How to handle Behavioral Interview Questions

Interviewing today is much more than being able to explain your background, skills and experience and how they match up to the job requirements. Being able to think on your feet and respond to Behavioral interview questions is often even more important. Hiring managers and HR professionals often use behavioral interview questions to see how you performed on the job.  They want to hear what you did or why you did that. Past behavior is often a good predictor of future behavior.

The candidate that is well prepared for the interview often is the one that receives a job offer.

Below is a list of some Behavioral questions that could help you land that job you want. We hope you find them useful.

Ability to work under pressure

• Describe a time when you were faced with a stressful situation that demonstrated your ability to cope under pressure.
• Give us an example of where you had to deal with a difficult client or customer. How did you handle the situation?
• Tell us about a specific time in which you managed to remain calm and composed in a stressful situation. 

Adaptability and change

• Describe a time where a major change was implemented at work. How did you adapt to this change?
• Tell us about a time that you had to adapt to a difficult situation.
• Describe a situation when you had to learn something new in a short amount of time. How did you handle it?
• Tell us about a situation in which you were required to adjust to changes over which you had little control.

Communication and interpersonal skills

• Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone of your point of view.
• Tell us about a time when you had to make an important presentation.
• Describe a time where you had to create an important written document.
• Give us an example of a time when you successfully motivated others.
• Tell us about a time when you had to present complex information. How did you ensure that the other person understood?
• Tell us me about a time in which you had to use your written communication skills in order to get an important point across.
• Give an example of a time when you made a stupid mistake because you did not listen carefully to what was being said.
• Describe a situation when you had to negotiate with a key stakeholder. What was the outcome?
• Give us an example of where when you communicated with a person in written or verbal form but it was not effective. What did you learn from this? What did do next time that made it more effective?

Customer Service

• Give a specific example of a time when you had to address an irate customer. What was the problem and what did you do? What was the outcome?
• Tell us about a time where you went out of your way for a customer. What did you do and what was the response?
• Describe a situation where you had to tailor your approach for a customer in order to provide exceptional customer service.

Decision-making

• Tell us about the most difficult decision you have had to make.
• Tell us about a time when you had to analyze information and then make a recommendation. What decision did you come to?
• Give us an example of a time when you had to make a quick decision with limited information available. What decision making process did you take and what alternatives did you consider?

Goal setting

• Give us an example of a time when you set a goal and achieved it successfully.
• Describe a time where you tried to accomplish a goal but failed. What did you learn from it?

Integrity

• Give me a specific example of a time when you had to conform to a policy with which you did not personally agree with.
• Describe a time when you identified that a certain policy or procedure was not been adhered to at work. What did you do and what was the outcome?
• Tell us about a time when you took responsibility for an error and were held personally accountable.
• Tell us about a specific time when you had to handle a difficult problem which involved ethical issues.

Initiative

• Tell us about a specific time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.
• Give us an example of when you showed initiative and took the lead.
  Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventive measures.
• Describe a time when you came up with a creative solution to a problem at work.
• Tell us about a suggestion you made to improve internal process. What was the result?
• Describe a time where one of your ideas was implemented by management.
• Tell us about an innovation that you have introduced into an organization. How did you implement it and what was your approach?
• Tell us about a time when you identified a small problem and prevented it from becoming a big problem.

Judgement, logic and problem solving

• Give us a specific example of a time when you used logic and reasoning skills in solving a problem.Give us an example of when you showed initiative and took the lead.
• Tell us about a time when you missed an obvious solution to a problem.
• Tell us about a time when you used facts and reason to persuade someone to accept your recommendation.
• Give us an example of a time when you used your fact finding skills to solve a problem

Leadership

• Can you give me an example of how you were able to motivate and retain people within your team by appealing to their individual interests?
• Tell us about a time when you used your leadership ability to gain support for something which had strong opposition.
• Tell me about a time when you delegated a project effectively
• Tell me about a time when you were forced to make an unpopular decision.
• Describe a situation where you had to keep subordinates informed about information which affects their jobs.
• Tell us about a time where a staff member’s performance was below expectations. What did you do to address the situation?
• Give an example of a time in which you felt you were required to build motivation in your co-workers or subordinates at work.
• Tell us about a specific development plan that you created and carried out with one or more of your employees. What was the specific situation? What was the outcome?
• Tell us about a time when you had to take disciplinary action with someone you supervised.
• Describe a situation where you have had to discipline a staff member about their performance. How did you do this without de – motivating them and have their performance drop further?

Managing conflict

• Tell us about a time you were required to work alongside a co-worker even though you did not get along with the co-worker on a personal level.
• Tell us about a time where you disagreed with your manager on a certain point. What did you do?
• Tell us about a situation in which you had to separate the person from the issue when working to resolve issues
• Tell me about a situation when you found it difficult to build rapport and a good business relationship with a client/manager/colleague? How did you overcome that? What skills did you use?

Teamwork

• Describe a time where someone in your team was not pulling his or her weight. What did you do to ensure the workload was spread evenly amongst the team?
• Tell us about a time where you worked in a competitive environment. What was your position in the team?
• Tell us about the most difficult person that you have ever had to work with. How did you manage to work with them?
• Describe a time when you had to reach a compromise at work with one of your team members over a certain point.
• Give an example of how you have been successful at empowering a group of people in accomplishing a task.
• Tell us about a time that you had to work in a team that did not initially get along. What happened? What role did you take? What was the result?
• Tell us about a time when you had to adapt to a wide variety of people by accepting and understanding different backgrounds or perspectives.
• Tell us about a particularly complex project you worked on. What was your contribution to the project and what was the final result?

Time management skills

• Tell us about a time when you had to manage competing deadlines and you were required to prioritize your tasks.
• Describe a time when you have several clients, customers or co-workers placing multiple demands on you simultaneously. How did you respond in this situation?
• Give us an example of where you managed competing professional and personal priorities and maintained a healthy work life balance.
• Describe a situation where you were required to act on important issues from multiple sources – what process did you follow to make the choice of which issues you would address?

Senior Management

• Tell me about a situation where you discovered a business practice or policy was negatively affecting profitability.
• Describe a situation where you learned about the practices and decisions made by different functional units within the business.
• Considering the business partnerships you have built both inside and outside the company, describe a situation where things did not go as you had planned. Why was this the case and what did you do to rectify the situation?
• How have you demonstrated in your roles an ability to push through challenging situations and build an achievement-oriented culture? Please provide an example.
• Describe a situation where you have actively had to drive change quickly through the business. How have you done this and kept your team focused on the “main game”?
• Describe a situation where you have received negative feedback about your personal style, how did you respond and what did you do?

Where are all the available .NET Developers?

.NET Developers are some of the most sought out IT professionals in the US... and on the planet for that matter.  If you have at least a year or two of C# .NET development work experience you are probably receiving calls and emails from recruiters every day.

As of this writing there are numerous job postings on Indeed.com for C# .NET professionals, below is sample breakdown of some locations:

Tampa Bay: 147 jobs
Orlando: 94 jobs
Atlanta: 466 jobs
Miami: 89 jobs
Jacksonville: 73 jobs
Dallas: 351 jobs
USA: 10,621 jobs



Of course not all jobs are posted on the internet. In fact, we have several positions that are not posted by us or our clients.

If you are a .NET Developer and have not registered with our firm please do so. Even if you are not actively looking to make a job change, we will be happy to keep you in mind for that "perfect position", one that could be better than the one you are currently in. All communication will remain confidential.  Let our 40+ years of business experience and recruiting team with over 100 years of combined experience be your eyes and ears in the local market.

Hoping to hear from you soon!

Tom Byrne, VP/Recruitment Services
Rita Technology Services

The Cost of a Bad Hire

What is the cost of a bad hire? We all know that hiring the wrong employees can cost organizations a huge amount of money, but this infographic presents some startling figures.  When it comes down to it, getting the right fit the first time probably matters a little more than you thought it did. Recruiters, your job is just that much more important.

This infographic by Resoomay, a software service that allows recruitment agencies and employers to screen and interview candidates using video interviews, explores the (rather astronomical) cost of making a bad hire.

Please click on the link below to view the infographic and to read the rest of the article.

http://www.recruiter.com/i/the-cost-of-a-bad-hire-infographic/

Emerging Programming Languages Career-Minded Developers

If you're a developer looking to increase your employability, then learning a new language is always a good strategy. But the big question is this: Which language should you learn? A quick glance on any developer recruitment site tells you which common programming languages are in demand. Take a look right now and you see plenty of vacancies for programmers with skills in programming languages such as Java, C, C++, C# and Objective C, scripting languages including Python, PHP, Ruby and JavaScript, and database programming in SQL. If you want to stay ahead of the pack, though, and be able to take your pick of the plum jobs of the future, then it may be worth looking beyond Java, Python and these other languages. What about gaining skills and experience in up-and-coming languages that aren't in demand yet - but may well be soon? It's a career strategy that worked for programmers who spotted the potential of Java when it was introduced in the 1990s. Those who got in there early could walk in to any Java programming job they wanted a few years later - and demand the very highest rates as well. The problem is picking the right language to learn, as there are plenty of new ones to choose from. "Almost all new languages are coming from open source projects," says Mark Driver, a research director at Gartner. "That means there are no barriers to entry, so thousands of new languages are coming on to the scene. Most disappear quickly, and only a few ever catch on." Driver says he believes the reason is that, for most organizations, the "incumbents" such as Java, C++ and C# are just too entrenched to replace, "and there's very few enterprises that want to expand the languages they use too much." But the signs say a few new languages are catching on. Here are six of the most promising ones, in no particular order: Dart: Replacement for JavaScript Dart is an open source language developed by Google as a replacement for JavaScript. Like other JavaScript replacement languages such as CoffeeScript, it's not hard for JavaScript developers to learn. It's significant because it has been designed to make it easy to build large scale, multi-developer Web apps - something JavaScript itself isn't really suited to. Right now, Dart applications can run in Chrome's built-in Dart VM or in other browsers through cross compilation to JavaScript. Why learn Dart? Google's backing ensures that Dart has a good chance of succeeding. Opa: Simple, Secure Web Apps Opa is designed to make developing Web applications simpler and more secure. How? Instead of creating browser-side, server-side and backend database components in different languages (perhaps JavaScript, PHP and MySQL ) and connecting them together, you write the whole application in Opa. The compiler then creates the client and server code and builds the communications infrastructure between them. Clever. Although Opa hasn't yet been adopted by enterprises in any significant way, there are a lot of discussions about the language on the Internet at the moment, Driver says. Why learn Opa? Web applications are going to get more complex and prevalent, and there's unique value in having the server-side/client-side distribution of code happen automatically. Scala: Scalable Language in More Than Name Only Scala is short for "scalable language," and it's designed to be exactly that: Scala can be used for tiny programs or very large-scale applications. It's not particularly new, as it was introduced in 2003, but interest is on the rise. One key reason for that is that you can optimize code to work with concurrency. Another is simply that many developers like using it. A key advantage for companies considering Scala is that it interoperates with Java. It runs on JVMs (and Android), while integrated development environments (IDEs) such as Eclipse, IntelliJ or NetBeans, and frameworks such as Spring or Hibernate, all work with it. "The ability to adopt it on top of existing JVMs is really significant," says Jeffrey Hammond, a principal analyst at Forrester. Why learn Scala? It appeals to enterprises that have already invested in Java and don't want to have to support anything new in their production environments. Erlang: With Concurrency Comes Availability Erlang is another language gaining momentum because of concurrency. Originally developed in 1986, Erlang was open sourced in 1998. It's designed for building large-scale, highly available applications. Erlang's runtime system supports hot swapping, so code can be modified or updated without having to stop a running system. Language-level features are provided for creating and managing processes to simplify concurrent programming. Meanwhile, processes communicate using message passing, removing the need for explicit locks. Why learn Erlang? Both Gartner's Driver and Forrester's Hammond suggest Erlang is likely to proliferate in the coming months and years. Ceylon: Modular Java Killer Based on Java, Ceylon has been designed as a Java killer. Developed as a language for writing large programs in teams by Red Hat, the first stable release became available at the end of 2013. Modularity is a key feature. Code is organized into packages and modules, then compiled to module archives. The tooling supports a system of module repositories, with every module published in a central repository called Ceylon Herd. Since Ceylon is based on Java programming and comes with an Eclipse-based IDE and command-line tools (with built-in modularity support,) Ceylon shouldn't be too difficult to get up and running if you're already skilled in Java programming. Why learn Ceylon? Ceylon programs, compile to and execute on Java and JavaScript virtual machines - for client and server systems, it's similar to Opa - and can easily interoperate with native code. Go: Language for the Cloud Go, another open source Google language, first appearing in 2009. Also known as Golang, Go is a traditional language like C, but it's written expressly for the cloud, with concurrency and other features such garbage collection built in. Large Go applications can be compiled in a few seconds on a single computer.

(Courtesy: Paul Rubens)

Source: CIO.com   Paul Rubens    June 5, 2014

http://tinyurl.com/l7zvydf

Here's Why You Shouldn't Ignore Recruiters’ Calls

Here's Why You Shouldn't Ignore Recruiters’ Calls
Glassdoor, May 29, 2014

You may be in your dream job, but that doesn’t mean you should blow off the recruiter or executive search consultant if they come calling.

Getting inundated with recruiters’ calls if you have sought-after skills can be annoying, but you never know when the roles will reverse and you will be the one looking for a job.

“It’s very common (for people to blow off recruiters calls) and it always leaves us scratching our heads,” says Kathy Harris, managing director of recruiting firm Harris Allied in New York. “We very often know about positions that no one knows about. At the end of the day you want to be the first person we think of.”

For the happily employed it doesn’t hurt to take the phone call. After all they may have an amazing job for you. Not to mention you are clearly wanted because they are the ones seeking out you. Even if the job may not be right for you but could be ideal for someone you know which creates a win-win situation. You get to refer someone you care about and you create a relationship with the recruiter because you are helping out.

Landing a better position or referring a friend or family member are the primary reasons you want to take a recruiters phone call, but it’s not the only reasons. Recruiters can be a great source of industry information as well as a sounding board as you navigate your career.

“Recruiters know which industries are shifting, which companies are growing, who is downsizing, and they are able to share this information in a third-party, non-biased way,” says Tom Gimbel, president and chief executive of LaSalle Network, a Chicago staffing company. “They know which skill sets are in demand, which certifications you need to grow your career and what you need to succeed in a role.” Not to mention recruiters know a lot of people and can connect you with mentors, key players and others who can help your career.

But not every recruiter or executive search consultant is created equal. You don’t want to waste your time with someone who can’t help you just like you don’t want to blow off the one that can. Figuring out who to create a relationship with and who to avoid can take work but it’s not impossible to do.

According to experts, when determining who is a good ally and who is a waste of time, do some quick research. If you get a call from a recruiter check out his or her LinkedIn page. See what types of clients they’ve placed what firms they work for and how long they have been in the business. Rightly or wrongly the amount of experience the person has as a recruiter matters a lot. Typically someone starting out in the recruiting field isn’t going to have the same contacts as someone who has been in the industry for years. It’s perfectly ok to ask how long they’ve been doing this, what industries they specialize in and what their client base is like.

“Finding a good recruiter is no different than looking for good networking contacts. Ask your friends and colleagues who has a good reputation,” says Susan Ruhl, a managing partner at OI Partners Innovative Career Consulting in Denver. “Research firms and individuals on LinkedIn.”

Once you figure out which recruiters you want to build relationships with then you can start the building. One of the most important things to do is establish boundaries up front as to how the relationship will go. For instance if the recruiter makes a habit of calling your office phone but you work in an open office environment tell the recruiter to phone you after hours or during your lunch hour on your mobile phone.

Equally important, says Harris is to make sure the conversations that do take place whether over the phone, email, text or in person are confidential. The last thing you want to happen is your boss to get wind of your newfound friendship with the recruiter for a competitor.

If you do decide to pursue an opportunity provided by a recruiter career experts say the best way to maintain an honest relationship is to be upfront about your experience, your skills and your weaknesses. Any embellishments will easily be revealed once the recruiter starts checking your credentials. It’s also a good idea to treat any interviews with a recruiter or executive search firm as if you were interviewing with the company. “A retained search firm is an extension of its client organizations, and should be treated as such during the interview process,” says to Linda Komnick, principal at Witt/Kieffer, the national executive search firm. “The search firm is expected to screen potential candidates based on mutually defined criteria, so think of your interview with the recruiter as your first interview in the hiring process.”

7 Ways to Advance Your Project Management Career

This article offers some good advice. However, often times you will need to change jobs to advance your career. Having a well written resume highlighting accomplishments (saving money, increasing revenue, reducing cost, etc.) as well as examples of the projects you managed (budget amount, duration, # man hours, team size, sponsors, users, etc.) is also important.

Please click on the URL below to read the article.

http://www.cio.com.au/article/543526/7_ways_advance_your_project_management_career/

Source: CIO.com

Mobile Development Skills Most in Demand

Mobile Development Skills Most in Demand   Source: www.cio.com Rich Hein The demand for programmers and developers with mobile skills continues to rise, but which ones should you consider adding to your toolbox? We look at which IT skills are most sought-after by employers. Mobile development is a hot IT topic, but which specific mobile skills are employers looking for most. We spoke with Dice president Shravan Goli and Mike Newman, president of On The GoWARE, to find out what IT skills businesses are clamoring for when it comes to mobile developers. This list represents the mobile development skills employers and hiring managers are searching for within Dice's resume database.   Key Survey Findings Demand for mobile developers, whether its mobile Web or mobile application development, is on the rise in a big way. According to recent research by IDC and Appcelerator, 63 percent of 6,046 Titanium developers surveyed said their skills have seen "increased" or "greatly increased" demand from enterprises in the past six months. Enterprise Demand is on the Rise. Demand is shifting from mainly B2C apps to B2B apps. Tablet Growth - Developers identified tablets as the next emerging app platform. Android seems to be the exception, however, where 12 percent more developers favor smartphones. Android Device Growth - Although the number of handsets is approaching 1 billion, this hasn't equated to the same amount of developer interest. Java Java skills top the list of in-demand mobile developer skills. It also tops many lists such as the Tiobe programming index, for example. Java is used mainly on the mobile application side to build native Android apps. "It's not a full version of Java but a subset that Google adopted. There are a couple different frameworks, but anyone who knows Java can easily adapt themselves to building applications for Android," says Dice.com president Shravan Goli. .NET Microsoft's mobile platform represents only a small percentage of the mobile development market so what is driving the demand for this skill? Back-end integration. "Integration is vital for mobile solutions," says Newman, and with countless back-end systems using Microsoft products and services it's no mystery as to why demand is high. Cloud adoption is another reason demand for this skill is high, says Goli. CSS Cascading style sheets (CSS) are used on most websites today and are responsible for how Web pages appear in your browser. When used in conjunction with JavaScript/jQuery and HTML5 CSS can help build impressive and eye-catching designs. They are all part of the mobile Web experience and an integral part of responsive design. JavaScript The mobile Web experience and responsive design are driving demand for JavaScript skills. JavaScript is more browser-level technology, so if you are building mobile Web experiences you can leverage JavaScript. That said, there are also cross-platform tools such as Titanium that use JavaScript to help developers build their code set once and run it on any platform. The problem with tools like this is that there are often limitations and lags between features updates. Quality Testing/Quality Assurance In a recent report from CapGemini, 29 percent of respondents say they lack the specialist expertise to effectively certify mobile applications making this skill one to consider adding to your toolbox. "This is mostly on the application testing side for mobile experiences," says Goli. Mobile has been in high gear for about the last three years and there aren't a wealth of people who know how to test for quality on mobile platforms, he says. As more businesses jump on the mobile bandwagon companies either have to groom these skills in house or look for people in a very competitive market. User Interface Whether it's UI research, design or UI developers, it's all about knowing how users think. Experts in this field understand and predict the behavior part of the equation and help shape how the experience needs to flow step by step. "The user interface is as important as the back-end code. If you've got a user interface that is not working, counter-intuitive or frustrating for people to use, it won't matter if the back-end code works or not. Both Google and Apple have user interface guidelines because they want consistency in the way their apps are used," says On The GoWARE's Newman. HTML5 The debate rages on over native apps vs. HTML5, but regardless demand for HTML5 skills is on the rise, making this another great skill to consider adding to your knowledge base. "This is the biggest part of the responsive design standpoint that people are leveraging today," says Dice's Goli. More businesses are leaning toward responsive design, which means demand will likely increase, he says. "Whether it's mobile or desktop Web you'd better know HTML5, because HTML5, CSS and JavaScript have really become the preferred ways of handling everything that used to be done in Flash," says On The GoWARE's Newman. Linux Linux is the OS many business systems run on and demand is high on the enterprise side. Linux is one of the fastest growing technologies in demand because it's open source. A lot of the new services and applications are built in Linux as a platform because it's cheaper to build and more open source services are built to power your enterprise applications or consumer applications, allowing you to leverage more free things. Objective-C "You better know Objective-C if you want to develop anything on the Apple side," says On The GoWARE's Newman. Demand for Objective-C skills, according to Dice data, is up 4 percent year over year. Some of that demand is likely the result of the release of Apple's iOS7. If you're considering going down this path, be aware that Objective-C isn't the easiest language to learn. "Objective-C is one of the stranger languages and there is a little bit more of a learning curve. That is why you don't see a lot of cross-over developers," says Newman.

(Courtesy: Rich Hein, CIO)

IT Hiring Expected to Outpace Every Other Industry

The Information Technology sector overall has added over 300,000 since 2010 and is showing no signs of slowing down.

 

According to CareerBuilder’s latest forecast, 36 percent of IT employers said they expect to add full-time, permanent headcount in the fourth quarter, outpacing the national average for companies hiring and surpassing even Manufacturing and Finance.

 

When it comes to which particular occupations are particularly “hot” right now, Sologig.com and Economic Modeling Specialists, Intl. (EMSI) compiled the following list of IT industry occupations with the greatest job increase between 2010 and 2013.

 

TH “Hot Jobs” for IT including salary information:

1. Software Developers, Applications
   • 11% increase in jobs since 2010
   • Median hourly wage: $43.34
2. Software Developers, Systems Software
   • 12% increase in jobs since 2010
   • Median hourly wage: $47.64
3. Computer Systems Analysts
   • 8% increase in jobs since 2010
   • Median hourly wage: $37.98
4. Computer User Support Specialists
   • 7% increase in jobs since 2010
   • Median hourly wage: $22.54
5. Network and Computer Systems Administrators
   • 9% increase in jobs since 2010
   • Median hourly wage: $35.14
6. Computer and Information Systems Managers
   • 7% increase in jobs since 2010
   • Median hourly wage: $58.11
7. Computer Programmers
   • 6% increase in jobs since 2010
   • Median hourly wage: $35.30
8. Web Developers
   • 11% increase in jobs since 2010
   • Median hourly wage: $27.84
9. Database Administrators
   • 11% increase in jobs since 2010
   • Median hourly wage: $37.39
10. Computer Network Support Specialists
    • 6% increase in jobs since 2010
    • Median hourly wage: $28,59

 

Source: CareerBuilder    October 7th, 2013

By Mary Lorenz in Forecasts, Information Technology, Talent Factor

Demand for Computer Programmers boosted by Obamacare

Computer Programmers

Under the Affordable Care Act, doctors and hospitals must use electronic medical records, but taking their old paper system into the digital age is a giant technological construction project. “You need an army of programmers to put these things together,” says Osborne, of Staffing Industry Analysts. Indeed, the number of medical records and health information technicians employed in the U.S. has grown 7% to more than 182,000 since 2009, before the ACA was enacted, according to BLS data. Employment in other occupations, meanwhile, decreased or stayed flat during the same period, Osborne says.

Computer-related jobs in health care have grown more than 30% in the past five years, although they still represent less than 1% of all health care jobs, Turner says.

Employers will also have to build new electronic systems to report the costs of their employees’ health coverage to the government, although they will have more time to do it, since the ACA 2014 deadline has been extended. The enormous task may be over the head of many companies’ in-house IT departments, so benefits and payroll firms are hiring their own engineers to create tools for their clients.

 

Source: MarketWatch  August 6, 2013           

10 careers boosted by Obamacare

Hiring is booming in these fields as a result of health reform

Ever Wonder What Hiring Managers Are Thinking?

Hiring managers are known for their poker faces and judgmental appraisal while you’re sweating bullets in the interview hot seat. Want a better idea of what interviewers are probably thinking but don’t say? Here are a few common areas of assessment that any job seeker can avoid if prepared for it.

“Are you always late like this?”
Showing up late to an interview is not a good way to start an interview. Typically it leaves hiring managers questioning if you are always late and sometimes questioning how much you actually want this position.

Solution: Plan for double the travel time you actually need. Showing up early is better than late.

“Do you usually dress like that?”
Interviewing in less than professional attire could give hiring authorities the impression you aren’t professional enough or taking this position seriously.

Solution: “Dress for the job you want.” Even if your daily attire may be more casual, it’s better to dress up rather than down for any interview.

“Are you going to jump ship?”
When there are positions on your resume that you have held for less than a year at a company the first thing most interviewers are going to ask themselves is if you are going to truly commit to this job long-term.

Solution: Be prepared to overcome these obstacles. No need to draw unnecessary attention to it but be prepared to quickly explain your career aspirations and be able to put “the hiring manager’s mind at ease.”

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/6-things-hiring-managers-think-145012868.html

Writing Thank You Letters after an Interview

Writing Thank You Letters after an Interview

 

One of the most crucial times in the interview process, is the time after the initial interview. It is the period when you can be forgotten or just blend in with the crowd. The "Thank you" letter is a very good tool to make sure that you are remembered in a positive light. They are not just a formality; they act as marketing tools that can have tremendous value in moving your candidacy forward and positioning you above the competition. Although much of what you include in your thank-you letter may have already been communicated during your interview, there is nothing more effective than the written word to etch those thoughts into your interviewer's mind.

 

Overcome Objections

During an interview if there were any objections raised as to your candidacy, use your thank-you letter to respond to and overcome those concerns. Demonstrate the concerns are not an obstacle but an opportunity, and you're fully prepared to meet the challenge.

Reiterate Your Expertise

If the company communicated its specific needs, issues or challenges, use your thank-you letter to demonstrate how you can meet those needs.

Highlight Your Core Professional Competencies and Successes
If the company communicated its ideal qualifications for a candidate, use your thank-you letter to outline how you meet or exceed each qualification.

Length

How long should your thank-you letter be?  You can take the risk of boring your potential employer to tears or just re-emphasizing your relevant experience directly related to the position. Of course, as with anything else in a job search, there is no definitive answer. We recommend the "short and sweet" versions and have seen that they pack more punch than something that is so long it makes its way to the trash instead of the inbox. Remind yourself that you already have the company's interest or you wouldn't have been interviewing. Use your thank-you letter as a tool to communicate your interest, not re-write your resume. 

Preparation

Make sure you have the correct spelling of the recipient’s name along with their company title.  If sending via email, be sure to verify their email address as well. It’s very important to spell check your letter before sending it out.  Failure to do so shows a lack of attention to detail. If you are working with a 3^rd party recruiter, have them proof your letter to get another opinion.  When you have double-checked the spelling and grammar and are satisfied with the letter mail it out as soon as possible. Don’t delay.

The Counter Offer: Opportunity or Risk?

The job search is a complex process in and of itself. Once you are almost done with this tough decision making process, another complicated factor may avail itself at the end which may need confronting. A counter offer is a delicate situation which must be handled with the utmost care. More often than not employers offer counter offers to employees who they deem valuable and therefore shower them with all the things that were lacking in the jobs in the first place. It may be a raise, higher bonus, change of title etc. The list is endless. However the underlying truth to counter offers is still the same, it is something that comes too little to late, and is all too often too good to be true.

People often search for a new job when they are motivated by some reason or another if there is something lacking in their current role. Whether it is money or recognition or a host of other issues, the fundamental point is the same, the need for change far outweighs the prospects of resorting to the status quo.

There may be risks associated with starting a new job but they are a lot less risky than accepting a counter offer. A company will offer a counter offer to patch up the immediate threat of being short staffed. Money, Title, Vacation, Promotions are all offered to offset your departure. However, what must be understood is that such things should not be provided when an employee threatens to leave. An employee's self worth should be dictated by their performance and not by what they can get elsewhere. Time and time again, employees fall prey to counter offers thinking it as a good thing. When they least suspect it, they are let go when their replacement, usually at a discount, has been procured. Once your loyalty is questioned, it is almost impossible to regain that trust. Also, by accepting a counter offer it shows that you are willing to break your commitment to your new employer after accepting their offer, and this will raise additional red flags.

The biggest assets of an employee outside of his/her ability to do the job, are in the areas of trust and loyalty. Counter offers violate these key components. A counter offer should be viewed for what it really is, a bandage for the time being until a permanent resolution can be achieved. Unfortunately, one's career advancements should not be subject to the temporary resolutions set forth by their employer. It should be based on a clear picture of what is expected, what will be received when those expectations are met, and valuing ones services by their merits and successes. This should not be raised by their unhappiness and desire to leave.

IT Trends - 2013

Ok, the good news is that we are still alive! The world did not end in 2012. That was one prediction that went wrong. But that is not the case of predictions for IT industry – they still hold. The big four trends were cloud, mobile, social and data and these will continue to rule the IT scenario in the New Year as well.

The public cloud was where the action was in 2012 -- and it's where much of the action is going to be in 2013. According to IDC, in 2011, IT cloud services generated 1.5 million new jobs and projected that number to reach 8.8 million in the next four years. (Those numbers include both jobs with cloud computing providers and cloud-related jobs within corporate IT.)

A recent Gartner study predicts that Mobile App projects targeting smartphones and tablets will outnumber native PC projects by a ratio of 4:1 by 2015. After a year marked by growing pains, Social Media is heading into 2013 with a strong start. 2013 will be the year of social ecommerce. Even the most traditional retailers will weave likes, pins and tweets into websites and social platforms, like Pinterest, will embrace online sales.

Big Data, which refers to data collected and analyzed from every imaginable source, is becoming an engine of job creation as businesses discover ways to turn data into revenue, says Gartner. By 2015, it is expected to create 4.4 million IT jobs globally, of which 1.9 million will be in the U.S.

No doubt 2012 was a challenging year for IT professionals and 2013 may continue to be so. But there is always a silver lining - IT jobs are growing steadily. We all are aware that IT job market outperformed other fields in the past few years, with unemployment rates much lower than the national average. In November, when national unemployment rate was 7.7%, IT industry was below 4%.

Even so, you cannot get complacent and must take steps to wade successfully through the tumultuous IT industry. Keeping up with the trends and acquiring new skills is not an option, it is a survival tactic. Other side of the low employment rate coin is lack of availability of skilled professionals. As a result employers have to strive to fill positions that require rare skill sets.

Source: ITJC Newsletter

Shortage of IT Talent and Degrees

VP of Rita quoted in Tampa Bay Times
IT Degrees and shortage of them today..

Salary Negotiation Mistakes to Avoid

Salary negotiation is a big part of job-hunting and it makes many young applicants as well as experienced professionals uncomfortable and anxious. Especially when effective tactics are not known. After all, you might ask for too much, ask for too little, or otherwise sabotage your own chances of getting the best possible salary. Negotiation will go more smoothly if you know what landmines to avoid.

When it comes time to negotiate salary for a new job, make sure that you don't make these key errors:

1. Being Unprepared.

At some point, employers are likely to ask what salary range you're looking for, possibly as soon as their first contact with you. If you're caught off-guard, you risk low-balling yourself or otherwise saying something that will harm you in salary negotiations later. It's crucial to do your homework ahead of time so that you're ready when the question comes up.

While salary sites might seem like the most obvious way to figure out what to ask for, these sites are frequently unreliable, in part because the job titles they list often represent wildly different scopes of responsibility. Professional associations in your industry might do more reliable salary surveys, but even then, you're more likely to get the right range by talking to people in your field.

Apart from conducting research online, you should also gather information on your prospective employer’s salary levels, promotion and salary hike policies, benefits, etc.

2. Negotiating Before You Have an Offer.

There's no point trying to negotiate before you have a job offer; after all, the employer still hasn't even decided if they want to hire you. Your leverage will be far stronger once someone is certain that you're the one they want. Once you have the offer you are in a powerful position to negotiate. To start the process, ask more details about the salary and the entire compensation package including health insurance, bonuses, and other perks.

3. Discussing Salary in Your Cover Letter.

Some candidates announce their salary requirements in their cover letters without being asked, and some even include their salary history on their resumes. There's no reason to talk money at this stage, and doing it unprompted at the application stage can come across as naive. By doing this you leave no room for negotiations. Or you may not even get an opportunity to interview with the company even if you are a good fit for the job.

4. Citing your Need or Finances.

Salary conversations should be solely about your value to the company, not about your own finances or your need. Employers don't pay people based on financial need, so don't cite your mortgage or your kid's college tuition as a reason you're asking for more money. Your emphasis should be on the value you bring to the company.

5. Accepting Job Offer Too Quickly

In the current economy, it may take several weeks to get a job offer. When you get one, you will be tempted to accept it immediately even if it doesn’t match your expectations. But even such offers should be reviewed before making a decision. Don’t be in a hurry. The employer has chosen you because you are a good match for the position. So, if you feel you deserve a better deal, negotiate further and then make a decision.

6. Asking for too Much Time to Respond to an Offer.

It's normal to request a few days to consider an offer, and sometimes employers will give you a week or so. But if you ask for much time beyond that, you risk signaling that you're not excited about the job, but might settle for it if you don't get any other offers. That's a good way to lessen the hiring manager's enthusiasm and bring into question your own.

7. Asking For Too Many Changes in Counteroffer.

If you have a strong interest in the job, but the offer is not what you expected, you can consider making a counteroffer proposal. You should only pick the one or two most important elements; you can't negotiate every aspect of the offer. If the salary is too low, focus on that aspect in a counteroffer. If you know the company will not negotiate on salary, then focus on modifying a few of the other terms of the offer such as additional vacation time, earlier performance reviews, signing bonus, relocation expenses. Just remember that you cannot attempt to negotiate the entire offer; conduct your research, and write a short counterproposal.

8. Declining Job Offer Too Quickly.

When an employer doesn’t offer a salary that you expected and if it is much lower then rejecting the job may be a wise decision. Yet, take time to think it over before rejecting it. If the money is not very much lower than your expectations, take a look at the benefits.

Salary is only one part of a compensation package; you also need to factor in benefits like healthcare, retirement contributions, and paid leave. After all, if you'll be paying significantly more for healthcare or receiving fewer paid vacation days than you're used to, that might cancel out part of any salary gains you hope to make. On the other hand, being able to work from home or having an on-site day care might be benefits that make it worth it to you to take a slightly lower salary.

9. Underestimating Happiness as a Factor.

A higher salary generally won't make up for a job where you'll be miserable, so think carefully about factors other than money: the work you'll be doing, the people with whom you'll be working, the company culture, and even the length of your commute. It might be worth giving up a bit of extra pay to ensure that you're happy going to work every day.

10. Listening to Bad Advice.

Negotiation advice that worked a few decades ago isn't always effective now. In fact, some of it can hurt your chances. For instance, delaying the salary conversation as long as you can or refusing to name a figure first—common advice in previous generations—can backfire today by turning the employer off and making you look like you're playing games.

11. Not Negotiating.

Whatever you do, negotiate. If you simply take the first salary you're offered, you'll never know if you could have received more by simply asking. Settling for a lower salary than you are worth has some major negative consequences; you will earn less, receive smaller raises (because most raises are based as a percentage of your salary), and have a smaller pension (since pension contributions are usually a percentage of your salary). But settling for an offer that you feel in your heart is too low will not only set you back financially, but also eat at you until you finally begin to seriously dislike your job and/or employer.

12. Taking Salary Negotiations Personally.

Whatever you do in this process always stay professional in handling the negotiations. If the employer has made you an offer then you are their choice, so even if negotiations go nowhere, or worse, keep in mind that you did receive an offer, even if it is not what you expected or deserved. And if negotiations break down between you and the employer, move on graciously, thanking the employer again for the opportunity because you never want to burn any bridges.

13. Not Asking for Final Offer in Writing.

Once you have received a job offer that you find acceptable, the last thing you should do is ask for the final offer in writing. No legitimate employer will have issues with putting the offer in writing, so if yours balks at your request and accuses you of not having any trust and tries to bully you to accept the verbal agreement, take it as a MAJOR red flag that there is something seriously wrong.


[Courtesy: Alison Green, USNews & Randall Hansen, Quintessential Careers]