Tag Archives: IT staffing

Do IT Recruiting Firms Typically Meet Their Candidates?

Most IT recruiting firms say their technical recruiters meet with every candidate for their IT job submittal.  However, that claim is unrealistic and often a stretch of the truth.  The reality is that IT recruiters cannot meet with every candidate.  Not necessarily because the IT recruiters Boston are too busy to meet with prospective information technology candidates.  Instead, it’s typically the candidates who are too busy or just don’t want to take the time to meet technical recruiters Boston.

From a candidate’s perspective, they’re not sure the IT recruiters CA can help them or guarantee the meeting with produce a submittal of their resume never mind an interview or a new IT job.  Since, many IT staffing companies simply just require a face to face meeting with their IT recruiters San Diego, even if they don’t have any IT jobs, candidates are hesitant to commit time out of their day without certainty of a submittal.  While there certainly is value in building relationships with IT recruiters, one can understand the hesitation.  Instead of IT recruiting companies requiring their technical recruiters meet with every candidate, they should simply require a face to face meeting only after they have identified the candidate as someone they would like to submit for an actual position.  However, while this approach sounds good in theory, even this has it’s flaws.   Waiting for a face to face meeting could delay the s process and ultimately contribute to missing out on the IT job.  Since most needs are immediate, especially in contract IT staffing, the technical job could be filled before the candidate’s resume even makes it to the client’s inbox.

Ultimately, IT staffing firms should not make statements like they meet with every candidate.  Instead, they should claim they try to meet with candidates whenever possible.  Meanwhile, candidates should not avoid meeting with IT recruiters LA.  Instead, they should be selective as to whom they meet with and make sure the meeting is worth their time.

IT Recruiting Around the Holidays

IT recruiting companies slow down around the holidays as a direct result of their clients closing down or running with a reducted staff.  However, while there are fewer IT job placements, the holidays are a great time for IT recruiters to identify prospective candidates simply because most people are off work and home.  Therefore, the very best technical recruiters will actually step it up and focus on connecting with information technology professionals that might not otherwise have the chance to speak with various IT staffing companies.

The holidays are also a great time for IT staffing salespeople.  Ultimately, their clients and IT managers are typically in more festive moods, which translates into a willingness to meet with various representatives of IT recruiting firms.

Finally, the holidays also give IT recruiters Boston and IT staffing companies MA a chance to say thank you to the IT contractors and client companies that supported them over the past year.  While some clients cannot accept gifts, all IT managers can accept a simple thank you and a hand-shake.

Therefore, for all IT recruiters San Diego in the IT staffing industry, be sure to capitalize on the holiday season, thank you clients and put in some extra work to find prospective candidates.

Are Suits Becoming a Way of the Past?

The reality is that business attire is becoming more and more casual.  IT recruiting companies that once mandated suits are now requiring just dress pants and a collared shirt.  However, is that setting IT recruiters up for success?  Opinions vary, there are two schools of thought:

Pro’s:
1)  Play it safe:  IT recruiters Boston are continually meeting with IT managers to solicit working on their IT jobs.  While most hiring managers are in casual dress, IT staffing companies understand that they are there to ask for their business.  Therefore, why take any chance of underdressing for a meeting?  If technical recruiters find themselves in a very casual environment, they can always take off their tie.  However, if IT recruiters CA find themselves underdressed for a meeting, they can’t suddenly put on a tie in front of the manager (or if the IT recruiter happens to have one with him, he should have worn it in the first place).

2)  Dress for success:  IT recruiters San Diego are always meeting with clients and prospective information technology candidates.  They’re always looking to make a great first impression to both as it could lead to future business or placements.  Therefore,  many  IT staffing firms prefer to put their best foot forward with business attire.

3)  Feel the part, be the part:  Simply put, if you dress the part, and feel the part, technical recruiters Boston will be the part.

Con’s:

1)  Unnecessary:  As mentioned, many clients are business casual these days.  In most sales scenarios, people like to mirror their clients so dressing in a full suit might be too extreme.

2)  Uncomfortable:  I don’t know any IT staffing salespeople that enjoy a tie bound closely to their throat and neck.  It can be uncomfortable…and hot in any warm client or summer months.

3)  Expensive:  Suits are expensive.  With many IT recruiters being recent college graduates, multiple suits are likely outside of their financial means.

Depending upon the environment or culture of various IT recruiting firms, the pro’s of business professinal attire seem to outweight the con’s.  However, for many IT staffing agencies, suits are becoming a way of the past.

Should IT Recruiters Be Allowed to Play Music at Work?

IT recruiters are typically working 8-10 hour days, usually locked in an office, strapped to their desk sourcing through hundreds of resumes and talking to dozens of candidates each day.  While caffeine may help technical recruiters to physically get through each day, music can help mentally.  Therefore, should IT recruiting companies Boston allow their technical recruiters Boston to play music at their desk?  Overall, yes, however IT recruiting firms must provide some stipulations:

1)  One source of music for the entire IT staffing office.  If every IT recruiter has their own music playing, it will drown out conversations and ultimately be heard from IT contractors and candidates on the other end of the phone.

2)  The music must be kept at a soft volume.  The last thing IT recruiting agencies want is to lose credibility because their office sounds like a rock concert in the background of every phone call.

3)  No rap or offensive lyrics.  This is common sense.

Therefore, IT staffing firms should allow one source of music for their IT recruiters CA, but kept at low decibels without offensive lyrics.

Technical Recruiters Typically Aren’t All That Technical

Most IT recruiting companies have a team of technical recruiters that really aren’t technical at all.  Most IT recruiters are college graduates who have been trained how to recruit information technology professionals and ultimately talk their technical language.  Therefore, the question that arises is whether IT recruiters Boston can qualify technical candidates for their clients.  The answer  is yes, but it needs further explanation.

Technical recruiters Boston that aren’t technical will never be able to full qualify a candidate from an abilities perspective.   However, there is more to the IT staffing than just “teching” out a candidate.  Furthermore, given every client has a different technical environment, much of the technical screening should come from their IT managers and people conducting the interviews.  Instead, it’s the job of IT recruiters CA to screen out the non-technical questions and the variables that arise in most IT job searches to ensure their clients time is not wasted if they take the time to interview the candidates.   Examples of a screening out candidates would include whether they’re interviewing elsewhere and what stage are they at with each IT job interview.  Additionally, technical recruiters can also dig into the commute and even dress code and typical hours.  IT recruiting firms Boston would also want to know the candidate’s motivation to make a move if they’re currently employed and whether they’re committed to an interview if their resume is submitted to the client.  All of these questions are critical for IT staffing companies as they don’t want to ever dangle a carrot in front of their clients only to pull it back.

Additionally, IT recruiters San Diego can still technically screen candidates by phrasing their questions properly.  Asking open-ended questions about a person’s background can uncover a number of technical deficiencies.  By making a candidate explain their technical skills, IT recruiters MA can discern whether the candidate is being honest and confident about their abilities.

“Typical” Hours in the IT Recruiting Industry

If you have worked for any number of IT staffing agencies you’ll know that IT recruiting is not a 9-5pm industry.  It’s anything but that.  When IT recruiters leave at the end of the day, typically he or she leaves their IT staffing office with numerous open IT jobs still on the board.  Ultimately, their work is never done.  Having said that, while typical hours are atypical in the technical recruiting industry, most IT recruiting companies open their doors between 8-9am with their IT recruiters Boston leaving between 6-7pm.

Having said that, the most successful IT recruiters CA will beat other technical recruiters to the punch by getting in early and staying late or working from home.  This is why there really aren’t any typical hours in the IT staffing industry.  IT recruiters San Diego and IT recruiters LA are constantly outdueling one another to find the best IT consultants and information technology professionals on the market.

The best IT recruiting firms acknowledge the hard work of their technical recruiters CA and set up goals or days in which their technical recruiters Boston can leave early to help balance the late nights and long hours.

If you’re looking at becoming an IT recruiter or entering the technical staffing industry then make sure you’re prepared to put in the time.  If you’re able to work long hours, the fruits of your labor will pay off.

IT Recruiters Who Want to Sell

Some of the best salespeople in the IT staffing industry started as IT recruiters Boston.  Having the experience of working on various requirements, from applications development positions like .NET, Java and PHP to infrastructure support roles like Help Desk, Desktop Support and System Administration.   This experience will give the IT staffing salesperson an understanding of what these IT consultants are looking to make; thus they can calculate accurate proposed bill rates to the clients.

Additionally, IT recruiters CA work on a myriad of information technology positions, thus widening their technical knowledge.

However, one of the most important reasons why IT recruiting companies should put everyone into the technical recruiting seat before they transition them into sales, is simply because they’ll have a better understanding as to what information IT recruiters San Diego need to work on each position.  Technical recruiters must have a thorough job description,  a start date, bill rate to work from or potential permanent salary.  They also need to have a better understanding about the client’s culture, from dress code to business hours, as these are all of the questions their IT job candidates will likely ask them.  Typically IT staffing salespeople who spent time as IT recruiters LA will ask these questions – questions that they would want to know if they were one of the IT recruiters MA.

IT recruiting firms should consider having everyone recruit before they sell IT jobs CA.

Work Ethic in the IT Recruiting Industry

Most all IT recruiting companies CA can boast of a thorough screening process and candidate lock downs.  Most all IT recruiting firms CA brag their robust databases.  Clients can’t dicipher what is the truth and what are IT staffing salespeople just trying to land a deal.  In truth, there is very little difference in how IT recruiting agencies Boston find their talent.  Technical recruiters MA typically search on Monster, Dice, CareerBuilder, Linkedin and even Craig’s List.  Occassionally some use Ladders.  Therefore, what distinguishes one IT recruiting company from another?  It’s quite simple:  their people.

Successful IT recruiting companies Boston have hard working IT recruiters.  At the end of the day, what IT recruiters MA are going to work harder to find the best information technology professionals.  More specifically, working hard simply means what technical recruiters CA are going to contact more candidates, hit more IT job boards and ultimately work longer to find the perfect candidate for their client.

Hard work is all relative.  The best employees in the IT staffing industry typically work long hours in the office, then log on and do additional resume searches from the comfort of their own home.  The more you put into the IT recruiter role, the more you’ll get out of it.   While there are many variables to making an IT job placement, ultimately there is a tried and true formula for success:  The harder you work = The more candidates you reach out to = The more submittals to the client = The more candidate interviews = The more confirmed hires.

For IT recruiters San Diego, it all starts with hard work.

A Critical Position Inside IT Recruiting Companies

One might be surprised that one of the most important positions within IT recruiting firms and IT consulting companies is not IT staffing salespeople or even technical recruiters.  This position isn’t even a revenue generating role, it typically doesn’t have management or executive powers either.  The position is a Customer Support Representative or payroll admininistrator.  Simply put, it’s the person who speaks with the IT consultants on a weekly basis and enters their hours/compensation into payroll.

IT contractors are the lifeline of IT recruiting companies.  Therefore, any role that virtually has direct interaction with the IT consultants on a daily basis is of critical importance.   His or her customer service skills, attention to detail and organization must be exceptional, otherwise IT recruiting agencies run the risk of losing their technical consultants.

Therefore, if you’re an IT recruiter Boston or technical recruiter CA, go out of your way to thank your CSR as he or she may be the glue that keeps IT staffing agencies together.

Don’t Celebrate Victories Too Early in IT Recruiting

IT recruiters know all too well not to celebrate a new hire until the IT contractors walk through the client’s door and officially start their first day of work.  Technical recruitersknow not to celebrate because if you’ve work in the IT recruiting industry long enough, you have learned the hard way.  Ultimately, no matter how many questions IT recruiters Boston ask to qualify a candidate and confirm their commitment, there is never a guarantee when it comes to people.  The unfortunate reality is that IT recruiters CA are selling the most unreliable product on the market:  people.

While this might paint a bleak picture of our society, luckily for IT recruiting firms, for every one candidate who gives technical recruiters Bostontheir commitment, then backs out or does not show up to work on his/her first day, there are 10+ people who stand behind their word, work hard and reinforce the faith that there are good people out there.

Therefore, if you’re considering a career in IT staffing, be sure to prepare yourself for some ups and downs.  Most important, when an information technology candidate backs out and leaves you high and dry, roll with the punches and remember that a success story is only a call away so get back up on the horse and persevere.