It's a good sign when a prospective employer asks you for references. It usually means you're a finalist for the job. It's often one of the last steps employers make before making the offer.
How important are those references? It varies from company to company. For many employers a weak reference may not cost you the job, but a strong one can help you nail it.
Read more...With the downturn in the economy, noncompete agreements have become more difficult to enforce. Think that means no limits? Think again.
Employee noncompete agreements prohibit employees from engaging in conduct competitive with their employers after the employment relationship terminates. In many states, such agreements have historically been the most effective way for a company to protect a company's investment in training, the development of special skills, trade secrets, confidential information and goodwill. Now, that's all changing. In recognition of our currently dismal economy and the need to permit people to work, some courts -- even in states that generally enforce noncompete agreements -- have demonstrated a reluctance to enforce these agreements.
Nonetheless, employees may find that they are no more free to pursue a new job than they were before. That is because most companies can arm themselves with several tools to achieve nearly the same protections that used to be obtained with a noncompete agreement. Given the change in the noncompete enforcement climate, many companies have already begun supplementing their noncompete agreements with such additional tools -- and technology companies are especially likely to do so.
Read more...Can signing a standard workplace document derail your career plans? Yes, says Jerry Luftman, executive director of graduate IS programs at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. He says a former student almost lost out on a big break because he'd signed a noncompete agreement, a contract that prohibits employees from doing certain work for a set period of time following the end of their current job.
The former student had been an IT manager at a Fortune 500 company but didn't feel that he was moving up fast enough. So he accepted a higher position at another big company. But when he gave his notice, his original employer threatened to go to court to enforce the noncompete agreement he had signed when he first took the job.
Because it's a big money-saver for companies both large and small, running application and storing data in the cloud is already producing a rain of job opportunities for software architects, developers, and consultants.
Simply stated, cloud computing enables small companies to harness the power of many big computers at a very low cost. It means start-ups can tap the vast computing resources of companies such as Amazon or Google to handle their computing needs over the Internet. Computing tasks that only a few years ago would have required the purchase of servers and database software can now be performed on a pay-as-you-go basis, with plenty of extra computing horsepower on tap when needed.
Read more...Ahh, the quick-death elimination round of the phone interview. It's your one chance to get your foot in the door and progress to the next step in discussions with your prospective employer. But no pressure.
Fortunately, blogger Marci Alboher has a few tips on how to ace phone interviews on Lifehacker. Here are some highlights, along with a few thoughts of my own.
Read more...When Austinite Ron Van Dell moved his company’s headquarters from Illinois to Austin in February, it wasn’t only because the CEO of SolarBridge Technologies Inc. wanted the solar energy company to be closer to him.
He also wanted to tap into the deep pool of Austin-area microprocessor industry workers who have been laid off during the last couple of years. Such workers possess the skills that translate well to the solar energy industry, Van Dell said.
Read more...Dave Willmer, the executive director of Robert Half Technology, discusses finding a job in a deep recession.
How is IT holding up in the downturn? Companies are downsizing, but IT has been more resilient than other areas. In fact, the unemployment rates for many positions within IT are significantly lower than the national average. For example, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for computer software engineers for Q1 is 4.2%, or half the national average of 8.4% for the same period.
Our company also publishes on a quarterly basis the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, and 8% of CIOs polled said they plan to expand their IT departments in the second quarter of 2009; 6% expect staff cutbacks. The majority of respondents, 83%, plan to maintain current staffing levels. Those companies that plan to hire cited reasons such as the increased need for customer/end-user support, rising workloads, corporate growth or expansion, and systems upgrades. CIOs planning to reduce staff said the primary reasons are reduced IT budgets, postponed IT projects and companywide layoffs.
BusinessWeek's published its list of Hottest Tech Companies of 2009, and you should pay attention. While at first glance the information seems to primarily benefit investors, the list is an excellent sourcing tool for job seekers, even beyond the current job openings listed on each company's Web site or on Dice. The hidden job market flourishes in burgeoning companies, and the halo effect often extends to subsidiaries, supply chain partners, solutions partners and customers.
To find unadvertised job opportunities, set-up news alerts on several Internet search engines, so you can spring into action when you read about local companies securing new contracts, consummating acquisitions or hiring new CIOs. The alerts will also deliver press releases, which may never receive coverage in local media and business journals. They could inform you about local mixers and networking events and uncover local companies winning IT awards - which is a great way to start up a conversation with a manager.
Read more...Your mother probably taught you to choose your friends wisely, because who you hung out with made you look good - or bad - depending on the crowd. Now it appears the same advice applies to connections you make on networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook.
Kirsten Dixson, a reputation management and online identity expert, warns prospective employers may cast judgments, so job seekers should be prudent when making online connections. Here's a summary of best practices, as described by ComputerWorld.
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