Tag Archives: IT jobs

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.

 

How IT Professionals Can Safely Talk about the Government Shutdown

Like every other field, the information technology field is attempting to divine whether it will suffer in the wake of the government shutdown.  Of course, IT professionals have a lot of reservations about talking about a topic like this at their IT jobs.  It’s a deeply uncomfortable thing to discuss with coworkers, never mind the fact that IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA would vehemently state that IT contractors avoid such discussions with their coworkers or IT managers.

So what is the best way for IT consultants to deal with conversations, like one about the government shutdown, that could be veritable minefields in the office?  There are two routes to take.  The most obvious, of course, is to simply not participate. Finding some way to leave the conversation (hopefully in a way that feels organic, and not abrupt), is probably most common.  The second route is to take a page from Megan Garber’s observations in today’s version of The Atlantic, and find the elements that are not politically, racially, religiously, economically, etc- charged.  Like the panda-cam that has been shut off due the government shutdown.  Find the universally agreeable element, and stick to that like pandas to a bamboo tree.

 

Doing Your Research Before an IT Interview

IT recruiters and IT staffing companies tend to recommend that IT consultants do their research before interviewing for IT jobs.  This might seem straightforward enough, but it’s worth it for IT contractors to review the research they need to do that is not technology-specific as they prepare to meet IT managers.

The first step any technical recruiters will suggest is to research the company.  Going to the company’s website and blog are good first stops.  It’s also worth it to check out glass door for your own reference to see if you’ll like the work environment.

The next step IT recruiting agencies would recommend is reading industry-specific news.  Reviewing recent news for the industry that you’ll be interviewing in will give you something interesting to speak with our interviewer about.  You might also have some ideas of what the company’s priorities are or major factors in its business.

The last step to consider is to look up the person you’ll be interviewed by.  Looking for common ground, finding out their role, and finding out more about their background will all help you become the most appealing candidate you can be.  People love to work with people who understand them, so you can show up already having a basic understanding of your interviewer.

When to Stay in Your IT Job…and When to Leave

IT consultants must ask themselves a tough question from time to time: Should I start looking to leave my current job?  IT professionals who are considering polishing their resumes should consider a few major factors before trying to move on to new IT jobs.

The first major fact is the state of the economy and the information technology.  Currently, IT contractors will find that the economy is not in the best shape.  However, the IT field is booming.  Making a move wouldn’t be prohibitively risky at the moment.

The next factor to consider is motivation.  IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies tend to shy away from people who only want to leave their jobs for more money, because they’re bored, or because they’re overworked.  A combination of factors is acceptable, but on their own, each of these factors can be addressed and probably improved at least somewhat.

The last factor to consider is time.  If you’ve only been with your current employer for less than a year (and it’s not a contract), it’s best to try to wait it out.  Technical recruiters do have more tolerance for what might be called ‘job hopping’ in other fields, but if you can avoid having less than a year at any location, you should wait.

 

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.

 

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.

“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.