Tag Archives: IT recruiting agencies

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.

 

Summer Fridays in IT are Dead?

IT staffing firms, IT contractors, and IT managers may be basking in the glow of Summer Fridays, but all things considered, they are merely a mirage these days (and not just in information technology, but in most fields).  IT recruiting companies can testify to the fact that IT consultants are no longer just reachable on the clock.  They’re also generally available on cell phones and email, no matter the day or hour.  (IT headhunters themselves are also often expected by IT staffing companies to be available 24-7 via various methods of contact.)  A willingness to be constantly available at work is so common IT recruiting agencies often see it on resumes.

Obviously this trend alone tends to make the Summer Friday more of an idea than a practice in various IT jobs.  Perhaps the upside of this death of actual Summer Fridays means the birth of a kind of ‘Summer Everydays’.  When technology allows for work to be done outside of work, technical recruiters are seeing flexible work arrangements on a stunningly regular basis.  Even if constant availability is a necessity of ‘Summer Everydays,’ IT staffing agencies should remember all the benefits of an equally constantly flexible schedule.

 

Performance Reviews in IT: Harmful or Helpful

Information technology is a field that revolves around quantifying things precisely.  Yet, IT professionals might benefit from not quantifying one particular thing:  performance.  Performance reviews in particular, especially standardized ones are not the best way for IT managers to gauge how well IT consultants are doing in their IT jobs.  IT staffing firms can testify to the damage that performance reviews can sometimes do to IT contractors’ productivity.

While IT recruiting agencies are aware of particular spikes in lowered productivity before and after performance reviews, mostly due to lowered morale and stress, technical recruiters can point to an effect throughout the work year.  IT recruiting firms could easily recount stories of communication breaking down between team members and managers and subordinates due the constraints of impending performance reviews.   In addition to the effects these reviews have on workplace culture, IT staffing companies can also easily argue that ‘standardized reviews’ are simply flawed tools anyways.  Like in the job search, IT recruiting companies would never simply judge candidates by their resumes.  The same is true of performance: it’s not quantifiable by a few numbers.

 

Making Matches in IT– Management is Key

In information technology and any other professional field, it’s important for IT recruiters to make sure that IT consultants not only are placed in IT jobs that work well for their resumes, but also a great fit in terms of IT managers.  IT contractors will work best and enjoy their work, which of course leads to better performance, with a boss they can be honest with and generally get along with.  IT headhunters will be more successful in placing IT professionals whose work style and management style are complementary.  IT staffing companies that make such placements will have more satisfied clients and IT job candidates.  This will mean more repeat business for IT recruiting agencies.  Thus making good matches between IT professionals and IT managers will be fortuitous for many people, including IT recruiting companies.

 

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 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.

 

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.

 

It’s a Startup World—in IT at Least

IT staffing firms have noticed IT managers and IT contractors heading to startupsin droves recently.  Information technology lends itself especially well to the start-up format, so it’s no wonder that IT consultants seem to find that company format the most alluring.  The speed of the Internet and technology in general certainly lends itself to small companies full of IT professionals who aim to grow at break-neck pace.  The easy accessibility and low cost of the tools needed in IT is also a factor in the startup boom that IT staffing companies have noticed.  IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA may also have seen startups growing in popularity due to the celebrity of companies like Facebook.  IT recruiting agencies could easily point to the narrative of success that has formed around fun, young startups that become successful overnight.  Whether this narrative is always, or even sometimes true, might be debatable among IT recruiting firms.  However, one thing that is not debatable is the staying power of the startup in the IT staffing companies’ landscape.  These kinds of companies have made their presence know to technical recruiters and they won’t be leaving for a while.

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.