(1 votes, average: 9 out of 10)
Loading ...Recruiting for Top IT Talent Should Begin and End In IT
Let’s assume that there is now or soon will be a shortage of labour in the technology sector. Each day we hear from employers indicating to us they are finding it more difficult to source and hire technology candidates. In addition, surveys and studies conducted by IT World Canada, Robert Half Technology and the team of ITAC, Deloitte Touche and the Conference Board of Canada indicate agreement with this opinion.
If it is indeed a jobseekers’ market then the top candidates can pick and choose where they will work. If you would like them to work for your company, then you need your hiring manager or even your CIO/CEO to immediately be engaged in the recruiting process. In fact, in a talent war environment, hiring managers and senior executives need to be the first point of contact for the jobseeker.
When I was a Vice President of Sales, I scheduled and conducted interviews with jobseekers directly. I let my CEO know when I was conducting such interviews and asked her to book time out on her calendar to meet with candidates immediately following if I felt it necessary.
Therefore, if you are an “A” player in your organization, you no doubt know first hand the attributes most attractive to those top players seeking to work with you. Who could possibly share the insight, excitement and passion you have for your company better than you? How insulted would you be if your introduction to a prospective employer began with a request to fill out a lengthy questionnaire? How enthusiastic would you be if after that initial contact it took days or even weeks to hear back?
Are you making it easy for top talent to connect with you? Are you responding to them in a way they deserve and expect? If not, you are going to loose out on the top prospects which will put you consistently in the back seat interviewing less qualified talent..
Nothing can be more important to your business than securing the best talent. To recruit the best you have to prove you are the best. As a result, you can not afford not to personally recruit. Such a hands on approach will also help with your retention of these top players. Therefore make it your top priority!
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(1 votes, average: 7 out of 10) Loading ...Do You Think That Companies Are Doing Enough To Hire Canadian Technology Professionals?
I had the opportunity to read an article announcing the ‘Canadian Coalition for IT Succession’ from www.itworldcanada.com http://www.itworldcanada.com/V.aspx?i=4b24f1fd263c401da593 . Although I ‘generally’ agree with the suggestions made regarding the tackling of the ‘IT skill shortage’ in Canada, I might suggest a better effort is needed, immediately, by companies in dealing with under-utilized and unemployed IT professionals currently existing in the Canadian industry.
Firstly, let me explain my bias. I am CEO with CareerDoor Inc. - a company that has established a strong reputation in technology and technology sales recruiting across the country. We are not an agency. (www.careerdoor.com) My professional interest is in bringing companies on board as paying clients. On the other hand, our role is to “create a forum” for our clients, the likes of Cisco Systems, Smart Technologies, IBM, Research in Motion, ING Direct, Shaw etc, to meet face-to-face and online at scheduled events with technology job-seekers in order to ascertain whether the candidate fits into the workplace culture of their company, to allow the job-seeker an opportunity to size up the company, to make suggestions to the candidate on what to do to upgrade their skills to improve their chances of employment with their firm and to offer them employment if the talent warrants it.
Having been a part of many of these events over the last year in particular, it is my opinion, a greater effort needs to be made today by the companies in this proposed coalition and others to support companies like ours attempting to set up an infrastructure of one-on-one forums across the country to facilitate interaction between employers and job-seekers; to deal with the tremendous variances in talent pools across the country, for example, maybe foster programs to assist IT professionals in re-location; to help counsel job-seekers to seek upgrading in areas they may be lacking (over 75% of the job-seekers attending our events are looking to upgrade their skills); to recognize that a significant number of IT professionals are under-employed and are seeking opportunities to move up (over 60% of the job-seekers attending our events are employed and almost 80% have 5 years experience or more); and the need for the larger companies to support the recruiting activities of the smaller companies in the industry in order to assure the availability of entry level assignments - a feeder system if you will - to help deliver the promise of a job future to IT professionals. (Read the CBC News article at this link… http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/01/21/ot-tech-080121.html?ref=rss)
If the coalition is interested in meeting the needs of the IT industry and its professionals in the future its first focus should be on leveraging the talent already available in Canada, give that talent an opportunity to get answers to their questions as an alternative to the all too familiar one-sided communication existing today - an invitation to apply to a website career section and try to avoid the mixed messages given out by companies in the industry. For example, the common refrains we hear from the larger technology employers in the industry at the grass roots level; are no budget for outside recruiting; most of our technology hiring is done from within; there’s no shortage of technology talent available; we have an exclusive resume database that supplies us all the talent we need - most of which seems to run contrary to prevailing opinions.
Further, although a ‘technology targeted’ immigration plan may be part of the answer, it may not be the long term answer. As the skills of immigrants improve, the tendency might be for them to return to their country of origin after attaining North American experience to realize a standard of living in their technologically booming homeland far exceeding their expectations in Canada.
If you agree that companies are not doing enough to engage local talent, let everyone know! Reply to these posts and support local hiring events.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(Rate This Article) Loading ...Should You Learn Virtualization?
By Jason W. Eckert
Its no secret that virtualization is a hot technology today. Plenty of companies are implementing it, and VMWorld 2007 drew a crowd of over 10,000 people!
A few days ago I invited Scott Elliott, an expert on VMWare virtualization, to give a talk in my Network Security class about the benefits of virtualization.
Scott spent a good deal of time outlining how virtualization technology works, the benefits of using virtualization, as well as how virtualization impacted his IT infrastructure at Christie Digital (www.christiedigital.com).
In many network environments, servers are often used at 5-15% of their maximum load capacity. By using virtualization, a single “virtualized” server can be used to run several different operating systems at the same time, each with a different role (DNS, AD, SQL, Exchange, etc.). Virtualized servers typically run about 70-80% of their maximum load capacity, and hence make better use of the same hardware, save electricity and reduce costs.
In addition, each virtual operating system (i.e. Windows, Linux) that is run on a virtualized server is stored in a single file on the hard drive (called a virtualization file). To back up an entire operating system, you simply need to back up the virtualization file. Similarly, you can add additional virtual operating systems by copying virtualization files and customizing the settings afterwards. These result in safer data and less administration. It takes about 20 minutes to copy an existing virtual operating system compared to the 8 hours typically used to install an operating system on its own server hardware.
Another important benefit to virtualization is seen when implementing several virtualized servers that store their virtualization files on an external shared storage device such as an iSCSI or Fibrechannel Array. If a virtual server fails, its virtualization files can be immediately activated on one of the other virtualized servers such that these virtualized operating systems remain available. Similarly, if one particular virtual operating system needs more resources (i.e. SQL reports at month-end), then other virtual operating systems can easily be temporarily offloaded to other virtual servers. This allows the particular operating system more access to the virtual server hardware and far better performance as a result.
Perhaps the most important benefit to virtualization, however, lies in it lower costs. Instead of implementing 11 servers and operating systems, Scott chose a virtualized solution for the same price that could support 50 virtualized operating systems. Not only does this virtualized solution use less electricity, require less administration, and have more fault tolerance, it is also a fraction of the cost.
According to the IT research firm Gartner Inc., companies that do not use virtualization will likely spend 25% more for their computing infrastructure. If this is true, it may only be a matter of time before all organizations employ virtualization technologies.
For those of us who have yet to embrace virtualization, perhaps its time for us to add virtualization to our IT skill set.
