Proprietary Metrics — the Next Big Thing in Talent Management

I am a strong advocate of what I call “parallel benchmarking,” which is borrowing the proven best practices from completely different industries and functions. This article advocates the borrowing and the adaptation to talent management of what are known as “proprietary metrics” from the baseball industry. Proprietary metrics get their name because they cover metrics that are so powerful that they are “owned” and their components are therefore not shared. In baseball, there are dozens of proprietary metrics, while in the corporate world of talent management, they are surprisingly rare. Corporate examples of these proprietary metrics include Google’s “retention metric” for predicting which employees are about to quit and its “hiring success algorithm” for predicting the characteristics that lead to new hire success on the job.

Baseball Has the Most Advanced Metric Model to Learn From

You might not know it, but baseball metrics (which are known as Sabermetrics) are literally years ahead of the metric practices in talent management. Most talent metrics are calculated but once a year and they merely inform the user about last year’s results. In direct contrast, most baseball metrics are provided in real time on the scoreboard for all players and managers to see precisely when they need right as they are making a decision. Many baseball metrics are also “predictive talent decision metrics” that accurately guide executives in important talent decisions including who to hire, how much to pay, and how long a player will continue to add value. Even “old-school” baseball managers now realize that the use of metrics for talent decisions can result in more productive hires, increased revenue, and significantly more wins.

The Value Gained by Not-sharing Your Metrics

Another critical lesson to learn from baseball relates to the value of sharing or not sharing the details behind your metrics. During the early Moneyball era in baseball, metrics were open and commonly shared by all teams. While this universal “open-source” sharing made it easy for teams to compare their performance against each other, the fact that every team used the same metrics meant that no individual team could gain a competitive advantage. It took a few years, but eventually baseball executives realized that increasing performance above that of your competitors was a critical goal. So in an attempt to develop a competitive advantage in metrics, the best teams and some vendors started to develop what are now known as “proprietary metrics” (examples include WAR, Ultimate zone ratings, and StatRank).

Proprietary metrics in both baseball and talent management by definition are unique and valuable, so the data used, the methods for collecting the data, and the components in the metric formula are all treated as valuable secrets. This exclusive or limited use allows executives using the proprietary metrics to make better talent decisions than their competitors.

A List of Proprietary Talent Management Metrics to Develop

If you have weak metrics, keeping them secret obviously doesn’t by itself add much value. What is needed are advanced talent decision metrics which provide such measurable insight and value that you want to keep them secret long as possible. Whether you are a corporation or a vendor, you should be constantly striving to develop these “proprietary metrics” that when used correctly, significantly improve talent management decisions and results. In order to have a large impact, proprietary metrics in most cases have to be developed in areas where no current metrics exist. Some areas where I suggest that proprietary talent metrics should be developed in the corporate world include:

Recruiting

• The factors or algorithm that predicts candidate on-the-job performance and retention


• A metric that shows what the level of competition for external top talent will be 6 to 12 months into the future

Retention

• A risk metric that shows which employees have a high probability of quitting within six months


• A metric that predicts what the turnover rate by manager will be in 6-12 months into the future

Development

• An algorithm that successfully identifies leadership potential in team members with less than two years at the firm


• A leadership algorithm that predicts a leader’s success over the next two years based on the actions that they take


• Calculating in which cases moving and retraining existing workers has a higher return on investment than externally hiring new ones

Productivity/ innovation

• A metrics process that identifies the job-related factors that increase employee productivity and innovation


• A metric that accurately identifies innovators among candidates and recent hires

Compensation

• An algorithm which shows which reward and recognition factors have the greatest impact on improving employee productivity


• A metric which accurately determines which employees are under or overpaid


• Predicting into the future how many years an individual employee will remain productive and “worth their salary”

Business case metrics

• Calculating how much the value of a replacement new hire is above (or below) the value produced by the average current employee.


• Calculating the increased dollar impact for each percentage increase in new hire on-the-job performance.

The proprietary metrics mentioned above might seem far-fetched to many talent management leaders, but some of them are already being used for improving baseball talent decisions.

In a Competitive World, Metrics Must Also Be Continually Improved 

Another lesson to be learned from baseball is that no matter how good your array of metrics are initially,  they will eventually be copied and even exceeded by your competitors (as baseball guru Billy Beane stated above.)

Keeping your best metrics proprietary will work up to a point. But in order to remain competitive, you must have a process for continually upgrading your talent metrics, so that your organization is continually in the lead in understanding the factors that cause current performance and that reveal future performance. Next-step metrics for most talent functions start with the development and use of real-time metrics to help managers make decisions based on today’s data. And at some point, talent decision makers will begin to demand predictive metrics that tell you in advance how you must act today in order to ensure superior future results.

And last but perhaps the most important metric frontier is the development of business-case metrics, which show you the direct value-chain connection between improving talent management results and the subsequent improvement in business results. This last step is essential because nothing increases funding and credibility more than quantifying and showing your direct dollar impact on corporate strategic goals.

What Exactly Should Be Kept Secret and Proprietary?

In baseball, some will reveal the name and the even the value of their proprietary metrics. But unless you are going to sell them, in the corporate world I wouldn’t even reveal those two factors because the mere knowledge of their existence and success will encourage others to develop similar metrics. You should also strive to keep secret the following metric-related components:

• The data needed to calculate the metric


• Where, when, and how that data is gathered


• The elements and their weight in the formula for the metric


• What is a passing and failing score on the metric


• Which talent decisions are improved by the metric


• Common problems involved in using the metric


• The models developed as a result of the metric

Final Thoughts

After decades of work in metrics, I have found that both corporate recruiting and talent management are literally years behind in the adoption of all forms of advanced metrics. Google of course is the lone exception, with a variety of proprietary algorithms and its employee research lab. Google is also internally focused, so it avoids the use of benchmark comparison metrics with other firms.

A handful of ERP and talent management vendors have actually developed some proprietary metrics, but for the most part, I can’t honestly say that I have found them to be worthy of being kept secret. Instead, what is needed are bold corporate talent leaders who are not afraid to study and learn about the type of talent decisions that are currently made in baseball. Corporate leaders should then proactively identify new talent areas where a metric that explains why things are happening, what will happen in the future, and the correct actions to implement in order to take advantage of that future because these actions would add significant business value by increasing revenue, productivity, and innovation.

Obviously advanced and proprietary metrics are more difficult to develop, but the dollar business impact may be up to five times higher than using existing “copycat” low-value metrics like cost per hire or the number of training hours provided. So the last step is for leaders to stop worrying about benchmark comparisons with other firms and instead to focus on metrics that provide quarterly and year-to-year double-digit improvement in their own talent results.

via Proprietary Metrics — the Next Big Thing in Talent Management – ERE.net.

Proprietary Metrics — the Next Big Thing in Talent Management

The Biggest Hiring Mistake You Can Make

In case you weren’t aware, it’s incredibly difficult to hire software engineers right now. This problem is not relegated to Silicon Valley, New York City, or Washington D.C. It’s everywhere. And for a software startup, not having the right talent at your disposal will be a real game-ender.

Here at The Startup Factory in Durham, North Carolina, I’m constantly being asked for connections to talent. In fact, I get asked for talent so much that I created a job fair specifically for tech companies to pitch the audience on why they should work for them.

So what can entrepreneurs do to recruit top talent? Or put another way, how will you compete with others for talent?

The first thing you’ve got to do is avoid shooting yourself in the foot. This usually happens when you find the right hire, but make a bad offer. As a startup you’re obviously low on cash, but you’re most definitely rich in equity. Future stock ownership granted through a stock option is the best compensation tool in your arsenal right now.

As a founder, or set of founders, you own all or most of your company. So an option grant has to be the most important part of your compensation offer because it represents the future value of your vision. If you are hiring a new vice president of technology to build out the tech side of your business, for example, then this set of skills may cost $175,000 or more outside the startup world. Allocating that much cash would be crazy, so you need to convince this person to take equity and a smaller amount of cash as part of her total compensation.

Too many times I’ve seen founders or chief executives present a weak equity offer thinking that giving up part of their ownership will only dilute the massive payday coming to them as visionary founders. The paradox is that the equity is not worth anything if you never get past the development side of your vision. And if you need to hire a VP-level superstar–who has the skills and experience you don’t–that is simply not going to happen.

By definition, your first hire should propel the company forward, and in a big way. So will you recruit her by offering a measly 0.2 percent of the company? If so, that’s a big mistake, as one of two things will happen. First, the person who would accept that offer is the wrong person for the job, as she won’t understand what this means. Or more likely, she’ll walk away because you don’t get it.

A terrific hire deserves 10 to 50 of the company’s equity, which are big numbers indeed. But that’s because it’s not about your idea but about the execution of your idea. This person is being hired to help make it happen.

Now that you are over your sticker shock, allow me to offer some comfort. Every stock option plan should have a one-year cliff to vesting the options, so offer your new hire a realistic stock option grant that gets her interested and build from there. If you don’t see momentum from this employee in a year, it’s probably best to part ways. And if the new hire moves the company forward, trust me: It will be the best investment you ever made.

http://www.inc.com/chris-heivly/the-biggest-hiring-mistake-you-can-make.html

The Biggest Hiring Mistake You Can Make

IT Salary Survey 2014: Who"s hot, who"s not

It’s poaching season at Truven Health Analytics. The Santa Barbara, Calif., company has been up to its eyeballs in new projects since the federal government’s Medicaid business systems group enlisted Truven’s help to improve its Web-enabled reporting systems.

With business booming, Randy Lum, director of Truven’s software and database design group, needed two highly skilled developers — fast. But the rules of supply and demand were not in his favor. Nearly half of all managers who are in the hiring mood are looking for developers, according to Computerworld’s 2014 Salary Survey. So Lum took a tried-and-true course of action.

“I steal people,” he says, “people that I’ve worked with in the past that I know are good. I’m not shy about that. If I can offer them something they’re after, I won’t hesitate.”

In fact, five out of seven of his direct reports — all senior-level computer scientists — are former colleagues. Most of them are looking for job security, Lum says, but a competitive salary doesn’t hurt either. Right now his staffers earn between $128,000 and $143,000 per year. Their unique skill sets make them well worth the price, he adds.

“It is difficult to find developers with the right mix of technology skills for what we do,” he explains. “We’re not a large group, and my development staff is expected to have a wide range of skills — so they can work on any part of any project, ranging from database to the Web interface and everything in between.”

IT employees who participated in Computerworld’s annual salary survey share that view of the market. They say a shortage of IT workers with the right skills, an uptick in new projects and a shift in the way IT works with business units have given them renewed optimism about IT careers — though salaries and bonuses are advancing slowly.

Compensation and job security inch up

IT salaries continue to chug along, with pay increases averaging a modest 2.1%, according to the survey of 3,673 IT workers. Bonuses are up by an average of only 0.7%, slightly lower than the 0.9% increase seen in 2013.

On the bright side, companies are spreading pay increases among more IT workers. Some 60% of the respondents reported a raise, while only 8% reported a pay cut. That’s slightly better than last year, when 57% reported raises and 9% reported pay cuts, but well above 2012, when less than half reported a raise.

As the economy has improved, the percentage of respondents who feel secure in their jobs has also inched up, from 57% in 2012 to 59% in 2013 and 61% this year. Workers are also more optimistic about IT as a career: In 2012, only 29% said they believed that a career path in IT and the potential for salary advancement was as promising as it was five years prior, but that percentage increased to 38% in 2013 and to 42% this year.

The rising optimism among IT pros coincides with an increase in the number of open positions and a shortage of workers with the skills to fill those jobs. But while some people are in high demand, others find themselves sitting on the sidelines.

Hot, hot, hot

For the third year in a row, application development was the most sought-after skill: 49% of all managers who expect to hire this year said it was on their wish list.

Help desk and IT support skills ranked second, with 44% of managers expecting to fill jobs in those areas this year. That’s up from 37% in 2013 — the biggest year-over-year increase in our survey.

Not surprisingly, some organizations are having a tough time meeting salary demands.

It took six months to find a do-it-all help desk staffer to meet the growing technology demands of the Monadnock Regional School District in Swanzey, N.H., says Neal Richardson, the district’s director of technology.

“We had very highly qualified candidates; we just couldn’t meet their salary requirements,” which were $15,000 to $20,000 higher than the district could pay, he recalls. “We ended up going with [someone with] less experience.”

Public school IT professionals once accepted lower salaries in return for perks such as low-cost insurance and summers off, Richardson says. But school boards are whittling those benefits away. For instance, IT jobs are now year-round positions, he says.

Third place on the list of the most in-demand skills saw a tie between business intelligence skills and database analysis and development expertise, with 29% of hiring managers saying they planned to increase staffing in those areas.

“All things data” are red hot, says David Foote, CEO at Foote Partners, an IT labor market analyst firm. Titles such as data administrator, database developer and database architect are grabbing recruiters’ attention, especially for positions in larger companies.

Rounding out the top 10 in-demand skills among 2014 survey respondents were security, network administration, networking, cloud computing, Web design and development, and data management.

Headhunter calls, unfilled positions

With demand outpacing supply for many positions, more than half of our survey takers (54%) said a headhunter has contacted them in the past year.

“I get a lot of job offers from staffing companies and corporations that need a ton of DBAs and SQL administrators,” says Erin Baker, CIO at payroll processing firm Fastpay Payroll in Lubbock, Texas. He says he receives five to 10 calls a year from recruiters, and “most often they’re looking for SQL DBA or SQL programming skills.”

Though some offers have been tempting, Baker says no company has been able to beat the perks of his current job, which include weekends off, flexible hours and the opportunity to work from home.

David Fitzgerald, network and security engineer at Ariad Pharmaceuticals in Boston, says he gets a call or an email from a recruiter “probably once a day.” But like Baker, he doesn’t see himself leaving his current employer anytime soon. “It’s a small cancer-based pharma. They’re doing good things for people,” he says. “I have a great deal of autonomy. I can make a difference.”

(Many survey respondents ranked intangible factors such as recognition for good work and a positive corporate culture as important aspects of their jobs. See “What Do IT Workers Want?“)

All of those recruiter calls point to a growing challenge facing employers: It’s taking them longer to fill open positions. Half of the managers surveyed by Computerworld said that it has taken at least three months to fill open IT positions in the last two years.

 

via IT Salary Survey 2014: Who’s hot, who’s not – Computerworld.

IT Salary Survey 2014: Who"s hot, who"s not

Why 2014 is the Year to Become an Independent IT Contractor

Michael Kirven, Mondo Signs point to 2014 being a banner year for IT hiring. Yet technology professionals might do well to reconsider whether they want to follow traditional full-time career tracks. There’s never been a better time to explore opportunities as a contractor — and the payoffs can benefit both workers and employers.

The Computerworld 2014 Salary Survey highlights the strong economic outlook for IT staffers, with more respondents reporting raises than in previous years and fewer reporting pay cuts. In addition, more than half say they are satisfied or very satisfied with their total compensation.

Yet respondents do have some career concerns, including the challenges of keeping skills up to date and finding new positions worthy of their experience. Others worry that their career trajectories have flattened out.

At the same time, a recent survey by my firm, technology resourcing provider Mondo, found that 48% of businesses plan to hire more IT contractors than full-time staff over the next 12 to 18 months, and 32% expect to increase their annual IT contractor budgets over the same period.

These shifts show that while technology hiring is, thankfully, on the upswing, the real opportunities may no longer lie in full-time jobs.

Flexibility is the new stability

Often, an increase in the use of tech contractors gets chalked up to companies not wanting to commit to long-term, full-time employees. But what we’re seeing at our firm, and among our clients, suggests that a big part of the shift toward contractors has to do with what job seekers want.

Tech professionals of all ages are increasingly interested in contracting. Generation Y workers entering the job market often don’t want to feel tied down to a single company; they may have even seen parents lose jobs despite lifetimes of professional loyalty. Older people, meanwhile, may be open to making a change because they’re out of work or are in fear of being laid off.

For both groups, and many professionals in between, taking the reins of your own career can be financially and professionally rewarding, and it can provide you with the satisfaction of finding yourself in demand, no matter how business needs at an individual company may change.

Brave new world

Being a contractor isn’t for everyone. It requires agility, the ability to market yourself as a brand, and not a little bit of bravery to take that first leap. However, many contractors find that myriad benefits come from cutting ties to conventional full-time employment, including a renewed excitement for their work as well as opportunities to contribute to high-profile projects and keep their skills current.

For those considering a change, many cities offer networking groups to connect IT contractors and tech employees, or you can mine your LinkedIn network to find former colleagues now working as full-time independent contractors. A contracting mentor can share valuable tips for setting hourly rates, securing benefits and staying connected to new assignment opportunities.

It’s an ideal time to give contracting a try. With companies hoping to grow innovation while keeping workforces flexible, there are more opportunities than ever, making contracting an increasingly attractive way for talented tech pros to not only survive, but thrive.

IT Salaries 2014

• Salary Survey 2014: Read the full report

http://www.cio.com/article/751131/Why_2014_is_the_Year_to_Become_an_Independent_IT_Contractor?page=2&taxonomyId=3123

Why 2014 is the Year to Become an Independent IT Contractor

What do IT workers want?

Smart employers know the score: Take-home pay still matters, but so do company culture, praise and challenging work.

As the economy continues to rebound and the competition for qualified IT professionals reaches new heights, employers seeking to attract or retain staffers are increasingly becoming like anxious suitors, desperate to figure out how to please their dates: “What do you want? What will make you stay? What really matters in our relationship?”

According to Computerworld’s 2014 IT Salary Survey, tech workers are looking for many traditional benefits of a good partnership: financial security, stability and reliability — all represented by salary and benefits. But this year’s results confirm a growing trend: IT professionals are placing increasing importance on “softer” factors in the workplace, which have less to do with dollars and cents and more to do with corporate culture, personal growth and affirmation.

Over the past several years, traditional incentives like base pay, benefits and bonuses have declined in importance, while less tangible rewards like recognition for a job well done, the opportunity to work with talented people, and the knowledge that one’s opinions are valued have gained ground.

To be clear, money still talks: Base pay still outranks all factors. But whereas 73% of respondents ranked pay as one of their five top concerns in the 2012 survey, just 49% did so in 2014. Benefits took a similar plunge, cited by 36% of those polled this year, down from 59% in 2012. And the percentage of respondents choosing vacation time declined eight points over the same period.

The biggest gainers over that span are factors that have a positive impact on quality of life (the choice of commuting distance rose seven points), the worker’s sense of security (job stability made the same gain) and the work environment (job atmosphere/community, being recognized for good work and being valued for one’s knowledge all rose five to seven points). Being able to work with highly talented peers and having challenging work are on the rise as well.

What workers want

What matters most to you about your job?

• Base pay: 49%

• Job stability: 45%

• Benefits: 36%

• Challenge of job/responsibility: 34%

• Vacation time/paid time off: 32%

• Flexible work schedule/telecommuting: 30%

• Job atmosphere/community: 28%

• My opinion and knowledge are valued: 28%

• Potential for career development: 19%

• Skills development/training opportunities: 19%

• Financial stability of organization: 19%

• Commuting distance/location: 18%

• Recognition for work well done: 18%

• Having the resources to do my job well: 16%

• Corporate culture and values: 16%

• Working with highly talented peers: 14%

• Working with leading-edge technology: 12%

• Effectiveness of immediate supervision: 10%

• How my work helps achieve organization

goals: 10%

• Bonus opportunities: 9%

Source: 2014 Computerworld IT Salary Survey; 3,648 respondents (up to 5 responses allowed)

 

Why these factors, and why now?

“In our recovering economy, IT workers are growing more confident,” says Shravan Goli, president of IT staffing firm Dice, which noted the importance of intangible rewards in its own recent salary survey. “The job market is good, with a lot more jobs out there. Folks are less worried about retention.

“Good pay is still necessary for retaining workers,” he continues, “but it’s no longer sufficient. These days, employees are putting a greater emphasis on career ambition and personal growth.”

At the same time, the nature of IT work is shifting, demanding a different mix of skills and traits. Where it once was desirable to be a master of a particular technology, today’s projects often require high degrees of collaboration, says John Reed, senior executive director of IT staffing firm Robert Half Technology. The ideal worker has a balance of tech skills and people skills, he says, so it’s not surprising that workplaces where people have the opportunity to acquire or use collaboration skills are gaining favor.

Respect, trust and fulfillment

Marty Rosensweig has had a long and successful career in IT. Beginning as a self-proclaimed “Beltway bandit” in 1973, he worked for years at American Management Systems (AMS) in a variety of roles. He left in 2002 and now works for a technology consulting company called ECSTeam as a senior consultant. What matters most to him in his work is the chance to continually reinvent himself.

“I’m at a point in my life where I’m not looking to get promoted but to be challenged,” he says. “I want to get something done. I want exciting and interesting work. I’m not really looking to make a million bucks.”

Even in his earlier years, Rosensweig says, money wouldn’t have been his only, or necessarily his primary, motivator. Much higher on his needs list were being recognized for his skills and having the opportunity to deploy them in the company of people he respected.

For instance, during his time at AMS, the company recognized Rosensweig for his contributions as a skilled technician — and not always with tangible rewards. “Those ‘attaboys’ and title promotions — they go a long way,” he says.

Though a generation younger, Andy Dillbeck shares Rosensweig’s views. A Web and database developer at JL Warranty, Dillbeck says the morale boosters his company dreams up create a corporate culture that has kept him content in his first job out of college.

Small perks, like impromptu smoothie runs and a modest stipend for carpoolers, add up, he says. Even more important, he adds, is the feeling that others trust his skills and the understanding that the company will invest in developing them.

“I’ve thought about applying elsewhere, but here I’m always being encouraged to try new things,” says Dillbeck, who has worked at JL Warranty for eight years. “When something goes well, when you go beyond expectations, you hear about it. I don’t want to end up in a cubicle farm where nothing you do really matters.”

The freedom to challenge himself, on company time, makes a difference. For instance, a few years ago when his manager saw Dillbeck’s enthusiasm for the then brand-new iPhone, he encouraged him to experiment with the technology. Dillbeck made two iOS apps, just to see if he could. That sort of trust and support is compensation of a different but no less important kind, he says.

Goli equates desirable workplace traits to Abraham Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs, which holds that meeting basic needs leads people to seek higher and higher levels of fulfillment. In the workplace, Goli says, once an adequate level of base pay and benefits are achieved, workers are freed up to consider higher needs like cultural fit and professional growth.

“Most tech jobs pay pretty well,” Goli says. “So where is the additional motivation to come from? Tech professionals in particular find fulfillment in challenge and innovative environments.”

Using culture to compete

IT managers charged with hiring and retaining staffers need to keep softer factors in mind if they want to compete in today’s labor market. A dearth of candidates in areas like big data, cloud computing, security, mobile and game development has companies competing like never before for a limited number of qualified workers, Reed says.

“Companies know that they can’t just put a job description out there and expect that to be enough these days,” he explains. “They have to tell the story of why, exactly, someone would want to work at their company. And the elements of that story have to include things like the creative and supportive environment that’s on offer, the chance to make a difference to a company’s vision, and what their company contributes to the community.”

Employers aren’t competing on a level playing field, Reed adds. High-profile companies like Google and LinkedIn have an easier time recruiting workers than more obscure or stodgier organizations. Public-sector employers face some of the highest obstacles.

“As a university, we know we’re not always competitive with private industry on base pay. With a market this hot, it’s a huge hurdle to find talent,” says Tom Harney, a programmer analyst at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. “But we can sell candidates on a culture, on education benefits and a flexible work environment.”

Harney himself is 15 years into his IT career. He has experience at a range of organizations, including a Fortune 500 company, a small e-learning business and a midsize finance company. Across those jobs, the defining factor in his satisfaction has always been cultural, he says.

“Every time I looked for a job, that’s been important,” he adds. “At times, I’ve felt like I was sold a bill of goods; a company promised that kind of supportive culture and then didn’t deliver. I keep that in mind with the people I manage now.”

Jana Canada has been working in the public sector since the late 1970s. Her current job is as a network administrator for the Sutter County government in California. She has been caught in an unenviable position, where pay remains tight and the quality-of-life benefits are declining. A much-appreciated working schedule that included half-day Fridays was recently axed with little notice, for instance.

What’s worse, Canada says, there’s a creeping disregard for the skills folks like her have honed over the years — skills that are still key to the smooth functioning of the county’s systems.

“Over the last five or six years, we’re seeing an environment that turns its nose up at you,” Canada says. “Everybody wants to be appreciated. A ‘well done!’ would mean a lot, especially in a situation where there hasn’t been a raise for three or four years. I used to wake up and think, ‘What’s going to happen today?’ But it’s harder to sustain that motivation in this environment.”

Millennial influence

Now more than ever, companies need to be concerned with how their workplaces are perceived by outsiders, says Jack Cullen, president of IT staffing firm Modis. “Prospective employees are really selective these days, and they can find out a lot more about what’s really going on at your company. [The millennial] generation especially: They want to know a lot upfront about your company’s culture. They ask good questions, different questions.”

Whereas older employees are likely to ask about the project at hand, younger ones ask about softer factors, and “they have the power of social media behind them,” Cullen says. “If a company says it has an appreciative environment, job seekers can find out if that’s true through backdoor references or online at places like Glassdoor. Transparency is the name of the game now.”

In the ongoing arms race for IT talent, the companies that prevail will make cultural changes to stay competitive to the generation now entering the workforce. As Dice’s Goli sees it, “those companies that can outline a path forward for their employees — help them migrate to the next level of their growth and connect that to the work of the company — those are the ones that will do best in the employment space.”

via What do IT workers want? – Computerworld.

What do IT workers want?

Top-paying industries for IT 2014

Some IT professionals fared significantly better than others this year based on the industry in which they work. Somewhat surprisingly, the Computerworld 2014 Salary Survey respondents who reported the biggest pay increases work for nonprofit organizations, where total compensation — salary plus bonus — was up 4.4% from the previous year.

28th Annual Salary Survey

Other industries that saw strong increases in total compensation include telecommunications (up 4.3%), entertainment/marketing/advertising (up 4.1%), mining/agriculture/construction/engineering (up 3.4%) and legal/insurance/real estate (up 3.3%).

Growth in bonuses was highest for IT pros who work in the legal/insurance/real estate industries, with an average 9% increase, and in telecommunications, with an average 8.6% increase. The industries that saw the largest decreases in bonus payments were education (down 9.7%) and health/medical services (down 7.1%). No industries saw a decrease in total compensation or in salary year-over-year.

Here’s a look at the total compensation of a sampling of IT job titles by industry:

Computer services/consulting

CIO/vice president of IT: $148,500*

IT manager: $123,262*

Software engineer: $103,079

Application developer: $75,289*

Systems administrator: $73,567*

Help desk/tech support specialist: $45,052

 

Education

CIO/vice president of IT: $168,133*

Director of IT: $101,315

IT manager: $75,313

Network engineer/architect: $71,129*

Systems administrator: $59,948

Help desk/tech support specialist: $48,473

 

Government

Director of IT: $105,805*

IT manager: $100,049

Technology/business systems analyst: $83,635*

Systems administrator: $80,468*

Programmer/analyst: $79,573*

Help desk/tech support specialist: $58,545*

 

Healthcare

CIO/vice president of IT: $175,829*

Director of IT: $113,598

IT manager: $90,177

Systems administrator: $71,824

Technology/business systems analyst: $71,018*

Help desk/tech support specialist: $51,030*

 

Legal & insurance

CIO/vice president of IT: $226,206**

Director of IT: $132,715**

IT manager: $102,760*

Programmer/analyst: $93,811**

Systems administrator: $85,329**

Help desk/tech support specialist: $55,499**

 

Manufacturing

CIO/vice president of IT: $197,781*

Director of IT: $132,052*

IT manager: $99,050

Systems administrator: $73,467*

Network administrator: $63,078*

Help desk/tech support specialist: $56,052*

 

* More than 15 responses but fewer than 30

** 15 or fewer responses

via Top-paying industries for IT 2014 – Computerworld.

Top-paying industries for IT 2014

Why You Should Think in Reverse to Find a New Job

Sometimes you can achieve a breakthrough by thinking in the opposite direction. Take 7-Up, for example. It became hugely popular in the ‘60s by branding itself as the Uncola. 7-Up went in the reverse direction from other soft drink companies, who were competing with Coke and Pepsi in the cola market.

Or how about the Volkswagen Beetle? Back when Detroit was pumping out big, fast, hot muscle cars, VW was selling the small, slow, ugly Beetle. They went in reverse — and found huge commercial success.

Success in your job search might be right around the corner, if you’re willing to do the opposite of what the hordes of other job seekers are doing. Here are two examples of “reverse thinking” that could help you find a job faster …

1) The Reverse Personal Commercial

You may have heard that you need to develop a “personal commercial” about yourself when networking — a sort of 30-second advertisement, like: “I’m a sales manager with 11 years’ experience, who’s looking for a job at a Fortune 500 company.”

The trouble is, if every other job seeker has a commercial like this, you may find it hard to stand out when networking or attending a job fair, for example.

Well, here’s a new take on that idea, adapted from “The Little Black Book of Connections,” by Jeffrey Gitomer.

It’s called the “Reverse Personal Commercial,” strategy. And if you follow it, you can engage more people while networking. All you have to do is ask questions, instead of spitting out a canned “commercial” from memory.

The questions that make up your Reverse Personal Commercial might go like this: “Hi, my name’s Fred. Say, how many (insert your field here) companies in Minnesota do you know that are growing? What companies do you know that need to improve their (insert your expertise here)? Who do you know that I should be talking to?”

Now. Why do questions work? They’re hard to ignore — they force listeners to pay attention. Plus, questions let you gather valuable data, so you can quickly tell whether or not you’re talking to someone who can give you a job lead.

So, I have two questions for you:

What questions could you ask about your industry and your expertise that would engage listeners?

Whom could you meet and try your Reverse Personal Commercial on today?

2) Reverse Engineer the Job Posting

Reverse engineering is taking an object apart to see how it works, in order to duplicate or enhance that object. When you reverse engineer a job posting online or in the newspaper, you can see how the mind of an employer works, which will enhance your job search!

According to career expert Carole Martin, hiring managers put a lot of time and effort into writing job postings that list the qualities and skills of their ideal candidates.

In other words, the typical job posting is a wish list. If you can match its language in your resumes and cover letters, you’re much more likely to get called for an interview.

Here is an example, provided by Martin, of desired traits found in six job postings for the position of Executive Secretary:

“Confidential” (used in all six postings)

“Ability to proofread and edit” (used in all six)

“Organized, attentive to detail” (used in all six)

“Excellent written and verbal communication skills” (used in four of six postings)

Do you see a pattern here?

If you’re applying for an Executive Secretary position, you need to highlight the above traits in your cover letter and resume … so long as they apply to you, of course!

Bonus: You can use these same words in an interview to make it sound like you’re a natural fit for the position. After all, you’ll be speaking the same language as your employer. So get busy reverse engineering today!

via Why You Should Think in Reverse to Find a New Job.

Why You Should Think in Reverse to Find a New Job