Tag Archives: IT jobs

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.

IT Hiring: Best With Engaged Managers

IT staffing companies and IT consultants often place the burden of making an interview go well on the IT professionals shoulders, not the IT manager’s.  However, the best hires occur when managers take on a significant amount of responsibility in interviewing IT contractors for IT jobs.  The first step a manager can take is utilizing Technical recruiters.  IT staffing firms put a great deal of effort into locating job candidates with great resumes and who perform well in a phone screen.  The next step becomes the responsibility of the manager, though.  IT headhunters can only provide options to a company.  It is up to the company to actively make sure they choose the best of these IT recruiting agencies’ offerings. Information technology is very often a team-driven field, and IT staffing agencies provide candidates who meet this requirement.  It is ultimately up to the company’s interviewer to make sure the candidate is a perfect fit for their team, though.  While IT recruiting companies can suggest good cultural fits, the only person who can find the best cultural fit is somebody from within the company culture.

 

Time for a New IT Job?

Information technology, like any field, has a wide diversity of jobs it can offer.  IT professionals can use this plethora of choices to their credit and they can definitely be vigilant about making sure their IT jobs are right for them.  Technical recruiters, IT managers, and IT contractors should all take time now and then to evaluate if they’re in the right role for them.  Beyond just making sure the skills on their resumes match the ones on job descriptions, IT consultants and IT headhunters should stop and consider if they are performing to their best ability in their role and if they feel motivated to perform to their best ability.    IT staffing companies and the IT job candidates they work with want the same thing:  for the people these IT recruiting companies to like their jobs and excel in them.

Applying Sports to IT Jobs: It’s a Slam Dunk

Technical recruiters, IT contractors, and IT managers can take a page from sports to improve their performances in IT jobs.  Beyond the obvious skills on resumes, IT professionals, including IT staffing agencies and  IT consultants, need to be well-versed on soft skills, including team dynamics, follow-through, ambition, and how to go the extra mile.

IT recruiting companies and the people they work with can easily apply the tactics they practiced in sports to their everyday workload.  For instance, considering not just what one’s current move with the ball, but what to do with it next, is very applicable to being in information technology as part of IT recruiting firms or any other organizations.  Thinking ahead can always help IT staffing companies perform even better at filling jobs.  IT recruiting agencies also could certainly benefit from applying a little emphasis on teamwork or hustle.   Improving at work is as easy as going back to playground games.

 

Success in IT– More than Just Job Performance

IT Staffing companies and IT managers have plenty of criteria for what makes good IT professionals. Though some of these criteria are obvious from resumes, IT recruiting companies definitely have preferences that extend to more personal areas, like behavior in the workplace.  IT staffing firms definitely prefer to work with IT contractors who are social, but don’t tend to socialize with other employees known for being slackers or doing the bare minimum.  IT recruiting agencies also prefer to work with IT consultants who do things like showing up early, leaving late, and looking focused during the day.  Even if one is getting their work done perfectly, certain behaviors can make them a target for management and make their technical recruiters look bad. IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA all agree that they want to work with people who not only do their IT jobs, but contribute to a healthy, effective, happy work environment.

 

Entering a New IT Company’s Culture

Information technology offers a rich diversity of company cultures.  IT professionals can hardly point to one particular code of conduct or set of expectations that all IT managers follow.  IT staffing companies rarely encounter IT jobs that even have the same exact dress codes.  There are always little nuances that IT consultants and technical recruiters must dig a bit to uncover.  This diversity of company cultures that IT recruiters notice is hardly a burden, though.  With such a rich variety of codes of conduct, IT staffing agencies can easily find a company that is the perfect fit for their IT contractors.  On the other side of the coin, technical recruiters have a responsibility to make sure they are passing on more than resumes to the companies they work for.  IT recruiting companies must pass on IT job candidates who are good cultural fits, as well.

 

The Rise of the IT Celebrity

Technical recruiters and IT professionals have noticed a trend in information technology: the making of IT celebrities.  IT staffing firms, IT consultants, and IT managers are often not even remotely famous.  In fact, IT headhunters and IT contractors tend to be anonymous even at work, represented by their email signature or code rather than their actual voice or face.

IT recruiters CA aren’t the only ones noticing a sudden rise in profiles, IT recruiters Boston also have seen big names in IT start making the news.  IT headhunters read about one of Yahoo’s major players from the east coast when her name made news as her status as a cross-country telecommuter was jeopardized.  IT staffing firms are reading countless articles and blogs about people with IT jobs like Sheryl Sandberg and Sean Parker.  IT recruiting firms are noticing that these articles aren’t just focusing on resumes, either.  Sometimes lifestyle details like Sean Parker’s wedding are being read around the Internet by IT staffing companies.

Seating at IT Companies

IT staffing firms and IT managers know that sometimes where IT consultants sit during the day at work can have a huge impact on their performance.  IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA know that Information technology can have offices that feel particularly isolating, no matter how full they are.  IT recruiting agencies have seen firsthand that staring at a computer screen for 8 hours can pre-empt contact between IT consultants very effectively.  IT headhunters are seeing an increasing interest in seating that encourages serendipitous encounters between IT contractors.  Recently in the news, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer called all Yahoo IT professionals back to the office in order to promote more of these serendipitous encounters. More articles have touted the value of a seating chart that promotes teamwork in IT jobs and IT recruiting companies are looking for IT job candidates who are more amenable to these arrangements.

 

How Young IT grads Can Impress IT Recruiters Quickly

Technical recruiters and IT managers alike love working with young IT professionals.  However, IT staffing firms can only work with IT consultants that act as polished and professional, rather than young and inexperienced.  IT contractors whose resumes reflect little more than a recent graduation from school can do a few things to make themselves stand out to IT headhunters trying to fill IT jobs.

Recent grads starting in the information technology field will really wow IT recruiting agencies and IT headhunters by doing ample research before any interviews.  This means research about the company and interviewer if you happen to know their name. Another move that will really impress IT staffing agencies is to make sure one comes to an interview professionally dressed with no visible (or audible) cell phone (and no parents!!).   Lastly, IT recruiting companies look for candidates who have practiced their “elevator pitch” and answering tough interview questions.  Doing all of these things will make IT staffing firms take notice of a candidate—in the best way possible.