The Recruiter

Big Day for Yoh and SAP

Greetings from sunny Orlando, host city of SAPPHIRE, SAP®’s annual international customer event! It’s a fitting location from which to be writing this post since the purpose of today’s post is to share with you some exciting news related to our SAP partnership…

So here it is. This morning we officially announced that Yoh and SAP are developing the next generation of the Yoh Exchange. (For those of you unfamiliar with the Yoh Exchange, it’s Yoh’s recruiting and HR Management portal that’s designed to help companies cut costs and improve their hiring process.) The new version will incorporate web-based talent planning, administration, policy and profile management and on-site customer support with the end goal of speeding time-to-fill, minimizing technology requirements and human resources costs, and enhancing talent quality.

We’ve signed an agreement with SAP to jointly market the Yoh Exchange as the leading choice for customers to integrate solutions for supply chain and talent management, and are really excited about this opportunity to expand our relationship with the company.

Be sure to check back later for more updates from SAPPHIRE.

Posted by Amy D.

Movin' on up

On Friday, the Philadelphia Business Journal released its annual list of tech employers and, for the second consecutive year, Yoh secured the number five spot. Just a few years ago, in 2005, we were tied for the number 11 position – it’s great to see us moving up so quickly. The list is ranked by the number of local employees. In just three years we have more than doubled our number of local employees from 200 in 2005 to over 470 employees today. We look forward to continuing this growth in 2008 and beyond.

Posted by Jim L.

Body Language: The Unspoken Interview

Think you’re prepared for that upcoming interview? You may have thoroughly researched the company and industry, but there’s a lot more to an interview than dressing in your lucky suit and prepping for tough questions.

One of the most important things to consider while on an interview may be something you’re not even aware of—your body language. You’d be surprised to know what it says about you. Here are a few things to look out for:

1.  Handshake. Be firm, but don’t break the interviewer’s hand either. A strong handshake tells your interviewer that you are confident in yourself and your abilities.

2.  Eye contact. This may seem like common sense, but many people don’t look their interviewer in the eye. By maintaining eye contact, you make it clear that you are engaged and interested in the conversation. Also, it makes your responses more believable.  Wandering eyes often signal discomfort, and interviewers may take them as a sign that you are being untruthful.

3.  Posture. It’s important to sit up straight in your chair without being too rigid. Similarly, you should appear comfortable, but not overly relaxed. Here’s a tip. Try leaning forward a bit—it will prevent you appearing too stiff or relaxed, and you’ll appear to be engaged in the conversation.

4.  Jitters. One of the biggest signs of nervousness is shaking--whether it’s bouncing your leg, wringing your hands, or tapping your pen. Pay extra attention to your body during interviews and try to avoid or minimize these distracting gestures as much as possible.

5.  Hands. Don’t fold your arms across your chest during your interview. This position implies that you’re disinterested in the conversation or trying to close yourself off from the interviewer. Instead, try speaking with your hands to add expression and excitement to your story, to keep your audience engaged. Be sure not to overuse them, though. Large, swooping motions can distract your interviewer and take the focus away from your actual responses.

Posted by Anna M.

The 411 on social networking

For better or worse, social networking sites have spread like wildfire. With more than 60 million people on Facebook alone, and most individuals maintaining profiles on multiple sites, employers and recruiters are beginning to capitalize and use these sites to scout talent and learn more about their potential or current employees.

But as Spiderman once said, “With great power, comes great responsibility.”  Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn can be great tools, but it’s up to you to use them responsibly. 

For job seekers, discretion in the posting of personal material to public online forums is essential.  For example, it’s probably not in your best interest to show your employers a minute-by-minute account of your bachelor or bachelorette party—especially if you are still fuzzy on the details yourself.  Either edit your security setting so only people you know and trust can view the album, or skip posting it altogether. 

However, when it comes to creating and promoting your online brand, you don’t always have to be on the defensive.  Instead, use the Web to your advantage, and make sure that when a potential employer or recruiter Googles your name, they’re going to be impressed by what they see. 

For example, if you haven’t already, start commenting on blogs that are relevant to your industry.  Posting intelligent and insightful comments and initiating quality discussions about relevant topics or trends will provide employers with a glimpse of your expertise and capabilities, and could interest them in learning more. Frequent commenting on blogs can help you spread your name and gain credibility.  Plus, it’s a great way to make contacts and connections that can help you along the way.

In addition, make sure you stay up-to-date on the new tools and features being added to the networks. In April, LinkedIn is launching a service to help members find experts in certain business fields.  You might want to add some key search terms related to your skills (SAP, Java, etc.) to your profile to ensure that employers looking for candidates with these skill sets will stumble upon you.

Posted by Amy D.

Why a recession won’t affect the job market

Penelope Trunk over at The Brazen Careerist put together a pretty interesting post the other day about how our currently unstable economy is affecting the job market—or not.

Penelope argues that the state of today’s job market is not so much a function of economic indicators as it is of demographic trends. This is nothing we haven’t discussed before.  Baby boomers’ mass exodus from the workforce is resulting in a major shortage of employees that Gen X and Y are incapable to fill. (Penelope attributes this to Gen X’s focus on family and Gen Y’s fascination with entrepreneurship that lead them to contribute fewer hours of work per person than the boomers.)

Whether the economy enters a recession or not, as long as boomers continue to retire, demand for younger workers will be high. This is true even for sectors such as finance, real estate and manufacturing that are often hit hardest by economic downturns.

We’d like to add another area in which we expect to see high demand: technology. As we recently reported, the Q4 Yoh Index of Technology Wages revealed all-time high wages in the tech sector before gradually slowing at the end of 2007, and showed a continuing trend of year-over-year growth. And opportunities in engineering, Java, SAP®, project management, security and customer-related projects continue to be plentiful.

So don’t let talk of a recession scare you (when it comes to jobs, at least) -   retiring baby boomers will guarantee demand. But it’s up to you to sharpen your skills, maintain your credentials and make yourself an ideal and indispensable candidate.

Posted by Christy H.

Tech wages drop after record-breaking high

The Q4 Yoh Index of Technology Wages, released just a few days ago, shows two very interesting things that happened toward the end of 2007.  Wages reached an all-time high in October ($32.39), but then quickly slowed in November and December, which could be a sign that the economy’s sluggishness is starting to affect wages and the job market.

Some of the jobs that stayed hot throughout the dip include biostatisticians, civil engineers, clinical research associates, Java developers and SAP® consultants.

Posted by Jim L.

Don’t try this at home…

We’ve discussed resumes with you before: given advice on optimizing keywords and increasing accessibility, warned against including white lies or stretching the truth, and suggested ways to make your resume really stand out.

And we presented interviewing and networking to you in a similar fashion.  But maybe we’ve been going about offering tips for the job hunt in the wrong way.  Perhaps more compelling advice can be found in real-life examples about what you should NOT do. 

For example, you should probably have a general understanding of the position and company you are applying for before you submit your application.  And another thing:  while including an objective on your resume is helpful to employers and increases your chances of being matched with a position you actually want and are qualified for, you probably don’t want to get too specific or personal.

You’ll see what I mean.  Check out these unbelievable job-applicant faux-paus for an early—and entertaining—start to your weekend.

Posted by Roseanne D.

Job boons for boomers

For baby boomers, the recession threat might only apply to hair lines, not bottom lines, thanks to recent news from IBM. Last week, the tech company joined the Partnership for Public Service to launch a new program aimed at giving boomers a second career with the federal government.

This program, called the FedExperience Transitions to Government, will help seasoned IBM employees launch a second career with the U.S. Department of Treasury. The timing for this partnership couldn’t be better. On one hand, the government will be looking to fill 193,000 jobs, including positions in information technology, just in the next two years. On the other hand, federal jobs often come with appealing benefits such as flexible work schedules, teleworking and job sharing – all attractive to semi-retired boomers. The result, according to Anita Bruzzese on 45 Things: The program will help combat worker shortages, while filling some of the government’s critical positions.

Overall, it’s an interesting response to the ongoing fear that boomers hitting retirement will cause a severe brain drain, and sap the economy of some of its most valuable and talented workers. Any boomers out there care to chime in? What you do think about the FedExperience program? Would it entice you to stay in the workforce longer? What other companies do you think would benefit from programs like this?

Posted by Anna M.

The mother of all prediction lists

Today's award for “Masterful List Compilation” goes to George Lenard over at George's Employment Blawg for his comprehensive, pull-from-all-corners take on the 2008 workplace. His predictions run the gamut from tech, productivity and job growth; to HR, work-life trends, regulations and more.

In case that's not enough for you, here are several 2008 predictions from our tech recruiting perspective to consider:

1. The IT talent pool will continue to drain at a steady rate, bringing the shortage to an all-time high, and forcing U.S. companies to consider alternative sourcing methods.

2. The shortage also will compel managers to reexamine who they're hiring, and for what. Look for a rise in combined staffs, where full-time workers handle routine development and maintenance, and consultants augment projects with specialized skills.

3. IT, tech and engineering programs will step up high school and college recruitment in an effort to stop the brain drain at its source, and train more qualified workers for the hiring pipeline.

Keep checking back for updates as to whether or not these predictions pan out!

Posted by Jim L.

New skills to sharpen your edge in '08

Part three of our informal series on making the new year equal a new job.

Your job is only as strong as the skills you can bring to it. And while we mentioned business knowledge as an overarching skill in our first '08 post, there are some specific technical skills that can help make you more marketable this year.

The next logical step in prepping for a career change is to align your talents with the expertise your dream job is seeking. And in 2008, the magic word is Web 2.0, which comprises an alphabet soup of in-demand abilities, from AJAX and .Net, to XML and PHP.

Project management and quality assurance abilities are king in this market. So are intrusion-detection capabilities and government security clearances if you're looking for a security gig. Fluency in virtualization and data management/storage requirements will give you a leg up in the data center arena.

In addition, skills in wireless network convergence and security will position you for working with VoIP technology. And don't forget important IT support functions such as the help desk. Here, IT workers will need to be familiar and comfortable with changing commercial applications.

So if your resume still has these moldy oldies on it, it's probably time to reevaluate your skill set, identify where you might be falling short, and refine your expertise. Stay tuned for more info on how to make it happen.

Posted by Roseanne D.