Tag Archives: IT headhunters

How to Handle Being Fired in IT

IT professionals, like most other professionals, are just as likely to experience being fired at least once over the course of their working lives.  Technical recruiters certainly don’t prefer finding a firing (or two) on their IT consultants’ resumes, but they are not the end of the world.  IT headhunters are not thrown if IT contractors handle firings in a professional, graceful manner both in behavior and on their resume.   What are the steps to take to make sure a firing doesn’t dent your career?

Firstly, if your IT managers fire you, maintain a calm demeanor publicly.  This especially extends to your social media and online presence.  Giving anything less than a calm response could burn bridges, hurt your dignity, or result in legal action at the very worst case scenario.

Secondly, take time to be upset privately, but don’t let it hinder you from moving  forward quickly.  Start contacting IT staffing agencies and formulating a contingency plan.  Looking at new IT jobs and working hard to get yourself into a new one, rather than wallowing, will be key in making sure your resume doesn’t really reflect this hiccup in your career.

Lastly, when you finally do land a new job, enter it as though you were not just fired.  Don’t allow that event to dent your confidence in learning your new job, taking on new responsibilities, and interacting with your new coworkers.  This firing may not actually say much about your competence as any employee, anyways.  Even if it does point to a weakness, learn from it and move on.  Focusing on past failures will be one of the surest ways to repeat it again in the future.

Handling IT Recruiters

IT recruiters are a fact of life for IT professionals.  The information technology market is so hot that IT staffing firms and IT headhunters are and probably will be a fixture for a long time.  IT consultants tend to have mixed feelings about how to deal with technical recruiters, but here are a few basic guidelines.

Firstly, establish relationships with IT staffing agencies before you are polishing your resumes.  This means that when you do need them, IT recruiting firms will have already looked at IT jobs for you.

Secondly, consider the IT recruiting companies you’re working with as professional contacts.  While they may not be the company you work for directly, it’s important to consider that they will be representing you.  Giving them the most professional version of yourself will yield the best results.

Lastly, be honest with IT recruiting companies you are working with.  You will get the best job for you if you give them good information.  If you lie about a qualification, interest, or your salary expectations, you’ll wind up with a job offer (or worse, a job) that doesn’t make sense for you.

 

Avoiding Bad Advice in IT Jobs or Job Hunting

IT recruiters come across IT consultants who act upon a lot of bad advice. IT staffing firms find that unfortunately, there is plenty of terrible advice that is nearly indistinguishable from good advice about during, on the hunt for, and when leaving IT jobs.   IT professionals who are polishing their resumes, or simply trying to figure out how to improve in their current job, can take a few steps in trying to avoid poor advice about how to act in the information technology field.

Firstly, consider the source of the advice.  If you would trust the source normally, considering finding at least one more source that would confirm the advice.  If you wouldn’t normally trust the source but are intrigued by the advice, try to find at least 3 places that confirm it.  Good advice is something most people can agree on, especially when it comes to the job hunt or workplace etiquette.

The second way to avoid bad advice about your job hunt or job etiquette is to consider checking with your IT headhunters or IT recruiting agencies before proceeding with it.  If they helped you land your current job or are helping you find a new one, it is in their best interest that you perform well and do the right things.  They also tend to have relationships with your employers/potential employers, or at the very least, companies that are similar to them.  Your technical recruiters will very likely know if you should follow or discard a piece of advice because they know your employers’ or potential employers’ preferences.

 

When You Have Too Much Work at Your IT Job

The undeniable growth of information technology means that IT professionals are likely to be dealing with an overwhelming amount of work at some time or another.  IT recruiters would prefer that IT contractors approach their IT managers with a few things in mind.

Firstly, IT headhunters would prefer that IT consultants assess their circumstances in rational, detailed ways. Start by creating a list of what projects need to be done, their deadlines, and any complications or projected dates that the project could actually be completed by.  Next, making a meeting with the best IT manger to speak to about the situation.  Bring the list and go over it in a calm way.  Emotional outbursts, while easy to give in to if one is very stressed or overwhelmed by a workload, will deeply hurt your case.  Lastly, be prepared to offer or help find the solution to your frustration.  Offering alternatives (ones that are viable and will still help your boss) or being helpful as they try to create an alternative, will also earn you points.  If you make the task of reconfiguring your workload easier for your boss, you will make them far happier to do it for you.

The Importance of Taking Your Breaks in IT

Many IT professionals will choose to work through their lunch hours or breaks when their IT jobs get particularly busy.  Like any other kind of professional outside of information technology, IT recruiters and IT consultants can get caught up in the rush of deadlines or program releases, forgetting to take their half hour or hour lunch break during the day.  Even though this seems like the best way to get things done quickly, IT headhunters, IT consultants, and IT managers should seriously reconsider skipping all breaks during the workday.

There are two major reasons to make sure you take your lunch break—or at least a break at some point during the day.  The first is that your productivity may not be the best it could be if you don’t take time away from your work.  Walking away from your work and thinking of other things even for 20 minutes can free up your brain for a bit.   Sometimes, giving it that break will result in a surprising sudden insight.  Studies have shown repeatedly that problem-solving can occur more efficiently when people take breaks from the problem.

The second reason is that you might eat better. Studies have shown that people tend to eat more when they eat their lunch alone at their desk.  They tend to be so focused on their work, they’re less attuned to the “hungry” and “sated” signals their body might be sending.  People who step away from their desks for lunch might also make better nutritional choices, too.  There are a few reasons for this, but again, it probably comes down to focus.  Putting all focus on making good food choices, rather than on your work, will make it easier to make better decisions.  Of course, the better you eat, the better you’ll be able to perform later in the day.  So this second reason feeds right back into the first: better nutrition = better productivity.

IT Professionals are Commuting More…and Liking it

Information technology has plenty of telecommuting, but IT professionals and technical recruiters also spend quite a bit of time commuting to their IT jobs, too.  According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, IT contractors and IT headhunters, among their peers from other fields, tend to find ways to enjoy their commutes far more than in the past 5 or 10 years.

Mobile devices are a big part of this increase in commute satisfaction for IT consultants and IT managers. Commuters tend to use them to entertain themselves, get work done, or accomplish personal tasks online.  Some commuters are even finding ways to schedule their commutes as part of their work days.  Whether commuters focus or work or pleasure during their commutes, they seem to be more appreciative of them.

 

Taking Constructive Criticism in IT

The information technology market may be overwhelmingly a candidate’s market, but that doesn’t mean IT professionals aren’t still subjected to criticism from their IT managers.  Dealing with constructive criticism is fact of life in IT jobs, but it doesn’t have to be a necessary evil.  If IT contractors can approach constructive criticism the right way, it will make the experience positive and make them even more attractive to IT headhunters and their IT staffing firms in the future.  Here are a few important principles to follow:

1.  Listen—don’t pretend to listen while formulating your own responses and refutations.

2.  Make it clear by your body language and responses that you’re open and appreciative of feedback.  Saying out loud ‘Thank you for bringing that to my attention’ could be a game-changer. 

3.  Stay calm.  If you consider constructive feedback as exactly that—constructive—you will bring a positive outlook to your supervisor and anybody else who is involved in or overhears the conversation.  If you approach the feedback as a moment to grow, rather than a sign that your job is doomed or you are being unfairly attacked, everyone else will start to perceive you as flexible and full of potential.  These are great qualities to have, and they are just the beginning of what you can gain from positively receiving constructive feedback.

 

Don’t Fake it in IT Interviews

IT staffing companies and technical recruiters give plenty of advice to IT consultants about interviews: what to wear, when to get there, what kinds of questions to be ready to respond to or ask.  There is a subtle underlying rule that IT headhunters hope that IT contractors are already aware of, though.  It’s best to be genuine throughout an interview. 

While IT staffing firms aren’t looking for people who flaunt the rules of office and interview etiquette, they are looking for people who provide more genuine, personable responses to questions than their resumes might provide.  IT professionals who give the perfect, cookie-cutter response to questions are pretty questionable in their own right.  IT managers know nothing about them at the end of the interview because the answers they’ve given don’t say much about them as employees.

IT professionals who are getting ready to interview can easily avoid the trap of looking too perfect.  Preparing for interviews should be done in a way that doesn’t rob you of your personality or work style.  If you find suggested answers to questions online or elsewhere, make sure they are still answers you could honestly give.   Perhaps doing this kind of preparation might take a bit longer, but it’s worth it.  The price of not doing it will likely result in not getting the job.

Going Over an IT Manager’s Head

Sometimes in information technology it’s unclear if you should follow your IT managers or go over their heads.  While this situation isn’t enviable, IT contractors and IT headhunters can use a few major rules of thumb to determine if it will hurt or help their IT jobs to go over a manager’s head.

There are two instances in which IT recruiters and IT professionals are always justified in going over a manager’s head.  The first circumstance is when a manager is actively breaking the law (or laws!).  The second is when a manager is harassing, threatening, or discriminating against you.  Both circumstances are already too fraught with issues for you to solve on your own.

If technical recruiters or IT professionals don’t find themselves in one of the above circumstances, there are a few other criteria to consider.  The first is the frequency of the issue.  If it’s a one-time issue, it might be best to hold off.  Secondly, one should consider the intensity of the issue.  If it threatens the physical, emotional, or general well-being of you, the company, a colleague, or is equally serious, it’s time to go over a manager’s head.

There is also one instance in which it is never ok to go over your manager’s head.  This is if the people you are going to seek out tend to side with the manager or will be unlikely to protect you from any retaliation from your manager.  With unsupportive upper management, it’s definitely not worth the risk.  In fact, it’s best to start looking for a new job in such circumstances.

Avoiding Conflict in IT

IT jobs tend to require that IT contractors have either teamwork skills or customer service skills.  With requirements like these, IT staffing firms find it imperative to ensure that the IT consultants they work with not only have flawless resumes, but can also avoid and defuse conflicts.

The best case scenario for IT recruiting agencies is to find IT job candidates who are capable not only of avoiding their own conflict, but also knowing when to defuse other people’s conflicts.  Technical recruiters prefer to work with candidates who recognize that the first step to avoiding any conflict is to emotionally detach from a situation.  Secondly, keeping the opposite perspective in mind is key to easily detangling a disagreement. Empathy never hurts on this front, either.

When it comes to positively impacting work conflicts with co-workers, IT staffing companies want candidates who are aware of when they are needed.  Instances with IT managers and superiors should be avoided.  These people don’t want inferiors attempting to resolve their issues.  Issues between peers are better grounds to interfere on, but only minimally.  IT headhunters don’t want busybodies.  The only scenario that absolutely requires intervention every single time is when a disagreement is about to occur in front of or with a client or potential client.  Keeping the client happy and confident in the company is of the utmost importance– and disagreements never help with those goals.