The average IT worker in New Hampshire is making over $78K while the overall tech sector accounted for over 13% of the state’s gross domestic product in 2018. A trend that appears to be showing no signs of stopping according to a Cyberstates 2019 Research Report recently detailed by NHBR.
More than 70,000 New Hampshireites work in technology while that market has added over 2,800 new jobs in the past year.
As summer winds down and we start planning out the rest of the year it is a great time to add a networking event or two to your calendar. Many times we find August events can be a lot of fun with great weather and audiences in a great mood (likely a direct correlation!). If you don’t have one in mind take a look at this list from BostInno. A couple of them jumped out at us:
Take a look – there are a lot to choose from!
You managed to get an interview with a company you have had your eye on for some time. The hour is wrapping up on your initial interview with the hiring manager. Things have gone well and you are hoping to be invited back – and then it comes.
“Do you have any questions for me?”
This can be a very specific and calculated question or it can be a sign that the interviewer is merely looking for a way to wrap things up. Either way it provides you with an opportunity to end the meeting with momentum on your side. And if the interview has not gone well to that point it can be your chance to turn things around as well.
Because you did such a good job preparing for your interview – you should already have a strong understanding of what the company does and the challenges they face. Having a great question or two in mind heading into the interview will help you highlight your skills and experience again – and hopefully separate you from the field of candidates.
Questions like “What are the future goals of the company/department?” “How would you describe the company culture?” “What is the typical work week for someone in this role?” and “What is the most important thing I could accomplish in my first 90 days in this job?” are popular. I suspect the answers to many of them will come up in the course of your interview though.
A good, general question in the area of your skillset is a better way and keeps the focus on your qualifications. Presuming you are a project manager you might ask “What kind of process do you have in place for project governance?” Or you may ask how highly they value the PMP and why or why not.
Avoid general questions about what the company does – show them you did research by asking about a project or product they have delivered recently. What challenges did they have in your area of expertise with the delivery? You can expand on your experience and how it may help them avoid these issues in the future.
It should probably go without saying – but this is typically not the time to discuss or ask questions about comp, vacation, etc. Your goal is to get them interested enough to move forward in the process. The compensation discussion will come. You are selling yourself at this point.
But what if you want more? What if you want to be a bit different?
No matter what approach you choose, ask a question that can ultimately give you a chance to highlight your skills and experience again. Take an element of what you have learned about the role in the interview and frame a question about a project or challenge they have. Before the interview even starts have an idea of the key points you want to cover in summary in mind.
After you have asked your question you should have one more ready to go. Let your interviewer know you are very interested in the role based on the discussion and ask what the next steps in the process are. Ask what the timeline for hiring will look like and with whom and when you should follow up. This will clearly establish expectations on both sides – and might be the most important question you can ask!
As the project management practice grows at TSP we are often asked what it is and what makes it different versus a PM posting at a typical staffing agency. These questions come from both the candidate and client perspective. We have found that these themes make our offering unique in the project management space.
We are not a contract shop first. Over 80% of our project management placements are permanent. Of the remaining 20% the majority are contract or consultative roles with a client who needs a specific project or program handled by an experienced professional. These are not typically stop gap or short term positions but are tied to the scope and schedule of the client initiative. Within the project management practice those engagements last an average of over a year.
We work with PMs who are looking to accomplish specific objectives in their career.
Whatever the career goal we appreciate the needs of each PM individually. That doesn’t mean we won’t share a variety of options but it does mean we know an option we present may not be “perfect” when we make the call to someone for a discussion.
It has taken years for this practice to grow – and that growth has come largely organically. We don’t spend all day every day reaching out to PMs to add them to our database. We started by offering project managers a partner they could leverage who understands their skillset and uses that knowledge to develop stronger client relationships. While we still actively recruit project managers as necessary we meet more via referral than we do via recruiting.
Experienced and flexible candidates. We also work with a group of highly experienced professionals who can truly call themselves consultants. They often have several clients of their own and are looking for smaller engagements to fill their available capacity. We are able to provide a potential pipeline of work to these senior level professionals and they provide us with a level of expertise that helps us better service our clients as well.
We are a long term partner. A great illustration of this is when we do recruit a candidate for a specific opening. If it turns out not to be “the job for you” our intent is to form a partnership with each PM keeping an eye toward future opportunities. We check in regularly depending on each PMs circumstances to strengthen our relationship, to understand any changes to their experience and skills and to have an understanding of what might be of interest to them in a new engagement. We also are happy to leverage our network to help candidates make connections in the region. One way or another we believe we can be of assistance to everyone at some point in their career.
To be clear – if we say we are not a contract shop it does not mean we don’t work with contract project managers. It means we don’t tend to plug short term gaps with PMs. We find full time staff PMs and work with clients looking to staff specific projects or statements of work.
A recent article by David L. Harris for the Boston Business Journal highlighted the top 25 open jobs based on research conducted by The Conference Board of August job postings in the area. While the buckets are broad it is no surprise that their information matches up with what we see here. While the various management categories more than likely contain some IT managers and executives – these “buckets” reflect the top IT roles open during the month of August.
#22 on the list – Network Systems Analysts – 1,492 openings – These roles remain in consistently high demand around the region. Many companies are finding that it is not as easy as it once was to find mid to senior folks as that group has moved into other areas of technology (O365, Security, AWS, etc.) where there is more runway for career and compensation growth. As a result there are more opportunities for junior to mid-level folks to move ahead with the more traditional Network technologies.
#17 on the list – Computer Systems Analysts – 1,744 openings – These roles differ from the Network roles in that they tend to work in support of various applications and remain in steady demand. Strong expertise on a particular software platform is usually required (think the ever present Salesforce) and companies do not often have the luxury of being able to train their key technology on the job. You may hit 90% of the skills for these roles – but if you don’t have THE skill you won’t get a call.
#16 on the list – Computer User Support – 1,752 openings – Finding quality IT support professionals is a constant in the market. These roles provide great opportunities for both experienced professionals and for junior and entry level people looking to grow their technology skills and experience.
#5 on the list – Computer All Other – 2,957 openings – This is not the most helpful title for a group of people but is strangely reflective of technology roles. Given that a job title at one company may do perform a wildly different role than someone with the same title at another there are many IT roles that don’t fit into a single category. Hence – “Computer All Other”.
#2 on the list – Software Application Developers – 3,560 – I would argue that this title is not much better than “Computer All Other” in that the 3,560 openings may reflect 3,560 unique types of developers. While that may be a bit of a stretch most would agree that a developer here is not a developer there. Full Stack with the ability to code at an advanced level in Javascript seems to be leading the charge here in our office. While the challenge of finding developers for every role is significant the competition for those folks has reached the top of the list!
According to the research – there are more open jobs than unemployed people in the marketplace. That said – and this is particularly true in IT – if you don’t have the right skills it is still hard to land these jobs. With so many openings it can be overwhelming to do your research as well. You may have looked at 1,000 developer roles which means you haven’t looked at 2,560 open developer roles. What does that mean to you? If you are actively looking we offer the same advice to everyone. Communicate within your network directly and consistently. Your contacts will have detailed insight into what is going on within their space and will be able to help influence your hunt directly. And work with a good agency. At a minimum we can help you analyze what you see in the market as well as provide you opportunities you may not have found on your own!
New Hampshire appears to have many things going for it at the moment with regard to work. The unemployment rate remains low and according to the US Census bureau it boasts the highest median income in the country.
While these are both great things to hear – what do they mean to folks looking for technology jobs in NH – or for those looking to fill technology jobs in NH?
For companies looking to fill roles it means competition is approaching extreme. The pool of available employees is very small – a fraction of the 2.7% unemployed are IT professionals. Of those people another – much smaller – fraction may have the required skills for a position. To make a successful hire they must entice a fully employed candidate to leave their current role which requires significant effort. Gone are the days where an ad on LinkedIN or Indeed draw enough traffic to fill a position over time.
Candidates on the other hand have a slight upper hand. With the number of calls and emails from recruiters likely on the rise this can be a good time to make a move into a new technology or market. Unlike five years ago – companies may be willing to trade certain required skills or experience for the rest of a candidate’s skillset. New Hampshire has also become much more fertile ground for start ups and investment money which provide a wide variety of options for technology professionals. If you haven’t looked around while you were surviving the economy of the past several years this is a really good time to assess the hiring landscape.
It can also be a good time to transition into consulting – particularly project based or short term consulting. We have seen a growing number of candidates plot a path to retirement that leverages this approach. It allows them some flexibility in terms of schedule so that they can start their own businesses, turn hobbies into second careers, go back to school and do all of those things we read about in lifestyle blogs!
Experts say the concern is that job growth will be slowed due to lack of available workforce. With the high median income and quality of life that NH offers you would think candidates would be moving into the state but that has not been the case to date. With upcoming competition in Boston coming from GE and Amazon it will be very interesting to monitor technology job growth in NH over the coming years. One thing is for sure – NH has a great foundation to build from as we do!
While we work with many organizations to find in-house security professionals we are also lucky to work with several clients who have brought innovative products in this space to market. According to Cybersecurity Ventures there will be 3.5 million job openings in this space by the year 2021. A steadily increasing number of engineers and architects we work with are asking for advice as they consider making it their focus moving forward.
We recently came across this article on the future of the space which includes thoughts on where companies will look to fill openings, the creeping scope of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, personal privacy and more.
And for any of you looking for a new role in cybersecurity – take a look at this role we are working to fill here at TSP!
Some networking events stand out compared to others and Boston TechJam 2017 at City Hall Plaza on June 15,2017 was one of those. Great attendance & attitudes, perfect weather, and something for everyone.
at Boston TechJam
Eric adjusting to a short putter.
Over the past several years the economy has created two common themes that prevent companies from finding appropriate candidates.
Every client wants and deserves to hire the best possible candidate. They should never compromise. However, companies need to attract the right candidate for them and not some engineered “perfect” candidate. When it comes time to hire it is important for a company to conduct a realistic self assessment on their culture, the opportunity they have to offer, and the technical requirements needed to fill the job. Sounds obvious, right? Well not really. What ends up happening is several people sit around a table throwing out “nice to have” skills, the perfect industry background, and specific years of experience to create the perfect candidate. Much like Gary and Wyatt did when they created Lisa in Weird Science. (Yes I grew up the 80’s)
Before you know it they have tasked their recruiting department to search for the perfect candidate not realizing that even if this candidate exists, they may not be interested or appropriate for the job! This creates a disconnect between who the company wants to hire and which candidates are actually interested in the job.
Here are some things to keep in mind:
Understand your true opportunity and be flexible: Consider if you will, a small widget manufacturer that needs someone to build internal applications on a somewhat dated technology stack that will have to last a few more years. The candidate coming out of a software company using the latest cutting edge technology may be easy to get excited about, but the candidate may not be attracted to that type of position or company. The misconception of how the market views their opportunity can make this role go unfilled longer than it should. Sound familiar? Please don’t misunderstand me; there is always a candidate out there that will add value for years to come. You just need to do a little homework and conduct an honest self assessment.
The best talent for your specific company and job could come in many forms – so be open to that. If longevity is a real concern, a candidate that is a bit “light” for the role could be the answer. Someone at this point in their career may be more concerned with an employer where they can learn and grow. If you provide them an opportunity to learn, grow, and even lead a project a sense of loyalty will kick in and the likelihood they stay grows exponentially. You may be a flat organization and a self assessment might lead you to conclude that although you provide a great work environment with interesting projects, there is limited upward mobility. This could be an example where a highly experienced candidate may be a good fit. It is common for companies to shy away from someone with too much experience but be flexible. This candidate may be willing to take a bit less in pay or responsibility for an improved commute or a more stable environment. Because of these concessions they can provide overall bench strength at a price tag that might be more affordable than you think.
Good people will learn fast: I see job descriptions written so specific (i.e. 7-9 years experience) that you are virtually recruiting 0.5% of the population in your area. Yet again and again we hear: “she only has 3 years not 4” or “he has only worked with SQL 2008 not 2010”. I remind my clients of this all the time – you hire people – not resumes. A company will pass up on a quality individual that hits 75% of the requirements (including cultural fit) because they are using SQL 2008 not SQL 2010. Think of it this way: Is it easier to teach someone how to fit in your corporate culture or the new features of SQL 2010? The extra 2 months that you take to search for the “perfect” candidate could have been used for the candidate with the right cultural fit to get up to speed on the technology. Furthermore, there is the probability that 2 months doesn’t net you a better candidate.
Remember when you were a candidate? : Clients eventually become candidates and candidates become clients; it’s the natural order of life. Many times I have told a client turned candidate that I was not able to secure them an interview because, for example, “you have Oracle and not SAP.” Inevitably I hear some version of the following: “I managed large ERP’s my whole career, if you can manage one the principles are the same. I bring all the other intangibles they are looking for.”
My response is: “YOU’RE RIGHT! BUT YOU DID THE SAME THING WHEN YOU WERE HIRING!” If you feel this way and truly believe this, then apply the same logic when you are hiring again.
What can’t you live without? We all agree that some skills are not negotiable and are needed to do the job effectively. However, instead of creating job specs from a predefined wish list, ask yourself this question: “What are the 3 or 4 things I can’t live without.” I have seen the following happen consistently over 20 years when you do this:
What does this mean? Up until this moment of clarity, the Hiring Manager couldn’t understand why they weren’t seeing the right candidates or why candidates weren’t interested in the role. Once the free themselves of recruiting to an impossible list of skills the process gets more fluid.
In short we all understand that candidates need to have certain core skills to get the job done. The real key to managing adequate candidate flow and hiring the right person is a simultaneous juggling act. Avoid the age old ritual of preparing a long list of arbitrary skills. Create simple expectations around what it takes to perform the job and marry that to the known skills in your market. A strong local recruiter can lend guidance on the market place even if you don’t retain their services.