Tag Archives: IT staffing firm

Branding Your IT Staffing Company’s Name

There are many different ways you can brand an IT recruiting agency.  Ultimately the marketing initiatives come down to budget, manpower, strategy and effort.  If your IT staffing firm is strong in all three of these areas, then you’ll be in good shape.  If you’re a small technical staffing company, then you must focus on the effort part.  Larger IT recruiting firms Boston may be heavy on the budget side, but actually weak on the strategy.

Branding your IT staffing company starts with developing your company’s logo.  This will create brand recognition for your clients and prospective technical candidates.  Business cards, company letterhead and stationary should be made.  Folders and pamphlets explaining your IT recruiting firm’s capabilities are a good idea as well.

Branding your company can also include creating promotional products and other client handouts with the logo of your IT recruiting agency.  Be sure to include your company’s contact info and/or website as well.  Depending upon your budget, some of the more common promotional products include pens, Post-it notes, mugs, golf balls, rubber stress balls, tee shirts and computer bags.  For more information, visit various promotional product websites.

For those more dynamic companies, interactive marketing can produce large ROI’s.  Otherwise, some of the more popular marketing tactics today still include mailers, TV and radio advertisements as well as those on bulletin boards.  Some local IT staffing companies Boston even advertise on taxi cabs.

Whatever the size, manpower or budget of your technical recruiting firm, there are an unlimited amount of initiatives that you can tackle with virtually no cost.  If you want to have a company that others know by name, it takes time…and effort.

Add IT Key Words to your Resume

IT recruiters go through resume after resume to find keywords that will match the IT job description.  Therefore, it’s important for prospective IT candidates to include as many key words in their resumes as possible.

For example, if you’re a Software Engineer, be sure to add all of the development languages and tools that you have experience with (obviously without fabricating).  By doing so, your resume will be more likely to be found by IT recruiters.

If an IT staffing firm receives a new IT job order for a VB.NET Developer who has experience developing code that will sit a SQL Server database.  Subsequently, their IT recruiters are likely going to search “VB.NET and developer and SQL Server.”  If you didn’t list the different programming languages, as well as various databases, your resume would not come up in the IT recruiter’s search.

Could IT Contractor Pay Rates Finally be Increasing?

Over the past couple of years, client companies have limited overtime, reduced the number of hours an IT consultant can work in a week, and even rolled out pay cuts.  IT staffing firm bill rates are down; therefore IT contractor pay rates have been lowered as well.  All of which are a result of the terrible recession that our nation has been fighting through for the past two years.

However, IT recruiting has experienced a change over the past 6 months.  Client bill rates are steadily on the rise, resulting in higher pay rates for IT consultants.  Here’s an example from this IT staffing firm: Last June, our client hired a .NET Developer for a 6-month engagement for $70/hr.  Almost exactly one year later, our IT recruiters placed a .NET resource for $85/hr with the same client.  He had a similar background and experience level.  The difference in rate is significant, and it maybe be an indicator that the worst should be behind us. Overall, IT staffing companies across the country are reporting an increase in contract and permanent hiring.  As the demand increases, IT contractor pay rates will climb.  The economy is heading back in the right direction – and although it will still take some time – there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.

Identifying Candidates Who Are a Cultural Fit With Your Company

In the IT staffing industry, hiring managers or IT recruiting companies will match qualified resumes with the IT job description.  Because the industry is so dependent upon finding someone with the depth/experience in the specific technologies required, companies and IT recruiters often get caught up in just matching key words.  However, what some IT recruiters and managers often neglect is the human element.  More specifically, is the candidate also a cultural fit with your group, office and/or company?

How can IT recruiters or a hiring managers find more about the candidate, and their personality, by just reading a resume or cover letter?  The first solution may be creating a questionnaire, often personality-related questions or hypotheticals that can often shed some light on a candidate’s personality and thought process.  A widely-available option is the Myers- Brigg Type Indicator (a.k.a the MBTI test).  This test can either be taken online or in person and asks various questions that will categorize the candidate.  There are 4 categories and 2 types within each category.

However, from this IT staffing firm’s perspective, which has worked with numerous clients who have incorporated different personality tests, the best way to screen for culture is to always be a face-to-face when meeting with the candidate.  Have a list of situational questions prepared, but use the interview as an opportunity to gauge the candidate’s reaction and watch for their body language.  You can tell a lot about how a person acts with each response.  Analyze his or her responses; look for inconsistencies and/or signs of fabrication.  Shifting or lack of eye contact can also tell whether the person is ultimately being truthful with their answers.