When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Recruiter!

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Recruiter!

The Pros and Cons of Recruiting While growing up to be a recruiter may not be a dream for most children, they might want to reconsider. Recruiting can be rewarding—both mentally and financially. While it doesn’t come without its challenges, it is an often-overlooked career path. Along with one of our longest-tenured recruiters, Steve Kerr, who has over 14 years of experience as a recruiter here at A&A Search and Staffing, we compiled the pros and cons of joining an industry that puts your success in your hands. Pros Teamwork: The feeling of camaraderie and working toward a unified goal is very strong when you are in a good recruiting agency. You feel supported and have great coworkers who understand your job and can offer valuable advice and insight. This is especially helpful for new hires and those just entering the industry. Many sales positions leave you as a loner on the road, figuring things out as you go. But with recruiting, you have a team to offer insight and best practices from day one. Hard work is rewarded: With many jobs, no matter how hard you work or put in extra time or effort, your paycheck will still be the same week after week—even as the company’s bottom line rises. With recruiting, when you work harder, place more candidates, and get more clients, you see the reward for your efforts. You are in control of your own success. Making a difference to your clients and candidates: Recruiting can be financially rewarding, but surprisingly, one of the other top reasons people continue in this industry is the relationships and...
Top 10 IT Blogs

Top 10 IT Blogs

It’s hard to keep up with the latest information technology trends, news, and issues. These blogs offer a range of interesting and thoughtful resources to make sure you know what is influencing and shaping your industry: ITWorld.com: ITworld offers tech decision makers, industry leaders, and other IT influencers a unique environment for gathering and sharing information that will help them do their jobs. This resource has you covered with everything from a short list of key products in a specific product category and advice on how to approach a technical challenge to a quick primer on an emerging technology. Mashable.com/tech: Mashable has the latest news and trends in tech as well as a wide range of other areas. While it may not be the most hard-hitting, it is a great resource for how tech impacts—and is impacted by—daily culture and entertainment. Who doesn’t want to know why Kylie Jenner tanked Snapchat’s value? ZDNetcom: ZDNet brings together the reach of global and the depth of local, delivering 24/7 news coverage and analysis on the trends and tech. Whatever your role in IT, ZDNet provides support, from investigating options to optimizing a solution. This blog is a great resource for professionals seeking to research technology-related issues and solve business technology problems. Blog.Codinghorror.com: Coding Horror is written by Jeff Atwood, an experienced software developer with a particular interest in the human side of software development. He researches things he finds interesting—this is a great resource for real software issues and applications. Wired.com/category/threatlevel/: Wired Threat Level is a well-known blog focused on tech and gear. Wired covers privacy, crime, and security online, digging into...
Top IT Conferences

Top IT Conferences

In our hectic online world, we often forget the value of face-to-face meetings and events. Being active in the IT industry and attending key conferences can bring many benefits and networking opportunities. We have compiled our list of the best IT conferences to put on your calendar. These conferences will keep you up to date on the latest industry trends and provide a wonderful opportunity for networking. Top IT Conferences Grace Hopper | Oct. 4–6 in Orlando, FL Co-founded by Dr. Anita Borg and Dr. Telle Whitney in 1994 and inspired by the legacy of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, Anita Borg Institute’s Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) of Women in Computing brings the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. GHC is the world’s largest technical conference for women in computing. The conference was named one of the 50 best conferences to attend by The Daily Muse. Each year, women technologists and the best minds in computing convene to highlight the contributions to the field by women. The Anita Borg Institute co-presents GHC with the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM).   AGENDA 18, What’s Next in Digital | March 19–21, 2018 in Miami, FL AGENDA is a business leadership conference focused on driving your business forward in changing times. Unlike any other conference, AGENDA is immersive, interactive, and focused on giving you and your colleagues the practical tools to lead change in your organization. Today, it’s all about digital and new technologies that are disrupting companies, industries, and the world. AGENDA is attended by an array of business and technology leaders—including C-level, VPs, and directors (from marketing, operations, finance,...
5 Tech Industries to Watch

5 Tech Industries to Watch

Many of these technologies are already buzzing, but some of them—due to recent breakthroughs or more players in the game—seem to be reaching a crescendo. Here, we outline what we see as the top technologies to watch and why:   Internet of Things (IoT): We are seeing IoT have an explosive growth in home technology—everything from your fridge to your thermostat. Not only is the technology being added to these devices, it is having an impact in a meaningful way.One reason for such growth is the number of players and marketplaces that are entering the market. This allows for more widespread adoption of this technology, and the next step will be integrated technology—and that is when IoT will take its next great leap forward.   Augmented Reality (AR): The lesser-known brother to Virtual Reality (VR), AR is a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, thus providing a composite view. It is not all immersive like VR; instead, it lies above or incorporates with the real world (think Pokémon GO!).Instead of kids chasing Pokémon, imagine the business implications. One business, Apple, is imagining in a big way. They have started down an ambitious road to bring AR to everyone—an effort Tim Cook, Apple Inc.’s chief executive, and his team see as the best way for the company to lead the next generation of AR devices.1   Digital Assistant: The most “famous” digital assistants in the market today are Siri, Amazon Echo, and Cortana. The base idea is to make it easier for us to interact and work with technology. While it is...
5 Ways to Use Social Media to Boost Your Job Search

5 Ways to Use Social Media to Boost Your Job Search

We all know social media can sabotage a job search with embarrassing photos and polarizing comments. However, it can also be a very beneficial tool to add to your job-hunting arsenal—especially in the IT industry, where 76% of recruiters use social media to find candidates.   Here are 5 ways to use social media effectively in your job search process:   Clean It Up!: Do a full review of all your social media accounts to make sure you have no rude, profane, or discriminatory comments or remarks. Social media is casual, but you still need to make sure you have grammar and spelling in check. 66% of employees said this would cause them to have a negative opinion of a candidate. Most importantly, don’t use social media as a sounding board for your current or past job woes. While they may be justified, a new employer will get nervous that you are negative or a problem employee and move on.   Be Where It Counts: LinkedIn is considered to be the most used and professional job search network by many employers, so make sure you are on it. Ensure that your profile is up to date and accurate with your work history and projects. Try to connect with people you have real connections with. Also, make sure to join groups in the industry you are in or looking to enter. One good group to start with is the Job-Hunt Help LinkedIn Group. This platform is also a great tool to look for jobs, boasting one of the most robust job listings.   Network: Whether in person or on social media,...