Tag Archives: IT recruiters CA

Security in IT: Tenuous Ground

Information technology companies today are able to start up quicker than companies in many other fields.  The IT contractors and IT managers in these companies are also rapidly facing some very serious consequences for their work: security issues.  IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA can attest to how imperative security is for IT professionals.

However, as some of these companies try to quickly blossom and meet a need, sometimes they have been forced to partially or completely forfeit a focus on security as they perform their IT jobs.  The situation is certainly gray enough to make it hard to decipher who might be negligent, who might be at fault, or who might be just a victim.  As technology moves at lightning speed, laws and regulations for this sort of issue struggle to keep up and IT contractors must make their own best judgments on how much attention they will pay to security.  The lesson for buyers of these shiny new-born products is clear: consume with caution.

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.

 

IT Certifications and Degrees: Coming Soon from Pepsi?

IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA have been seeing some surprises on IT contractors’ resumes: corporate schools.  Brands like Red Bull have been creating programs that provide traditionally more academic type training.  With new technologies coming out all the time, the information technology field is particularly fertile for such “corporate schools.”  The ability to hire splashy speakers on hot topics is practically second nature to a lot of big brands.  Selling seats for the lecture is only a problem when they are just that: seats that are sold.  The educational value is still debatable when these schools have to weigh their desire for consumers with things like testing, student evaluations, and grades.

For now, these collaborations are a little controversial.  IT headhunters are less than thrilled to find IT consultants with credentials they so obviously paid for and have far less reputable names.  However, IT professionals are pointing out that many credentials already fit these bills (no pun intended).  Additionally, charter schools and online education long ago starting paving the way for these corporate schools.  IT certifications seem more likely to start coming from corporate schools more and more frequently in the future.  It’s only a matter of time.

Where the CEO Sits in IT– and Elsewhere

As the information technology field grows by leaps and bounds, it revolutionizes the work world with products and practices in workplace culture.  One of the more recent changes that have crossed over from just affecting IT recruiting companies and IT consultants is having leadership sit amongst their employees.  The trend has grown intensely amongst startups, which tend to have smaller groups that need to sit closely for team-oriented activities.

The benefits of moving a company’s leadership out of their corner offices extends beyond the obvious, though.  CEOs notice that no matter what their industry, they are pleased with the results of the seating change.  They actually gain a deeper understanding of their business as a whole and on a more detailed level when they are physically in the midst of the action.  CEOs and other leadership tend to be removed from the ‘small picture’ aspects of a business while their focus is on the ‘big picture’ aspects.  This results in various deficiencies in information for leadership, particularly for IT managers that can lose their technical knowledge as they step further and further away from IT jobs like programming or developing.

Another benefit that IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA can point to is the change in relationships between leadership and their reports.  IT professionals can relate much better to the managers who actually sit amongst them.  Their rapports grow to a familiarity that fosters truly great teamwork and respect.  People are observing the surprising power of small moments like offering a tissue, sharing jokes, or becoming more aware of an employee’s personal struggles.  These moments establish warmth, which is a key quality in a good leader.

Obviously there are leadership positions that need offices with doors that can be shut.  Some information, including financial information, needs to be kept discreet, rather than out in the open.  However, on the whole, the re-seating of the CEO and other leaders is a hugely successful tactic that any company—IT or not—should consider.

Progress Emails in IT: Powerful Tools for Remote Employees

Because information technology allows for it, IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA are seeing more and more IT jobs that require IT contractors to work remotely.  This means that IT headhunters are placing IT consultants in jobs where they must figure out how to communicate in very efficient, cheap ways with their IT managers despite the distance between them.  Technical recruiters tend to suggest that progress emails are the best tools IT professionals can use to prove they’re living up to the potential of their resumes.  If an IT contractor sends an email at the end of every week briefly listing what they’ve accomplished, they will quickly ingratiate themselves with their bosses and their IT staffing agencies.  Performing well and making sure their bosses know about it makes any IT professional very desirable to IT recruiters.

 

Salaries Won’t Remain Secret for Long in IT

IT recruiters, IT consultants, and IT managers may soon know all about each other’s salaries. Information technology is particularly full of millennial IT professionals who have few qualms about sharing personal information, including how much they get paid for their IT jobs.  In a culture built around sharing everything online, from resumes to vacation photos, IT staffing firms are noticing that IT contractors are becoming more and more likely to share their salaries with co-workers.  While there are plenty of pros and cons to this trend, it’s not really one that IT headhunters or anybody else should waste time debating.  Soon enough, particularly in IT, IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA are likely to see that salaries are no longer secret.  What is actually far more important than debating the merits of the trend is for IT recruiting agencies and the clients they staff for to prepare for salary openness as a new reality.

 

Waking Up Early: The Key to Success in IT

What’s one easy change that IT recruiters, IT managers, and IT consultants can make to boost their success in their IT jobs?  IT professionals can simply wake up earlier in the morning to achieve more.  Amongst high earning people in the information technology field, including IT headhunters and IT contractors, waking up early in the morning is a common success factor.  Why would IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA see this factor so often among successful people?  It’s because the practice goes beyond the skills simply listed on resumes.  IT staffing agencies notice that those who wake up early are getting to work earlier and getting a head start on the competition.  Being a go-getter is the best way to ingratiate oneself with a boss and IT recruiting companies, no matter what your area of IT or your skill-set.

 

IT Professionals Should Be Sending This Email

IT recruiters, IT managers, and IT contractors are all inundated with email on a daily basis.  IT recruiting firms and IT professionals all tend to use email incredibly frequently in their IT jobs, as is natural in the information technology field.  There is one email that everyone doesn’t send, though, that would make a huge difference for IT headhunters and IT consultants alike: a progress email to their boss at the end of every week.  IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA can all benefit from sending a very brief email listing their accomplishments to their boss every Friday.  This email lets managers know that technical recruiters and IT contractors are practicing not only the skills on their resumes, but actually managing themselves and making sure they stay on task.

Leadership in IT– In Every Tier

Information technology is often a team-oriented field, requiring strong leadership skills.  Technical recruiters are particularly attracted to IT contractors with not only stellar resumes, but the ability to emulate leadership qualities, even if they are not being submitted as IT managers.  IT professionals in all ranks of a team can contribute much if they can emulate the qualities that make a great leader.  This is because IT recruiting companies find that the most successful teams are comprised of IT consultants that not only perform their IT jobs, but also possess the key qualities that make a great leader: warmth of personality and confidence.  IT staffing agencies obviously prefer candidates who possess some combination of these two qualities, but leadership studies show that having even just one of these qualities is particularly helpful.  IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA can testify to the fact that a confident or a personable employee can bring a great deal to their company and team.

 

Productivity in IT

IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA are all aware of the evergreen issue of keeping IT consultants as productive as possible.  There are two general reasons why IT staffing agencies might find that their IT contractors are not as productive as they could be.

The first reason IT staffing firms might hear that IT professionals are not meeting the expectations of their IT jobs is actually related to IT managers and other co-workers.  Constant interruptions—including personal, email, phone calls, text messages, etc all take time away from productivity.  IT recruiting companies have noticed that these interruptions take time away from productivity in two ways: in the moment of the interruption and response, time is lost.  However, IT staffing companies also point to the adjustment time in getting back into work after the interruption.

The second major reason IT recruiting firms hear that IT contractors might not be living up to the potential of their resumes is their own ability to focus in work.  Information technology positions, like most others tend to be affected by the availability of the internet, smartphones, or other office distractions.  Thankfully, some of the same technology that distracts us can also provide solutions for maintaining focus.  IT recruiting firms can point to plenty of apps that help workers stay focused, rather than checking irrelevant websites or various phone messages.