Tag Archives: IT recruiting firms

Handling IT Recruiters

IT recruiters are a fact of life for IT professionals.  The information technology market is so hot that IT staffing firms and IT headhunters are and probably will be a fixture for a long time.  IT consultants tend to have mixed feelings about how to deal with technical recruiters, but here are a few basic guidelines.

Firstly, establish relationships with IT staffing agencies before you are polishing your resumes.  This means that when you do need them, IT recruiting firms will have already looked at IT jobs for you.

Secondly, consider the IT recruiting companies you’re working with as professional contacts.  While they may not be the company you work for directly, it’s important to consider that they will be representing you.  Giving them the most professional version of yourself will yield the best results.

Lastly, be honest with IT recruiting companies you are working with.  You will get the best job for you if you give them good information.  If you lie about a qualification, interest, or your salary expectations, you’ll wind up with a job offer (or worse, a job) that doesn’t make sense for you.

 

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.

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.

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.

 

How IT Professionals Can Deal With Difficult People

Technical recruiters, IT contractors, and IT managers alike all encounter difficult people at their IT jobs.  Information technology, like most professional fields, is not exempt from unfortunate work relationships or clients.  In particular, IT professionals are likely to handle difficult clients who are upset that their technology isn’t working.  The good news is that there are plenty of tactics IT recruiters and IT contractors can employ in dealing with difficult clients, co-workers, or managers.

The most comprehensive approach to dealing with difficult people is to remember that co-workers, managers, etc are more than their resumes.  They have their own personal concerns, values, and communication styles.  If IT staffing agencies try to mirror the communication styles of difficult clients, they will suddenly get much further with them.  IT recruiting companies will also find far more success with difficult clients if they try to understand their priorities.  IT headhunters can easily overcome a difference in priorities once it’s identified.  Lastly, IT consultants and IT staffing companies will find a great deal of success keeping interactions with difficult people as short as possible without being rude or incomplete in their work.  Letting any kind of abuse or anger build is not necessary and won’t make the interaction any better or more productive.  This also means the less response IT recruiting firms give to difficult people’s tantrums, the sooner they are over.

IT Sees An Infusion of New Jobs

As big data pervades more and more of everyday life, new IT jobs crop up at a faster pace for IT contractors.  IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA are seeing a new infusion of very different kinds of jobs into the IT market.  IT staffing agencies are noticing new job openings at companies that previously had no or very little need for IT headhunters.  Industries like fitness and weight loss are suddenly seeking IT recruiting companies and IT professionals at a far more frequent pace.  IT consultants are not only finding economic value in this expansion, but chances to take forays into new industries.  IT recruiting firms can bring IT professionals’ resumes into intriguing new fields where information technology is suddenly more useful as big data becomes sought after.  Of course, the best part about big data is that it’s here to stay and IT staffing companies will only see more business from this growth in the market.

 

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.

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.

 

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.

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.