Sharon Florentine

Author Archives: Sharon Florentine

4 ways tech will shape workforce management in 2017

It's not too early to start thinking about your workforce management strategy for 2017. In 2016, organizations realized the importance of organizational efficiency, employee well-being and workplace wellness as well as engagement, flexibility, career growth and planning. You can expect those trends to only accelerate in 2017.We asked three experts -- a chief product officer, a senior technical recruiter, and a partner at a workforce management consulting firm -- to share their thoughts on what lies ahead for in workforce management. Here is their take on workforce management trends to watch in 2017.Related Video 1. Technology in the driver's seat Technology will continue to impact workforce management and HR in incredible ways, says Karen Williams, chief product officer for workforce management solutions company Halogen Software.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 most difficult IT jobs for employers to fill

Most difficult IT jobs for employers to fillImage by Thinkstock The breakneck pace of technological innovation in an era of digital transformation has made it difficult for companies to find and land talent with the right mix of cutting-edge skills and experience. But even harder to find are candidates with the soft skills and leadership potential to match their technical savvy, says Matt Sigelman, CEO of labor market analytics firm Burning Glass. "In IT, most mid- to senior-level folks currently in the market have advanced to where they are because of their technical skills, not based on their management and soft skills. What that means is that certain roles are incredibly hard to fill, as they need both the technical savvy, as well as domain- and industry-specific expertise and leadership skills. Whenever you're asking a candidate to wear two different hats -- in this case, technical and management -- you're inherently making these roles harder to fill as the pool of qualified candidates becomes smaller," Sigelman says. Here, based on Burning Glass's research into more than 40,000 job posting websites from August 2015 to September 2016, and ranked by the number of days it takes to fill these roles, Continue reading

How career mobility programs improve retention

New research from HR executive network and research firm Future Workplace reveals that companies are increasingly investing in career mobility programs to improve employee engagement, productivity and teamwork.The Future Workplace Forecast: Navigating the Future of Work surveyed 2,147 global HR leaders and hiring managers and highlighted an emerging trend: Employers are offering internal career mobility opportunities to allow employees to "test drive" new roles and prepare them for the future workplace, according to the research.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

In tech recruiting, playing it safe is risky business

The Silicon Valley version of the American Dream goes something like this: a dishwasher, a bike messenger, an actor, a waiter (insert totally-unrelated-to-technology job title here) leverages his or her hobbyist-level coding skills to land a hot programming job and becomes a "rockstar developer."And nearly everyone who works in tech, from CEOs, venture capitalists, startup founders, and programmers themselves will tell you they don't care what a candidate's background is; where they went to school; what gender, race, ethnicity they are. All that matters is their tech chops and whether they can do the job. That's terrific, in the hypothetical.In practice, however, is where this dream breaks down; the HR professionals, hiring managers and tech recruiters who are on the front lines of hiring do care about those qualifications, to the detriment of both candidates and companies, says Harj Taggar, co-founder and CEO of technical hiring platform Triplebyte.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 hardest-to-find tech skills

Rumors of Moore's Law's demise have been slightly exaggerated. Advances in computing power, data analytics, the cloud and other technologies just keep marching on -- albeit a bit slower. But as enterprises become more data-driven, it's not the hardware or the infrastructure that's at issue. It's the fact that tech pros with skills relating to organizing, analyzing and securing that data are increasingly harder to find.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to crack the coding challenge

Even for the most seasoned software engineer or developer with a background education in computer science or engineering, completing a coding challenge or a technical screening can be nerve-wracking. Now, imagine you’re a self-taught developer -- the anxiety levels skyrocket.But formal education in computer science, software programming and/or engineering is not mandatory, and in the current IT talent war, the need for those credentials is diminishing further. Many self-taught coders are just as competent as those with a formal degree. The trick is getting past the unconscious biases levied against those without a degree.“From talking to self-taught programmers, I’ve found that one of their biggest sources of fear is the knowledge that they don’t have a degree. Non-traditional candidates are really intimidated by technical screenings, coding interviews, because they’ve been made to feel they’re not qualified without that computer science degree. But I don’t feel that’s true,” says Gayle Laakmann McDowell, founder of technical career consulting firm CareerCup and author of Cracking the Coding Interview.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Battling gender bias in IT

Kate Flathers was having a bad day. Between meetings, phone calls and projects going off the rails, the last thing she wanted to do was a candidate interview. So her first thought when she glanced at the résumé and cover letter that crossed her desk was, “Whew — I’m glad I don’t have to get involved in this one.”In her role as director of product development at DrugDev, a provider of a clinical trials operations platform, Flathers was pulled into the interviewing process only after the first few rounds, when things were going well and a candidate had passed a number of initial screenings. And the candidate she was looking at certainly didn’t fit the usual profile of a software developer: A woman in her 40s who was making a late-stage career change.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 ways to reduce bias in your hiring practices

Unconscious and implicit biases are a major barrier to diversity and inclusion efforts in the workplace, and they can have far-reaching implications on the success of individual employees and the company as a whole. The key, says Katherin Nukk-Freeman and Suzanne Cerra, employment law attorneys and co-founders of SHIFT HR Compliance Training, is not to say, "are we unconsciously biased?" but rather, "What can we do about our implicit biases?"Nukk-Freeman and Cerra offer five bias-busting strategies HR teams can implement in their organizations to create a more diverse and inclusive culture.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The gender gap in tech is getting worse but it’s fixable

With all the recent attention paid to the IT skills gap and the need for more women and underrepresented minorities in technology, you'd think that the IT industry would have innovative solutions, programs and processes in place to fix it. You'd be wrong.New research from global professional services company Accenture and not-for-profit organization Girls Who Code, unveiled at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, held in Houston last week, that despite heightened awareness of the problem, without interventions, strategic planning and targeted tactics, the share of women in the U.S. computing workforce will decline from the current rate of 24 percent to 22 percent by 2025.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

6 tips to handle a sick day at the office

With the start of cold and flu season, it's inevitable that you'll need to take some sick time. But some days, no matter how bad you feel, you just can't stay home -- deadlines, client meetings, software releases just won't wait. Of course, some folks actually want to work through minor illnesses because of their commitment to their job, or a lack of sick time, or because they feel guilty having co-workers pick up their slack.INSIDER 12 habits of successful tech CEO "There are a surprising number of people who don't want to stay home and nurse a cold or a sore throat. They'd rather work through the sniffles or pounding head, and while that's commendable, it can be difficult to work at your usual level of efficiency -- and that can be worse than being missing in action at the office," says Amanda Mitchell, corporate consultant and founder of executive coaching and management consultancy Our Corporate Life.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to improve your odds of landing great talent

In an IT market starved for talent, it's not easy to find qualified candidates. In fact, only one out of every 100 candidates is hired, according to new research from recruiting and ATS software company Lever.Increasing your odds of success What can you do to increase the odds in your organization's favor? Look at where your candidates are coming from. The research revealed that candidates referred to the company have a one-in-16 chance of getting hired; candidates submitted by a recruiting agency or firm have a one-in-22 chance while a proactively sourced candidate's chances are one in 72. Candidates who apply via a company's career site or job posting have the worst chance of being hired; only one out of 152 applicants land a job that way, the research showed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 highest-paying IT security jobs

Highest-paying IT security jobsImage by ThinkstockData breaches, DDOS attacks, hacks and threats continue to dominate the headlines, so it's no surprise that some of the most in-demand IT jobs are in the security area. And with a massive skills gap, companies are willing to pay handsomely for skilled security talent at all levels. "One area we're still seeing huge demand for is in cybersecurity, and hiring companies are willing to pay whatever it takes for talent that can help secure data and mitigate threats while simultaneously ensuring consistent and simplified accessibility from desktop to mobile devices. Companies are sending the message with their budgets: you can't put a price on that," says Jack Cullen, CEO of IT staffing firm Modis. Here are the top 10 highest-paying security roles, culled from career site Dice.com clients' job postings and median salary range data from cloud compensation solutions firm PayScale.com. 1. Lead Software Security EngineerImage by ThinkstockTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 highest-paying IT security jobs

Highest-paying IT security jobsImage by ThinkstockData breaches, DDOS attacks, hacks and threats continue to dominate the headlines, so it's no surprise that some of the most in-demand IT jobs are in the security area. And with a massive skills gap, companies are willing to pay handsomely for skilled security talent at all levels. "One area we're still seeing huge demand for is in cybersecurity, and hiring companies are willing to pay whatever it takes for talent that can help secure data and mitigate threats while simultaneously ensuring consistent and simplified accessibility from desktop to mobile devices. Companies are sending the message with their budgets: you can't put a price on that," says Jack Cullen, CEO of IT staffing firm Modis. Here are the top 10 highest-paying security roles, culled from career site Dice.com clients' job postings and median salary range data from cloud compensation solutions firm PayScale.com. 1. Lead Software Security EngineerImage by ThinkstockTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How older workers can thrive in IT

Mark Zuckerberg's infamous foot-in-mouth statement on the importance of being young and technical ("young people are just smarter") landed him in a lot of hot water. But regardless of whether you believe that technology's best left to the young generation or you think that it's wasted on the young, to paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, there's no question that it becomes ever more difficult to find a job in tech the older you get.But as Silicon Valley struggles with its exclusionary image, recruiters and hiring managers are including age -- in addition to gender, race, ethnicity, education and work history -- as an underrepresented group that deserves consideration.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Tight IT job market means employers will pay more

It's common knowledge that an IT career pays well. But if you're an IT pro looking for a new role, your paycheck could get a whole lot heftier.IT staffing company Modis surveyed 500 IT professionals responsible for key decisions, including hiring, between August 1 and August 9, 2016. The research, Tech Trends: IT Leaders and the Employment Market, shows that approximately 32 percent of IT organizations are willing to offer a 10 percent to 15 percent salary increase to currently employed IT professionals in an effort to attract elite talent.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 reasons CEOs should be involved in hiring decisions

Hiring is as much an art as a science. Bring the wrong talent on board, and it'll tank morale and impede performance; hire the right people, and growth will accelerate.However, finding just the right mix of skills, knowledge, experience and personality can feel like a herculean task, says Aytekin Tank, founder and CEO of online form builder JotForm, but for him, it's the most important part of his job.Tank says he involves himself in every hiring decision at JotForm. Google's CEO and cofounder Larry Page famously approves or rejects every one of the company's hires, too. Should your organization follow suit? Here are five reasons why your CEO should be involved in hiring decisions and two reasons they shouldn't.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How blind skills challenges can close the skills gap

Jessica Janiuk didn't set out to have a career in IT. After earning a degree in communications with a minor in web development, Janiuk started working as a video producer, but quickly found that wasn't the right fit. When offered the opportunity to work on software, Janiuk jumped at the chance, found a professional calling and has thrived in the IT industry for the last few years. But as a trans-woman, Janiuk has experienced more than the usual biases women in tech are subjected to on the journey to her current position as a front-end software engineer for global data protection firm Datto.Though Silicon Valley firms and more progressive, organizations globally are employing a number of methods to increase diversity in their talent pipelines and remove biases in their recruiting and hiring processes, it's still an uphill battle for women, the LGBTQ community and other underrepresented minorities trying to break into the IT field. One way to ensure bias isn't impacting the hiring process is through blind coding challenges to screen and qualify technical talent.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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