Another way information technology companies like Global find professional technical temps is by resumes. Sharps, advises anyone sending a resume to Global to arrange the resume so that it is "key-word-driven."
Information technology companies that place the professional technical temp receive a great number of resumes. Sharps says most of these resumes are scanned by a computer that is programmed to look for certain key words, hence the term "keyword-driven." The scanner will seek key words and will also conduct a screen text search. Scanning resumes by computer enables companies like Global to develop a big database of professional technical workers.
Recruiters, those who place people on professional technical jobs, will go through the database and try to match skills to the jobs they are trying to fill. Sharps says candidates have a better chance of being placed if the resumes first list the experience skill, the job title, and then educational background. The experience skill list should include all the software and technical skills the person has. Those skills are what the recruiter will try to match to job openings. Firms like Global prefer that the resume have a technical summary at the beginning of the resume. For examples of how to do a keyword-driven resume, see the staffing services listed in the Appendix with Internet sites.
Information technology temps should review what is available on the Internet. When they find a company that can place their skills they can respond to many by e-mail. The text format offered by many companies through their Web site is a helpful tool for the information technology temp.
When sending a resume, always make sure it is a clean copy so that the scanner can easily review it. If the resume is faxed, the small print may not be read easily by the scanner. Sharps also says when someone submits a resume to Global it is helpful to include a good chronological list of the work accomplished. It is also helpful to list what is unique in the way the person did the work and what his or her role was in accomplishing the project.
Fred Sussman is the president of Technology Resource, a staffing service located in St. Louis, Missouri, which places people in information technology jobs. Sussman says there are three reasons businesses turn to services like Technology Resource who hire professional technical staffers. The first is the least-used reason, according to Sussman: that is, the business needs expertise that the business does not have. Sussman says that is when people like Arthur Andersen are called in to do high-level, high-profile consulting jobs.
The second reason outsiders are hired, according to Sussman, is that management does not want to take responsibility for unpleasant decisions that a business is going to make. Enter the consultants, who recommend measures such as downsizing, restructuring, and outsourcing-things that management knows it is going to have to do that will be unpopular with the rank-and-file employee.
The third reason management turns to outsiders is the reason there is such a need for those who have information technology skills, according to Sussman. Businesses need staff with skills. They need people to do short and long-term projects. So, companies like Technology Resource have grown because they are constantly recruiting people with information technology skills for both short and long-term jobs. Sussman says Technology Resource likes to recruit people by saying the company can help them "change jobs by changing assignments, not by changing employers."
How does Technology Resource do this? The company offers their workers two types of jobs. The first type is work that is project-oriented. The staffers are part of a team that is assigned a project and works on it from start to finish.
For example, Computer Company calls Technology Resource and requests a team of people to set up their help desk. Computer Company has just developed a new package of computer software that it has sold to a chain of office supply stores. The company expects calls about its system from new clients and does not want to hire a lot of full-time people to set up the help desk area.
Enter a team of experts from a staffing service like Technology Resource. This team is set up to develop a demonstration model of how the help desk will be run. The project could last several months, at the end of which this team that set up the help desk will go work together at another company through Technology Resource.
The second kind of assignment is working on a selective outsourcing job. When a company needs a particular type of work done on an ongoing basis it may hire a third party to do the work. For example, Company X needs to have a certain type of skill, so they call Technology Resource to find the skill for them. Technology Resource recruits people with the appropriate information technology skill and does the work for Company X. That means Technology Resource could do the work for several years. Company X saves money by not having the head count or payroll and benefits coming out of their budget. It is a win for companies like Technology Resource, because they can provide jobs for highly skilled people.
