  Don’t hide the mistake, because it will make things far worse—both for your company and for you.  IT recruiters and IT staffing firms will want to work with somebody who is honest with their bosses and coworkers.  Hiding mistakes looks very dishonest. Secondly, make sure that in addition to fixing it, you pay attention to why the mistake happened in the first place.  If you don’t know why the mistake happened, you can’t avoid it in the future.  Lastly, make a plan for how you’ll ensure that the mistake is fixed and will not happen again.  If you can handle it with grace and competence, you may even be able to bolster your reputation with IT headhunters.

For the managers dealing with the mistake: Start by removing any emotion from the situation.  Investigate the mistake and seek employees’ honest responses to questions like ‘what happened?’  Accusations may seem like the best way to go, but if you approach employees with a more collaborative attitude, you’ll get more help solving the problem and more information about why the problem occurred.  This leads to the second and most important point: don’t just solve the problem, figure out exactly why the mistake was made.  You need to know if your employee needs more training, if there are other factors at play, or if the employee isn’t able to meet the job’s expectations.  After the mistake is fixed, do some analysis and figure these things out.  Then work to fix these issues so you never have to deal with the same large mistake again.

How IT Professionals Can Excel at Phone Interviews

Most IT consultants have had to do phone screens or phone interviews at some point or another in their information technology careers.  While IT contractors should always be able to count on their IT recruiters to help prepare them for phone interviews, there are a few things they’ll have to do on their own.

1. Schedule (or make sure your technical recruiters schedule) the interview for a good time.  Make sure you’ll be able to get to a quiet place (with good cell reception) for the call and that you’ll have extra time in case it goes over.  Don’t put yourself in a position where you’ll be interrupted, distracted, or rushed.  Double confirm the time, phone numbers, and who will call who with your IT headhunters if they schedule the interview for you.

2. Be just as prepared for this interview as you might be for a face-to-face one.  Research the company, look over the job description, and refresh yourself on all relevant technical knowledge you’ll need to know.  If possible, have hard copies of relevant info, like your resumes and notes on relevant technologies that you can refer to if you get stuck.  Phone interviews might seem like they’re going to be less rigorous, but being the prepared candidate will really set you apart.

3. Be a little more enthusiastic than you might be in person.  You don’t have to go overboard, but keep in mind that the interviewer is only experiencing your voice.  Make sure it conveys plenty of personality and is just as engaging as you’d be in person.

IT job phone interviews
Don’t let your phone interview be interrupted by frustrating cell service! Make sure you schedule it for a time you’ll be in a good place to take the call.

How to Get an IT Job You Love

A staggering percentage of American workers currently hate their jobs.  While it’s unknown what percentage of them are IT professionals, it’s safe to say that there are probably quite a few IT consultants who do hate their IT jobs.  When it’s time to look for a new job, IT contractors will really benefit from making sure they prioritize the right qualities in their search.  Here are the factors that will make the most difference in how much you’ll appreciate your job.

-Does the job feel significant?  It doesn’t matter who it’s significant to or on what scale, but if you feel like your job is impactful to people, you’ll feel good about it.  Maybe as a desk support technician your work is important to the people you help all day.  Maybe as a CTO at a big company, your work is imperative to people all throughout the company.  Either way, it will mean you’re that much more likely to report back to your IT recruiters that you love your job.

-Did your IT headhunters place you with manager and coworkers you like and respect?  Especially in information technology, when things are so often team-oriented, it’s imperative to like the people who you work with and for.  If you don’t, you will probably call your technical recruiters seeking a new job soon.

-Lastly, does the job challenge you in a way that you can still succeed?  If you’re challenged in a way that’s impossible, that will simply feel stressful and unmanageable.  If your job doesn’t challenge you at all, you’ll become bored and tired of your job quickly.  However, if you are learning new things often and constantly solving problems that interest you, you’ll enjoy your work.  This might mean you should make sure you work with particular technologies or with a certain pace of work.  Figure out if job descriptions are describing a job that you can succeed at, but is not too boring, and you’ll be ensuring that you really enjoy it for a long time to come.

 

Are You Lying on Your IT resume?

Recent studies seem to show that IT professionals lie far more often on their resumes than their counterparts in industries outside information technology.  While this may seem like an extreme conclusion to come to, it’s actually not hard to find instances in which IT recruiters spot inconsistencies in their IT consultants’ resumes.  Sometimes it’s a big lie, but often these lies are really just IT contractors seeking to impress IT headhunters or land IT jobs they are almost (but not quite!) qualified for.

What are some of these lies that IT staffing firms have found on resumes?  They include things that seem harmless like embellished skills and job responsibilities.  These lies are definitely not helping anybody, though—least of all, the job seeker.  Landing a job you’re not actually able to do as well as you say you can is no picnic.  Not only can it be stressful and unpleasant, you may wind up being fired from it and hurting your career overall.  So think twice about lying on your resume—for your own good!

The Ice Bucket Challenge Reaches the IT Field

IT professionals all over the information technology field have been talking about the infamous ice bucket challenge.  While the ice bucket challenge has certainly made it into the social media feeds of professionals everywhere, IT consultants and IT recruiters are particularly likely to have seen it because social media is so prevalent in the field and often actually used as part of IT jobs.

While we know the ice bucket challenge has become popular with IT contractors and IT headhunters everywhere, it’s especially surprising that some big CEO’s of IT companies are doing the ice bucket challenge now, too! Most recently, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Tim Cook, and Mark Zuckerberg have all gotten drenched for the cause.  The high level of participation in this creative campaign highlights the can-do, up-for anything attitude that IT tends to have.

Are You Asking These Important Questions at Your New IT Job?

Most IT contractors find themselves starting new IT jobs more often than professionals in fields outside of information technology.  There are plenty of ways IT staffing firms and IT headhunters can help prep you for your first day at a new job, but there are certainly some questions that IT consultants should be sure they ask their new coworkers and bosses.  Here are some questions below that will help IT professionals succeed in a new job.

1. What are some of the biggest challenges people in our department face?  How can I prepare for them?

2. How will I know when I’ve been successful at this job?  How will I know when I’m not meeting expectations?

3. What can I do to match my work style to our manager’s?

4. What can I do to match my work style to my team’s?

5. Is there any advice you’d give to somebody starting my job?

Are You Actively Preparing For Your IT Interviews?

IT contractors who have been on the hunt for IT jobs before are probably used to being pretty passive, especially if they worked with IT recruiters or IT staffing agencies.  The process can feel very much like the employer is in charge, not the IT consultants interviewing.  However, if you take a more active role in your search, whether you’re working with technical recruiters or not, you’ll be more likely to find a role you love.  Here’s how:

Firstly, make sure you get a few pieces of information from your IT headhunters who set up your interviews.  Ask them not only where you’re going and when, but also who you’ll be meeting with, how long the interview is likely to be and what materials you can prepare or study beforehand.  Most IT staffing firms will make sure you have this info.  If you’re not working with IT recruiting firms or you just didn’t get this info, it’s your responsibility to ask!

Next, work through this info to help yourself prepare.  Research the company, the people you’ll be meeting with, and any topics you were alerted to be ready to speak on.  You may not use all the info you find, but at least some of it will be useful.  Perhaps you have some connections on LinkedIn in common with your interviewer, or you have a few alum from your school working at the company.  This information is worth having in your pocket in case the opportunity comes up to mention it.

Lastly, prepare all the easy things for yourself ahead of time.  Make sure you set aside everything you’ll need for the interview ahead of time.  Resumes, portfolios, suit, nice shoes, etc should all be set aside and ready at least the night before the interview, if not a day or so earlier.  It’s also ideal to actually practice getting yourself to the interview site ahead of time if you can.  Be aware of any traffic patterns that might get in your way and avoid them.

 

3 Quick Ways to Improve Your IT Job Search

The information technology industry is constantly changing and to some extent, so are the ways IT contractors find IT jobs.  While IT consultants can always count on IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies to provide them with great connections to companies that are hiring, there are some things that IT professionals can do to make sure they’re the most marketable candidate on their technical recruiters’ rosters.

1. Modernize and optimize resumes.  Take out objectives and any jobs that are older than the last decade or so.  Both date you too much in an industry that tends to favor youth over experience.  Do put a ‘Technical Proficiencies’ section at the top of your resume, listing all technologies and skills you are current on.   This will garner attention from IT headhunters and hiring managers alike.

2. Polish your interview skills.  Be prepared for phone interviews, face-to-face interviews, or even skype or other forms of interviews.  Be ready to answer questions about the technologies you specialize in.  Recruiters can prepare you to some extent, but having the basic skills already down can make a big difference.

3.  Know what you want.  Have a clear idea about what you want in your next position.  Nobody can help you get the best new job for you if you don’t have good ideas about what kind of work, compensation, environment, coworkers, and bosses you do best with.

 

Add these Words to Your IT Resume for 70% More Attention!

Creating perfect resumes isn’t easy, no matter how experienced your IT recruiters may be.  It seems like there’s always some new trick that fellow IT contractors’ IT headhunters gave them.   Today it’s your turn to be one of those IT consultants with the newest info on how to create the resume that gets you your dream IT jobs! A recent survey revealed some exceptionally effective words you can make sure are in your resume.  It’s likely these words will bring you 70% more attention from IT staffing firms and hiring managers.

  • Experience
  • Management
  • Project
  • Development
  • Business
  • Skill
  • Professional
  • Knowledge
  • Year
  • Team
  • Leadership

 

Don’t Make These Mistakes at Your IT Job!

You don’t have to be in one of your first jobs in information technology to be making some mistakes that really hurt your career.  IT contractors could easily wind up missing some social cues for workplaces that really hurt their reputation with other IT consultants they work with or the IT recruiters they want to work with in the future.  Even if IT headhunters find IT professionals with sparkling resumes who ace interviews, they’ll likely not want to work with them if they make these huge mistakes at their IT jobs.

  1. Your managers and superiors aren’t your friends.  While they’re trained to be friendly and make you feel comfortable, it’s important not to overstep your employee-manager boundaries.  This includes at work, on social media, and at work functions.
  2. Be careful about venting.  Don’t vent about the difficulties of your job to anybody at work, and try to hold off from doing it in public.  This also includes social media.  If you wouldn’t want your boss or clients to hear it, don’t make it possible it could get back to them.
  3. Don’t overshare.  Be stringent with personal information you share.  This is for your sake and your coworkers and managers.  It’s usually best to keep personal information to yourself, especially in a new workplace.  You never know who might spread information or who you might be making uncomfortable with your own personal stories.