It is important for clients to disclose all relevant information regarding a position, whether it’s the first conversation or throughout the entire process.   Providing as much information to the recruiter is essential since our ultimate goal is helping you find the best fit for your company’s culture and fulfill the position with the perfect candidate.

Believe it or not, one of the biggest factors to help us in our searches is your feedback.   Whether it’s feedback on the candidates resume or why a candidate did not make it to the next face to face interview round.  When I send a candidate to a client, I am confident that they are a great fit for the position as well as the organization. Conversely, if the client is not interested in meeting with the candidate, or after a first round interview only states, “pass,” it is doing us both a disservice since we do not know the specifics as to why the candidate was not a match. 

We know and understand how busy everyone gets during the day and this simple step would make it possible for me, as your recruiter, to not waste anyone’s time by sending in similar candidates to the ones that didn’t make it.  Even if the candidate is passed on or rejected for not being the right cultural fit, it still helps us to know “why” so when we meet with other candidates for the role we will have an idea of who may be or not be a good fit.

Important factors for the recruiter to know when finding you the perfect candidate –  knowledge of the company/organization, type of working atmosphere, its culture, the position and what important candidate qualifications are you looking for.  That’s why communication is a key factor in finding you the right candidate.

It’s clear that Boston has become one of the biggest hotbeds of innovation and talent in the universe of big data. The number of companies in the immediate area that are looking at data management, analytics, data-driven applications etc. is in the hundreds, and growing rapidly. One of the speakers quipped that “chaff is the new wheat” … and it’s true. The amount of data being generated in the present day is mind-boggling, and the challenges of extracting meaningful insights from this data are extreme.

This tsunami of data-driven activity creates challenges in the three dimensions of Volume, Velocity, and Variety, and more importantly, some enormous opportunities for the Boston area in employment growth. According to Mass TLC, “we see clear potential to more than double employment by Big Data vendors, adding more than 15,000 employees in-state by 2018.” Furthermore, it’s very exciting that many jobs will be created, not so much by the Big Data vendors themselves, but outside, by the data consumers in life sciences, healthcare, manufacturing, finance and so forth.

Lynx has strong expertise in recruiting for Big Data professionals. Whether you represent a company seeking to attract top technical talent to realize your Big Data vision, or you’re seeking to open doors in Big Data for yourself as a candidate, contact us today. We’d love to work with you.

   Ralph Boegel & Sam Schatz, Sr. Recruiters from Lynx attended the Big Data Summit

Spend time thinking about the position you are interviewing for and what unique skills you bring to the table to address the needs of the client company. This is where you have a chance to talk about what goes beyond your resume. Believe it or not, strong technical applicants can look remarkably similar on paper. It’s the person you are and the value you bring that makes you stand out.

The things you want to think about is what initiatives you have taken on your own to help your past employers become successful. Have you done any coding in on personal projects? Do you have concrete examples of your curiosity or your ability to teach yourself new areas of technology? Are you a person who helps a team move forward? Do you unite and or inspire your team members? Think of examples. Have you ever thought of finding a solution to a problem on your own, “going the extra mile” or do you only do what is assigned? Maybe you aren’t the type to go off and solve problems on your own – that’s OK. You don’t have to portray yourself as someone different from who you are but you do need to think about yourself and why you add value.

Personal projects count. Technology is moving so fast and we now have open source software available to us. If you are inclined to play with this – do so.   

Also, think about where you work today. Think of the problems or inefficiencies in your group. Don’t complain about them. Instead, put yourself in the position of your manager. How would you solve these challenges? This is true value above and beyond your software languages or platforms.

Often employers when faced with the choice between a person with skills but who is not a team player and a person with the positive attitude they will chose the positive attitude.

Understand the company, its goals, its competitors and what you think its challenges are. Ask about this in the interview and be prepared to ask meaningful questions that will help you stand out as someone who not only cares about the specifics of the particular position but more importantly about the firm and its collective interests.

In conclusion, think about your competition for this position. How might you differentiate yourself? Give some thought to this before you arrive to speak with people. In the years I’ve done recruiting I’ve seen many very qualified applicants lose their chance for an offer because they were not prepared to present their value to the firm.

Good luck with your interviews!

But first, you have to resign from your current one. Perhaps that will be easy for you (or even enjoyable), but maybe you’re dreading meeting with your boss to inform him or her of your decision, particularly if they’ve been a good person to work for, or the company has treated you well in the past.

If you’re worried about how to handle it, or what to say, you may find it helpful to use this sample text below as the basis for a resignation letter you can hand to your manager. Simply customize it according to your own particular details, print it out and sign, and you’ll have something tangible that can help give you the confidence you need.

You don’t have to explain the reasons why you’re leaving, and you definitely don’t want to burn bridges by airing your negative feelings. Keep things brief, courteous, and to the point. Giving two weeks notice is the standard courtesy, but there is no legal requirement to give any notice.

Before you know it, you’ll be happily involved in your new role. Hopefully this tool can ease the transition for you.

Dear _________________:

This is to inform you that I am submitting my resignation, effective as of [date].

After careful thought and consideration, I have made an irreversible decision to

accept another position which I feel will contribute to my career growth and

which will be in the best interests of me and family.

I know you will respect my decision. I will do whatever I can to make the transition

as smooth as possible. I have appreciated the opportunities that [company] has

afforded me, and I wish you well.

Sincerely,

But if you think about leaders in all fields – think CEO’s, CTO’s, VP’s of engineering, top actors, athletes and coaches, and so forth – they don’t operate this way. Instead, they tend to evaluate opportunities as they come up, and cherry-pick the ones that will be the most advantageous to them. And really, most engineers do this too at some level. If a software developer gets an email from a good friend or trusted colleague about a position that’s opening up at another company, which seems like a strong opportunity based on the friend’s knowledge of the developer’s background, personality, and goals, then most of the time, I think that developer will at least listen.

I’ll be the first to admit that, unfortunately, there are many recruiters out there who aren’t very knowledgeable about the software industry they serve, or are too pushy or aggressive, or bad listeners, or whatever. Recruiters like that don’t deserve to earn the privilege of building relationships with good engineers. So probably in many cases, “I’m not looking” really means something like “I don’t know you or trust you,” or “I don’t want to talk about this while I’m at work”, “You’re the tenth recruiter that’s cold-called me this week,” or “I’m right in the middle of trying to get a release out.”

However, the next time you receive a call or an email from a recruiter, if you like the tone of their approach, and they seem informed about what’s happening in the software industry, and are considerate of your time, you may want to at least hear what they have to say, even if you’re not “looking for a new job.”

Forming a relationship with a good recruiter can take a while, but can be invaluable to your career progress once you’ve got a few trusted recruiters that understand you and where you want to go with your career. You never know when that special opportunity is going to come knocking on your door. Will you answer?

The general nature of their product is ecommerce. If you have experience with building payment gateways or payment processing systems, have startups in your blood (and resume), and have a computer science degree from a top school (CS degree not required for the product manager position), Lynx can get you in the door to meet with this company immediately. For the development role, mobile experience would be a big plus as well.

For immediate consideration, please email your confidential resume to lynx@lynxinc.com.

1. #Hiring demand for talented software professionals started the year strong and got stronger. Our business was up over 40% from 2010, and we have more search assignments currently underway than any time in the last decade. All signs point to this continuing in 2012.
2. The bar for hiring was high. No matter what level of experience, top performers with good track records could often have their pick of multiple offers. On the other hand, average and below-average engineers are finding it increasingly difficult to remain employed in #hightech. Like society at large, there is much less of a software #middleclass than before.
3. After two years of fairly flat salaries, salary offer levels increased to attract top performers. Companies that made lateral offers often lost candidates to more aggressive competitors for #talent.
4. Some of the hottest technology areas included #bigdata, #analytics, #userinterface, and high performance scalable #consumer #webapps.
5. More and more software jobs are in the city: #boston, #cambridge, #kendallsquare, #innovationdistrict, #somerville, #backbay. Still a significant amount of opportunities on #Route128, but fewer and fewer good opportunities out on the 495 belt. A very vibrant urban startup community continues to get stronger.

 Many thanks to our clients, candidates, and employees for making 2011 a terrific year here at Lynx. We added several excellent recruiters to our already outstanding team this year, and we’re looking forward to an exciting 2012. Happy Holidays to all of you.

The startup community in the Boston area is booming as we saw last night.  Lots of small energetic startups came together for a great night of networking.  There were software companies, recruiters, attorneys, marketing teams, PR teams, etc. all under one roof.  There is clearly going to be a lot of growth on the east coast with all of these smart individuals and great ideas.  With more of these networking events, the sky is the limit; Lynx, Inc. is certainly looking forward to the next great event!

Thanks to Gemvara, DartBoston and IdeaPaint.

(Pictured in the photo from left to right – Sam Schatz, Jonathan Lohin and Victor Babiuc)

There are several reasons to consider taking this interview (even if it’s not the right match).

Let’s start with the subject of “how do we come to know what the company is looking for and what is the job the candidate is interviewing for?”

First, a company typically assesses and determines the hiring needs within certain departments.  Next, it is usually up to the hiring manager to write a job description in order to market the position to the public.  Managers in successful companies have very busy schedules and do their best to outline the most important features of the job. Of course in this competitive workplace, companies can’t offer all the specifics of what they are doing and why.   Being on the outside you think you know what the job entails but unless you go in, meet with the hiring manager, it’s almost impossible to assess the whole picture.  Without a face to face interview, you can’t fully assess the job, the potential for your symbiosis with the group or what the potential for promotion or growth there could be, thus, you can end up as an “unadvertised special!”

We’ve seen candidates who have interviewed for a job and the hiring manager is really excited about them.  However, there are cases when the candidate is not right for that specific job opening but companies often don’t want to let this great candidate go, so their answer is to create a job that would fit the candidate’s expertise.  A company can’t create a job for you if you don’t have the opportunity to go in and show them your value.

You can take advantage of the dynamic situations within companies.

Companies are changing constantly. We have no way of knowing who is thinking about leaving any firm but we do know that employees are constantly coming and going. This is normal as everyone has both professional and personal reasons to move on. Going into a company and interviewing can put you in a unique position to take advantage of an unexpected change. You would be first in line for that new opening that no one outside the firm would have the chance to interview for.

Making new contacts.

Too often people view the interview as a one dimensional meeting. “Do I want this job or not?” is often the only question that is considered….. What about the idea of making new contacts. Again, we’ve seen these meetings turn into positive opportunities, sometimes many months after the original interview a candidate will get a call.  Again, people are always taking advantages of new job opportunities and you can’t even begin to predict where that hiring manager will be over the lifetime of his or her career. Expanding your network is a key benefit here.

I would like to add that there are often times when constraints or timing does not allow you to take an interview that you feel is more informational than on target, which is understandable. This post is directed to the times where we can take the interview and should, despite your initial impression.

It’s almost impossible to fail when you simply do your best and remain open minded, it can open up possibilities that you may have never had the opportunity to pursue.

Clearly, you need to get into a different kind of company as soon as possible in order to start gaining more marketable experience. However, if you start putting your resume out there, you will rapidly discover a Catch-22: the cutting-edge, dynamic technology companies you want to work for aren’t so interested in your background. What can you do?

Perhaps you’re thinking in terms of getting a certification, taking a class, or even going back to get another degree. While these efforts certainly can’t hurt, in our experience, they really don’t provide very much return for the investment of time and money. Hiring managers don’t usually place a big emphasis on this type of “add-on” to a candidate’s background.

There’s a much better idea. Getting some experience contributing to one of the many open source software projects that exist is something that anyone can do, outside of work, for little or no cost. Building some solid extra-curricular open source experience is, in my opinion, the single most effective way you can strengthen your resume and get more hiring managers interested in interviewing you. You can go at your own pace, as your schedule allows, and soon you’ll be able to put some real-world hands-on experience on your resume that will dramatically improve your chances.

While there are many different open source projects that might love to have help from you, it can be unclear how to start. To that end, I’ve compiled some useful links below. Check them out for some great information about how you can start taking action to improve your career options today.

How to get involved in an open source project

Getting newbies Involved in open source

You (yes, you!) should contribute to open source

Ask the Experts: How to get involved in the community

Open Source From The Trenches: How to Get Involved with Open Source and Be Successful