Tag Archives: IT staffing

Getting That Raise

The Information Technology industry can be very profitable as long as you know your worth.  You as an IT professional put in a lot of work to do your job and learn new things about your industry. Even after all the effort you put in, some of you may feel undervalued.

The first step you should take is evaluate your work and others who do the same as you.  Make sure that you as an IT professional are going above and beyond your job title.  You cannot expect your employer to approve a raise when the tasks you are fulfilling are only what are stated in the job description.  As an employee in the IT industry, you need to go above and beyond if you want to get ahead.

Next, figure out exactly how much additional compensation you’re looking.  This may be as simple as more vacation time or as complex as additional salary and/or bonus.   If you ask for an increase in pay, try to find out what other people in similar IT jobs are being paid.  Utilize IT recruiters Boston to help provide you with a compensation analysis.  Leverage their knowledge of the rates and salaries in the IT staffing industry.

Once you gather this information, make a list so you know what arguments you will use when negotiating your raise.

Before you go into your boss’ office, do some research on your own company.  Specifically, try to find out their budget and/or when their new budget numbers need to be reported.  Timing is everything – getting in front of your boss at just the right moment may make the difference in hundreds or thousands of dollars to you.

For more suggestions or advice, contact one of the IT recruiters at AVID Technical Resources today:  www.avidtr.com.

Dress the Part, Play the Part, Be the Part

As the owner of an IT recruiting company, I firmly believe that a work environment plays an instrumental part in shaping your employees and further helps create your office culture. There are a number of elements within creating a work environment. First, there’s the actual office location. This can provide energy or even take away from it if your company is located in a barren office park in the middle of nowhere. This is why AVID Technical Resources, one of the nation’s fastest growing IT staffing companies, is located in the heart of Boston – smack in the middle of the city’s financial district. We took this a step further and purchased an office condo on the first floor, just above eye-level of those on the outside, yet still close enough to the ground level to see people pass bye and further create the feel of energy.

Another variable to creating a proper work environment is dress code. We have all seen the images of dot com start-up companies. Many of these snapshots show people in jeans and tee shirts playing ping pong or foosball in their office break rooms. The pictures give us a sense of reckless spending and casual work environments. It promotes free spirit without rules or boundaries. As much as you want to create a fun/healthy work environment, there needs to be a professional tone. By trading the jeans in for business pants, you’re naturally prompting your IT recruiters Boston to step up their game. Exchanging tee shirts for shirts and ties and will immediately prompt a change in professional atmosphere and mindset of your technical recruiters and IT staffing salespeople. Simply put, dress the part, play the part, be the part.

How to get people to arrive on time in the IT recruiting industry

When working in such a fast paced industry such as the IT recruiting industry, there are many meetings and appointments that you will need to attend and others will have to join as well.  Between client appointments, interviews and meetings with other IT recruiters Boston, time is limited in a work day.

So how can you make sure that your technical recruiters and IT staffing salespeople to arrive on time? The first thing you should do is make sure that you always arrive on time.  In the IT staffing industry, it is extremely important to have a good reputation.  Always being on time and ready to start will make others trust you and know that you as a manager will work in the allotted time given.

Once you have established your reputation for being on time, work closely with those who are notoriously known for being late.  Provide them with a warning, not only explain the consequences of their tardiness, but the ramifications of their actions.  You must treat all of the employees in your IT recruiting company the same.  Sometimes setting an example with an insubordinate employee is best.

As an IT staffing manager, you should always lead by example.  If you tell your team there is no working from home, yet you’re on a conference call from your home, you’re not going to gain the trust of your employees.  If you confront an IT recruiter for being late, then come in late the next day, you’re going to lose credibility.  Therefore, always be sure to practice what you preach.

Getting Past a Gatekeeper: Advice for IT staffing salespeople

Getting past the gatekeeper is one of the most key aspects in becoming a solid IT staffing salesperson. If you are unable to get past them, then your chance of making a sale of your product or service is slim. Most people that you ask about the subject will try and teach you tricks of how to do it but theres really just a couple of fundamental tips that you can use and you should be successful more often than not.

The most important thing you can do when you first reach someone in your target company is to be nice and polite. Your chances of succeeding in your mission rise exponentially when you are polite. It’s really just common sense but if someone is rude to you not only do you not want to help them out but you usually go out of your way to stop them from doing what they are trying to accomplish. Treat every gatekeeper like you were actually speaking with the CEO/Decision Maker.

Another important point to remember is that most of the time the gatekeeper’s responsibility is help their boss decide what is the best use of their valuable time. If you can convince them that you IT recruiting services can provide a value/cost savings, then you’ve just transformed the gatekeeper from a road block to an ally. Ask them questions about their companies growth strategies, how their trying to increase their value to their customers, how you can leverage your value into creating more for them. You don’t have to spend an hour on the phone with them but a quick 5-10 minute conversation can go along way and help you immensely in the long run. You can also leverage this conversation into solving another problem that some people run into: targeting the wrong person. Most gatekeepers are assistants to someone important in the company so they probably have a good understanding of what’s going on in the company. Knowing that they could probably point you in the right direction if you have some misinformation that’s leading you astray.

Assigning One Dedicated AVID IT Staffing Account Manager

One of the main differences between AVID Technical Resources and other IT recruiting companies is our approach to customer service.  Our company believes in going above and beyond for both our IT consultants and client companies.  We often meet candidates at the client site before their IT job interview to introduce them to the IT manager.  Stopping by with coffee and bagels for our IT contractors is common practice.  On the client side, we separate ourselves from the competition by providing a more personal approach with each hiring manager.  Where most IT recruiting agencies like their IT staffing salespeople to stay in the office and conduct business via the phone and email,  AVID sends their account managers on the road to meet with the IT managers face to face.  Although more time consuming (and often more expensive) we believe this is the right way to do business.  Face to face, building a relationship, getting to know the hiring manager, their team and the company culture and environment first hand.  In an age of technology and speed, this is becoming a rarity.

At AVID Technical Resources, we also believe in dedicating one IT staffing account manager to each client.  This eliminates confusion, multiple contacts from the same IT recruiting firm.  Most importantly, it reduces the chance of any company with IT staffing needs falling through the cracks and missing out on our technical recruiting services.

From an internal perspective, each IT staffing salesperson covers a very specific, and manageable, geographical territory.  He or she is responsible for every company within their respective territory and are tasked with getting to know each technical environment and the IT managers that make up the company.  This ensures there is no “rat race” to each company and no unhealthy internal competition.  In return, the IT staffing salespeople help one another out.  The result:  better customer service for our clients.

Why you should wait to purchase that 3-D TV

There have been a lot of commercials and talk about the new line of 3-D TV’s that companies have come out with.  IT professionals have put a ton of research and work into creating these high tech televisions for consumers, but are they worth splurging for yet? Sony 3-D TV will cost you around $2,000, and that’s one of the smaller TV’s.

Just thinking about these TV’s is going to put a hole in your wallet.  But then they there are more surprises.  In order to view the images in 3-D you will need to purchase the glasses, a 3-D receptor that connects with the glasses, and a blu-ray player that will play the movies.  The HDTV’s will not be able to work with the glasses and player so you will have to upgrade.  How many people will actually put on glasses to watch TV?  I asked a number of the IT recruiters Boston in our IT staffing company and not one person said they would wear them consistently.

With these new TV’s you will be able to watch your shows and movies in 2-D as well or convert them to 3-D with the television.  The quality of course will not as good, but you can do it.  This also means that your shows may start coming out in 3-D as well if these TV’s last long enough.

The biggest problem with these televisions is the fact that the glasses are not interchangeable between brands.  It’s similar to the battle we had a few years ago between blu-ray and HD movies.  You had to either buy an overpriced blu-ray or HD player and were then not able to play either movie within the system.

In the end, these ridiculous prices will go down.  So those of you who love watching 3-D movies, don’t fret, you can still use those 3-D glasses for now and wait until there is a standardized 3-D system.  There’s no use in spending so much when the concept is so new.

Digital Cameras vs. Smartphone Cameras

When you are going out for a day in the city or a dinner, most people do not bring their digital cameras but always have their phones on them.  Most of us have made the switch from regular cell phones to Smartphone’s.  We always have these on us and are constantly connected to the internet.   These Smartphones are especially critical for the  IT recruiters for the Boston-based IT staffing company in which I interned at this past summer.

I had gone to a concert a few weeks ago and had brought my digital camera to take some pictures.  With all the lights on stage, the images would come out blurry or really dark.  My friend on the other hand was able to shoot pictures with her phone at better quality.  It turns out that the cameras on cellular phones have been improving slowly and now are even more convenient then bring around your camera.

Phones like the HTC Evo come with a camera that has 8 megapixels.  In addition, these cameras are also equipped with an HD video recorder capability.  Somewhere along the years our phones have been revamped and now are the only thing we will need.  Your phone is an accessory that many do not tend to forget.  Now it allows them to take pictures, shoot movies, and many other things right at your fingertips.

Of course digital camera makers are now looking into internet capabilities as add-ins.  This would allow users to take pictures or shoot movies and connect wirelessly to share with friends and family.  Not all the cameras have this capability at the moment, but at this rate digital camera makers may end up with strategic partnerships with cellular phone makers.

Therefore, if you’re a technical recruiter, work for one of the local IT recruiting companies, or just are going to a concert, Smartphones with camera/video options is the way to go!

Staying Too Connected to the World?

No matter where you go, there is always a device that will immediately notify you about what is going on.  Recently, there was a debate over alcohol caffeinated drinks being legal.  My university emailed the students warning them about these drinks and the consequences of not using them properly. After that, our school news wrote a blog about the issues pertaining to Four Loko’s specifically.

If that wasn’t enough, text messages were being sent and class discussions revolved around the topic of whether or not this drink should be illegal.  Within a couple of days Four Loko’s had received so much press whether it was virtual, print, or word of mouth.

It’s the small things like this that make you think about how connected you really are.  If someone really wanted to reach you, there would be so many ways in which they can succeed.  Information technology has not only advanced exponentially, but we as a generation have adapted and embraced it so quickly.

From my days as an intern with an IT recruiting firm Boston, I could see firsthand how critical information technology is to the technical recruiters and IT staffing salespeople.  Seeing how much the IT recruiting agency relied on technology, and how much easier it made their jobs, was certainly eye opening for me.  Therefore, I started thinking more about the pros and cons of advancing technologies.

If you’re a candidate looking for a technical position, you can be notified about a new IT jobs in multiple ways to ensure you don’t miss out on the opportunity.  IT Staffing agencies also have many mediums in which to inform both clients and prospective candidates about their services.  If you don’t immediately see the posting on the IT recruiting firm’s website, then you can get an email or text sent directly to your phone.

But is there a way to get away from all this connectivity? Not everyone wants to be connected to the world all time.  Should we be able to turn it off? If you look at the younger generation, they have adapted even faster to new technologies and cannot seem to function without it.

Web Series vs TV shows

In a technology oriented world most of us are spending it online.  Our IT recruiters Boston can do all of their sourcing…. from the comfort of their own homes as the IT job boards and even our database is a web-based ATS system.  Outside of the IT staffing world, more and more people are relying on their computers to get their news, organize their days and even unwind.  Television shows, which was once only watched on a TV is now being watched on a computer.  This of course becomes more convenient for consumers to watch them when they have free time on the weekends.

Networks are now rethinking making new television shows and making web series instead.  These shows would be much shorter in length and cheaper.  But what does that mean for viewers? There will be less TV shows and probably more reruns appearing on your TV.

A lot of consumers do watch more shows on their computers but sometimes you want to watch it on your TV.  So will having an Apple or Google TV become more common? What about the satellite and cable companies?

I posed this question to a number of our technical recruiters Boston.  The overall feedback was pretty similar.  Having these web series might give us more options, but you can’t just replace television. Besides, when is the last time a family got together and huddled around a computer?

Complexity of Business in the IT Staffing Industry

The IT staffing is a very demanding industry.  When clients need to utilize an IT recruiting agency’s services, it’s typically because they need a highly technical resource as soon as possible.  Therefore, it’s imperative that IT recruiters are always proactive with candidate searches so their response time is immediate.

To ensure technical recruiting companies are able to meet these tough demands, their IT recruiters are typically on the phone and sourcing candidates all day long (often inviting the local resources in to meet with them throughout each week).  This proactive approach ensures much of the screening has been completed by the time the IT recruiting company receives a call from their client.

However, given the complex nature of the technology industry and the numerous skill sets on both the infrastructure and applications development side, IT staffing firms obviously cannot have the entire pre-screening checklist completed before they get the call from their client in every instance.  IT recruiters understand the demands of the IT staffing industry, therefore when the time calls to buckle down and work late, they’re typically up for the challenge.  It’s not uncommon for IT recruiters to work 12-hour days.

Another complexity of the technical recruiting business is the nature of our industry.  For better or for worse, IT recruiters are dealing with what is probably the most unpredictable product out there:  People.  No matter how well a technical recruiter screens or how well they treat each prospective candidate, there is no guarantee a person will show up to work each day and do the job asked of them.  Therefore, to eliminate any chance of providing an unreliable, unprofessional or non-qualified contractor to clients, the screening process is extremely thorough.  This typically includes checking two technical references from a current and/or former manager.  Additionally, IT recruiting firms typically provide background and/or drug testing at their own expense.