Personal… I want to get Personal, Personal

Featured

I want to get Physical, Physical… I want to get Personal, Personal… Yup – that’s what I want to do. No – but seriously. Personal. Think about that word. What does it mean? How does that make you feel? How does that not make you feel? Am I getting too Personal with these questions? Don’t worry, I’ll take a step back. Personal can mean a lot of things – but what I want to talk about is getting Personal with the Person you are Engaging. The individual you want to get a point across to. The person behind the Title, Position, or ultimate Target. The guy/gal that is going to make a decision, reaction, correspondence, or lack of correspondence – based on what you say/deliver.

So Recruiters – do your Homework, understand your Target… and use protection before You want to Get Physical…aka Personal.

Your Employer’s View of your Facebook Profile

Personally – I have read a lot of Article’s and Heard the Ramblings on the Issue of “What You Shouldn’t Post” on your Facebook Page, how you should make your profile Private, and how Potential or even Current Employer’s can choose to not Hire You or Fire you based on what they Dig Up. In my Opinion, so what?!?! People Talk, Don’t Mean Much!

If a Company is going to look at your Personal Facebook Page and “discount” you or revoke your current/potential employment with them based on Pictures or Posts, then “THAT COMPANY is NOT the COMPANY YOU WANT to WORK FOR“. That is the same company that is going to Big Brother You, Micro-Manage You, Police You, and ultimately Not Let You Be You. That is the Company that Wants “Ultimate Control”. That is the Company that is Afraid to Look at Them-Selves in the Mirror. That’s the Company that is going to Push the Blame on everyone & everything else. That is the company who’s not going to recognize hard work, results, or dedication…. Why?!?! Cause they’re too Busy Enforcing & Policing the Social Media Channel’s like Facebook. That’s “Not” the “Company” I’d want to call home for the next 4 to 10 years.

Granted – you shouldn’t be Posting Pictures of Yourself Participating in Illegal Activities (Drugs, Sexual Encounters w/ Escorts, etc…) , if that is what you do in fact do in your outside time. That’s a Dummy / JV / Rookie Move right there. But if a Company is Going to Look at a “Drunk Stumbling Jimmy” Photo and make an Assumption about who Jimmy is as a Person or Employee based off an Idea or Notion they have in their mind when they view it. Then that Company isn’t worth Jimmy’s Time. That company isn’t the right place where Jimmy would fit in. Jimmy’s going to be Jimmy and Jimmy could do best someplace else.

Sourcing Candidates…Finding NEO

“In the world of Recruiting”, Sourcing is an Art Form. Sourcing is what separates the boys from the girls. It turns a B Recruiter into an A Recruiter, and an A into an A+. Being able to identify talent, and good talent at that, is imperative – especially if done in a quick & timely manner!

Sourcing (according to Wikipedia), refers to the Identification & Un-Covering of Candidates (also known as talent) through “Pro-ActiveRecruiting Techniques. They go on to say that – “Candidate Sourcing activity typically ends once the Name, Job Title, Job Function, and Contact Information for the Potential Candidate is determined by the candidate sourcer.”

Sourcing is all about being able to Find that “Needle in a Haystack” candidate. That individual whom is hard to find, that individual whom brings together all the must have’s / skills you need to make an impact immediately, but also whom has those skills & pieces which will allow for them to Go Above and Beyond the Call of Duty and said needs. The folks that whom have A, B, and C, but also bring together D, E, and F. Those are the folks we seek – and more importantly what makes a Sourcer… a good Sourcer.

Sourcing is extremely important to the Future Success of an Organization. Being able to find those X-Factor Candidates can take a Company from Struggling, to succeeding, to Flourishing. But where & how do these Sourcer’s Find those A+ Candidates? And how do they know when they do find them? Welp – that’s what makes Sourcing an Art Form. Sometimes it takes years to acquire those skills, those sourcing techniques, and creating that Art Form.

I am not going to give away the Tricks of the Trade so Easy, or the Keys to the Galaxy in this Post…cause maybe I’m not even a good sourcer myself, but more so “What it takes to Be that All-Mighty Powerful Sourcer”.

  • Creativeness – Thinking Outside-the-Box
  • Detective Mind / Investigator – Think like a Forensic’s Team
  • Dilligence
  • Keeping Up to Date w/ Latest Trends / Technologies and even Future Possibilities
  • Efficient – Use your Time Wisely

…… There are Plenty More, but I think it’s important to have that Curious Mind when all is said and done. The individual whom looks outside the confines of ones resume, outside of a job board, or a social network – and bends the pages, bends the boolean searches, and bends the connection barriers. Disrupt and Disrupt Early… and Often!

Only 1 Programming Language?

As a Technology Recruiter here in the Washington, DC / Virginia – Metro Area helping organizations identify top talent, I see waves & trends all the time. One day everyone’s looking for Microsoft .Net related folks, the next their looking for Infrastructure guys, then it’s “Cloud Computing” and Amazon’s EC2, then it’s “Data” this and “Data” that with the Hadoop / Cassandra / noSQL / Pig / Hive / Mahout / etc. of the world… But “1″ thing still reigns supreme, and that’s having a diversified programming portfolio aka “multiple programming languages in the toolbox”.

As Mugatu once said about Derek Zoolander,

“Who cares about Derek Zoolander anyway? The man has only one look, for Christ’s sake! Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? They’re the same face! Doesn’t anybody notice this? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”

You don’t want to fall into that category. Do you want the Mugatu’s & Development Managers of the world throwing Jolt Cola on your Keyboards? My advice to you is to try live your Programming Life One Project at a Time. Don’t be afraid to mess around with a-little .NET one day & a-little Open-Source the Next. Would you want your Portfolio Manager telling you… “sorry I invested your life savings into Enron”. Whoopsie! Nope – you want a Diversified Channel of Attack. You want your defensive pass rush on an all-out-blitz coming up the middle & off the ends. You want the Gods to be on Your Side. So think out of the box, and bring more tools with you the next day when you hit the Construction Site.

Remember – Winning is Winning. You do whatever it takes to get the job done, just make it look clean. No body likes the dirty / smelly kid in class!

- ITrecruiterDC

I am the Last Great IT Recruiter Poet…(by ITrecruiterDC)

I am the Last Great IT Recruiter Poet…

I see America Listening to all the Fabulous Jobs I Pitch,

Americans getting Wealthy on me Finding their Home or Niche

The Non-Profit Gig , The Opp with Endless Smoke Breaks & Cigs

The Fat-Paying Salary , The Over Priced Hour-ly

I Fill Roles sooo Quick and Easy… The Six Digit Pay-Day , The one off the Heeeezzzy

I fill lives with Joy & Hope… The Work from Home , The “Yo – My Boss is Dope“…

The 5 weeks of Vacation, The Best Job in the Nation, The Time & a Half, The excellent Career Path.

America – You’ve just been devoted to every Opening I Got, But if you want to be Happy…

Why don’t you just Give me a Call & Help Stir the Pot

PHONE is OPEN !!!

~ ITrecruiterDC’s Rendition/Remake on the 1988 Film – “Cocktail“, starring Tom Cruise