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Job Tips – What Does the Ideal IT Resume Look Like?

Cross Posted from CIO Magazine

Everyone has an opinion on what information an IT resume should include and how it should be formatted. Please share yours.

Last week I interviewed Shana Westerman, a recruiting manager with IT staffing firm Sapphire Technologies, for an article on IT resumes. She has a fresh perspective on how to write an IT resume based on her experience matching IT professionals for contract and permanent positions with her IT line manager and IT executive clients.

Westerman’s thoughts on how to write an IT resume are informed by her need to know as much about a candidate as possible before presenting the candidate to a client. They’re also informed by her clients’ needs for detailed documentation on prospective employees. 

I found Westerman’s underlying message (be careful who you take resume advice from; make sure it’s tailored to IT jobs because not all resume writing advice is) refreshing, thought-provoking and sensible. But I knew some readers would consider her recommendation to write long, detailed resumes heresy, and indeed it stirred controversy (see the comments readers left.)

Who knew IT resumes could inspire as much debate and vitriol as President Barack Obama’s citizenship or Sarah Palin’s viability as a presidential candidate? Everyone, it seems, has an opinion on what an IT resume should look like, and often those opinions contradict each other.

For example, some professional resume writers and recruiters say the resume shouldn’t be more than two pages while others (including Westerman) say a three or four page resume is fine, especially for a high-level IT executive with several decades of experience. Some job search experts and career counselors recommend including fancy graphics, images or charts to make one’s resume stand out. Others say fancy formatting is unimpressive and irrelevant. 

Read more here

Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
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We Know IT and We Only Do IT Recruiting

We Know IT and We Only Do IT Recruiting

If you need to fill a qualified professional Dallas IT Position or if you’re an Dallas IT Professional looking to upgrade, doesn’t it just make sense to work with a company that actually has the background and expert, insider, knowledge of the IT Industry in the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex?

After over 10 years as a Dallas IT professional, Mike Hanes, president of ProVisionTech Group started the company after experiencing, first hand, just how big name and general recruiting firms were doing their clients a disservice.

He wasn’t going to play the “number’s game” that is all too common in the industry.

Instead he founded a company that is dedicated to providing the best possible match for both the organization and the candidate.

Based on over 10 years experience as a Dallas IT professional, project lead and holding an MBA in E-Business, he developed a pre-screening process that ensures Dallas-Fort Worth IT departments & organizations and Dallas-Fort Worth IT candidates find the right match, faster and with a lot less headaches.

When you work with us, you’ll find the right person or position faster than you ever imagined.

We Guarantee it!

“Mike is very knowledgeable about all facets of the technology sector. His depth of experience combined with his high integrity and true caring for his clients make him the right man to recruit the people you need to make your IT project a success. Whether you are one of his individual contractors or a corporate IT department contracting services from him, you will be highly satisfied with the results.”

Kevin Brockhoff, former ProVisionTech IT Consultant

“Mike Hanes and I share core values of integrity and Christian service. From our first meeting Mike impressed me with his ability to leverage those values as an asset in his business. Mike was instrumental in helping us find someone to fill our open IT position. ProVisionTech worked with us to determine our specific needs and then provided several candidates who met those requirements. We would definitely feel comfortable doing business with ProVisionTech again, should the need arise.”

Bill Herlin, Director, IT Strategy & Governance

Regards,

Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171


“Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!”

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Job Search Tips – Leveraging Technology for your Job Search – Vol 1

Reposted from CareerAlley


"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology." – Carl Sagan

Most (if not all) job searches must leverage technology to be successful these days. Even the "low tech" methods require that you have a resume in Word, pdf or some other electronic version. But to be honest, successful job search requires technology these days. I’ve written a number of posts on this topic, but the technology changes and improves so often these days, it doesn’t hurt to provide updates from time to time. Even CareerAlley is now "mobile ready" if you view it on your smartphone (or Blackberry) browser (take a look). Too much to cover in one article, so consider this volume 1 for now. So what’s changed, new or not covered before?

Podcasts: Most of you are aware of podcasts and many of you watch (or listen) to podcasts in some way, shape or form. There are free podcasts you can leverage in your job search:

  • Secrets of the Job Hunt – Great topics (the link to the left will take you to the podcast in iTunes) complement the Secrets of the Job Hunt website. Depending on the topic, which range from job search strategies to advice for recent grads, each podcast runs 2 to 25 minutes or so. You can listen to these while sitting in front of your computer (a few are video podcasts) or while using your iPod, this is a great way to get valuable information to help in your job hunt. By the way, did I mention that these are free?
  • JobDig – Another podcast for job search, the link to the left will take you to the podcast in iTunes (JobDig offers other formats as well from their podcast page at JobDig Podcasts). These podcasts (also free) range from 4 to 10 minutes or so and complement the JobDig.com website. Topics range from job advice to job search tips. Also worth a listen.
  • The Savvy Jobseeker – One more for you (and yes, the link to the left takes you to the podcast in iTunes), The Savvy Jobseeker (website = savvyjobseeker.com) also provides free podcasts with topics that range from "Tips to landing a high-paying job" to "How to choose job references". Each of the podcasts range from 14 to 30 minutes or so.

Read more here

Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171
        


    "Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!"

                

Posted via email from ptg’s posterous

Are you wasting your IT Application Support budget?

Are you wasting your IT Application Support budget?

The concept of Lean is based on eliminating waste from a process. Application Maintenance and Support is one of the largest IT costs for an enterprise. Waste from a large project can have significant short-term impacts. Waste in the Application Support area can far exceed project waste because of the long-term nature of support.

What is Application Maintenance and Support? If you are typical, you have Application Maintenance and Support teams consisting of a fixed number of resources deployed to provide following types of services:

1. Resolution of Incidents and Problems

2. Consultation Services – Answer questions about the operation of the system and provide planning services to customer

3. Scheduled services such as planned enhancements to add capabilities or provide custom one-time access to information

Do you have the right number of people assigned to the support team? How well do you handle spikes in support requirements? Are the support services beneficial or are they simply “busy work” to occupy a fixed team of resources? Are the supported applications providing value to the business?

Most of support activities are short in duration and require detailed knowledge of the system or time-consuming analysis and research. In order to avoid the time-consuming analysis, support teams are typically staffed with knowledgeable experts. It takes so long for a person to learn the application, organizations resist transferring staff which limits staffing flexibility, adds costs, and increases waste.

Support teams are staffed to handle spikes in problems that may occur during peak periods. A spike in enhancement requests may lead to a growing backlog because of the difficulty in orienting staff. A lull in priority work may leave the team under-utilized.

Most support teams encounter the following challenges:

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Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171
        


    "Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!"

                

Posted via email from ptg’s posterous

IT Job News – Top 5 Information Technology Careers

Often, when one thinks of an IT professional, the stereotype that comes to mind is that of the IT support person. While many IT professionals work in this capacity, the field is much more diverse than providing user-level support. Here, for instance, are the top 10 IT professions, along with a brief description of the main roles of each.


Lead Application Developer

Applications Architect

Messaging Administrators

Data Modeler

Network Manager

Read more here

Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171
        


    "Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!"

                

Tags: top 5 it jobs, top 5 it jobs, it jobs, jobs for itpeople, it employment, it careers, it employment, it resume

Category: IT jobs

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7 Tips for Creating a Training Program for an IT Project

Planning and executing a scalable end-user training strategy is a key element to software deployment planning and, ultimately, to the success of an IT project. Without an effective training plan, the end-users will most likely need to rely heavily on the project support team. This can be costly to your project with increase in the need for support resources, as well as a possible decrease in actual support for your project delivery.

Here are some tips to consider when developing a training strategy:

1.       Don’t Make Assumptions about the technical skill level of the software end-users, especially when you’re rolling out software to an entire organization. Remember the adage, “When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.” Since the technical skill level of the end-users can vary greatly, it is important that the training instructions are useful for technical novices, as well as experts. Create the instructions for the lowest technical-level end-user first and then you can create a summary set of instructions for the more advanced users. I find it helpful to think of my parents as the end-users when I write training instructions for the basic level. This helps me to remember to be extremely specific in my instructions. For example, when I help my mother navigate a website that is new to her, I coach her through every click of the mouse.

Read more here

Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171
        


    "Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!"

                

Posted via email from ptg’s posterous

Soft Skills for IT Managers

Many people believe their value is based on what they know—and they don’t want to give that up.

Most of us have, at one time or another, worked with a colleague who hoarded information as if it were gold. And let’s not forget the manager who passed on company information only on a need-to-know basis (kind of like working for the CIA).

This approach to information is frustrating and counterproductive, but understandable. Many people believe their value to the company is based on what they know—and they don’t want to give up that perceived edge. Their theory is that if they share that knowledge with their co-workers, that will increase the co-workers’ value and diminish their own.

This is a battle that business has been fighting for decades, but it’s heated up during the past few years of ongoing layoffs, when employees are more interested in surviving than collaborating. Ironically, this is happening at a time when knowledge management and collaboration technologies are getting a lot of attention from business leaders, who understand how these technologies can benefit their organizations.

Read more here

Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171
        


    "Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!"

                

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Job Tips and Job News – Tips for Discouraged Job Seekers

Tired, discouraged, feeling like you’ll never find a job? Need a job, but nothing you do seems to be working?

When you’re having a tough time finding a job, or even finding jobs to apply for, it’s important to expand your job search. Don’t limit yourself to applying for the jobs you find posted online.

Companies may be hiring that don’t post job listings other than on their company web site – or not all. Expanding your job search will help you find unadvertised openings and enable you to proactively seek employment at companies of interest.

Make a Target List of Companies

If you don’t have a target list of companies yet – a short list of employers you would be thrilled to work for, it’s worthwhile taking the time to research company information and create a list of companies to target in your job search. All the information you need is available on the web, and it’s easy to find detailed information about potential employers online.

Once you have a list, the next step is outreaching to contacts at the company. Use LinkedIn’s companies section as a tool to find company information. You’ll be able see your contacts at the company, new hires, jobs posted, and company statistics. Check the company web site and Google the company to find more contacts at the employer who could be potentially be interested in hiring you.

Read more here

Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171
        


    "Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!"

                

Posted via email from ptg’s posterous

Retaining IT Workers – 8 Ways to Keep Your Best Workers on Board

The organizations honored as Best Places to Work are vastly different in many ways, but they tend to share an ability to keep their most productive people on board. While there’s never a good time to neglect retention, doing so now may prove to be especially costly. With economic conditions beginning to improve, some organizations are looking to increase staffing levels. And as job opportunities proliferate, IT professionals will be more likely to consider moving to a new employer. Businesses that don’t address this looming challenge will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

Computerworld — The organizations honored as Best Places to Work are vastly different in many ways, but they tend to share an ability to keep their most productive people on board. While there’s never a good time to neglect retention, doing so now may prove to be especially costly. With economic conditions beginning to improve, some organizations are looking to increase staffing levels. And as job opportunities proliferate, IT professionals will be more likely to consider moving to a new employer. Businesses that don’t address this looming challenge will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

Effective retention strategies may be based on unchanging core concepts such as providing recognition and helping employees with their career development. But that doesn’t mean an approach that worked prior to the downturn will be equally successful this year — or next. Here are eight ways to keep your best employees in the current environment:

Read more here

Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171
        


    "Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!"

                

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IT Job News – Slow Growth For IT Salaries

As the recovery struggles to take wing, IT salaries in 2010 are rising just slightly over last year’s. At the same time, a number of benefits are on the decline. Some benefits, though, such as flex-work schedules, are increasing in popularity as employers attempt to keep valuable IT staffers, according to a new survey from Janco.

Go here to see the slideshow at Baseline

Mike Hanes
ProVisionTech

ProVisionTech Jobs – Dallas IT Jobs – Dallas Technical Jobs

Dallas IT Recruiter Guy

Integrity in Recruiting
972-200-7171
        


    "Save Time, The Best Resources, Guaranteed!"

                

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