Tag Archives: IT managers

How to Plan for Holiday Time in IT

IT professionals may have begun trying to figure out their holiday plans and what days to ask for off (or not) from their IT jobs.  IT consultants are particularly prone to having tough decisions to make around holiday time because information technology is often a 24/7 kind of field.  IT managers often need their IT contractors’ coverage even during days the rest of the country will close up shop. What, then, is the best way to approach the quandary of trying to get time off in a situation that requires hands on deck, if not all hands on deck, all the time?

Firstly, consider the needs of the company and the needs of your team as you make your decisions.  Making sure to take stock of major deadlines, releases, or what your teammates might need you for until the end of the year.  IT headhunters don’t like working with the kind of employees who don’t at least consider their employers’ and teammates needs.  Secondly, try to consider not only your personal situation, but your teammates’ personal situations.  Do they have children?  Do they need to travel for the holidays?  Or do they not care about them at all.  It is true that having children or being religious shouldn’t automatically give somebody particular holidays off and automatically stick everyone else with a day at work. However, it’s also the right thing to do as a teammate to at least make an effort to accommodate your teammates’ needs.  They’ll probably do the same for you in turn.    Lastly, consider checking into options for overtime or holiday pay. Don’t be demanding, but make sure you’re aware of all your options.  There may be overtime or time-and-a-half pay for holidays that you and your team are not aware of.  You may just wind up fighting for the chance to work on the holidays.

 

Making Job Interviews Two-Sided in IT

IT consultants and their IT staffing agencies often focus on how to approach interviewers so that IT managers are impressed.  While this strategy makes sense, it’s important for IT contractors to be sure that they are also impressed by the company, job description, and the managerial style they will be managed with.

IT staffing agencies and the candidates they work with will be well-served if they make sure that any interviews serve as a chance for contractors to figure out if they actually want the IT jobs in question.  The first benefit of really conducting a truly two-way interview is that IT recruiting companies and the IT professionals they’re working with make positive, long-lasting matches.  If a candidate winds up in a job they don’t like, or worse, can’t do, nobody really wins.  The second benefit is that positive business contacts are fostered all around.  IT headhunters make great relationships with hiring managers, the candidates they’re working with make good relationships with hiring managers and technical recruiters, and everyone walks away with their network expanded a bit.

Ensuring the job interview process is two-sided, not one-sided, might be intimidating at first.  However, with a robust Information Technology sector, IT professionals shouldn’t be concerned.  This is the perfect market to be picky in, and it’s better to land in a job that fits you well in the long run, anyways.

 

Fighting the Right Battles in Your IT Job

IT professionals may come across many inconveniences and deficiencies at their IT jobs.  Perhaps they are IT contractors, but would like to be taken on as permanent employees.  Perhaps they are lacking software or tools that would make their jobs easier and more effective.  Or perhaps they are just frustrated with the way their IT managers treat them.  Most IT consultants hold off on picking too many battles at their workplaces for fear of angering their bosses or the IT staffing firms that placed them in their jobs.  While this strategy makes sense, there are some battles IT headhunters might actually appreciate their contractors taking on.

IT recruiting agencies would certainly appreciate not having their candidate turn out to be whiny and difficult to manage.  The better a candidate is at putting their head down and getting a job done, the more technical recruiters will want to work with them again.  However, sometimes there are issues with the workplace that, if fixed, would benefit the company greatly.  Advocating cautiously with a well-researched solution can certainly get an IT manager’s attention.  Sometimes, even if your solution to an issue isn’t used, getting the conversation started is still a victory.  Perhaps a more effective procedure can be found at work or a cheaper or more efficient tool can be used.  Management and IT staffing companies will deeply appreciate an IT consultant who picks and fights suavely the battles that benefit his or her entire company.

 

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.

Using or Avoiding Your Phone in IT

Information technology has gone through a customer-service oriented change in the last 10 years.  IT consultants are not attractive to IT recruiters if they only have pristine resumes.  IT staffing agencies are now seeking IT contractors who are socially adept and will be great a communicating with their IT managers or co-workers.  This means that IT professionals have a bit of a quandary on their hands when it comes to answering their office phones. 

While text messages have brought about a general distaste for the phone, it has only compounded the fact that many people at the office tend to want to avoid their office line.  But is this ok when they are expected to be great communicators?  There is, of course, no straight answer to this.  Office policies, official and unofficial, are the best guides here.  The quickest way to get a good idea of how IT professionals should act towards phone calls is to check out how people in other departments do.  If people in departments with heavy emphasis on communication always pick up their phones, it’s better to follow suit.  Even if IT is different, communication skills are key.  Displaying a lack of them, even if it doesn’t affect your work, is a terrible idea.

Email curfew in IT?

Information Technology is on a 24-7 kind of schedule to meet the demands of IT managers and their superiors.  Would the idea of an email curfew, a period of time when work-related email is frowned upon, ever be a possibility for IT consultants?

IT staffing firms may soon be seeing the IT contractors they work with finding ways to adapt to such a practice at their IT jobs.  The practice is already finding traction at a Philadelphia company and all over the internet as various news sources and bloggers debate how effective the method is at facilitating work-life balance or hindering effective business.  It seems like only a matter of time before technical recruiters find themselves searching not only for pristine resumes, but also for IT professionals who can adhere to an email curfew and still get all their work done quickly.

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.