Tag Archives: IT staffing industry

Where to find your candidates

IT recruiting companies need to be aware of where their IT staffing competitors are looking for candidates, as well as where candidates are posting their resumes themselves.  You may think everyone is just using job boards such as Monster or CareerBuilder.  However, there are many more options depending on what specific IT staffing industry you are looking at.  Some of these options are websites such as LinkedIn and Twitter that are now being used for networking instead of socializing.  Others include niche websites and/or those specific to local geographies.

So how do you choose the right place to look for candidates to fill IT jobs?  To start, you need to test some of these websites out.  During the trial period it would be a good idea to keep track of where the candidates are coming from.  This will help you decide how many candidates you got from each IT job board and the quality of the candidates coming from each.  Once you gather your data, you will be able to analyze each IT job board based on metrics IT recruiting companies keep in mind.

Put yourself in the candidate’s shoes and think about where they are looking for IT jobs

A day in the Life of an IT recruiter

The IT staffing is a very fast-paced, sometimes hectic industry.  IT recruiters are speaking to hundreds of prospective candidates each week.  Even the very best IT recruiters can find it challenging to ensure they keep all of their candidates organized and within reach.  Additionally, in the IT recruiting world, clients typically needed IT contractors “yesterday.”  Therefore, when an IT job order gets called in, IT recruiters need to tap into their candidate network immediately and/or begin their IT recruiting process as quickly as possible.  Days are hectic and nights can be long depending upon the client’s sense of urgency.  Therefore, the IT staffing industry is not for everyone.  Those who do not do well under pressure or thrive in a hectic environment, best not enter the IT recruiting world.  On the flip side, people who like to be busy and thrive on an ever-changing job, tend to fare very well in the IT staffing industry.

A typical day for an IT recruiter….is anything but typical.  They will usually be assigned to one IT job order.  As they search the IT staffing agency’s database, and other IT job boards such as Monster, Dice, CareerBuilder, Hot Jobs, they will make dozens (if not hundreds) of calls.  Or they will send out countless emails every day.  As people respond, the IT recruiter works to communicate with each person via email or phone.  As the IT recruiter is taking the time to respond to every person, additional prospective candidates continue to flood in via postings or responses.  On many occasions, as these tasks are keeping an IT recruiter busy, he or she may have a handful of internal candidate interviews as well.  This adds more work to an already busy day.

As you can see, a day in the life of an IT recruiter is typically hectic.  However, for the right person who thrives on the fast-paced, exciting work environment, the IT staffing industry can be extremely rewarding (both in terms of monetarily and intrinsic satisfaction as the IT recruiter is ultimately helping people find work).

Twitter Crashes

As IT recruiters, we use Twitter to post new IT jobs, relevant IT staffing articles, and keep up with our followers.  It has become a very important tool to reach candidates who are constantly using social media networks such as this one.  The problem with this is that over the past week or so, Twitter has been acting up.  So while we are trying to update our followers, we have to wait for the Twitter overload instead of giving information live.

As the amount of Twitter users increase, will there be a problem for IT recruiting companies like AVID Technical Resources, who rely on it to provide updates to our followers?  The IT staffing industry specifically relies on getting new IT job postings out there to candidates to make sure they have an opportunity to apply for a job that they qualify as quickly as possible.  If the Twitter crashes continue, those IT jobs will not be seen by our candidates right away, thus giving them less of a chance of qualifying for a position. Hopefully the usefulness of Twitter’s capabilities will not diminish as time goes on.

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.