Tag Archives: IT Recruiters Boston

IT (and the Rest of the Nation) See a Rise in Women at Work

Like the rest of the nation, IT staffing companies are noticing the increasing growth of women in the workplace.  Information technology has long been a field dominated by male IT contractors and IT mangers, but as the economy slowly recovers, more and more women are showing up for IT jobs.

IT recruiting agencies could cite many reasons for this trend.  Women are becoming IT consultants as education becomes more and more accessible to everyone.  IT headhunters could point to the boom of IT-focused education programs in particular, which show up quite often on resumes.   IT staffing agencies would also note that in a recession, companies will attempt to save money by hiring IT professionals who cost less.  IT recruiters Boston to IT recruiters CA can all agree that women are still cheaper to hire than men.

Overall, IT recruiting companies can’t point to one particular reason, but women are definitely breaking into the workplace in significantly bigger numbers.

 

Pull Your Head Out of the Sand and Get in the Social Media Game

Information technology, more than in any other field, is not the place to lack presence on social media.  Whether you are IT professionals or a company with plenty of IT jobs, it’s imperative to make sure you put forth an image of yourself on social media.

IT recruiting companies, IT consultants, and IT managers cannot afford to leave their presence on social media to be defined by others.  By not creating your own profile, you are giving up the right to respond to criticism, harness praise, and present your own marketability to IT recruiting firms. IT recruiters CA to IT recruiters Boston use social media and the likelihood that somebody has already said something about you is high.  It’s important to create an online presence that clearly and concisely defines you as IT contractors or your company for IT staffing agencies.  Profiles are not resumes alone, though.  They also list praise from others and competently and cool engage any criticism.  The beauty of social media is that it lets you speak for yourself and add in relevant and flattering voices from others, thus creating the best possible profile for technical recruiters to see.

 

To Be (a College Student) or Not to Be (in IT)?

Information technology became an early adopter of a debate that is now interesting to far more than IT professionals: Is College necessary at all?

IT recruiters nationwide, from IT recruiters CA to IT recruiters Boston have plenty of successful examples of successful people who didn’t graduate college, including Mark Zuckerberg.  IT headhunters can vouch for the fact that plenty of IT jobs can and are done without BA’s or BS’s. IT managers are sometimes request that IT recruiting agencies find them IT consultants with more relevant experience on their resumes, rather than degrees. However, IT recruiting agencies would have a difficult time suggesting everyone forgo college.  In a tough economy full of picky companies, IT staffing firms would be hard-pressed to suggest a college degree hindered IT contractors from success.

What to Wear to an IT Interview

What should IT professionals wear to an interview with an IT manager or their IT recruiting companies?  There is no “one size fits all” answer for the information technology field.

IT recruiters CA will try to fill IT jobs for companies with very different dress codes than IT recruiters Boston.  The differences don’t just vary from coast to coast, either.  Different departments within the same company will require different dress codes.  IT headhunters may interact with IT managers who dress in business casual, while company account managers or CEO’s may wear business professional.  IT contractors, meanwhile, might wear jeans to work every day.

Though the dress codes vary greatly from company to company, there is one rule of thumb that IT staffing agencies would advise IT consultants to follow when going on IT job interviews.  The best way to project a successful image is to dress at the highest level of dress in the company.  IT staffing companies can enlighten you on this, but you can never go wrong dressing as well as the CEO.

 

Failing in IT? It’s Ok!

IT recruiters CA to IT recruiters Boston tend to subscribe to the conventional wisdom about failure: avoid it.  But technical recruiters and IT professionals should seriously re-think their concept of failure.

As the founder of Linked In, Reid Hoffman, is now advocating in his new book, failure is merely an opportunity to learn in your career.  Hoffman suggests IT recruiters and IT consultants consider taking more risks in their careers and become more comfortable with the result when things don’t always work out.  The lessons IT staffing agencies or IT contractors can learn from risks and failures far outweigh the other consequences—even if it’s a firing.  The information technology industry is an especially hospitable field to fail in.  With resumes full of contracting stints and innovative projects that sometimes do and don’t work, taking risks looks downright de riguer.  Perhaps one of the most interesting reasons why Hoffman advocates a healthy acceptance of risk and failure is the way he views career paths overall: They are full of uncertainty, which is a good thing.  IT headhunters or IT mangers never know what great surprise is around the bend.

 

Varying Workplace Culture in IT

IT recruiters CA to IT recruiters Boston have seen some vastly different workplace cultures.  Even in one industry like information technology, there are few standardized features of workplace culture that IT contractors can expect.  Such vast differences in workplace culture certainly stem from IT managers and their companies.

Some technical recruiters find that companies believe the IT professionals who fill their IT jobs should feel like family.  IT headhunters hear that their IT consultants would regret to ever leave such nurturing environments.  Other IT staffing agencies hear about companies that take the opposite view.  IT staffing companies only submit employees who are performance-oriented and emotionally tough to these candidates and their mantras are more along the lines of “get over it.”

Whichever one’s taste, there is a workplace culture for them and IT recruiting agencies to help them find it.

 

IT’s new Silicon Valley: Berlin

IT recruiters Boston and IT recruiters CA are used to hearing about start-ups from Israel, Silicon Valley, and most recently, Russia.  However, IT recruiting firms and IT contractors will soon be hearing a lot about start-ups from Berlin.

The information technology field has already seen a slow rise in German start-ups for a few reasons.   IT headhunters will be seeing more successful companies and IT jobs coming out of Berlin because like Russia, the city offers a cheap cost of living.  Office space and amenities for company employees keep overhead very low for IT managers at start-ups in Berlin. Like Russia, Berlin is still recovering from an unsuccessful attempt at Communism and like Russia, Berlin is now a hotbed of potential for IT professionals looking to take entrepreneurial risks.  IT recruiting companies should seriously consider brushing up on their German—it might be a necessary skill on the resumes they look at in the future.

Why the IT World Is Obsessed with Yahoo

Why are IT recruiters and IT consultants obsessed with Yahoo’s moves?  IT staffing firms and IT consultants, along with most other IT professionals, seem fixated on most, if not every move that Yahoo and its new CEO Marisssa Mayer make.

Mayer’s Telecommuting policy sparked a nation-wide debate by IT recruiters CA to IT recruiters Boston.  IT recruiting companies couldn’t stop talking about Mayer’s initial appointment.  And now as Yahoo acquires Summly and other start-ups, IT staffing firms are just continuing the conversation.  Of course IT recruiting agencies are generally concerned with the goings-on in Google or Facebook, However, Yahoo has ignited the information technology field’s interest in a special way.

While there could be many reasons IT headhunters can’t look away from Yahoo and Mayer, the answer could largely be that Yahoo is not so different from the America right now.  After a devastating fall from grace, Yahoo and America are attempting to pick up the pieces.  And with a very strong symbolic and real correlation between the two, IT staffing agencies are waiting with baited breath to see if they can successfully put themselves back together.

The Best Qualities in IT References

Great references are a must for IT contractors looking to attract IT recruiters. IT staffing firms certainly appreciate sparkling resumes, but to get further in the process nothing beats the marketability of IT professionals with references that are impressive, relevant, well-spoken, and easy to contact.   IT consultants should consider a few major things when assembling references for IT recruiting agencies to use on their behalf.

Firstly, IT staffing firms would prefer references who are as impressive and relevant as possible.  Using past managers for jobs in the same or similar fields is preferable.  The better the title (while still being somebody who can speak thoroughly about your abilities), the more impressive it will be to IT recruiting companies and the IT managers they work for.

Secondly, IT recruiting firms are looking for references who are up to date and easy to contact.  A great verbal reference is worthless if the IT professional has lost their contact information or worse, lost track of them entirely and has old and useless contact information. One way to avoid this pitfall is a necessary prior step: getting permission.  It’s polite to make sure you have permission to use somebody as a reference.  In getting that permission, the second part of the conversation should be getting the best method of contact for IT staffing companies to use for this reference.

Lastly, IT headhunters most prefer an organized, thorough listing of references laid out for them in one document.  IT recruiters CA to IT recruiters Boston will appreciate a list that is easy to use themselves or to hand to IT managers they work with.

Mentoring in the IT World

Mentoring is an effective practice across a myriad of professional fields, including information technology.  IT professionals can certainly make themselves more attractive to technical recruiters nationwide, from IT recruiters CA to IT recruiters Boston by working with a mentor to hone their technical skills, professional demeanors, and resumes.  IT staffing firms will be especially excited to find female IT consultants who have had strong mentoring.  In a male-dominated field, women are certainly sought after by many IT headhunters for the unique perspectives they can bring to IT jobs.

What are some ways IT contractors can find mentors for themselves?  IT recruiting firms can suggest companies with strong mentoring programs.  One can also network online or in person at local meetups.  It is important to consider the search for a mentor to be fluid—one can multiple mentors and the time it takes to grow these relationships is not fixed.