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Are You Losing Tech Talent with this Mistake?

It’s no secret that it’s a job seeker’s market out there.  The national unemployment rate is dropping to levels so low that we haven’t seen them since 1969!  Employers are getting so desperate to fill open roles they’re relaxing their standards.  Some employers are no longer requiring formal higher education like a Bachelor’s degree, no longer requiring certain drug testing, and considering candidates with a criminal record.  In a tight labor market like this, tech employers need to be especially effective at recruiting talent for their notoriously hard-to-fill roles.  There’s one mistake that IT staffing agencies find employers often make that loses them talent.  Worse, it’s a mistake they unwittingly make, so they don’t even know to correct it!  This hiring mistake that’s so easy to make?  Moving too slowly in the hiring process.

Why is moving too slowly (and honestly, from most companies’ perspectives, it’s not that slow) such a mistake?  The problem is that Tech field moves fast and so do its job candidates.  Expectations have changed with the advent of LinkedIn, Indeed, and online job searching.  With the technical tools to expedite the hiring process, IT recruiters find that candidates have no patience for companies that move at a slow (or even sometimes an average pace) in their hiring process.  Other companies will accommodate this need for a speedy transition—so don’t be the one they leave behind.

Another reason technical recruiters find that a slow hiring process is such a mistake is because most IT professionals are pretty sought-after.  They’re likely entertaining several interview processes, IT recruiters, or even offers!  Moving slowly, requiring multiple interviews and phone screens, and/or requiring a lot of deliberation time means that candidates will probably just go with one of the other options they have on the table.  Particularly in the tech field, where there’s already a dearth of talent, this tight labor market has increased the amount of activity a candidate can pursue in their job search. To compete with everything else your ideal candidate probably has on the table, you’ll have to move fast.

The last reason it’s imperative to move quickly when hiring for IT jobs is because it helps the candidate to feel valued.  As discussed above, candidates are used to companies hiring quickly.  When a company asks them to come back in for interview after interview, or takes weeks to deliberate, candidates assume the company has a lot of hesitations about them.  Since it’s such a job seeker’s market, tech candidates have the option to go with companies that try to snap them up quickly and make them feel like a precious commodity.  Don’t move too slowly, or you’ll wind up losing out on your top choices– because they feel like your last choices!

 

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IT hiring mistakes
Don’t make a 404 in your hiring process! Photo credit: aitoff via Pixabay.

 

Do You Really Need to Wear a Suit for Tech Interviews?

Dress codes have been moving towards a more relaxed feel in all industries, but especially in IT, for a long time.  IT recruiters have been working with employers who have a jeans and t-shirt dress codes for years.  There’s just one problem with this trend:  Technical recruiters find that often, candidates will assume they can come to interviews in jeans.   Even for the most casual of workplaces, 99% of IT staffing firms agree: It’s important to go to your job interview in a suit.

Why do you need to wear a suit when everyone around you will be wearing jeans?  There are a few reasons.  Firstly, wearing a suit indicates that you understand basic professional norms.  Interviewing has required a suit for decades and it will likely continue that way.  When IT staffing agencies tell you to wear a suit to your interview, they’re helping you send a message about more than just your closet.  They want you to show employers that you know how to be a professional—right as you walk in the door.  If you show up wearing jeans and t-shirt, employers have a moment to wonder what else you’ll do in a job.  Do you come in late?  Do you leave early?  Do you swear or tell inappropriate jokes?  So wear that suit and iron it.  Have a strong handshake, and set the stage for employers to assume you’re a seasoned professional who knows how to act in an office.

The second reason IT recruiting firms tell you that you need to wear a suit to a job interview is because it helps you demonstrate a level of respect for the employer.  As a candidate, you’re coming into the employer’s office and you’re doing it at their invitation.  They’re taking time out of their busy schedules to interview you.  Show that you’re grateful and you know you’re on their turf by wearing a suit.  If you get the job, you can wear jeans and t-shirts with the other employees.  However, as a candidate, the balance of power is different.  Wearing a suit shows that you understand this.

The last reason you should wear a suit to interview for IT jobs is that it gives you an advantage.  A suit makes anybody look a little better, a little more polished.  It helps interviewers envision you as a capable, accomplished professional.  Why eschew this advantage?  Your technical skills will speak for themselves, but there’s no harm in adding that extra oomph to your candidacy with your suit.  It’s one easy way that IT staffing firms suggest you can help yourself land the job!

Want to see our open IT jobs?  Follow us on LinkedIn.  We post new jobs daily!

 

tech interviews
You might not wear a suit to work, but you still need one for the interview. Photo credit; RoyalAnwar via Pixabay.

 

Mobile Developers: Pick Up This Language in 2018!

In 2018, Android mobile development will be experiencing tremendous growth.  If you want to hop on that train, and search for new development jobs in that particular area, here’s one language you might want to pick up: Kotlin.  Never heard of it?  (Or haven’t heard much about it?)  Here’s why IT staffing firms think Kotlin can expand your tech career!

What is Kotlin exactly?  Kotlin is programming language that is completely compatible with Java.  It’s also made to be a strong alternative to Java for a few reasons.  Kotlin is less verbose than Java and doesn’t require NPE’s.  This makes it cleaner, faster to use, and arguably less vulnerable to errors or memory leaks.  It’s also easier to implement, troubleshoot, and faster to code in.  Kotlin isn’t just some shiny new tool, though.  It’s around 8 years old (though it only went open source in around 2012) and meant for enterprise projects.  Like Java, it’s object-oriented and open source, which makes it ideal for budget-conscious companies.  Plenty of IT jobs will be asking for Kotlin in 2018 and beyond.

Why do you want to learn Kotlin? For one thing, Kotlin will be easy to learn, especially if you already know Java.  It’s built on Java and has a great deal of similarities.  It’s also got some big fans. Google, Amazon, Netflix, Pinterest, Uber, and CapitalOne all use Kotlin.  Considering these companies often light the way when it comes to tech trends, this speaks volumes about the future use you’ll get out of Kotlin.  It’s also worth bringing up again the popularity of Android mobile app development.  Considering the fact Android users seem to be about 85% of the market, with Apple taking up a bit less than the remaining 15%, Kotlin is a good bet.  IT recruiters suggest that you hop on this language because it’s serving the future: a society that spends most of its time on its Android phones!  One last reason learning Kotlin is likely to bring you more opportunity in 2018 and beyond:  developers want to learn it.  Several polls have placed Kotlin high on developers’ wish lists of hot new technologies to get their hands on.  In such a job seeker’s market, IT staffing agencies find that what the developer wants to work with becomes just as important as what the employers want to work with.  So follow your fellow developers and add Kotlin to your arsenal.  It will pay off for years to come!

Want to see our open IT jobs?  Follow us on LinkedIn.  We post new jobs daily!

 

IT job search
Mobile app development is only getting bigger. Make sure you get a piece of the pie. Photo credit: Geralt via Pixabay.

How Employers Can Compete in 2018’s Tech Job Seekers’ Market

If your company is looking to hire new tech talent in 2018, you’ll need to get even more competitive.  Per the New York Times, the labor market has gotten tighter  with our overall unemployment rate at a 17-year low of 4.1%.  Tech has an even lower unemployment rate at 2.9%.  Add to these numbers the usual dearth of tech talent in the US, and you’ve got a recipe for a very competitive hiring process.  Don’t despair, though.  If you want to hire great talent for your IT job openings, you can do it with a little elbow grease and these tips from IT staffing companies:

  1. Sell the company more, especially during phone interviews and in-person interviews. IT staffing firms may not have suggested this.  Ideally, an interview is more of a 2-way street. It’s about finding the right fit—for both employer and employee.  In a labor market so tight, even candidates with prison records are suddenly being considered more frequently, the game has changed a bit.  You’ll want to dedicate more time to telling the candidate about your perks, your company culture if it’s fun and collaborative, and any hot technologies you can offer employees a chance to get experience with.  It can also be a good idea to consider giving a tour of the company, introducing candidates to the team, and highlighting your Glassdoor reviews if you have a lot of good ones and a high overall score.  Taking steps like this helps the candidate to picture themselves working for you—and enjoying it!
  2. Make your hiring process faster. IT recruiters find that one of the best ways to excite a candidate is to make them feel valued.  Make a candidate feel like they’re your top choice, and your chances of having them join your team soar exponentially.  There are a lot of ways to do this, but one especially effective method is to make your hiring process faster.  The quicker you can get back to a candidate, the more confident they’ll feel in your interest and/or offers.  No candidate wants to feel like a company spent days upon days, or worse, weeks, debating whether they were a good fit…it leads them to feel insecure!  Even companies like Google and Amazon have been rumored to quicken their hiring processes lately to deal with a tighter tech labor market!  This process has the added side benefits of helping you get better talent overall.  IT recruiting companies have long bemoaned slow hiring processes.  Even in the best of markets for employers, they’ll still lose you tech candidates, who are often juggling multiple interview processes and are frequently passive candidates.  If you can quicken your hiring process, it will help you not only in this intensely competitive job seeker’s market.  It will also help you later on if you can keep it up.
  3. Provide flexible work schedules when possible. There are a few things that attract a candidate: the hottest technologies, high salaries, fun perks, and a good commute.  Perks and salary are hard to change, since employers often have limited resources.  The same is true of commute, of course (your office is located where it’s located, there’s not much that can be done about that, usually.)   The technologies you give your employees access to is dependent on your own company goals.  It’s not always feasible to change over to a new hot technology when you’re already busy working with another on important projects.  This leaves flexible work schedules as your secret weapon in the war for winning top talent.  Everyone loves a flexible work schedule.  Recent grads, to working parents, to older workers who are possibly busy taking care of elderly parents all appreciate a little work-life balance.  The best part about flexible work schedules is that it doesn’t often cost more than trust to implement. You simply have to trust your employees to do what they need to, when they say they will do it.  There’s no need to move buildings, find extra money in the budget, or move all your existing code onto a hot new technology you’re not even sure you’ll use next year.  Create the kind of environment that supports flexible work schedules– one where nobody ever feels nervous or uncomfortable asking to take a day to work remotely, move their hours, etc.  Then sell it to your potential employees.  Talk it up in interviews, on your website, on your social media, and make sure your IT recruiting agencies talk it up to candidates! Candidates will be flocking to you in no time!

 

tech talent
The labor market is even tighter in 2018 than 2017. But you can still win great tech talent. Photo credit: FotografieLink via Pixabay.

Want to see our open IT jobs?  Follow us on LinkedIn.  We post new jobs daily!

What’s Big in Tech Hiring Right Now?

The goal of the hiring process is timeless, but there are definitely trends that come and go for interviewing and evaluating applicants.  One of the more recent trends was the creative, Google-style question which seemed to cross between whimsy and the hardest brain teaser you’ve ever heard.  Another trend (that should certainly die, but hasn’t yet) is the ‘Stress Interview’, in which an interviewer deliberately upsets a candidate to see their true colors.   Right now, IT staffing firms see a big trend in the tech field: a huge boom in contract – to permanent job openings.  Why is contract-to-perm so popular in tech, especially now?  Here are 3 reasons.

  1. Firstly, contract-to perm allows employers to staff quickly for projects so nothing gets slowed down. Permanent hiring is a much more complicated process for employers because of legal requirements as well as the cost and labor for onboarding new employees.  It’s much easier for employers to get funding approved to hiring a contractor for the duration of a project than funding for a perm employee that will be with the company for the forseeable future. When employers have an urgent tech project that they need to staff for and get moving, contract-to-perm hiring is a good option.
  2. Another reason technical recruiters are seeing a lot more contract-to-perm roles is that these roles let a company see how well a candidate can perform. Because technical skills are so specialized and rare in the US, this is an especially important concern for employers.  Even with coding tests and references, it’s hard for a company to know with 100% certainty if a candidate has the technical skills and experience to handle the work they’re being hired for.  A contract-to-perm stint allows an employee to really demonstrate this, and then be taken on permanently once the employer sees they can be successful in the role.
  3. The last reason employers might be hiring on a contract-to-permanent basis more frequently these days is because of the profusion of Scrum, Agile, and their hybrids. Since companies are now using development methodologies, which require much more teamwork than the old Waterfall and similar models, how the candidate fits into the team is paramount.  Hiring a candidate contract-to-perm allows employers to see firsthand how well they mesh with the team.  If it’s not a fit, it’s easier for candidate and employer to part ways when it’s a contractor relationship. (This is a benefit for the contractor, too.  Nobody wants to work on a team they’re ostracized from or have tension with!)  If it is a fit, it’s easier for a company to take the candidate on permanently now, since they’re already working there as a contractor.

So it’s easy to see why employers like hiring contract-to-perm, but why would you, as the job seeker, want to be hired this way?   Here are a few reasons IT recruiters see that candidates benefit from this kind of hiring.

  1. You get more opportunities when you’re open to this style of hiring. Plenty of companies don’t post all of their jobs online.  The jobs they don’t post are the contract-to-perm jobs.  This is for a variety of reasons, but mostly it’s because companies don’t have the time or manpower to post jobs that aren’t guaranteed to be long term.  Work with IT recruiting companies you trust and let them know you’re open to contract-to-perm jobs.  You’ll find that suddenly there are plenty more IT jobs you can be submitted to—jobs you didn’t even know existed before.
  2. You’ll get hired faster. As mentioned earlier, the permanent hiring process is much more complicated.  There are many legal concerns, financial concerns, and the time and money needed to onboard a permanent employee.  Perhaps you want to jump ship from a bad employer now (or yesterday), perhaps you need a new job that makes money faster, or perhaps you’ve been unemployed for a while and need a job period.  Letting your IT staffing agencies submit you for contract-to-perm jobs increases your chances of getting hired somewhere new quickly.
  3. You get in the door places where you couldn’t before. As discussed earlier, companies are taking less risk in hiring somebody contract-to-perm. This emboldens them to try hiring candidates who may not fit every bullet of a job description perfectly.   As a permanent candidate, you might be an automatic no for a company.  Maybe you don’t have the Ivy League degree they want or are short a few years of experience in a certain programming language.  However, as a contract-to-permanent candidate, you might be a yes.   Having most of the requirements for the job can be enough for an employer to take a chance on you (because they know that if the arrangement doesn’t work out for one or both of you, it’s easy to end it).  If you’ve wanted to work somewhere prestigious like a Google or Facebook, or simply want to try to take the next step up in your career, contract-to-perm hiring is a great way to do that.

 

Tech hiring
Contract-to-perm is a great way to get your foot in the door of a prestigious company. Photo credit: geralt via pixabay.

Want to see our open IT jobs?  Follow us on LinkedIn.  We post new jobs daily!

4 Questions for Tech Interviewers

Hiring for open IT jobs can be difficult.  It can be difficult to write job descriptions which accurately ask for the candidate you need– especially when most tech projects are a moving target.  Add to that the fact that there’s already a lack of qualified IT professionals in the US.  This creates a strong job seeker’s market, where the candidate can set the terms and be picky about the jobs they take.  Add to that the usual stresses of hiring: how do you find somebody who can do everything they say they can do and mesh well with your team?  But while hiring for open tech positions can be difficult, figuring out what questions to ask shouldn’t.  Here are 4 questions IT recruiters suggest using that will help you find the best candidate for your team.

1.      What was the environment like in the last job you held?  The one before that? IT staffing firms suggest this question, especially first, because it gives you strong sense of a candidates’ technical experience.  The candidate should respond to this question by giving you an idea of what technologies they used in their past jobs, what development method was used, and the size and scope of responsibilities.  With this info, you’ll quickly hear if the candidate is prepared to handle your company environment.  If, for example, your candidate is a Sys Admin coming from a small company, you’ll know they may not be ready to take on a huge company with numerous servers instead of one or two.

2.      What do you like to do?  What don’t you like to do?  IT recruiting firms find this question helps create an open, honest dialogue about the job description.  Since, as discussed earlier, IT professionals are in demand, most feel comfortable being blunt about what they want in their next position.  Listen carefully to see if the candidate quickly lists off work that will be a big part of the job description.  You’ll also be likely to hear how happy (or unhappy) a candidate is to interact with a team, end users, etc.  If you don’t hear any of this, then you can certainly go back and ask it explicitly.

3.      Describe the biggest accomplishment you’ve had at a previous job.  This won’t necessarily get you a technical answer, but it probably will, especially for more advanced technical jobs.  Technical recruiters find this question will reveal more than technical skills and strengths, though.  The way a candidate answers this question will also tell you about how teamwork-oriented they are.  Listen for the pronouns.  Does the candidate use a lot of ‘we’ or ‘I’?  How does this mesh with your company culture?

4.      What is one of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at work?  This question reveals a few things, both technical and not technical.  You should get a more technical answer from candidates who are applying to higher level roles, like an ERP Systems Analyst, Solutions Architect, Lead Developer, etc.  This will illuminate some of their strengths for you.  Beyond technical skills and experience, the answer to this question will also tell you a lot about the candidate’s attitude as an employee.  Listen for the tone of the answer and the solution.  Does the candidate focus on the challenge and how much it hindered them, or do they focus on what they did to overcome it?  IT staffing agencies find that great candidates will use this question to show off their technical acumen.  They should use the opportunity to tell a story of how their skills helped them fix a major issue, not badmouth former employers, bosses, coworkers, etc.

 

tech interview questions
Start by asking about the technical environment at the candidate’s last job. Photo credit: rawpixel via Pixabay.

The Key to More IT Jobs in 2018

Do you plan to look for new IT jobs in 2018?  If so, you should consider adding blockchain to your arsenal of technical skills.  IT staffing firms are already seeing the need for blockchain ramp up, but it’s only going to grow in the coming year.  Here’s a little more info about what blockchain is and where it can help you land a new job.

What is blockchain?  Blockchain is allows users to execute secure and reliably tracked transactions online.  It was originally created for digital currency and Bitcoin in particular.  Blockchain lets digital info be distributed, but not copied.  It can help users create a ledger system that is permanent, public, invulnerable to tampering, and accurate.  With these capabilities, it’s easy to see why blockchain isn’t just applicable to the finance sector.  Companies and organizations across a wide variety of industries are asking IT staffing companies to help them find blockchain developers.

What kinds of jobs can blockchain get me?  Since blockchain helps create reliable and public ledgers, the possibilities are nearly endless.  Finance jobs are an obvious case here.  Finance has accepted blockchain as the way of the future so wholeheartedly that major giants like JP Morgan and the big four accounting firms are all testing or using blockchain.  Outside of Finance, blockchain is applicable in more creative fields, like the music industry.  Blockchain is already being used to track payments and creative fees owed to artists.  Government is another industry that’s happy to embrace blockchain.  The UN, The World Bank, and Russia’s government have all used or are about to use blockchain.  Nonprofits have also jumped on the bandwagon here.  Most notably, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is finding uses for blockchain in its operations.

Want to see our open IT jobs?  Follow us on LinkedIn.  We post new jobs daily!

 

IT job search 2018
Ready for a new IT job? Photo credit: markusspiske via Pixabay.

Why Some Employers Won’t Tell You Why You Didn’t Land the Job

For some candidates, the hardest part of searching for new IT jobs is not getting feedback when they don’t land the job.  IT professionals are often pretty disappointed to hear nothing back after they apply for a job, after their IT recruiters submit them for a job, or after they interview.  Here’s why you might not get feedback—and what you can do about it.

You may not hear back from employers because they simply don’t give anybody feedback unless they land the job.  Many companies are nervous about giving feedback for 4 reasons.  

  1. Firstly, companies don’t want to say anything that can even remotely run the risk of opening them up for a lawsuit. Even if they haven’t done anything wrong, companies can still be sued over hiring decisions.
  1. Another reason an employer might not give feedback is because they’re concerned a candidate may only see it as an opening to argue for their candidacy. IT recruiting firms see this happen relatively often.  Candidates can have a hard time taking feedback without arguing for their candidacy.  This is so uncomfortable that many employers simply created a blanket rule to never give any feedback.
  1. Additionally, you may not hear why you didn’t land a tech job because the hiring manager simply doesn’t have time to give the feedback. Often in tech, managers are working against release dates and deadlines that move at the speed of technology.  Searching for new employees on top of that can leave their plate very full.  Some managers simply won’t have time to give a reason why they rejected candidates, particularly if they didn’t make it to the interview stage.
  1. The last reason an employer might not give feedback is because their candidate liaison isn’t technical enough to do it. Sometimes HR will act as liaison with candidates, and they simply don’t have the technical expertise and experience to understand, let alone share with the candidate, why they didn’t land the job.

What can you do if you don’t hear feedback?  Can you do anything to try to get feedback?  Here are 2 tips.

  1. Start by re-calibrating your expectations. If you go into the job search process expecting feedback from employers, you’re likely to be let down.  Especially when you don’t make it to the interview stage, it’s very likely you won’t hear why you were passed on.  You may be slightly more likely to get some feedback if you’re working with technical recruiters, although this also isn’t a guarantee, either.  It’s better to be pleasantly surprised with feedback rather than upset when you don’t get it!
  1. Remember that feedback may not help you much anyways. IT recruiting agencies find that the reason why candidates don’t land the job isn’t always something they could have improved upon for next time.  Perhaps a candidate didn’t land the job because they needed to get more experience with this programming language or that development method.  But it’s also possible you didn’t land the job because the company liked another candidate better, decided they wanted to hire somebody with a slightly different skill-set than they initially posted, etc. When you don’t land a job, it doesn’t mean that you failed.  You just didn’t land that job.  It’s important to keep in mind that you want to land a job that you’re totally qualified for, would reasonably enjoy, and would be able to be successful in right now.   If you don’t land a job, consider it a blessing.  You’ve been saved from a job that just wasn’t a good fit for you.  You don’t need detailed feedback to take comfort in that information.    
IT job search hearing feedback
Waiting to hear feedback is always harder if you expect it. Photo credit: Hans via Pixabay.

 

Don’t Miss This Step When You Interview Candidates

Hiring managers are often nervous about giving feedback to job candidates.  They’re concerned about getting stuck in long, protracted arguments with candidates about why they would be a good fit for a job.  Or worse, managers afraid of getting sued by a rejected candidate.  Instead of risking any unpleasant dealings with candidates, IT staffing firms find that managers often give no feedback at all—sometimes not even an email or call rejecting them.  With the popularity of sites like Glassdoor, Indeed and LinkedIn, though, it’s becoming imperative for hiring managers to change their approach.  The best way for employers to reject candidates is to give at least a little feedback, even if it’s very vague.

Why should you give some feedback to candidates (instead of nothing)?  There are two reasons for this.

  1. Sites like Glassdoor and Indeed have all made a company’s reputation as an employer (and interviewer) very accessible. Anybody can look up your company online before they interview or even apply there.  If candidates never hear from you after an interview, they may leave an angry review (and bring down your average score). Giving some feedback, even if it’s brief and vague, is a kindness that all candidates will appreciate.  IT staffing companies suggest that you invest the extra time in doing what you can to make the hiring and application process positive for candidates.  It pays off when it comes to your online reputation.
  1. The tech field can be small, especially when it comes to the job market. There are only so many candidates who have the qualifications to do IT jobs in certain areas. LinkedIn has made it even smaller.  With all the connecting that LinkedIn encourages, it’s easy for candidates to hear what your application and hiring process is like.  Make sure people only have good things to say about you.  Don’t leave candidates hanging, waiting for a reason why they didn’t land the job—or waiting to hear they didn’t land the job at all!

So what should you do?  Try to give feedback to every candidate who applied, and definitely give feedback to candidates who have interviewed.  Here are some examples of effective ways IT staffing agencies suggest giving feedback to a candidate.

Vague responses might include:
“We decided to move forward with another candidate

“We decided to move forward with another candidate with more experience.”

“We didn’t feel the job would be a good fit, but we wish you the best of luck in your search.”

You can also choose to give more specific feedback to a candidate.  This works as long as you focus on particular skills or experience that can’t be disputed.  You might say something like:
“We moved forward with a candidate who had more experience in Linux environments.”

“We needed a candidate who has more exposure to Cloud-based technologies.”

 

Interview mistakes
Don’t miss this step! Photo credit: jessica45 via Pixabay.

 

 

Tips for Your Summer IT Job Hunt

Unlike some fields like Education or Retail, hiring trends in the Tech sector usually stay steady in the Summer.  Because technology is vital to most business operations, and because innovation is necessary to a competitive business, Tech employees are indispensable.  Replacing them or adding new ones often cannot wait until after Labor Day.  Your job search in the summer may be a different beast than the rest of the year, though.  Here are two tips for tailoring your search for IT jobs when the weather gets hot and everyone is on vacation.

Take advantage of the strong market for passive job seekers.  If you’re in the Tech field, you have the option to be more of a passive job seeker than in other fields.  Even if you don’t apply to jobs directly, you probably still get contacted by IT recruiters.  Between LinkedIn, Monster, and other similar web sites, it’s very easy for IT staffing firms to find you.  If you’re looking for a new job in the summer, but want to spend more time outside than on your job search, take advantage of this passive job seeker market.  Reach out to IT recruiting agencies with your updated resume.  Turn on the ‘interested in other opportunities’ switch on your LinkedIn profile.  Post your resume on Indeed and Monster. Add a line to your LinkedIn profile about being open to new opportunities.  One caveat: don’t do any of these things if you think your boss or coworkers will see and respond negatively!  You don’t want to endanger your current employment.

Ask for timelines when you’re interviewing, waiting for feedback, etc.  You’ll need to walk a fine line with this, but having better expectations will make the process easier.  Hiring for permanent jobs in the tech sector can be extra slow in the summer.  Companies may be forced to wait on managers and their vacation schedules to set up interviews, make hiring decisions, get feedback, etc.  If you’re working with IT recruiting companies, this is exactly the kind of advantage they’ll provide.  You can ask them when they think managers will make a decision and what the next steps in the process are with impunity.  There’s no risk that you’ll look desperate or bother a hiring manager.  If you’re not working with IT staffing agencies, you can still ask for timelines on hiring decisions, scheduling interviews, etc.  The key is to do so judiciously. Ask once.  Don’t ask somebody like the CEO of the company, or a very high up manager.  Try asking somebody like HR or the internal recruiter, who won’t mind answering questions like this at all.

 

IT jobs summer
Your summer IT job search could have some sweet results if you work with an IT recruiting firm. Photo credit: Fruitnmore via Pixabay.