Tag Archives: IT managers

Soft Skills IT Professionals Should Acquire

Having strong resumes in the Information Technology field is obviously imperative to nabbing IT jobs.  However, having some key soft skills carries a surprising amount of weight in the interview process for IT managers and IT recruiters.   While the value of these soft skills is different depending on the IT recruiting companies and jobs, the list of skills below are all worth working on as an IT professional.

Service skills: Working on these skills pay off particularly well in support positions or positions with a lot of client/end user interaction.

1. Flexibility/adaptability
2. Problem-solving skills
3. Positive attitude
4. Customer service

Internal Employee skills: These skills will serve anybody well within the office.  Whether it comes to how managers or co-works view you, these skills will come in handy.

1. Confidence
2. Independence and work ethic
3. Ability to accept and use feedback
4. Creativity
5. Time management
6. Teamwork

 

Factors to Control in Your IT Job Interviews

Technical recruiters prepare the IT consultants (and their resumes) working with them as thoroughly as possible for interviews for IT jobs.  However, there are a few things that IT contractors need to control themselves to make sure their job interviews go as well as possible.

Time:  While IT headhunters will make sure interviews occur at times that work for IT managers, the best thing you can do is to try to get your interview scheduled as closely as possible to Tuesday at 10:30 am.  This day and time are the ones in which research shows people to be most awake, alert, focused on work, and to feel the least rushed.

Space:  Do you best to show the utmost respect for the interviewing company’s space.  Wait until you’re asked to be seated to sit.  Don’t roam seeking water fountains or a bathroom—ask a receptionist. Don’t leave marks on any tables or chairs, and throw away any garbage you might create while you’re there.  You want to give the impression that you are going to do nothing but improve things for the company.  Leaving behind any damage or disrespectful impressions will not help your case.

Eye contact: Make comfortable eye contact with everyone you meet, even the receptionists or any doormen or drivers the company employs that you come in contact with.  Don’t be fawning or make eye contact that is too intense or uncomfortable.  Simply make sure you convey interest in what people have to say, confidence in yourself, and ease in dealing with people in any station.

Physical Appearance: Be well groomed and try to dress in a way that fits in well with the company culture (albeit the formal side of it).  If your appearance feels somewhat familiar to your interviewers, this might work in your favor.  Portraying yourself as a cultural fit for the company visually is certainly not going to hurt your chances!

 

Professional Failure in IT

Failure actually holds a high place in information technology.  IT professionals are constantly testing programs, code, potential solutions, etc.  Every time a test fails, IT consultants learn something.  IT contractors and IT managers could also learn quite a bit from embracing failure as professionals, too.  Having pristine resumes certainly attracts IT recruiters and lands jobs quickly.  However, making mistakes at work and even getting fired a time or two will teach you quite a bit.

It’s worth finding the value in the lessons that can be learned from making professional mistakes.  Obviously there are costs to these mistakes and the aim is to avoid them on the whole.  When they happen, though, we can learn a lot about our strengths and weaknesses as professionals.  We can also learn about how to become more resilient in the face of hardship so that future hiccups aren’t as difficult to deal with.  There are plenty of interesting articles about the coping tools we can develop to deal with failure and rejection, and these are worth checking out.  It’s also imperative to just start accepting that failure is inevitable sometimes and the best thing we can do is learn to appreciate its effects on our lives.  Learning more about our jobs, professional field and skills, or just about ourselves, is certainly not a bad thing.  And in the long run, that’s exactly what you can frame past failures as: learning opportunities.

 

How to Be a Better IT Leader

The most prized IT professionals that IT recruiters want to work with are the ones with not only stellar resumes, but stellar leadership skills.  Because the information technology field is overrun with project-based work, IT managers often prefer to use teams to accomplish tasks.  IT contractors that can effectively lead their teams to success are thus highly prized.  What are some ways IT consultants can sharpen their leadership skills?

One surefire way to become a better leader is to make sure your focus is shifted from hierarchy and job descriptions to the goals of the team.  The most effective leaders are the ones who are not seeking a title and glory, but success for the entire team in their goals.  If you provide guidance for your team members in orienting them towards the team’s goals and helping them contribute towards these goals, even if it means straying from original job descriptions or doing tasks that might feel ‘beneath you,’ you will earn a great deal of respect as a leader.

Another way to improve your leadership abilities is to maintain a positive and warm demeanor.  Sometimes leaders are not just responsible for their written duties or making sure their team gets to the finish line, so to speak.  Sometimes, their responsibilities are slightly more intangible.  Research consistently shows that positivity and being relatable are some of the most important traits in a leader.  If you can keep the right attitude at work, you can inspire your teammates to do the same and to avoid the distractions and destruction of negative thoughts and attitudes.  Being relatable makes it easier for your teammates and followers to trust you.  Combined, these two traits, no matter how ‘fluffy’ they might seem, are invaluable for leaders of IT teams.

 

Should IT Professionals Shake Hands During Cold and Flu Season?

IT recruiters and IT professionals from Boston to Los Angeles are finding themselves in the midst of cold and flu season.  While there are plenty of issues that come with cold and flu season, one of the most surprising is dealing with handshakes.  Everyone in the Information technology field, from IT headhunters to IT managers to IT consultants, all are likely to be faced with a situation that requires a handshake.  Sometimes it’s for interviews for IT jobs or sometimes it’s merely for an introduction. Whatever the case, though, a simple gesture becomes a bit of a minefield when one party is sick.

So what should be considered if IT contractors or IT professionals find themselves in a moment where a handshake is necessary, but they or the other party is sick?  The handshake is a surprisingly important gesture in American business culture.  It’s best to do everything you can to not avoid making it.  Washing your hands ahead of time, taking cold or flu medication, and using hand sanitizer discreetly are all acceptable ways to sanitize a handshake so it’s safe for both parties.   Doing these and still shaking your business acquaintance’s hand is preferable to withholding a handshake.  If you are the one who is well, simply shake the other person’s hand and proceed to wash your hands well afterwards.   The likelihood of avoiding a cold simply by avoiding a handshake is relatively low anyways.  Most viruses are airborne or wind up being unavoidable during this season.  Why possibly hurt a business relationship for only a slightly likely edge for your health?

 

Keeping Your Speech Professional at Your IT Job

IT professionals tend to work behind the scenes in less formal settings, but even those who do can make missteps in their speech and hurt their professional reputations with their IT recruiters, IT managers, or coworkers.  Below are a few things for IT contractors to avoid and suggestions to improve the way they communicate at their IT jobs.

Speed:  IT consultants who speak at a moderate, even pace, especially during stressful times, will give off the best impressions.  It’s easy to speak too quickly, particularly when you’re nervous or the people around you are nervous.  Maintaining an even pace helps you to stay calm and gives off a calmer air to everyone else.  This calmness can also be very effective in giving people the impression that you are competent and trustworthy because people who feel confident in their abilities to deal with a situation will usually sound pretty even-toned.

Pauses: Obviously resumes full of relevant skills and experience are the best way to demonstrate your competence to IT recruiting companies and managers.  However, a well-timed pause can go a long way to this goal, as well.  If you replace every “um,” “ah,’” “like,” or “you know” with a simple pause, you can increase other’s confidence in you.  People would rather you say nothing as you consider the next thing you’re saying rather than reach for a verbal stall like “um.”  The switch seems small, but it will make a big difference.

Cursing:  The rule of thumb with cursing is to generally avoid it.  There is a big caveat here, though.  A rare and well-timed curse in front of the right people can help you bond a bit with coworkers or possibly clients.  Sometimes it’s helpful for everyone to drop their professional demeanor for a moment and reveal their more human side.  If you think it’s a good time or place to do that, a mild curse can help.  Exercise caution with this tactic, though.

 

How to Interview Your Next Boss in IT

Bosses have a surprising amount of power in IT contractors’ lives.  Having a good one can make your time at work pleasant.  Having a bad one can make your time at work terrible and possibly ruin your time out of work, too (perhaps too many off duty calls or just sleepless nights worrying about his or her next blowup).  It’s crucial to make sure that as you interview for IT jobs, you are honest with your IT recruiters about what kind of IT managers you work best under.  It’s also crucial that you interview your potential boss thoroughly on your next job interview.

Interviewing your potential boss as they interview you requires some nuance.  IT recruiters prefer not to work with IT consultants who are too demanding or difficult, because they don’t tend to come off well in interviews—no matter how impressive their resumes are.  It’s imperative to ask questions that will subtly reveal what you need to know about a potential manager. Your intention should be to gain the information you need without demanding it.

So what is the information you need to decide if a manager will be a good leader for you?  This will vary from person to person, but a few major categories are pretty universal. Asking about somebody’s management style will give you some good ideas about how they lead.  So will asking about the best and worst employees they’ve worked with.  It’s helpful to know what they think of as a successful employee and one worth firing.  Depending on how the conversation goes, you may feel comfortable enough to throw out your own expectations of a manager.  Try posing these expectations as your best case scenario. If your potential boss seems amenable to all or most of them, you may have found your perfect future boss.

 

How IT Managers Can Deliver Negative Feedback Effectively

One of the toughest duties managers in information technology take on is delivering negative feedback to the IT contractors who report to them.  IT jobs can be high stress and difficult in their own right, so the best IT professionals in management positions know how to give negative feedback in a way that does not exacerbate any existing stressful circumstances.  There are a couple of major things to seriously consider so that IT consultants receive negative feedback in a constructive way.

IT managers should start by making sure that negative feedback is given in a conversation full of positive feedback, as well.  Starting with an honest, genuine compliment will put the IT professional at ease.  Ending the conversation with one will also help keep the entire experience a positive, constructive one.  People tend to remember endings and beginnings better than any other part of a conversation.

The second thing to consider is how the negative feedback can be approached.  If you approach it as an issue that you as the manager and your report need to deal with together, things will be better.  Giving the report the feeling that you’re truly on their team will make them feel more open to finding solutions.  Speaking of solutions, it’s also important that the conversation revolve around those.  It’s important to identify the problem, but making sure it gets fixed and doesn’t happen in the future is far more important.  Note that both of these tips require a face-to-face interaction.  You can’t create a team and solution-oriented feeling over an email in the way that you could in person or on the phone (at the very least).

 

Unplugging from Your IT Job During Your Vacation

Information technology can be a 24/7 field, but there are ways for technical recruiters to tactfully unplug from their IT jobs during the holidays and vacations.  IT recruiters want their IT contractors to make sure they’re reliable and satisfy their IT manager’s needs.  Keeping this goal in mind as you make your plan to unplug for vacation or holiday time will make all the difference.

The first thing IT consultants can do to successfully leave work at work is to plan ahead.  Taking a survey of the projects and issues that may need attention during planned holiday or vacation time is key.  IT headhunters are looking for IT professionals that would not only get their work done, but make sure their team’s goals are not compromised if they’re off the clock.  If a project will come up when you’re off work, consider trying to get your part of it done ahead of time or leaving behind the resources your team will need to cover your part of it.  Making sure you have done everything you can to anticipate any major issues that come up while you’re gone will give you peace of mind and give your teammates and managers confidence in you—now and in the future.  Being a considerate team player is invaluable.

The second thing IT professionals should do is to set up a contingency plan for contact while they’re away.  Depending on the situation, you may need to set up an emergency contact protocol.  Without being obnoxious, get your manager and teammates on the same page with you about what constitutes an emergency.  This will save you from a lot of phone calls or emails you find unnecessary.

The last step is to stand by your own word.  If you draw boundaries, you need to make sure you don’t destroy them yourself.  Nobody will respect boundaries that you yourself don’t respect.

Boost Your Career: Offering and Asking for Help in IT

Asking for help can often be perceived as a last resort in information technology, as can offering help.  These actions might either make IT managers and any other IT contractors you work with perceive you as incompetent, or overly confident and having a workload that is unsuitably small.  However, when strategically done,

IT professionals can make a big impression in their IT jobs by offering or asking for some help.

Ask for some help: IT consultants can create a positive impression with their managers and IT recruiters by seeking out feedback and opportunities for growth.  If you ask for help from a manager in making sure you’re meeting expectations or perhaps figuring out how to take on a bigger role in your team, you’ll earn their devotion.  Another way to ask for help and boost your career is to seek out feedback and learning opportunities from very strong coworkers in your field.  Without impinging on their time and expectations, ask a coworker who is great at a skill you’d like to sharpen or acquire to let you watch them or learn from them.  Your ambition to get better at what you do or add to your skill-set will really impress the people you work with.

Offer some help: This one is far easier to implement with a higher impact.  Without impinging upon your own responsibilities, etc, try to identify a few specific things that you can help coworkers or managers with.  Offering to help with specific projects that you’re confident you can contribute effectively to will make a big impression on managers and coworkers.  It’s easy for them to say yes to your offer, and the results will exceed expectations (that you wouldn’t have participated in this project at all).