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How to Get Your Foot in the Door with Top Employers

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Connecting with a hiring manager at the company you want to work for can be challenging. This is especially true if your resume does not get past the applicant tracking system (ATS). Fortunately, there are other ways to get in touch with a hiring manager at a targeted company.

Follow these guidelines to connect with the top employers you want to work for.

Interact Online with Targeted Companies  

Like, follow, and interact online with the employers you want to work for. This may be through social media platforms or company blogs. Be sure to comment on and share company posts. Also, ask questions to initiate conversations. Show the employers you are interested in working for them.

Set Up Informational Interviews

Schedule a time to talk with employees at your targeted companies. Find out all you can about the role you want, team, and employer. Also, discuss the company culture, structure, and which positions match your skills and experience. Additionally, ask about topics you cannot find information about online.

Ask for an Introduction to a Hiring Manager

Talk with one of your connections about introducing you to a hiring manager at your company of choice. Use LinkedIn to determine which mutual connections you may have with the manager. Then, ask the member of your network to provide an introduction. Include why you want to meet the manager and how your skills, experience, and qualifications position you to add value to the organization. Be sure to thank your connection and offer to return the favor.

Build a Relationship with a Recruiter

Find a staffing firm recruiter who has your targeted company as a client. Talk with the recruiter about how your skills, experience, interests, and goals align with the company’s needs. Provide your resume for the recruiter to go over. Talk about potential openings with the organization that you may qualify for. See whether the recruiter can get you an interview.

Share What You Learn

Use online platforms to educate others on the topics you learn about. This may include social media posts, your personal website, a blog on Medium, or a YouTube channel. For instance, use Goodreads or Amazon to share your takeaways from a book. Answer questions on Quora or contribute to a conversation on Reddit. Engaging in these discussions helps you learn and shows you are a thought leader. Top employers may join your discussions and be interested in getting to know you better.

Get in Touch with Top IT Employers

Work with a recruiter from RightStone to get in front of the best IT hiring managers. Visit our job board today.

Reaching Out to Someone You Know About a Job Opportunity with Their Company

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One of the best ways to land a new job is to have an employee refer you to the hiring manager. The manager is more likely to bring aboard someone their team member knows than another candidate. You are more likely to blend with company culture, fulfill the job duties, and remain with the organization long-term. This is why reaching out to a member of your network during your job search can be beneficial.

Follow these steps to reach out to a connection about a job you want with their company.

Write Down Your Talking Points

Make a short, bulleted list of where you have been and where you want to advance to. Include your last three job titles, the companies you worked for, and your top responsibilities. For instance, Account Executive, Smith PR: Served as the main point of contact for tech clients including Microsoft. Share the job title and function you desire and others you would consider. For instance, Senior Account Executive, Account Supervisor, or Public Relations Manager. Point out how you would be a good fit for each.

Send a Targeted Email

Craft a personal email to your connection at the company. Include a specific request about how they can help you. Ask for specific introductions at their company, such as to the hiring manager or an interviewer. Consider requesting an informational interview, general advice on the role and organization, or feedback on the resume you included with your email. Thank your contact for their help. Encourage them to stay in touch.

Remain Patient

Keep in mind that your contact is busy and may not reply to you right away. Wait a few days to follow up with them. Let your connection know you still are interested in the position and would appreciate an introduction to the hiring manager or an interviewer. Include any other request you may have, such as insider information about the organization, an informational interview, or input on your resume. Share that any help would be appreciated. Offer to return the favor when possible.

Partner with a Recruiter

Work with a recruiter from RightStone to find the IT job you want. Visit our job board today.

Why You Should Always Do Your Research Before an Interview

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One key to success during an interview is sharing the information you learned about the company. This can be just as important as demonstrating your education, skills, and experience relevant to the role. The more you know about the organization, the better the impression you make on the interviewers. This can help you land a job offer.

Here are some reasons to find out all you can about an organization before an interview.

Understand the Company

Researching an organization lets you learn about its history, achievements, and culture. This includes how long it has been in business, the products/services it offers, and how they have improved throughout the years. Be sure you find out whether the company expanded to other locations, who the CEO is, and other relevant information. This helps make a good impression on the interviewers and can serve as a guide for your questions for them.

Behave in Line with the Culture

The more you know about the company, the better you can align with its culture. For instance, the attire you choose for your interview will be appropriate for the office. Also, answering interview questions in a way that aligns with the culture helps show that you would excel in the role. The better you present yourself, the greater your odds of moving forward in the interview process.

Share Excitement About the Organization

Knowing a significant amount of information about the business lets you show excitement about working there. For instance, you may be excited about the position because the company has a history of philanthropy and you enjoy giving back to the community. Sharing enthusiasm about this detail shows you would enjoy working for the organization.

Link Your Qualifications to the Role

The more you know about the company and position, the better you can point out why you are best qualified to work there. For instance, use the education, skills, experience, and other requirements mentioned in the job description to show you have what it takes to be successful. Also, provide specific examples of how your prior achievements are similar to what would be expected of you in the role. Additionally, discuss your ideas for how you could help increase efficiency if brought aboard.

Interested in a New IT Role?

Let a recruiter from RightStone know when you are ready for a new IT position. Visit our job board or send us your resume to help with your job search.

9 Potential Questions to Ask an Employer to Get Noticed!

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Asking questions during an interview can impact the outcome. Wanting to know more about the company or role shows engagement in the conversation. The desire to learn demonstrates self-direction and motivation. These are qualities that managers look for when deciding which candidate to hire.

Ask questions like these to stand out during your next interview.

1. Where Do You Anticipate the Company to Be in One Year?

Show that you are forward-thinking and invested in the organization’s success. If plans for growth are in the works, there may be additional leadership roles available for you.

2. Which of Your Main Competitors Are You Most Concerned About?

Demonstrate that you know the company’s top three competitors from your research. Show your interest in tackling some of the biggest problems head-on.

3. After Taking This Role, What Have Employees Moved on to Do in the Organization?

Look for a potential career path with the employer. You want opportunities to grow and get promoted.

4. How Do You Define Your Leadership Style?

The way the manager leads impacts their employees’ success. You need to be properly managed and rewarded to stay long-term and advance.

5. Does This Role Require Any Tasks Not Listed in the Job Description?

There typically are responsibilities beyond what the job description mentions. Gain a clearer idea of what to expect if offered the position.

6. How Do You Help Your Employees Manage Their Mental Health and Work-Life Balance?

Learn how the manager promotes health and wellness among their team. You want to avoid experiencing burnout if you start working for them.

7. What Are the Most Important Milestones for a New Hire to Accomplish in the First Few Months? 

Demonstrate that you see yourself in this position. Find out how you can begin setting and reaching goals to benefit the organization.

8. Does This Role Include Ongoing Training and Education? 

Clarify that knowledge and professional development are important to you. See how well the manager and the company support employees’ personal and career development.

9. What Are the Top Soft Skills Required for This Position?

People skills are important for any role. Knowing whether communication, empathy, problem-solving or other traits are prioritized lets you share stories that demonstrate you have them.

Land Your Next IT Interview

Get interview coaching and more by working with a recruiter from RightStone. Visit our job board today.

Leaving a Job with No Future

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If you are passed over for a promotion you truly deserved, it may be time to find a new job. After all, you cannot stay in the same position indefinitely and advance along your career path. If you are not finding the room to grow with your current employer, then you need to begin finding a new one now.

If you continue to be passed over for promotions, implement these guidelines to determine when a good time is to leave your job.

Consider Your Last Promotion

You typically should be promoted after 18 months to 2 years in your current role. This timeline may be less if you discussed it before being hired. If you have been in the same position longer than 2 years and have no opportunities for a promotion, you should find another employer.

Look at Colleagues’ Promotions

Determine whether similarly qualified colleagues with the same level of experience as yours have recently moved up. Also, find out whether IT professionals in comparable roles at similarly sized companies have been promoted faster than you. If they have, then you need to begin your job search today.

Write Down Your Contributions

Make a list of all the ways you provide value to the organization. This may include routinely helping to finish projects or making material contributions that lead to success. Use this list to determine whether you should be at a higher level than you are. If so, begin applying to positions that fit your skills and experience.

Talk with Your Boss

Meet with your manager to discuss a promotion. Prepare to talk about your contributions, achievements, and qualifications to move up. See whether your boss supports your request or provides concrete guidelines to be considered for a promotion. If not, begin your job search after work hours.

Enhance Your Skill Set

Find ways to gain or enhance the skills required for the job you want. This may include engaging in additional training, taking a class, or gaining certification. This can be beneficial in landing your next IT role.

Find a Higher-Level IT Job

Let a recruiter from RightStone help you find an IT job in line with your skills, experience, and interests. See which jobs are available today.

How a Staffing Firm Can Assist in Your Job Search

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Finding a job can be stressful. You may spend hours finding and applying for roles that fit your skills, experience, and interests and not hear anything. Or, you might interview for a position you truly want, then not receive a job offer. Fortunately, there is a way to reduce the time invested in finding a job you enjoy.

Discover how working with a recruiter from a staffing firm can help you land a job.

Access to the Hidden Market

Partnering with a recruiter lets you find job openings you would not be able to on your own. Because the recruiter builds solid relationships with hiring managers, the managers often turn to the recruiter to fill job openings not shared with the general market. Or, the recruiter may talk with a manager about the creation of a role based on their business needs and your skills and experience. This means you face less competition when interviewing, increasing your odds of receiving a job offer.

Insight into the Job Market

A recruiter lives and breathes the job-search process every day. For instance, they remain current on changes in the market, including the need for a particular skill or experience, to maximize your search results. Also, because a recruiter continually increases their knowledge of the market, they can negotiate a competitive salary, benefits package, and perks on your behalf. Plus, their ongoing experience with market changes means you receive practical advice on what to expect and how to proceed.

Coaching  

Partnering with a recruiter involves additional guidance with your resume preparation, the interview process, and more. For instance, because the recruiter has close relationships with hiring managers, the recruiter knows what each manager likes and dislikes and what they are looking for in a candidate. You gain additional insight into which information to include on your resume, what the manager’s personality is like, and how you can personally connect with them. This increases your odds of being offered a job and creating a long-term professional relationship.

Feedback from Employers

Working with a recruiter provides you with input from the interviewers you meet with. This means you can gain feedback about your performance. If you are not right for a role, you can use the information to enhance your job search and receive more favorable results.

Partner with RightStone

Find your next IT job with help from a recruiter at RightStone. Visit our job board today.

4 Reasons Why Temp Work Might Be Right for You

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Traditional job hunt wisdom says you should seek out a full-time, permanent role. However, you have more options available to you than looking for a permanent position.

Temporary or contract jobs continue to grow in popularity among both employers and workers. Temp jobs and temp-to-perm jobs offer more flexibility for everyone involved.

Should you consider temp work? Here are some of the reasons workers prefer a contract.

1. You Prioritize Company Culture

More workers find that company’s culture is the most important aspect of their day-to-day life. But it’s hard to get a true sense of a company’s culture from their website, through their interview process, or even after a week on the job.

If you want to work somewhere with a specific culture, you may benefit from temp-to-hire work. It will give you a better idea of what it’s like to work in the office after the sheen of being a new hire wears off, which will indicate whether you hang on after the contract or decide to move on.

2. You Want to Practice New Skills

If you are in a career transition or hoping to make a lateral move within your industry, you may benefit from a temp job.

Even after training, it can be hard to walk into a position without a few years of experience with your new skillset.

When a job is temporary, many employers are willing to take a chance on promising candidates without direct experience in the role.

3. You Want to Get Hired Quickly

Companies hiring for a permanent job take their time during the hiring process. They don’t want to have to re-fill the role in a few weeks or months.

Because temp work comes with an expiration date, there’s less focus on finding exactly the right fi. You may find that you go through a speedier hiring process, particularly as temp jobs are used to fill roles that companies need to fill now.

4. You Want to Try Out a New Industry

Ultimately, temp jobs are a great way to gain experience quickly. And temp jobs make it possible to experiment while gaining that experience. You can transition between companies or even industries with less effort than it takes to change roles in permanent positions.

With the right team behind you, you can find the best fit before settling into a permanent role.

Try Out Flexible Employment with Temp Work

Permanent employment isn’t the only option on the table anymore. And for some workers, temp work or temp-to-permanent contracts can be a better fit because they offer more flexibility and room to experiment.

Are you looking to make a career transition? RightStone can help you take your career to the next level. Get in touch to learn more about the RightStone 360 process.

Promoted Over Your Peers? How to Lead a Team of Co-workers

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You got the promotion. It comes with new responsibilities and new benefits. However, it also comes with a unique challenge. As the victor, you now need to navigate a new landscape of leading your coworkers, including a few who wanted the job you got. 

The transition from peer to leader all depends on your first few weeks. Here are our best tips to manage your teammates. 

Get Reacquainted as  Leader 

You didn’t get tapped to lead the team because of a fluke. It was your skills combined with the vision that helped you get started. However, your coworkers may not have seen what your boss did. 

Rather than force a transition, ease into it by meeting with your team members and getting reacquainted. Let them know what you see for the seem and ask them for their input. 

Don’t forget to get and reaffirm your co-worker’s pain points. Now that you have the power to make changes, hearing their concerns and suggestions again may give you a new perspective. 

Earn Your Influence 

You were one of the team on Friday, and now it’s Monday, and you’re the team leader. Your team won’t follow your influence just because you had a title change. 

You won the role because your boss believed you would be a good leader. Now is the time to start showing everyone what you can do. Work hard, listen more than you talk, and start working on earning your influence. It will make the smoothest transition into management. 

Set Clear Expectations 

As a team member, you could go to Happy Hours, laugh at the water cooler, and commiserate with your colleagues. While there’s no ‘us’ and ‘them’ when you become a leader, you need to set clear expectations if you want to lead. 

You now need to figure out how to be approachable and friendly without compromising your impartiality. One of the best ways to do this is to be as clear about your work. Be honest about what you’re looking for, and give useful feedback. 

Being open and transparent will transform your colleagues into a team that emulates your influence. 

Be the Leader Your Boss Knew You Could Be 

Managing your coworkers can be awkward, but there was a reason you got the promotion. Your superiors believe in your ability to lead. And that’s just what you need to do. 

While some things do need to change, you just need to keep being you and be as willing to work for your coworkers’ respect as you were willing to work for the promotion. 

Are you looking for your next leadership role?

RightStone is placing highly-skilled candidates into IT leadership roles right now. Get in touch to learn how you could find your next position. 

Ace Your Next Virtual Interview

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A few years ago, virtual interviews were the ‘future of recruitment.’ Today, they’re a necessity for employers who want to hire new team members. And if you’re looking for your next role, they are an asset.

Virtual interviews are those that take place using video conferencing technology. They’re not just a glorified phone interview: they allow both parties to parse the nonverbal cues you’d miss over the phone.

Are you staring into the face of yet another virtual interview? Here’s how you can ace it and win your next role.

Prepare Like It’s an In-Person Interview

Virtual interviews are in-person interviews, even if you’re not in the office. So rather than preparing for a preliminary chat like you might with a phone interview, treat it like a normal interview.

What does that mean? Think about potential questions, come up with helpful anecdotes, and write down your questions. You also need to dress the part, so make sure to come in your best business casual (at a minimum).

Test Your Technology Half an Hour Early

You wouldn’t be late for an interview on-site, and you definitely can’t be late for a virtual interview. There’s little leeway for tardiness if you don’t have to leave your house, so make sure you rule out everything that could get in your way beforehand.

The most common reason virtual interviews start late is because of a technology fail. To prevent that from happening, test out your speakers and microphone early. If you’re not familiar with the web conferencing tool, read a quick how-to before the interview starts. 

And if it’s an app, download it earlier in the day. Don’t be caught waiting for it to install when your appointment rolls around!

If you’re having any technical problems or you think there’s an issue on their end, acknowledge it. Don’t be afraid to say you can’t hear or see your interviewer well. It’s better to let them know than to try to fly blind.

Practice Your Pace and Tone

Given the role of the camera, many people focus solely on the video aspect of the interview. While your background, lighting, and appearance are very important, you shouldn’t forget to focus on the audio.

Lag, noise, accents, and other issues make virtual interviews trickier than asking a candidate into the office. To help them out, you should focus on speaking clearly and at a reasonable, natural pace. Use your pauses wisely and use your nonverbal communication to make it clear when you’re finished speaking.

Be Yourself to Ace Your Next Virtual Interview

Virtual interviews are a great way to speed up the recruiting process and save everyone time. They’re not a replacement for a final, in-person interview, but they’re a great substitute, particularly right now as companies try to hire while social distancing.

The best trick for virtual interviews is to treat them like a normal interview and prepare accordingly. Be early, know where you’re going, and above all, be yourself.

Ready to move forward?

Are you on the hunt for your next job? We can help you get there. Get in touch to learn what roles are available.

Do You Still Need a Cover Letter When Applying to an IT Job

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Due to the fact that most IT jobs primarily require a high degree of technical experience and ability, many job candidates in the industry assume that sending a resume to an employer on its own will sufficiently demonstrate their qualifications for a particular role. Resumes, after all, are intended to be clear-cut and straightforward documents that lay out the bare facts of your professional experience and skills.

While resumes are undoubtedly a crucial component that should be included in every job application, they don’t necessarily provide employers with an in-depth feel of an applicant’s character or unique abilities. In order to communicate those qualities, it’s essential to include a cover letter in every application that you submit in your IT job search.

What are the benefits of a cover letter?

As mentioned above, a resume – while very useful – should only be communicating the bare-bones facts of one’s career: work experience, education, technical skills, awards, contact information, and so on. A cover letter, on the other hand, should paint a picture in an employer’s mind of who you are, why you’re passionate about what you do, and how, specifically, your unique background, skills, and experience make you the best possible candidate for the role that you’re applying to.

In other words, it should take the facts that are contained in your resume and turn them into a story about how you’ve come to be who you are and where you are today.

What are the components of the ideal cover letter?

Compared to resumes, cover letters typically require a bit more time, thought, and effort. To simplify things a bit, here are four basic components that should be included in every cover letter:

 

  • Greeting, such as “Dear Mrs. [insert name of hiring manager].

 

  • Body paragraph containing an outline of your experience and the specific reasons why you’re a uniquely good fit for the job.

 

  • Role and Industry-specific keywords placed strategically throughout the letter.

 

  • Appropriate closing, such as “sincerely,” or, “thank you for your consideration.”

 

To learn more about how to format a compelling and effective cover letter, check out some of these templates.

At RightStone, we’re passionate about providing job candidates with the education and resources that they’ll need to advance to the next stage in their careers. To get started on your IT job search, contact us today!