In it, Mike stresses the need of recruiting professionals to adopt and execute a social media strategy as well as the need for candidates and recruiters to be aware of privacy settings on various social media/networking sites and be sure that all parties are comfortable with it’s use for recruiting purposes.

If you can’t see the link above, here it is again: http://www.recruitingtrends.com/leveraging-social-media-and-social-networks-for-effective-technology-recruiting

Let us know what you think!

Mike acknowledged that it can be difficult for non HR hiring managers to realize when a conversation may turn from trying to find a common ground into potentially illegal territory.  Mike said “Interviewers are looking for a person’s ability to shift gears and how they handle tricky questions. An interview is about finding common ground with someone and that’s a good thing. But lines get crossed, and if you’re looking for a job you have to be prepared for certain things.”

The main thing to remember is that whatever happens with your interview and whatever questions you may get asked:  Know yourself, know your resume and be ready to answer everything that comes your way honestly.

What are your thoughts and experiences with interviewing or being interviewed?  Let us know in the comments or tweet @TalenerGroup

(If the link to the article above doesn’t work, here is the URL: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2012/03/29/how-to-answer-tricky-and-illegal-interview-questions/)

Almost 42% of all the mobile users, or about 98 million subscribers in the United States, use smartphones.  There are over 400 different smartphone devices, and the leaders of the industry are Google with their Android platform, taking almost half the market share in the US, with Apples IOS taking about 30%.  The total number of smart phone users continues to rise year over year, with last July being the first month ever that the number of smart phones purchases exceeded all other mobile purchases, and by the end of last year almost 60% of all mobile devices bought were smart phones.  There is no reason to believe that this trend will slow down anytime soon, and smartphones will eventually become the new standard. 

Mobile users engage in a wide variety of activities, from surfing the web and accessing social networking sites, to shopping and downloading content.  Nearly twice as many smartphone users are downloading and playing games compared to last year.  Streaming online music or radio is the third fastest growing activity among smartphone users and App downloads are up 53%. Companies and Brands are recognizing the importance of this new growing trend and trying to capture their share of the market by creating mobile websites and mobile applications.  Mobile websites are different than traditional websites in that they are specifically designed to be viewed and interacted with from a smartphone device.  

For many technology and internet companies, more traffic is starting to come in through the mobile avenue vs. the traditional web.  For example, Twitter’s mobile traffic is up to 55% and Pandora is up to 60%, and Facebook is seeing the same trend where about 350 million of its 800 million active users access the site through mobile channels.  Similarly, Groupon reported in December that nearly a fifth of its vouchers sold were via mobile channels.  More companies are being forced to create mobile websites in an effort to not to miss out on this growing opportunity.  A study last year found that 61% of mobile users won’t return to a site if they have trouble accessing it from their phone, highlighting how important it is for companies to build out clean and intuitive mobile websites and the need for developers specializing in mobile languages such as WML and XHMTL.

In addition to the growth of mobile websites, the mobile app market has been exploding as well.  A study found that iPhone users had an average of 44 apps and Android users had an average of 32 apps.  YouTube was the top app for the iPhone, followed by Google Maps, Facebook, and Yahoo!  Other top apps include popular games such as Angry Birds and Words with Friends.

 But the top apps were always changing, with new apps becoming popular every day.  This is great news for mobile web developers, as the constantly shifting and dynamic industry is always creating new opportunities for the next big bright idea.  With the success of Twitter, Yelp and Zynga, Venture Capitalist firms are seeking to fund multimillion dollar deals with mobile app focused companies such as Instagram, Foursquare labs, and Flipboard.  Developers specializing in Objective C, HTML +, JavaScript, and java will be in high demand as mobile focused startups continue to spring up.  Comparison shopping engine PriceGrabber.com had to outsource the development of its mobile website to a company that specializes in building mobile websites, because it had a lack of in house developers and couldn’t find the developers in time.  So this shows that internet companies are quickly looking for experiences mobile web developers that Talener can help recruit. 

For a look at the presentation click the link below:

Why companies are in need of Mobile Developers

Check out Talener CEO Mike Dsupin’s comment heavily featured in this PC World article: 12 Ways to Make Your Online Profile Work for You.  The same article/story was picked up by IT World as well. In case you can’t click on or view the link, here is the URL: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/250858/12_ways_to_make_your_online_profile_work_for_you.html

Let us know what you think!

With a very aggressive job market for Software Engineers, it is easy for a candidate to confuse interviews, companies, jobs, etc.  Here’s a series of questions that we ask our candidates after they complete interviews from us that we hope you find it a useful tool.

Immediate questions to answer after the interview

1)      First impression of the interview, how did the interview go?

2)      How did you do in the interview?

3)      How long were you there?

4)      Who did you meet? (Names and Title)

5)      What did you talk with those people about?  What questions did they ask you?

6)      How did you handle the questions?

7)      How did they describe the job to you?

8)      What questions did you ask them?

9)      What technical questions did they ask you specifically and who asked you those questions?

10)   How did you leave things off when you left?

11)   What do you think of the job, people, company, technology?

12)   If they are interested in bringing you back for another interview, would you be interested in going back for another interview?

13)   What questions do you still have about the job, the company, the team, the technology, the future?

14)   Do you want the job? What did you like specially about the position

Comparison Time:

Activity: Keep a List/Spreadsheet.  Activity can mean interviews, places you’ve sent your resume to, friends who you’ve given your resume to, etc.

Past, Present, Future (Not yet schedules, but companies that you are interested in and have received some level of response)

What other positions have you interview for past and present? What are the interviews do you have scheduled?  What other companies are you waiting to hear back from?

Rank: What’s your #1 Job and why?  What’s your #2 and why? Etc.

1)      How do the new jobs compare to your current role or the prospect of staying on the Market?

2)      Compare:  $, Location, Technology, Growth path, Team, Company, Role

Process:  

1)      How many interviews have you had with each company?

2)      What needs to happen to schedule another interview?

3)      What needs to happen to make an offer?

4)      Do you have your references?

5)      Will you pass a background check, drug test, pre-employment test?

6)      Have you spoken to your significant other about your new job opportunities?  How would a new job affect your life? (Benefits,  Working Hours, Commute Time and Cost)

Offer:  More is always better, but:

1)      What is your ideal offer?

2)       How are you going to negotiate with the client to get to that number? 

3)      What is acceptable? 

4)      What will you definitely turn down? 

Link to the article is here:http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/26/can-you-snag-a-tech-job-with-training-alone/?section=magazines_fortune

Enjoy!

Resume Template:

Name

Address

Contact Information

Objective: To keep your resume to 1, max 2 pages

Technical Skills:

-          Languages- Should be your strongest to weakest, but relevant

-          Databases- If you post a technology, you are considering yourself an expert for your level

-          Other- Areas of interests

Experience:

Date- Present, Name of Company, Title

-          Verb, Length of this section dependent upon your tenure

-          Verb, Should be accomplishments only

-          Verb, Under sell on your resume, over sell in the interview

-          Verb, Maximum of 4 lines per most recent job

Date- Date, Name of Company, Title

-          Verb, Should only be the relevant skills that you acquired that are applicable to new job

-          Verb, Just speak of the things you are most proud of

-          Verb, Eliminate periods, for these are not sentences

Date- Date, Name of Company, Title

-          Verb, less than what you wrote for the most recent 2 positions

-          Verb, Keep going back to when you graduated from College or Relevant experience

Date-Date, Name of Company, Title

Education:

-          College, Date of Graduation

-          Major or Degree, GPA (If above 3.0)

Certifications:

No Hobbies: They are not cool, rather strange

Look at all the room that is still left on this page

Amazing!

It is okay to have different versions of your resume, just be consistent.

1) Introduction Call- When we call a candidate or send them an email for the 1st time, we want to make it clear that the reason why we want to meet you is to best represent you to our clients.  It’s not a fashion show!

2) Interview at Talener- Our goal is to get you out of our office in 30 minutes and get you back to your job without taking up more than your lunch hour.  Who can’t afford to miss 1 lunch?

3) Use Social Networks to communicate effectively with you.  Whether you like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Texting, IM, let us know and we’ll get our message to you.  Email was cool in 2001, but not anymore.  Take advantage of our team that is always available to you.

4) Your resume- We know what people are looking for.  Use our resume guide and make it impossible for a Manager/Human Resources Department to disqualify you.  Under sell on paper and over-perform in the interview.  Resumes get you disqualified, not hired.

5) Phone Interview with clients- We know they are nothing more than a way to weed out the weak, so we’ll better prepare you to make the most of that 20 minute call.

6) Preparing you for your Interview- something that we do extremely well.  Our clients want to hire through us.  We have a ton of knowledge that we are ready to share with you.

7) Feedback- You want it, you need it.  We’ll get it and give it to you in a timely manner.

Getting you the Best Offer- Not very easy.  You want us to negotiate every aspect of the offer: Salary, Bonus, Review, Vacation, etc.  Nothing is off limits.  Every offer is negotiable.  We’re here to help make that happen.

Talener believes that we have more to offer a candidate.  Contact us to get into a new job/contract in 2012 ASAP!  We’re waiting for you.

Navigating a job change can be a stressful and hectic time.  In an effort to help ease some of your stress and help you plan your switch more effectively, we here at Talener have put together a list of things to keep in mind/consider when changing jobs.

Last week we covered Location, Location, Location and Compensation.  This week we are looking at Technology and Growth:

Technology –Is the technology the same or similar to the technology you are working with now or is it something completely new and exciting?  Will you have to take additional certifications or learn a new programming language or methodology?  How well equipped are you to make those sorts of transitions? Does the new company pay for training/tuition reimbursement? All of these are things to consider when making a switch.

Growth – Is there opportunity to learn from and grow within the team?  If so, how much?  Will you be the junior person on the team with an opportunity to move up the ranks within or are you the senior person on the team with the responsibility to train junior people?  Know where you are coming in so you know what is expected from you and how you can move within the organization. Make sure you are asking questions about both of these things as they will impact how competitive you are in the office place as well as how you continue to bring value to the team you are joining. 

Stay tuned next week for two more tips on what to keep in mind when you are leaving a job and be sure to check back in with us tomorrow when we are posting the link the the Livestream Q&A we did last Thursday and will hopefully have a post from our fearless leader about Interviewing 101. Have a great day!

Navigating a job change can be a stressful and hectic time.  In an effort to help ease some of your stress and help you plan your switch more effectively, we here at Talener have put together a list of things to keep in mind/consider when changing jobs.

1.  Location, location, location! – Is the potential job closer to your house or farther away?  Will you using public transportation, and if so, is it the same you currently use or a line you are unfamiliar with?  Be sure to test the commute at the times you would actually be doing it in order to be sure that it is a good commute for you.  What takes you 15 minutes mid morning, mid afternoon or after 6:00pm may take you an hour longer at peak/rush hours, so it’s worth the time to make sure you wouldn’t be forced to leave the house much earlier or return much later.

2.  Compensation – Remember that your compensation is made of more than just your salary, it is composed of your salary, benefits (including paid time off), and bonuses (if your company gives bonuses) among other things.  When deciding whether or not to accept a new offer, compare apples to apples in order to get an accurate picture of what you would be moving to.  If you are getting a $5,000 raise, but are moving from a company that covers your medical and dental benefits 100% to one that requires you to pay 20% of your deductibles, then that may not actually be a raise, it may end up costing you money in the end.  Luckily, the reverse is also true – if you are offered the same salary at a company that pays 100% of your benefits, and your current company requires you to pay 20% of the deductibles, that can result in more money in your pocket as long as the insurance plans are similar.  Feel free to ask to see the details on their insurance plans to be sure there would be no loss or reduction in coverage.  Also, remember that unless your bonus is guaranteed (very rare!), you can only factor in bonus money that you have already been paid as most other bonuses are discretionary and there is always a chance they may not be paid at all or may be lower than you anticipated.

1. Stay tuned next week for Part II of Two for Tuesday: Things to Keep in Mind When Changing Jobs.  If you have any questions about this or any other items dealing with changing jobs or looking for new ones, please make sure to join us this Thursday, November 17th at 5PM on our Facebook page for a live Q&A.

   Please RSVP now to ensure a spot: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2334259834

   And join our FB page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Talener-Group/130014800351250

If you have any questions about this or any other items dealing with changing jobs or looking for new ones, please make sure to join us this Thursday, November 17th at 5PM on our Facebook page for a live Q&A.

Please RSVP now to ensure a spot: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2334259834

 And join our FB page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Talener-Group/130014800351250