Although we may never know why we didn’t get chosen for a job interview, a recent study is shedding some light on recruiters’ decision-making behavior. According to TheLadders research, recruiters spend an average of “six seconds before they make the initial ‘fit or no fit’ decision” on candidates. The study used a scientific technique called “eye tracking” on 30 professional recruiters and examined their eye movements during a 10-week period to “record and analyze where and how long someone focuses when digesting a piece of information or completing a task.” In the short time that they spend with your resume, the study showed recruiters will look at your name, current title and company, current position start and end dates, previous title and company, previous position start and end dates, and education. The two resumes below include a heat map of recruiters’ eye movements. The one on the right was looked at more thoroughly than the one of the left because of its clear and concise format: TheLadders With such critical time constraints, you should make it easier for recruiters to find pertinent information by creating a resume with a clear visual hierarchy and don’t include distracting visuals since “such visual elements reduced recruiters’ analytical capability and hampered decision-making” and kept them from “locating the most relevant information, like skills and experience.”

Read more here

TheLadders

Crossroads offers a couple of ministries geared toward helping you find a job or enhancing your current occupational life. Even better, both ministries are mindful of a career-person’s schedule.

Career Transition Workshop

When it started, Crossroads Bible Church’s Career Transition Network was one of the Dallas area’s first church-based groups to help people searching for employment. The network now hosts a free Career Transition Workshop eight months out of the year. Human Resource professionals specialized in recruitment and staffing teach advanced skills, techniques and secrets for job-hunting strategies:

• Utilizing the Internet in your job search
• Job search strategies
• Resume writing
• Networking
• Interviewing
• Negotiating techniques

The workshop is for those who are unemployed, under-employed or just seeking new employment. We open the workshop with a time of prayerful support and encouragement from the Bible. People get to know one another and exchange information about possible employment. We also connect people via the Internet to a wide variety of local job leads.

The Next Workshop Will Be April 14, 2012 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. E-mail ctw@crossroadsbible.org to RSVP

To register, go to www.agiledotnet.com

Improving Enterprises in conjunction with Microsoft will once again bring together the world of .NET development with the world of Agile methods for an exciting one-day experience of discovery, learning and exchange.

Attendees can expect informative presentations based on real-world experience from some of the industry’s leading Developers, Project Managers, and Executives who have embraced Agile principles within .NET development environments.

Come see how both the experts and the beginners apply Agile concepts using the Microsoft .NET framework, Visual Studio, and Visual Studio Team System.

This year will be a unique experience; so don’t miss out – REGISTER NOW!  Click for more information — AgileDotNet Detailed Information and Coupon Code

When you apply to a position or hear about a position, keep track of your opportunities in a Spreadsheet. I would track the date you applied along with the job title and Req ID #.
It is really helplful for any agency recruiters to know where you have applied as well. If you have applied to a position on your own, there is nothing a recruiter can do to help you. Companies are not going to allow for a candidate to be submitted to a job if they have already applied on their own. As most people know, their resume gets lost in the “black hole” applicant tracking system.

Additionally, you can look back at your track sheet and do your research through LinkedIn and see who you may know at those companies for another way in.

If you are searching for a new position or testing the market, make sure you have your LinkedIn Profile up to date. As you may or may not know, there is a feature called INMAIL that recruiters can use if they have paid a monthly fee
for upgraded service. However, if you want to be found, follow these tips.

1. Fill out the SUMMARY section with your career highlights and specialties.
2. If you are out of work, put something like “Searching for next Software Development position” in your headline
3. Under SPECIALTIES, make sure you list your tools, technologies, etc
4. Under each job, list your keywords, technologies, and tools AGAIN – we use these keywords to find you.
5. Make sure your latest employer is on the profile along with job duties
6. There is now a new section called “Skills and Expertise” that you can add to your profile. This allows you a choice of keywords.
7. Ask your network for recommendations from previous jobs.
8. Most importantly, under CONTACT –  list your contact email and make sure it is up to date if you would like employers or recruiters to find you. So often I see that email addresses are listed from previous employers and not up to date. If you don’t mind phone calls, list your number there too.
9. Post presentations, talks, or powerpoint slides using BOX.NET to show prospective employers your skills and abilities.
10. JOIN as many relevant GROUPS as you can, participant in industry discussions as much as possible.

HERE is another article that helps you utilize LinkedIn in the right way on the Recruiter’s Lounge

Salary Surveys

Visual Studio Magazine’s 2012 .NET Developer Salary Survey

Our first annual salary survey shows that developers aren’t just surviving, but thriving.

• By Kathleen Richards
• 01/04/2012

When we set out late last year to do our first-ever salary survey, we weren’t sure what we’d find. The global economy continues to limp along, and unemployment in the United States remains stagnant. Layoffs are still a very real possibility for many, and employers remain hesitant to hire with future uncertainty. That’s why our results were so encouraging: The survey reflects numerous positive trends for software developers, from job security to bonuses to the future outlook to job satisfaction. Yes, it’s a good time to be a developer.

We polled software development professionals who subscribe to Visual Studio Magazine and related eNewsletters (.NET Insight and Redmond Developer News) in November 2011. More than 1,300 subscribers who currently work in the United States participated in the survey and filled out the online questionnaire. The median base salary was $92,000. On average, VSM Salary Survey respondents were college graduates with a four-year degree or higher level of education and more than a decade of industry experience.

The single-biggest survey takeaway is that 59 percent of respondents reported higher salaries in the last 12 months. More than half of those surveyed received bonuses during the same time period. The average reported base salary was $92,754, not including bonuses and additional compensation. More than one-third (38 percent) of survey respondents said their current annual base salaries, not including bonuses, fell into the six-figure range ($100,000 or more).

Bucking the Trend Despite the gloomy global outlook, many Microsoft software development professionals appear to be bucking the “back to the future” trend.

“Microsoft software development gives us a strong future in the sense that there is some security in it,” says Rafique S., who has worked as a software engineer and application developer for almost a decade at a manufacturing company (non-computer-related) outside of Los Angeles, Calif. “There is always going to be a demand for that type of skill and that type of work — it’s a good skill set to have,” he says. “Our company has been stable and we’re still hiring more people. We haven’t had freezes or significant reductions. It’s a little bit more conservative and the compensation that we’re seeing has been about average for the last three or four years.” That includes slight increases in salary and “token” bonuses around the holidays, which are based on corporate profitability.

Long tenures with the same employer may have helped some people ride out the economic rollercoaster in the technology sector. More than 43 percent of VSM Salary Survey respondents have been with their current employers for a decade or more — 22.8 percent of that group have worked for the same organization for more than 15 years.

Survey respondents who worked for an independent software vendor (14 percent) reported the highest average salary, at $106,435. Those who worked for consulting firms, training companies and systems integrators also fell into the six-figure range on average at $103,635, not including bonuses and additional compensation. The majority of survey respondents, however, worked for corporate IT/IS (43.9 percent), with an average base of $95,015. Those employed by state and federal government, the education sector and non-profits (22.7 percent) earned less, reporting $78,688 on average. Average salaries might more closely reflect urban pay scales (see Average Salary by Location) because 65 percent of survey respondents worked in cities (200,000 to 500,000 residents) and major metropolitan areas (more than 500,000 residents).

Despite some job movement — 16.2 percent have been with their current employer for one year or less and 4.5 percent have been laid off in the last 12 months — by and large Visual Studio and .NET developers have skirted some of the harsher realities felt by stagnant or depressed job markets. But not everyone: while 59 percent received higher salaries in the last 12 months, 8.3 percent reported making less, based on budget cuts. Some government employees told us they experienced “5 percent cuts across the board,” and federal employees are under a salary freeze mandated by Congress.

About 90 percent (89.7) of respondents indicated that they anticipated working in Visual Studio and .NET development in five years. And the rest (10.3 percent) expect to move beyond .NET for a variety of reasons. Here are some of the comments from people who might be headed elsewhere:

• Will be retired within five years
• Not sure where the development trends are heading
• My company is moving toward open source products
• Leave it to the younger guys
• I think I’ll be working more with Windows Phone development than .NET development
• Not Sure — HTML5 and CSS don’t require a commercial IDE
• Career change out of IT for more money
• Microsoft Marketing will have re-branded it by then
• Going toward medical software
• Judging from the Windows 8 articles that I’ve read, the .NET app development may be a thing of the past
• Tired of Microsoft not listening to developers
• T-shirt sales by the beach
• It’s so hard to predict the future in this field. Who knows what we’ll have in 5 years?

– K.R

To register, go to www.agiledotnet.com

Improving Enterprises in conjunction with Microsoft will once again bring together the world of .NET development with the world of Agile methods for an exciting one-day experience of discovery, learning and exchange.

Attendees can expect informative presentations based on real-world experience from some of the industry’s leading Developers, Project Managers, and Executives who have embraced Agile principles within .NET development environments.

Come see how both the experts and the beginners apply Agile concepts using the Microsoft .NET framework, Visual Studio, and Visual Studio Team System.

This year will be a unique experience; so don’t miss out – REGISTER NOW!

Crossroads Career Transition Workshop

November 12, 2011

9am-4:30pm

Spring 2012 dates

January 14, February 11, April 14 & May 12

Instructors:

Gail Houston and Leslie Mason from Intuit

Locke Alderson with Alderson & Associates

Gayle Bridgeman with LHH

Lori Davis with DISYS

Dirk Spencer – Creator of Resume Psychology ©

What:

Crossroads Bible Church’s Career Transition Network, one of the Dallas area’s first church-based groups to help people searching for employment, is hosting another free Career Transition Workshop.

Human Resource professionals specialized in recruitment and staffing will teach advanced skills, techniques and secrets for job-hunting strategies:

·         Utilizing the Internet in your job search

·         Job search strategies

·         Resume writing

·         Networking

·         Interviewing

·         Negotiating techniques

The workshop is for those who are un-employed, under-employed or just seeking new employment. Many participants have taken the workshop more than once because of the encouragement it provides.
We open the workshop with a time of prayerful support and encouragement from God’s Word, the Bible. People get to know one another and exchange information about possible employment.
We also connect people via the Internet to a wide variety of local job leads.

·         Dress code is casual. It’s a cell phone friendly environment so you won’t miss that important call.

·         Bring a resume – recruiters are on site to review and make suggestions.

·         Bring business cards for networking with others if you have them.

·         The workshop is free, continental breakfast and lunch is included along with a workbook.

Location & Directions:

From Dallas go north on I-35E to Justin Road (FM 407). Exit Justin Road (FM 407), and go west on Justin Road (FM 407) 4.2 miles.
The church is on the left. (At the southwest corner of FM 407 & Chinn Chapel)

From the airport go north on FM 2499 to Justin Road (FM 407). Turn left, go 1/2 mile. (At the Southwest corner of FM 407 & Chinn Chapel)

Sherry Alpert

Crossroads Bible Church

8101 FM 407

Double Oak, TX 75077

Email ctw@crossroadsbible.org

http://crossroadsbible.org/community.asp