Leveraging Skills Development to Maximize Employee Retention (Client) 2 Oct 2024, 2:09 am

Employees have identified learning and development opportunities as key career priorities for years. More than 83% of candidates say that access to learning opportunities determines which roles they’ll apply for and which job offers they’ll accept. 

However, upskilling and reskilling shouldn’t just be a focus for employees. Business leaders need to prioritize educating their team members, too. Development opportunities are crucial to attracting and retaining talent in a skills-short market and essential to preserving your competitive edge in a dynamic technology landscape.  

As the world continues to evolve, with new technologies and developments across sectors, training your employees ensures they can continue to flourish and deliver results for your business.  

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The Learning Edge in the IT Landscape 

The world as we know it is changing at an incredible rate. In the last few years alone, we’ve seen the rise of new, transformative A.I. algorithms (like generative artificial intelligence), new opportunities for automation, and new virtual landscapes introduced by extended reality. 

Innovative technology, new customer preferences, and different working styles, like hybrid and remote work, have led to numerous skills gaps in the IT industry.

A Gartner study found that 58% of the workforce needs new skills to thrive in the current landscape. 

If you don’t give your team members the training they need to excel in their roles, your business will either lose its competitive advantage or lose employees to competing organizations.

Alternatively, investing in employee development unlocks benefits like: 

Greater Adaptability and Resilience 

Resilience and adaptability are necessary in today’s changing IT space. When faced with a broad set of new challenges, technologies and working styles, employees with a wider range of skills and a commitment to continuous development are likelier to excel. Resilient and adaptable employees help to preserve and improve business growth.   

Improved Employee Retention 

Employees want new skills, to excel in their roles, and to see growth opportunities. 70% of high-retention-risk employees say they plan on leaving their employer because they don’t see a future in their current job.

Upskilling and training employees help you retain your best talent for longer. It  lets you identify potential team members who could move into leadership roles, enhancing your succession planning strategy.  

Enhanced Business Performance 

Employees who are engaged, happy, and satisfied at work are more productive and creative. Skilled team members accomplish more with less. They’re more efficient in their roles, more likely to discover innovative solutions to problems, and more adept at improving your company’s profits.  

Better Talent Acquisition 

Development and training strategies aren’t just a great way to boost employee retention. They can also help to attract diverse IT talent to your company. A strong approach to employee development shows potential candidates that they have room to grow within your organization. It can help you overcome skill shortages and build a diverse team of employees with unique skills.  

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How to Optimize Employee Development 

Investing in employee development pays dividends for business leaders. But how do you make sure you’re implementing the right development strategy? 

Here are several strategies that work: 

Identify Development Needs 

The best tech employee development strategies are tailored to your employee’s needs and your business’s overarching goals. Take a collaborative approach to assess talent gaps in your organization. Ask team leaders to identify potential improvement areas based on employee performance assessments.  

Use performance and skill tests to determine where employees might lack certain capabilities in areas that matter most to your company. Remember to look at essential technical and trending hard skills, like digital literacy or proficiency with AI.  

Think about soft skills, such as communication and collaboration skills for employees working in a hybrid setting, emotional intelligence, or time management skills. Ask your team members to share their honest thoughts on their strengths and weaknesses, and work with them to build personalized development plans. 

Explore Different Employee Development Methods 

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to training IT employees. Some employees benefit most from formal educational programs, such as traditional classes, workshops, or one-on-one tutoring from an industry professional. Others prefer getting hands-on peer support from a mentor or engaging in cross-team learning practices, where they shadow other employees.  

Some staff members may want to manage learning and development independently with online courses and digital resources. Offering team members a range of learning options to choose from ensures that you’ll be able to boost engagement from your staff.  

It also means that you’ll be able to ensure learning and development are accessible to everyone, regardless of their learning styles or preferences. You might even leverage technology to help you with your training resources.  

AI-driven learning platforms can help you build personalized courses for different team members based on their strengths and weaknesses. Extended reality solutions like virtual reality applications can offer access to immersive, hands-on training experiences.  

Create a Culture of Continuous Learning 

For your approach to IT training and development to have the biggest impact on your organization, it needs to be ingrained into your company culture. Team members shouldn’t just look forward to workshops or courses once or twice a year.  

Everyone should be working together with a focus on continuous improvement. Studies show that companies focused on constant learning and improvement are 92% more likely to innovate. They’re also more profitable, productive, and resilient.  

With that in mind, make learning a core part of the workplace experience. Get team leaders to “lead by example” by asking them to participate in courses and learning opportunities.  

Encourage cross-functional collaboration to enable peer-to-peer learning. Ask team members to give their colleagues feedback and guidance to help them grow. You could even incentivize learning with an approach to gamification.  

For instance, you might give employees points or badges every time they complete a course or demonstrate a commitment to ongoing education. Those points could then be exchanged for extra perks, like vouchers or flexible days off later in the year. 

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Measure the Impact of Learning Initiatives 

The only way to ensure you’re constantly improving your IT employee development initiative’s impact is to measure the results. The trouble is the results of a training strategy aren’t always immediately obvious in financial terms. You need to be able to look for other evidence that your strategies are working.  

One way to do this is to measure crucial metrics, like employee engagement levels or productivity. You can do this by surveying your employees to find out how satisfied they are with their roles or asking them for feedback on improving your management style.  

You can measure productivity and performance by looking at how frequently employees hit their targets, meet deadlines, and contribute to significant business outcomes. Use the information you gather about the success of your learning initiatives to identify ways to improve your development strategy.

Asking team members for their input is particularly helpful here, as team members who feel they have a hand in shaping learning initiatives are more likely to engage with them. 

Prepare for Common Challenges 

Just because IT employees overwhelmingly want learning opportunities doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges to overcome when implementing your initiatives. Identifying the hurdles you’re likely to face before rolling out your programs will help you find ways to mitigate them. 

For instance, if you’re concerned about a limited budget for training opportunities, looking for low-cost ways to enable learning, such as mentorship programs and online courses, can address this issue. If you struggle to convince employees to invest time into learning initiatives when they’re already tackling a busy schedule, help them allocate sections of their work week to learning or allow them to access learning resources outside of the office.  

If your employees resist your learning initiatives for other reasons, ask them why they’re not interested and help them understand the benefits of developing new skills.  

 

Ultimately, investing in developing your IT team members is crucial. It ensures your company can stay competitive and resilient as the industry continues to evolve and helps you to attract and retain the right talent for your organization. 

While there are often hurdles to overcome when implementing a long-term development initiative, the results can be astronomical, from increased profits to better employee retention.  

Invest in the future growth of your company and the satisfaction of your teams by making learning and development a priority this year.  

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About DATAMASTERS

Since 1971 we have improved staffing and recruiting processes for both companies and candidates. More than 50 years later, our clients and thousands of consultants and candidates have worked with DataMasters in building talent resources one person at a time. Our core values of valuing candidates and nurturing their career trajectories are still an important part of our culture.

We care about our clients, our consultants, our candidates, and our team.      We are Different – We Care

We deliver quality candidates to provide the best results for our clients. We assess capabilities, interests, communication skills, growth expectations, team perspective, and much more. It takes the right person to become a member of your team or augment your project. Customized plans based on what your company needs are available for any part of the recruitment process or anywhere in the world

Tailored recruitment services, strong team expertise, and a culture of success give us the pleasure of proudly saying :

“You should meet our People”

Our Team:

Jason White      Dana White 

Stacey Green      Stacey Griffith        Christy Kirksey 

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Potential, Attitude, or Skills: What to Evaluate when Hiring IT Candidates (Client) 2 Oct 2024, 1:37 am

Hiring the best IT talent isn’t easy, particularly when skill shortages are increasing. The cost of making the wrong decision can be huge. Not only do you waste time and resources onboarding and training the wrong employee, but your team’s productivity can suffer, too. 

So, how do you ensure you’re making the right hiring choices? Focusing on skills is common, particularly for companies trying to avoid unconscious bias. Prioritizing skills over attributes ensures you can hire team members with the right abilities to thrive in a specific role.  

However, while more than 80% of employers say they take a skills-based approach to hiring, focusing on skills alone may not be a good idea.

The 70-20-10 model has proven that only 10% of learning comes from formal or traditional schooling, while 70% happens in the flow of work (experiential learning) and 20% through interactions with others (social learning).  Employers focusing on skills alone may be backsliding as many employers feel that college graduates “feel” less risky..

But you will have to adapt as the skills IT team members need are constantly changing.  While you can teach employees how to leverage new skills, it’s much harder to shape a team member’s attitude or potential. 

Here’s what you need to know about hiring for skills vs attitude vs potential. 

The Current Job Market Landscape: Hiring Challenges 

The IT job market has changed significantly in recent years. The competition for top talent is increasing in an environment where every company faces significant skill shortages.  

Worldwide, 75+% of companies struggle to find skilled workers today.  Losses by 2030 mean more than 85 million jobs could go unfilled because there aren’t enough skilled people to take them resulting in about $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual revenues.

Additionally, employee priorities are changing. Following the “Great Resignation”, candidates focus more on finding roles that offer the perfect blend of work/life balance, development opportunities, and a strong focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

To attract and retain top talent, companies can’t afford to rely exclusively on scanning resumes for evidence of the right education or experience. Resumes offer a stunted insight into a candidate’s potential, focusing solely on their achievements.  

A more comprehensive approach to analyzing a candidate’s “potential matrix”, based on their hard and soft skills, personality traits, and ability to adapt to changing situations, ensures you can hire more resilient, successful employees. 

The Case for Skills-Based Hiring 

Skills-based hiring, which involves prioritizing candidates based on their abilities, does have value. Deloitte research found that companies that take a skills-based approach to hiring are 63% more likely to achieve the results they need from their teams. 

Evaluating the skills of your potential employees ensures you can look beyond how many years of experience a candidate has in the IT sector or which certifications they’ve earned to focus on how well they’ll be able to carry out specific responsibilities at work. 

This can reduce the risk of unconscious bias in hiring and lead to benefits like: 

• Quicker hiring decisions: Skills are often relatively easy to verify through portfolios, certifications, and practical tests, accelerating your hiring decisions.  
• Immediate productivity: Employees with the right skills can instantly contribute to your workforce without additional training. 
• Reduced costs: Because your candidates will already have the skills they need to thrive in their role, you can spend less money on training, mentoring, and development. 
• Improved retention: Some studies show that skills-based hires have a 9% longer tenure at their companies than traditional hires.  
• Competitive advantage: Focusing on emerging skills, such as digital literacy, can help you give your organization a competitive advantage in the IT industry.  

Focusing at least partially on skills is often crucial for virtually all roles and positions.  

Ensuring your team members have the right competencies to complete the tasks essential to their roles means you can hire more efficient, productive team members.  

Even during high-profile tech sector layoffs in 2023, a Deloitte survey found that nearly 90% of tech industry leaders said that recruiting and retaining tech talent remained either a moderate or major issue, with challenges related to the tech workforce outpacing challenges related to fostering innovation, driving productivity, and integrating new technology

However, there’s a risk to focusing on skills alone, particularly when experts predict employers will need to reskill more than 1 billion people by 2030, thanks to changes in the workplace. That’s where a focus on attitude and potential becomes a priority. 

The Benefits of Prioritizing Attitude and Potential 

Skills are undoubtedly important in any role, but they can’t accurately predict a person’s chances of success in your organization alone.  They’re either missing motivation, don’t have the resiliency to adapt to changes, or can’t thrive in the culture your company offers.

Technical skills can be easily taught in the IT industry with coaching, training, and mentorship. Adjusting someone’s attitude is much harder. 

Focusing on attitude and potential by examining a candidate’s personality, soft skills like communication and adaptability, and work ethic drives incredible results, such as: 

• Greater resilience: In the fast-moving IT industry, companies need adaptable employees who can adjust quickly to changing challenges. Hiring employees focusing on continuous learning, improvement, and a growth mindset improves resilience. 

• Improved retention: Studies show that 90% of new hires lose their job due to their attitude or personality. Hiring for attitude improves your chances of retaining critical team members who mesh well with your team. 

• Enhanced performance: Candidates with the right attitude and soft skills are more effective at collaborating with team members, serving customers, and solving problems. This can significantly improve the performance of your teams. 

• Diversity: By hiring for attitude and potential over technical skills, you can improve your chances of building a more diverse workforce, boosting your employer brand. 

Of course, hiring for attitude alone also has its setbacks. If you focus on personality over skills entirely, you’ll need to invest more in training and development programs and spend more time evaluating candidates for personality traits.  

Balancing Skills and Attitude: The Hybrid Hiring Approach 

Ultimately, the best option for improved IT hiring strategies isn’t focusing on skills, attitude and potential independently – it’s taking a holistic approach.  

When hiring a new team member, focusing on certain essential skills, such as proficiency with certain software or exceptional communication and customer service skills, will help streamline the recruitment process and reduce the cost of future training. 

Skills-based hiring will also ensure you can hire team members who are immediately productive in their role, improving the ROI of your hiring strategy. Plus, it can reduce the risk of unconscious bias in your hiring decisions, ensuring you can assess each candidate objectively. 

However, focusing on attitude and potential by evaluating an IT candidate’s soft skills, personality traits, and work ethic ensures you can choose diverse candidates who can contribute to your company culture and remain resilient in a shifting landscape.  

Here are our top tips for hiring for skills, attitude and potential: 

• Focus on prioritizing skills that would be difficult or time-consuming for staff to learn on the job.  For instance, while it’s easy to show a candidate how to use a new piece of IT software, delivering comprehensive skills training for things like accounting, analytics, or customer service would be much harder.  
• Minimize unconscious bias in your hiring decisions, such as using structured and standardized interview questions and blind resume screening.  
• Focus on great time management or communication skills.  
• Emphasize a need for growth mindset
• Commitment to continuous learning.  
• Proactivity, intrinsic motivation, and flexibility  

Identify how you’ll examine these indicators of “potential” in your candidates. For instance, competency-based interviews with situational questions, behavioral interview questions, and personality tests can offer valuable insights.   

Peer interviews can also be extremely useful, as they allow different team members to understand how well a new IT employee will fit into or contribute to your workplace dynamic. You could even consider hiring employees on a “trial” period for insights into how well they integrate with your team and their effectiveness in their roles.   

Commit to Continuous Development 

Finally, ensure you have a strategy for continuously developing your new IT team members:

While you might not be able to change their attitudes, you can improve their potential and enhance their integration into your workforce with group training and coaching sessions. 

85% of job success is based on soft skills.  As your IT teams are growing, this is an ideal time to build up your existing team’s communication, emotional quotient, and collaboration resources.

Regardless of the technical skills your team members already have, make sure you’re constantly offering access to new development opportunities.

Think carefully about the future needs of your business and offer access to a range of solutions to boost skills in digital literacy, technology, and niche-specific capabilities.  

Align Mindsets Collaboratively 

When employees understand the reasons for change, they’re more engaged and connected to the organization’s goals.

Leaders must communicate how megatrends such as technological disruption are altering the business context and how such changes influence the company’s strategy; then, they must connect that to the changes they’re asking employees to make. Frequent and transparent communication will be required from leaders at every level, but especially from CEOs and other senior leaders.

Engage and inspire employees by sharing your vision for the future of the company and their role in that future. When people feel excited and motivated about what lies ahead, they’re far more likely to embrace change whether a new employee or with your existing team.

Take a Balanced Approach to IT Hiring 

Ultimately, neither skills-based hiring nor focusing entirely on attitude and potential will ensure you can hire the right employees for your IT team. The right results require a holistic approach, focusing on skills, attitude, and potential in equal measure.  

With a holistic strategy, you can ensure you’re hiring employees who contribute to your company culture, respond well to changing circumstances, and perform well in their roles.  

Organizations are even creating specialized recruiting processes to ensure that developing a microculture starts from the first point of contact with a potential worker.  A recruiter is the first point of contact for an applicant. Having specialized tech recruiters who can move quickly—rather than follow the slower, standard processes—is critical to attracting tech talent. This can be particularly true for companies in more traditional industries that need to bolster their talent pipeline.

Contact  DataMasters today to learn how we can help you make the right hiring decisions based on skills, attitude, and potential.  

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Becoming Unshakeable: Building a IT Career That Thrives in Uncertain Times (Candidate) 1 Oct 2024, 8:38 pm

The IT job market is currently experiencing transformation and turbulence. Advanced AI algorithms and automation impact all jobs and influence which skills employers prioritize in candidates.

Geopolitical uncertainties and macroeconomic factors influence hiring decisions, leading to an influx in green jobs and new tensions in global hiring. Economic issues continue to impact the market, forcing certain companies to implement hiring freezes, lay off portions of their workforce, and find other ways to cut costs.

In this landscape, it’s becoming increasingly important for IT candidates to find ways to become more flexible, adaptable, and resilient.

How can you navigate the uncertainty of the current job landscape and build a career that thrives?

Preparing for Economic Uncertainty

Despite positive economic shifts last year, such as reduced inflations, financial issues still disrupt and are applying pressure to  hiring practices. According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, the labor market has cooled significantly from 2023 to the present.

At a time when IT job stability is fragile, now is the time to prepare yourself for financial headaches and job-seeking complexity.

Assess how to accelerate and improve your job-seeking process by working with recruiters and building a strong personal brand. A recruitment team can help direct you towards roles you will not find independently.

An effective personal brand, characterized by a strong online presence, will help make you more ‘attractive’, particularly now that companies rely heavily on social media for recruitment. Define your purpose, build a narrative, communicate regularly, share your vision, and make ongoing adjustments as this report suggests.

Utilize LinkedIN to strengthen and broaden your network with current and former colleagues.  Begin reconnecting now with key

Handling Technology Disruptions

Although concerns about AI and automation eliminating roles in the IT industry are often highly exaggerated, there’s no doubt that technology will cause disruptions for many employees but growth for more. In a recent ComputerJobs article, one contributor expressed that “Roughly half the exposed jobs may benefit from AI integration, enhancing productivity. For the other half, AI applications may execute key tasks currently performed by humans, which could lower labor demand, leading to lower wages and reduced hiring.

In disruptive and fast-moving industries like the IT landscape, there’s a good chance new developments in the technology landscape will lead to changes in your responsibilities and tasks. Investing in digital literacy is the best way to prepare for this shift.  More than 80% of all executives surveyed said they are making the largest day-to-day investments in building an advanced cloud platform for digital transformation.

Learn as much as you can about the technologies affecting your sector and the skills current employers seek. Take online courses and classes, and follow industry leaders online to stay up-to-date with current trends and evolutions.

Explore how you can make yourself more valuable to your employers to minimize the risk of technological unemployment. Think about the unique skills you can offer as a human being, such as empathy, adaptability, and creativity.

Adopting the Right Mindset for Resilience

In turbulent times, IT employers are increasingly screening candidates based on their technical skills and personality traits, such as resilience and adaptability. Business leaders know hiring employees with a growth mindset means they’ll benefit from flexible team members who can learn from their mistakes and consistently improve their skills.

Cultivating a growth mindset by embracing challenges, actively seeking feedback from colleagues, and reframing failure as a learning opportunity can make you more attractive to IT business leaders. The right mindset will also help you to preserve your mental health and well-being as you face the stress and anxiety of an uncertain landscape.

Assess your current thought processes and emotional intelligence, and ask yourself how to reframe your mindset from a positive perspective. Celebrate your wins, learn from your losses, and regularly practice self-reflection.

Embracing the Era of Flexibility – YOU need to be flexible

In a difficult IT job market, it can take 6+ months to find a new role.  In January 2023, job seekers took 268 days (~9 months) to land a job on average. In August 2024, job seekers took an average of 182 days.

Flexible roles have become increasingly popular for people searching for greater work-life balance and higher salaries. However, they do come with their challenges to consider. For instance, contractor roles lack the benefits of full-time positions and may not offer the same level of consistent income.

Consider your options for contractor work carefully, and ask yourself whether you’re comfortable navigating the challenges of a different career style.

To secure a job faster, hybrid and onsite roles will be critical to consider. 

Investing in Constant Skill Development

As mentioned above, one of the best ways to ensure your career in the IT industry is truly unshakeable is to make yourself invaluable to your employer. The more beneficial you have, whether technical skills related to tasks that can’t be automated or soft skills like exceptional communication and problem-solving abilities, the better.

To ensure you’re investing in the right skill development opportunities, review the trends in your industry and speak to your IT recruitment company to identify which skills employers are focusing on right now.

Remember, skill requirements can change rapidly.

According to the Boston Consulting Group, 37% of the top 20 skills requested for the average U.S. job have changed in the last 8 years. Once you’ve identified valuable, transferable skills, look for various ways to develop them. Take courses and online workshops, or consider working with mentors from different backgrounds.

Staying Informed about IT Industry Changes

Information is power when becoming a resilient IT employee. The more you know about the trends happening in your sector, the faster you can adapt. Ensure you read up on employment policy changes to ensure your employees are treated fairly. Learn about how things like climate change and green jobs will affect your role.

Joining online groups and LinkedIn forums can help you gather valuable information to use as you work on your career development. However, investing in various networking forms is also a good idea. Connecting with people both online and offline through conferences, events, and workshops will give you access to a wide range of insights.

Developing an effective network will also help you strengthen your personal brand, boost your credibility, and allow you to share more engaging, thought leadership-style content across social media platforms.

Working with a Recruiter

Finally, working with a recruiting company is one of the best ways to improve your chances of achieving your career goals, regardless of uncertain times. An IT recruitment company can help you with strategic career planning, ensuring you can identify your strengths and weaknesses, decide which skills to prioritize, and set effective goals for the future.

Your recruitment company will give you real-time insights into market trends and help you connect with companies looking for your skills, even if they’re not openly advertising new roles. They’ll also give you valuable tips on optimizing your resume and cover letters and preparing for various types of interviews.

The key to success is ensuring you get as much value from your relationship with your recruiter. Constantly communicate your goals, priorities, and expectations with the company, and pay attention to their feedback.

Become Unshakeable in Turbulent Times

The world and the IT industry are changing incredibly, directly impacting candidates in search of the right roles. To ensure you can continue to survive and thrive during this difficult time, it’s important to have a strategy for resilience.

Following the steps above to diversify your income streams, improve your skills, and optimize your job search strategy will ensure you can continue progressing towards your career goals. Work with the right recruitment team if you need help finding the right role in a difficult landscape, improving your brand, or preparing for interview success.

Contact DataMasters for insights into how we can help you navigate uncertain times in the IT industry.

Meet our TEAM and let us know how we can help YOU!  Reach out today!

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From Skills to Culture Fit: 7 Essential Questions Tech Employers Consider When Building Their Team 27 Sep 2024, 7:48 pm

Recruiting is Challenging and Employers are more Cautious

The recruiting process is far from simple for Technology employers. Managers are handling skill shortages and changing employee preferences while facing diminishing budgets, economic pressures, and an increasing need for rapid innovation and growth.  

The impact of a bad hiring choice can be significant. It can cost companies up to 30% of a candidate’s first year of salary/earnings, damage company culture, harm existing employee morale, and diminish productivity.  

That’s why employers ask several crucial questions throughout the hiring process to ensure they choose the right candidates for their teams. 

You need more than just the right skills to boost your chances of getting the role you want in the Technology industry. You also need to understand the recruitment process from the employer’s perspective and prepare for the key questions they will ask. 

This guide will prepare you for the competitive recruitment market by ensuring you can address the needs of potential employers and show the right qualities and attributes through every step of the hiring process.  

We’ll show you how to position yourself as the ultimate candidate for your ideal employer’s needs with a little preparation.   

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Question 1:

How do Employers identify the right skills and experience? 

Choosing candidates with the right skills and experience to excel in a role is critical for any employer. Selecting a candidate with the right competencies means business leaders can spend less time training new team members, and employees can deliver value faster. 

In a skills-short market, where employers find it difficult to source skilled candidates, many business leaders are becoming cautious with their job descriptions, prioritizing essential skills over nice-to-have extras. 

However, they’re not just focusing on technical skills. While hard skills in the Technology industry, such as proficiency with certain software, specific qualifications, or knowledge of certain processes, are crucial, soft skills are becoming increasingly important.  

The complexity of our world has prompted 92% of companies to identify critical soft skills as important or more valuable than hard skills. In today’s landscape, skills such as communication, collaboration, resilience, and adaptability, are crucial.

Employers use various techniques to assess candidates, from behavioral-based interview questions that offer insights into an employee’s characteristics to skill assessments and technical tests. Some companies will use personality tests for deeper insights into resilience, intrinsic motivation, and proactivity.  

Show you have the Right Skills and Experience 

Start by reviewing the job description issued by the company for insights into any specific skills you should be focusing on, such as technical proficiencies or soft skills like communication. 

Research the company to learn more about the qualities they value in employees.

If a Technology company positions itself as an innovative organization, demonstrating a commitment to experimentation with new tools and techniques may set you apart from the competition.  

It can also help to also look at the skills and characteristics that are gaining attention in your industry. Find out if companies in your sector prioritize digital literacy and proficiency with AI or focus on resilience and adaptability.  

Once you’ve identified the skills and experience that matters most to your potential employer: 

Analyze your skill set 

Consider your skill set and experience – do they align with the job description for the role you’re applying for? Should you consider investing in additional training, workshops, or certifications? Even showing your potential employer that you’re obtaining a new certification or skill can improve your chances of getting a job offer.  

Customize your CV/ Resume 

Adapt your CV/Resume to highlight the most important skills to your employer.

Remove anything irrelevant to the role, and put your most significant accomplishments, credentials, and education first. Consider adding genuine evidence of your skills.  Say you “increased sales by 20% in your first year” instead of saying you “worked on the sales team”.

Prepare STAR Responses (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to interview questions

Prepare to validate your skills during the interview with these responses to behavioral questions.

Here is a detailed article on the STAR Method: https://www.themuse.com/advice/star-interview-method  

If you know this employer prioritizes resiliency and adaptability, prepare to answer a question like “Tell us about a time when you adapted quickly to a change in your previous workplace.” Explain what happened, your challenges, and the methods you implemented to achieve the right results. 

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Question 2:

How can Employers ensure cultural fit?  

Cultural fit isn’t just important for technology employees; it matters to employers, too. Hiring team members who fit well into the culture they’re trying to build ensures employers can minimize workplace conflicts and build better team environments.  

Today’s employers often look for both cultural fit and cultural “add” when assessing employees. In other words, they won’t just look for team members with the same mindset and priorities as other staff. They’ll be looking for people who can bring value into their culture with capabilities and traits that benefit the rest of the team. 

This allows organizations to focus on diversity in their hiring process, sourcing team members from different backgrounds to optimize the overall workplace. After all, studies show businesses that focus on diversity in hiring are 25% more likely to outperform their peers. 

Diverse hiring practices help businesses improve their employer branding and attract more talent to their teams, which is crucial in a skills-short environment. 

Most business leaders will use various methodologies to assess cultural fit and add, from behavioral interview questions that gauge how well candidates can operate in teams to personality tests and cultural fit assessments. They may even involve multiple team members in the interview process and make collaborative hiring decisions.  

 

Show You’re a Good Cultural Fit

To show your potential IT employer that you’ll support and benefit the company’s culture, you first need to understand the company’s values. This means learning as much as possible about the business, team dynamics, and the organization’s priorities.  

Before applying for a role or heading to an interview, check out your potential employer’s website, social media pages, and recent news articles online. Look into the company’s vision and mission, the work environment, and the accomplishments of teams.  

Pay close attention to initiatives that might help you understand the company’s values. For instance, if your Technology company has an excellent training program, they’re looking for employees with a growth mindset and a commitment to continuous learning. 

Once you’ve identified the company culture…..

Prepare for the Interview 

During the interview, look for ways to demonstrate your cultural fit.

If you know the Technology company values teamwork, share a story about a successful collaborative project. If innovation is a key cultural component, discuss when you introduced new ideas or improved processes. Be ready to share clear examples of the outcomes you achieved.  

Ask Questions 

Don’t be afraid to ask thoughtful questions about the company culture during the interview. This shows your genuine interest and helps you determine if the company is the right fit for you. Questions like “Can you describe the company’s approach to teamwork?” or “What do you enjoy most about the company culture?” can provide deeper insights. 

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Question 3:

What is the Employer’s optimal compensation package? 

Difficult economic conditions have challenged technology companies hiring new talent over the past few years. However, while budgets are limited, most business leaders know they must offer fair and competitive compensation packages to remain compliant with regulations and attract talent in a skills-short industry.  

Many business leaders conduct regular research to understand the compensation trends in their market and benchmark salaries for every team member.  

Those who struggle to offer the most competitive salaries are also experimenting with new ways to make their roles more appealing to candidates. Offering unique benefits and perks like professional development opportunities, flexible working hours, and well-being initiatives can help organizations attract more talent. 

As employee priorities shift and change, many companies may also update their compensation and benefits packages, offering different perks to team members based on their interests or requirements. 

Research/ Access the Right Compensation 

Research salary trends and identify how much your Technology skills are worth. You can often find valuable information about average compensation packages using salary surveys, professional networks, and job boards.  

Before you apply for a role, it’s important to understand your realistic market value, which your recruiter can help you assess for your region.  Online information is generally national and salaries vary widely based on cost of living and skills demand.

When conducting research and preparing for an interview, make sure you: 

 

Consider the Full Package Offered 

Remember that there’s more to compensation than your base salary.

Sometimes, accepting a slightly lower salary makes sense if you also get access to valuable perks, such as flexible working hours or technology skill development opportunities.

Identify your priorities and how much you’re willing to negotiate on salary in advance. 

Upgrade your Negotiation Skills 

Be prepared to negotiate on salary/wages and compensation packages when necessary.

Be ready to articulate your compensation expectations clearly and confidently.

Highlight your skills, experience, and value to the organization.

Be prepared to provide examples of your past achievements and how they have contributed to previous employers, demonstrating why you deserve the compensation you requested. 

A technology recruitment company can help with these negotiations, providing insights into how you can access additional remuneration or specific perks. 

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Question 4:

How do Employers streamline the hiring process? 

Efficiency is crucial in today’s IT hiring market. A slow and disruptive hiring process can lead to lost productivity and revenue for many companies. Plus, it increases the chances that employers will miss out on the essential talent they need.  

To address these issues, many employers are investing in various techniques to streamline the hiring process. They’re implementing standardized interviewing and screening techniques and working with recruitment/staffing/search companies to narrow down candidate options. 

Many businesses are using technology to their advantage.

ATS (Applicant Tracking System) technologies are excellent for optimizing CV/Resume management, assessment, and tracking.  You can have one resume that looks nice with tables and great formatting, but we recommend submitting a resume optimized for ATS systems to online postings.

AI-powered tools can also help companies identify the best candidates based on predefined criteria.  

These technologies don’t eliminate the need for thoughtful interviews and comprehensive evaluation methods, but they can reduce the time it takes to find the right hire and improve the candidate experience.  

 

Your ability to help keep the hiring process efficient may significantly differentiate you from competitors.

Focus on ensuring you’re responsive, professional, and prompt when interacting with an employer. However, preparing to navigate technology systems can help, too. 

Be Prompt and Punctual 

Don’t make hiring managers wait days for a response when they invite you to an interview or ask for more information.

Monitor the communication channels you share with the employer in your application, and respond quickly to any messages you receive. When you are offered an interview, prepare to ensure you arrive on time. 

If you’re taking part in a virtual interview, experimenting with the technology and making sure you have a strong internet connection in advance can reduce disruptions. 

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Question 5:

How can Employers assess a candidate’s long-term potential? 

Hiring processes can be difficult and expensive and losing employees to turnover can damage a company’s profitability.  IT employers want to ensure they’re hiring team members who will thrive with their organization in the long term. 

They’ll examine whether candidates have progressed to new roles in other companies or are constantly investing in their education and developing new skills. They may even discuss a candidate’s professional development interests and passions and whether they can develop as a leader based on how they managed previous projects.  

Demonstrate Long-Term Potential 

There are numerous ways technology candidates can demonstrate their growth potential throughout the hiring process.

From the moment you send your CV/Resume to a company, you can draw attention to your history in the industry, what you’ve achieved so far, and how you’re preparing yourself for future growth.  

Share Your Aspirations 

Discuss your aspirations in your cover letter or during the interview process.

Tell your employer where you want to be five years from now and what you like most about the Technology industry. Introduce your leadership potential by discussing previous instances where you’ve taken on a leadership role or managed a project or team. 

 

Highlight Adaptability 

Discuss how you keep up to date on industry trends by following news articles or investing in networking opportunities.

During behavioral interview questions, consider how you’ve overcome obstacles or challenges. 

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Question 6:

How do you prepare for legal considerations?  

Hiring new employees can involve navigating complicated legal considerations. Business leaders need to consider everything from anti-discrimination laws to conducting background checks and ensuring they deliver fair compensation to staff. 

While the laws and regulations affecting companies vary, most business leaders must consider wage and hour laws, employment contracts, and right-to-work mandates.

In the US, employers adhere to regulations set by the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act.  

Using structured interview and screening processes can also be helpful. Interviews with standardized questions help to ensure all candidates are evaluated equally and can improve diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.  

How to Prepare 

The easiest way to ensure you’re prepared to bypass any legal concerns a technology employer might have when hiring you is to do your research.

Learn as much as possible about the hiring laws in your country or location, and ensure you know your rights.

Once you’ve done your research, reduce the risk of potential issues by: 

 

Providing Accurate Information 

Ensure the information shared in an interview and included in your resume is accurate, detailed, and visually appealing.

Be truthful and honest. Exaggerating your qualifications, fabricating experiences, and making up false references won’t help your career or professional brand long-term.  

If you know any potential gaps or issues in your career history, be prepared to answer questions about them. Being upfront will show that you’re a trustworthy and honest potential employee. 

 

Prepare for Reference and Background Checks 

Don’t make the mistake of listing references at random. Choose your references carefully and let them know potential employers may contact them. Ensure they can quickly provide positive, relevant information about your skills and experience to hiring managers. 

If your role requires a background check, ensure you’re ready to submit all the required information.

If you know there are issues in your past, be prepared to explain them constructively and honestly to potential employers.  

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Question 7:

How do Employers onboard new hires effectively? 

Finally, today’s employers know that to get the most value out of new hires, they need to prepare them for success with the right onboarding process.

Designing comprehensive onboarding programs to ease candidates into the company culture, align them with team members, and prepare them to follow new processes to significantly improve hiring success. 

Comprehensive onboarding programs cover all essential aspects of the new hire’s role and provide them with insights into the values and expectations of the company. Some companies even guide employees into what the first few weeks or months in their role will entail. 

Most onboarding programs will also include strategies for integrating new hires into the company culture, such as setting them up with mentors or buddies in peer programs. There may even be team-building and social exercises, like team lunches, to build professional relationships. 

Plus, many business leaders will regularly check in with new hires, conducting reviews and gathering feedback about their experience in the company to help boost their chances of long-term success. 

 

Demonstrate Enthusiasm for Onboarding Programs 

The best way to show a new employer that you will thrive in their team is to demonstrate enthusiasm for onboarding and immersing yourself into the company culture.

During the interview, tell the hiring manager how excited you are to become a valuable team member and how eager you are to meet your colleagues.  

Other ways to demonstrate enthusiasm include: 

 

Ask Thoughtful Questions 

When you’re offered a role at a Technology company, respond by asking questions about what the onboarding experience will entail.

Ask whether there are things you can do to prepare to integrate into the company faster, such as creating accounts on new software tools or learning how to use certain systems in your free time.  

 

Fully Embrace Every Onboarding Initiative 

Even if certain parts of the onboarding process are described as “voluntary”, such as attending team lunches, take advantage of the opportunity.

Show your willingness to become a valuable team member by taking the initiative wherever you can. For instance, you might seek out other team members to learn more about their impact on your role or ask for extra information about the business and its current goals. 

 

Show a Commitment to Learning 

Emphasize a commitment to constant learning and professional development.

During reviews with your team leader or hiring manager, ask if you can take additional courses or workshops to become more efficient. Set specific goals for your future, and monitor your progress and performance over time. 

 

Consider Your Employer’s Perspective in the Hiring Process 

Employers need to consider numerous things to ensure they hire the right team member quickly and retain that employee in the long term. 

Understanding the challenges your employer faces during the hiring process and the questions they’ll be asking can help you prepare effectively for a successful recruitment journey. 

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Work with the Right Team to get the Job

Working with an Information Technology recruiter like DataMasters can also help.

We can give you valuable insights into employer priorities, resume optimization techniques, interviewing strategies, and more.  

 Prepare yourself for success in today’s hiring market…..we can help you secure that role.

DATAMASTERS 

.           .              .         

  JASON WHITE              CHRISTY KIRKSEY             STACEY GRIFFITH          STACEY GREEN 

www.datamasters.com  ~  336.373.1461

The post From Skills to Culture Fit: 7 Essential Questions Tech Employers Consider When Building Their Team appeared first on DataMasters Since 1971.

Talent Planning in 2024: Top Tips for Success (Client) 5 Jan 2024, 2:31 am

Talent Planning in 2024: Top Tips for Success

Your employees are your most valuable asset. They’re the key to growing your IT/ technology business and maintaining and improving profitability. Today’s companies need access to talented, engaged, and dedicated individuals to succeed.

Unfortunately, accessing and retaining talent is becoming increasingly difficult. Skill shortages in every industry and changing employee preferences and priorities present significant challenges to today’s organizations.

To overcome these issues, you need a comprehensive strategy. Talent planning gives you the resources to consistently attract, identify, develop, engage, and retain staff.

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Defining a Talent Plan: What is Talent Planning?

To implement an effective talent plan, you must first understand what it involves. Talent planning is a comprehensive approach to attracting, hiring, developing, and retaining critical employees for your organization.

It involves taking a strategic approach to determining which professionals you need to attract to your team, how to source new candidates, and how to engage your current team members.

In today’s skills-short environment, talent planning is crucial to accessing the skills you need to grow your business and reduce turnover. Research studies from Deloitte show companies with a comprehensive talent management plan are 6 times more likely to overcome performance issues and four to select the most suitable candidates for their team.

Additionally, with around 30% of employers only looking about 6 months into the future with their recruitment strategies, talent planning can give you a significant edge over the competition. It helps you identify the staff you need faster and take steps to attract and engage more candidates.

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The Importance of Talent Planning

Talent planning and management are crucial to ensuring your IT/ technology business can maximize its human resources. A McKinsey survey found companies with structured plans for attracting and managing candidates were far more likely to be successful than their competitors.

Effective talent planning is also crucial in today’s uncertain hiring environment. With the right strategy, you can:

• Overcome skill shortages: Skill shortages are increasing in every industry, with more than 77% of businesses struggling to find the candidates they need. An effective talent plan can help you find ways to source talent and help attract crucial candidates.
• Navigate economic uncertainty: Companies of all sizes struggle with economic issues in today’s uncertain landscape. An effective talent plan can help to ensure skill shortages and turnover don’t damage your chances of success.
• Improve company culture: A good talent plan looks at more than just attracting candidates. It also helps you to retain and engage existing staff members. This leads to better company culture, improved productivity, and reduced turnover.

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Creating a Comprehensive Talent Plan

Creating a comprehensive talent plan is a multi-step process for any organization. Though the approach can be complex, it’s essential to your company’s success. Over 60% of executives say talent planning is one of their top priorities.

Here’s how you can get started:

Step 1: Strategic Workforce Planning

The first step to successful talent planning is understanding what your business needs to thrive in the marketplace. Start by taking a closer look at your company’s strategic goals and future vision. What do you want to accomplish in the years ahead, and which skills will you need to source to achieve your goals?

Speaking to the managers of different technology business departments and asking them about their potential skill gaps can help you define which critical candidates to hire or develop. Succession planning can also be helpful here, ensuring you source talent that will help you to fill any gaps key staff might leave when moving on from your business.

From here, you can create a hiring plan, breaking down the number of new hires you’ll need to fill current and future skills gaps and the support you’ll need to achieve your goals.

Step 2: Talent Acquisition

Next, you’ll need to consider attracting and hiring the right talent for your team. Think about how you currently connect with job seekers in the IT industry. It’s worth taking a comprehensive, creative approach in a skills-short landscape.

Don’t just focus on interacting with “active candidates” by listing job descriptions on recruitment sites. Remember, 70% of the global workforce comprises “passive” candidates. Working with a targeted recruitment company will help you appeal to employees willing to switch positions in exchange for better benefits and opportunities.

Speak to your recruitment partner about opportunities to find talent in different areas, such as at recruitment events or social media channels.

Step 3: Employee Development

An effective talent plan looks beyond attracting new candidates to your hiring pipeline. It also ensures you can make the most of the employees you already have. This is particularly crucial today, where around 46% of leaders say the skills gap is increasing in their organization.

Ongoing digital transformation in the IT landscape is promoting a need for rapid and consistent employee development. Ensure you have the right resources to educate and empower your team members, giving them the new skills and abilities they need to thrive.

Speak to your team and ask them where they could benefit from additional training and what kind of support they want. Experiment with mentorship solutions, comprehensive training programs, and career advancement opportunities.

Step 4: Enhance Your Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

To both attract and retain talent in today’s IT landscape, you need something that sets you apart from the other employers in your space. Your “Employee Value Proposition” is crucial to capturing candidates’ attention and increasing engagement among existing staff.

Think carefully about the core elements of your EVP. Are you offering excellent development and training initiatives to help prepare staff members for progression? Are your benefits packages robust, providing everything from flexible work to wellness initiatives?

How do your remuneration packages compare with the salaries/wages offered by other businesses in your industry? You can discover more opportunities to improve your EVP by reviewing feedback from your current employees and testimonials on job sites like Glassdoor.

Step 5: Working with Recruiting Partners

Perhaps the best way to improve your chances of a successful talent plan is to work with IT recruitment companies with experience in your industry. These companies can use their expertise and experience in recruitment to give you an edge over the competition.

The right recruitment partner will help you to access a broader talent pool, thanks to their relationships with leaders in the industry. They can help you streamline your hiring process, improve the candidate experience, and choose the right talent for your team.

An effective, specialized recruitment partner can even help position your EVP more effectively to the talented professionals you want to recruit.

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Crafting the Ultimate Talent Plan

A reactive approach to hiring is no longer practical in today’s complex and talent-short market. You need a comprehensive strategy to stay ahead in the recruitment world and attract, retain, and engage the talent you need.

An effective IT talent plan will ensure you can proactively address skill shortages and prepare your business for growth in an uncertain landscape.

Contact DataMasters today to learn more about developing a talent plan that helps your organization thrive in 2024.

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About DataMasters

50+ years experience in executive/ IT recruitment and search (contingent, staff augmentation, contract, project staffing, and retained).  We have placed thousands of candidates with strong, innovative clients/ companies in the Mid-Atlantic and along the East Coast.

We have more than 40,000 candidates in our database and would love to leverage our relationships to find you the right talent for your company.

Let us customize a talent plan for you today at +1 336.373.1461 or via email at email@datamasters.com.

“You Should Meet Our People”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Talent Planning in 2024: Top Tips for Success (Client) appeared first on DataMasters Since 1971.

The Ultimate Guide to Acing Competency-Based Interviews (Candidate) 4 Jan 2024, 2:34 am

The Ultimate Guide to Acing Competency-Based Interviews

How employers evaluate candidates and examine their proficiency for a role has changed significantly in recent years. Not only are technology companies embracing new technologies, conducting video assessments and online interviews, but they’re also exploring new strategies.

After all, according to one study, traditional interviews are prone to human error, making it difficult for hiring managers to find the “right fit” for any role.

Competency-based interviews offer business leaders an opportunity to examine the potential fit of each candidate by examining their previous experiences in relevant situations. If you can demonstrate the right “competencies” in the interview process, you improve your chances of a job offer and elevate your professional brand.

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Understanding Competency-Based Interviews

Competency-based interviews are an increasingly common strategy in the technology environment. Interviewers use questions in these interviews to assess your abilities, skills, behaviors, and knowledge of the role you’re applying for.

Typically, competency-based interviews ask candidates to demonstrate their competencies through storytelling. An interviewer might ask you to describe a time when you faced a challenge or achieved a goal related to the core interests of the business.

This interview method aims to improve a company’s chances of hiring the right employee, reducing the cost and complexity of replacing an unsuitable candidate. After all, according to one report, the average cost of training and replacing a new employee can be over $15,000 per staff member add the relevant number for your sector and roles.

Competency-based interviews allow hiring managers and recruitment teams to assess both the hard and soft skills of a technology candidate and examine how well their abilities align with a role. According to one report, some of the top competencies employers look for include:

• Leadership

• The ability to work in a team

• Communication skills

• Strong work ethic

• Flexibility/adaptability

• Initiative

• Analytical skills

• Interpersonal skills

Preparing for Competency-Based Interviews

The key to acing virtually any interview is effective preparation. It’s crucial to clearly understand what to expect from the interview process and practice delivering the appropriate responses to competency-based questions.

With the right preparation strategy, candidates can participate in mock interviews with mentors and peers that elevate their confidence and prepare them for everyday competency-based situations.

To begin preparing for your next technology interview:

Research the Job Specification

First, it’s essential to understand what your potential employer is looking for in a candidate. The easiest way to do this is to assess the job description provided by the company carefully.

Pay attention to competencies highlighted in the job description, such as excellent communication skills, the ability to work well with others, or analytical skills.

Aside from analyzing the job description, you can consider asking your technology recruitment agency for insights into the employer’s needs and check the information on the company’s website for guidance.

Identifying Key Competencies

After evaluating the job description and learning as much as possible about the company you want to work with, list the core competencies you believe the employer values most.

For instance, if a technology company’s job description notes that you’ll be working regularly with other key members of staff, this indicates collaboration and communication will be key competencies.

Using the list you create, identify your abilities, characteristics, and skills and how to use them to show your competency in specific areas. This will help to prepare you for the next step.

Crafting STAR Stories

Now you know the competencies you need to demonstrate, it’s time to start structuring potential responses to common competency-based questions. The best way to do this is to apply the “STAR” framework to your answers:

• S: Situation: Outline your specific situation, role, and responsibilities.

• T: Task: What did you need to accomplish? What were the project’s goals, and which challenges did you have to overcome?

• A: Action: What did you do to achieve your goals? How did you align your actions to the requirements of the situation?

• R: Result: What was the outcome? How did you know you were successful? What did you learn from the experience?

Ensure you highlight the core competencies you identified throughout your response. For instance, if a hiring manager asks: “Tell us about a time when you worked as part of a team”, focus on your approach to collaboration and how you communicated well with others.

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Nailing the Competency-Based Interview

Even if you prepare carefully for your competency-based interview and participate in several “mock” interviews before the big day, you’ll likely feel anxious. Around 93% of candidates say they feel nervous before a job interview, so it’s essential to be prepared for anxiety.

Practice reciting responses in front of a mirror before you speak to a hiring manager. Dress professionally, as this will help to convey a positive image and make you feel more confident.

Remember to focus on active listening during the interview itself, too. Paying attention to what your interviewer says, clarifying their questions (by repeating them back to them), and making eye contact will help you appear confident, professional, and enthusiastic.

When you’re answering competency-based questions:

Watch Your Body Language

During any technology interview, it’s worth remembering that your hiring manager will evaluate more than just your responses. Your body language and how you hold yourself during the conversation will make a difference to the impression you make.

Sit straight, keep your hands in your lap or on the desk (to avoid fidgeting), and regularly make eye contact with your interviewers. Smile, take your time when responding, and avoid nervous behaviors like looking at your watch or glancing around the room.

Align Your Answers to the Job Specification

Always make sure your answers align with the competencies outlined on the job description. Make a list of the key things your employer is looking for before you attend the interview and demonstrate a clear connection between your abilities and what your employer needs.

For instance, if the job description focuses on leadership, share examples of how you’ve acted as a leader in the past. Even if you don’t have experience in an executive or high-level position, you may have helped guide a team, mentored another staff member, or shown leadership in other ways.

Demonstrate Tangible Results

Explaining what you achieved and what you learned from each experience is crucial in a competency-based interview. The more specific you can be when explaining your results, the better your impact on your interviewer.

For example, if your hiring manager says, “Tell us about a time when you overcame a challenge in the workplace”, you can respond by outlining a specific problem you faced relevant to the technology industry, and the business you want to work for.

Then, follow up by saying, “At the end of this project, I had increased the company’s profits by 5% and learned how to improve my leadership abilities through transparent communication.”

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Acing your Competency-Based Interview

Competency-based interviews can feel daunting initially, particularly if you’re not used to “storytelling” in the interview process. However, they offer a fantastic way to demonstrate your skills, abilities, and competencies in a way that resonates with hiring managers.

The more time you spend learning about each company you apply to work with and practicing your competency-based answers, the more your confidence will grow.

Remember, you can always contact your technology recruitment company for advice and guidance. Many leading recruitment teams can offer insights into how to structure exceptional answers and define what your ideal employer is looking for.

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ABOUT DATAMASTERS

50+ years experience working with excellent clients and talented candidates to match them for project and corporate success.  We care about and believe in YOU!    We have placed thousands of candidates with hundreds of companies. Come let us help you today.

Woman owned business

Our Team

Jason White, CPC ~ Paula White, CPC ~ Dana White

Dwight Evans ~ Stacey Green ~ Stacey Griffith ~ Christy Kirksey, CPC ~ Donna Smith

email@datamasters.com ~ 336.314.1578

 

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11 Reasons Employees Leave (Client) 29 Nov 2023, 3:41 pm

The post 11 Reasons Employees Leave (Client) appeared first on DataMasters Since 1971.

Are Your Hiring and Recruiting Practices Hindering Recruitment Success? (Client) 6 Nov 2023, 5:09 pm

Recruiting top talent in the IT industry is challenging. Skill shortages are rampant throughout the industry, and employee expectations are evolving. Without the right hiring and recruitment practices, business leaders can struggle with gaps in their teams for months.

Not only does this hamper the progress of your business, but poor hiring practices can also lead to a loss of productivity and engagement in your current team.

While some of the challenges in the recruitment/staffing landscape may be beyond your company’s control, there are certain issues business leaders can identify, and overcome with the right strategies.

Addressing common roadblocks in the hiring process, such as problematic job descriptions, inconsistent employer branding, and poor candidate treatment, could help you to fill your talent pipeline faster, and achieve your business goals.

Today, we’re going to look at the 3 most problematic hiring practices hindering your IT and Executive Search recruitment success, and what you can do to overcome them.

 

Problem 1: Poor Job Descriptions

There is one crucial resource a candidate will use to determine whether a role is suitable for their needs: your job description. A job description is often the first insight your ideal candidate will get into not just the responsibilities of the position you’re offering, but your company culture and employee value proposition. As such, you can’t afford to make any mistakes.

A job description needs to highlight the tasks and projects performed by the person in a specific position, expected performance metrics, key characteristics of your ideal hire, and the benefits you can offer as an employer.  However, it also needs to show candidates why they would want to work with your company.

Unfortunately, many businesses struggle to write effective job descriptions.

Many posts listed on company websites, forums, and job boards feature vague language, making it difficult for candidates to visualize themselves in a specific position. They may also highlight unrealistic expectations, or in some cases, use biased language.

One study found 60% of businesses unintentionally show significant bias in the wording of their job adverts, using masculine terms, or phrases that show a preference for candidates of a certain age or background. A poor job description can immediately deter top candidates from applying for your role, giving you fewer candidates to choose from.

Fortunately, working with an IT and Executive Search recruitment company can improve your job descriptions, using strategies like:

• Clarity: Ensuring your job descriptions clearly outline the responsibilities of a role, and your expectations of new employees is crucial. Avoid using vague language, and be realistic when it comes to showing candidates what you expect from them.
• Inclusivity: Eliminating any examples of bias from your job descriptions is essential to ensuring you can attract a diverse selection of potential applicants. Avoid any language that shows a preference towards a specific race, gender, or age group.
• Enticing benefits: Use your job descriptions to demonstrate your employee value proposition. Show IT and Executive Search employees what they can get from working with your company, such as great development opportunities, or access to flexible working.

 

Problem 2: Ineffective Employer Branding

Now that IT employees have more options when it comes to choosing where they want to work, and which businesses they want to associate themselves with, employer branding is more important than ever. LinkedIn shows 72% of recruitment leaders worldwide say employer branding has a direct impact on hiring success.

As your company brand serves to differentiate your company from competitors to consumers, your employer brand aims to engage the right talent and convince potential candidates that they want to work with your organization.

With the right employer branding, you can ensure you’re targeting the right audience of candidates and boost your chances of earning interest from talented applicants. Unfortunately, developing and showcasing a strong employer brand can be difficult.

Some companies fail to clarify their unique value proposition on their websites, job descriptions, and social media posts. Others don’t fully understand what IT and Executive Search candidates are looking for in the current workplace.

Here are some suggestions to ensure your employer branding supports your company to stand out:

Define Your Employee Value Proposition Aligned With Your Employer Brand
Start by defining your employee value proposition. In other words, what can you offer to candidates in terms of not just remuneration, but unique benefits and experiences? Do you offer flexible working opportunities, access to development and training experiences, or a supportive company culture?

Showcase Your Company Culture
Find ways to draw attention to the unique aspects of your company culture. You can highlight your flexible working options in your job descriptions or show employee stories on your websites. You could also ask employees to write reviews for websites, like Glassdoor.

Activate Your Advocates
Ask your team members to work with you to demonstrate the unique aspects of your employer brand. You could ask employees to post about training days and team accomplishments on social media or create videos for YouTube.

Problem 3: Poor Candidate Treatment

Arguably, the biggest issue companies face in the technology recruitment landscape stems from a lack of focus on candidate experience. While it’s important to ensure your employees feel supported and respected when they join your team, it’s also crucial to demonstrate your commitment to staff care during the hiring and recruitment process.

If a candidate feels the hiring process was negative or unprofessional, they’ll be more likely to reject your job offer and look for an opportunity elsewhere. Up to 64% of candidates would even share their negative experiences with their contacts, advising them not to apply for the same roles.

The complexity of the hiring process means it’s easy for candidate experience to be negatively affected by a range of different issues. When sorting through a range of applicants, businesses can take too long to respond to their existing candidates and lack follow-up on delays/ changes, leading to frustration.

Similarly, when rushing through interviews and onboarding steps, companies can often lose the respect of the candidates they may want to hire.

The easiest way to improve the candidate experience is to work with an IT and Executive Search recruitment/search agency/company on a strategy to improve the hiring process for everyone. Think about:

• Consistent communication: A good candidate experience relies heavily on consistent and clear communication. Candidates expect rapid response times, and feedback from hiring managers, to keep them in the loop through the recruitment process.
• Interview strategies: Disorganised interview processes have a negative impact on your employer brand, and limit your ability to attract new candidates. Ensure you have strategies in place to create a comfortable, effective interview process for everyone involved.
  • Use scorecards to reduce bias
  • Train your hiring managers on how to use body language.
  • Optimize the time candidates spend by including everyone in either panel interviews or one interview session only
• Onboarding: An excellent onboarding process is crucial to improving the relationship new candidates have with your company. Make sure you welcome your team members into your business with the right training, guidance, and consistent communication. Updates on delays cause lack of trust and frustration.

 

Upgrade Your Hiring Strategy For The Long Term
Companies have long struggled to implement the most effective hiring and recruitment strategies in their industry. However, as the talent market grows more complex, it’s becoming increasingly important for business leaders to address the major challenges in their hiring strategy.

Addressing common problems like poor job descriptions, inconsistent employer branding and problematic candidate treatment can have a significant impact on your recruitment efforts. Now could be the perfect time to reflect on your current practices, and make some essential changes, so you can attract and retain the best IT and Executive Search talent.

Remember, a recruitment agency specializing in the IT and Executive Search industry can also help you upgrade your hiring processes, assisting with everything from writing job descriptions to screening candidates.

 

HOW WE CAN HELP

Client talent acquisition needs have been fulfilled by DataMasters for more than 50 years here in Central NC.  We have strong recruiting skills in IT, Engineering, Executives, Human Resources, Accounting, Consulting, and all disciplines working with IT software or systems.

To find out how we can help YOU, call us at 336-373-1461 or email us at email@datamasters.com.

The post Are Your Hiring and Recruiting Practices Hindering Recruitment Success? (Client) appeared first on DataMasters Since 1971.

Critical Reasons You Should Consider Changing your IT Role (Candidate) 6 Nov 2023, 4:36 pm

Moving to a new IT role can be a life-changing decision.

As the workplace continues to evolve and opportunities emerge, considering a new role can be a great idea. It gives you an opportunity to expand your skills, pursue your passions, and earn better income and benefits. In fact, most people switch jobs up to 7 times in their lives.

However, moving to a new role can also be daunting. There’s always a risk you’ll end up shifting to a business with the wrong company culture, or fewer opportunities. That’s why it’s so important to take an analytical approach when making this decision.

Today, we’re looking at some of the most logical reasons you might consider changing to a new IT role in the months or years to come.

1. 1. Opportunities for Career Advancement

      One report shared on LinkedIn found the main reason many people move to a new role, is to advance their career. While many IT companies may have succession plans in place to help you move into new positions and opportunities, you may eventually feel your job has become a “dead end”.If you can’t see any options for forward movement in your career in your current role, switching to a new role in a different company could be the best way to unlock the opportunities you want. You could even consider making a lateral move into an IT job with a different set of responsibilities.

   2. Learning and Skill Development

      Around 94% of employees say they would stay with a company for longer if it offered valuable learning and development opportunities. Every IT employee wants to constantly enhance their skills and abilities. If your current job doesn’t offer training, you may start to feel disengaged.Moving into a new role means you’ll instantly encounter new challenges and opportunities to learn. You might find that other employers also offer a wider range of training, mentorship, and coaching programs, designed to enhance your soft and technical skills.

   3. Increased Compensation

      One study found that switching jobs can potentially increase your income by 6.6%. While you aren’t necessarily guaranteed a higher salary by moving to a new role, working with an IT recruitment firm, like DataMasters, can help you find a position that pays you what you’re worth.If you feel you’re currently being underpaid, and you know your skills are in high demand, you might be able to negotiate a better income with a future employer.

   4. Greater Work-Life Balance

      Even if you love your IT career and you’re passionate about what you do, it’s important to preserve a level of work-life balance. If you feel your job is making it difficult to live a full and satisfying personal life, switching to a new role could be a good idea.You can look for an employer in your industry that prioritizes employee well-being, offering more flexible schedules, remote work options, and even wellness programs. In 2023, lack of flexibility alone prompted around 4 million people to change careers.

   5. Cultural Alignment

      Company culture isn’t just a buzzword in the IT space, it’s crucial to ensure you feel happy, satisfied, and confident at work. While many organizations are investing in improving their company culture, with DEI initiatives and new strategies, you may still feel you don’t fit with your business.Moving to a company that shares your values and beliefs can help to reduce feelings of stress, and make you feel more fulfilled by your role. 87% of millennials in 2023 said they would consider quitting their role to pursue a career with an employer that shares their values.

   6. Access to New Networks

      Networking is one of the most important things any IT professional can do to ensure consistent career growth. In today’s digital world, it’s becoming a lot easier to build a network through channels like LinkedIn, but you may still feel restricted in certain roles.Joining a new company could give you an opportunity to interact with a wider range of new colleagues, clients, and industry contacts. The people you meet in your new position could open the door to the development of new skills, and even further job opportunities.

   7. Geographic Relocation

      These days, many IT companies offer employees the opportunity to work from anywhere, with remote positions. But not every business is this flexible. If you’re planning on moving to a new home elsewhere in the world (or in a different part of your country), you may need to consider a new role.If your current employer won’t allow you to work remotely, you’ll need to search for a position that’s closer to your new home.

   8. Improved Compensation and Benefits

      Even if a new company can’t offer you a better salary than your current employer, the unique benefits and compensation they can provide may cause you to consider changing positions. Different employers use various methods to attract top IT talent. Some can offer access to on-site wellness initiatives and programs.Others can give you more support when it comes to choosing your schedule or working flexible hours. Some employers may even pay towards you earning a specific degree or certification in your industry, so you can pursue more advanced positions in the future.

   9. Alignment with Career Goals

      Perhaps the most logical reason to consider a change in IT career roles, is that moving to a new company will take you closer to your long-term professional goals. Ultimately, your job should align with both your personal and professional ambitions, helping you to achieve your targets.Moving into a new IT role could help you to spend more of your time on tasks that you enjoy doing, or pursuing projects you’re passionate about. It could offer you chances to explore leadership positions and management roles that fit into your ideal career trajectory.

 

Is It Time to Consider an IT Role Change?

Although making the decision to change your IT role can be daunting, it also opens the door to a variety of new opportunities. Make the right decision, and you’ll be able to accelerate your path toward your career goals, develop new skills, and expand your network.

However, moving to a new role isn’t something you should do without proper planning and consideration. The decisions you make should be grounded in a clear understanding of your aspirations, values, and priorities.

If you think your reason for changing careers is logical, make sure you get the right support to find the ideal new position. Work with an IT recruitment specialist, one of our experienced recruiters -, to find a new job that aligns with your expectations, and helps you thrive in your industry.

 

HOW WE CAN HELP

Client talent acquisition needs have been fulfilled by DataMasters for more than 50 years here in Central NC.  We have strong recruiting skills in IT, Engineering, Executives, Human Resources, Accounting, Consulting, and all disciplines working with IT software or systems.

To find out how we can help YOU, call us at 336-373-1461 or email us at email@datamasters.com.

The post Critical Reasons You Should Consider Changing your IT Role (Candidate) appeared first on DataMasters Since 1971.