The Recruiter

Cha-Ching

The infamous George Burns once said, “Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed.” With telecommuting on the rise, you never know -- maybe that will be the norm one day. Not being much of a morning person myself, I look forward to that day. In the meantime, here are six steps from CareerBuilder on how to secure a higher starting salary (please note, you must get out of bed first before following these steps):

• Know what you’re worth – Knowledge is power so research average salaries in your industry and then take into account your education and level of experience before attempting to negotiate.
• Delay salary talks – Avoid giving salary requirements up-front because prospective employers are more likely to immediately disqualify you if they feel your requirement is too low or too high.
• Be honest about your current salary – Some prospective employers will double-check with your old employer or will run background checks that might contain that information.
• Do not accept or negotiate right away – Always think things through before making a final decision.
• Don’t be afraid to negotiate – There is nothing to lose in asking respectfully if there is anything that can be done to bring you closer to your desired earnings.
• Know when to quit – If the employer accepts some negotiations, do not continue to try to negotiate more.

Posted by Michele B.

Women in IT

Today is International Women’s Day (IWD).  The day was established by the socialist party in the early 1900s, and is currently celebrated (primarily in the former Soviet bloc countries) as a holiday similar to Mother’s Day. The 2007 theme of IWD, according to the U.N.’s website, “is the role of women in decision-making.”

In the U.S., the day has grown and is publicized by companies such as Cisco and HSBC, and internationally by the U.N.  While working women in America have made many strides, we still have a long way to go in IT and other tech-related fields. Therefore, in the spirit of IWD, we thought it would be a good time to reflect on a woman who has achieved remarkable success in IT -- a field currently dominated by men. 

Information Week devoted an article to Frances Allen, the first female winner of the prestigious Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) A.M. Turning Award.   Frances, who started her IT career in 1959, believes that women were more prevalent when she her career-- than today.   “The shortage of women in IT ‘is getting worse,’ Frances says.”

She believes that women with strong math and science skills are now drawn to careers in medicine and biology rather than careers in technology due to the belief that they are providing “more social good.”  Frances hopes that computing's role in medical research will attract more women into the tech profession, and she plans to use her $100,000 award to start an educational fund for girls to help the effort. 

As discussed in our previous blog, women tend to have higher social orientation and empathy skills, which is important in team building and negotiation and bodes well for leadership and decision-making roles in IT, and hopefully Frances will inspire potential future leaders. 

Posted by Janet F.

STOP - Don’t Upload That Photo!

Recently, we blogged about online networks and how they can be a useful tool to network and possibly search for job opportunities. While the Internet and social networking can be helpful, beware of what you upload/post out there on the Web.

Case in point: According to a recent New York Daily News article, by the time “Sylvia’s” interview day arrived, her destiny had been determined. When her interviewer “Googled” her name, she found drunken pictures, inappropriate language and other items that demonstrated Sylvia’s severe lack of maturity. Needless to say, she did not receive a job offer following her interview.

With the rise of user-generated media and content, more and more employers are using the Web as a tool to get an inside look at the people they might consider hiring. The Boston Globe recently cited an ExecuNet survey that stated nearly 77 percent of recruiters said that they used search engines to check out candidates in 2006, and 35 percent have eliminated a candidate because of what they saw online. And, hiring managers are doing the same thing.

To avoid falling prey to Career Googling, always think twice before posting something on the Internet or commenting on someone’s blog. Due to cached pages and other blogs that cut and paste from other sites, things are not easy to delete once they’re out there. Make sure to conduct a search of yourself frequently. Simply type your name into a few major search engines and see what pops up. Clean up your Internet presence by hiding old scandalous content through posting industry-related comments on blogs like ours or message boards. Also, if you have your own blog, log on and read through your old entries to make sure nothing could make you look bad to a prospective employer. Gather more helpful tips from our previous blog post on Tech Résumé Tips. 

Posted by Michele B.