Located in the Western 'burbs inside the 494 loop, our client is actively involved in the evolution of a major e-commerce initiative and has added Websphere technologies to the environment. They own the administration & portal products and are looking a for consultant to train an internal resource and/or bring an external resource on as a perm addition to the team.
The client is interested in speaking with anyone that has Websphere Administration or Websphere Portal exp. be it as a contractor or perm resource.
In addition to being engaged in some major projects with cutting edge technologies, the company is also a firm that's stable, rock solid, and been in business for over 50 yrs. The average employee has been with the company for approx. 10 yrs. This is an attractive contract opportunity and quite likely perm opportunity for anyone with strong Websphere skills.
Please contact me ASAP for further information or to be considered for submission.
-Mike
952-465-0157
Monday, July 27, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Resume Revision- The Basics
Probably the most unpleasant reality of the advent of technology as it pertains to job hunting is that the human element has been removed. The ability to state your case for you has been completely replaced by an online form and the cutting and pasting of your resume. You can be arbitrarily accepted or rejected based not on what you could bring to the table in reality but based on the superficiality of what your resume says (or doesn't say).
Because reqs. are ambiguous at best if existent at all, sending your resume to a company "blind" is not advisable. As a general rule I like to have the power to control outcomes. Submitting your resume blindly takes the ability to control outcomes out of your hands and puts it in the hands of those that may not even have a full understanding of what it is they're looking for. We have a term for submitting resumes blind in the recruiting industry, we call it the "Black Hole".
Consider this: the average first level screener is working many reqs simultaneously and is quite often inundated with dozens of resumes. I can assure you based on personal experience that after reading just a few resumes it all starts becoming a blur. Screeners are specifically looking for key technologies, industry specific experience., and levels of expertise commensurate with what's desired, i.e. Jr., mid., Sr., etc. etc. There's certain things you can't change such as the industry type experience you've had or the level of expertise you possess but if you're close to the mark in terms of your relevance, there's a whole lot you can do to increase your chances (this of course presumes a knowledge of exactly what's being sought from the employer but we'll tackle that at the end of this post).
-Triangle Point One: Emphasis. Pretty basic huh? Let's say the employer is looking for J2EE development expertise in the Websphere Portal environment. Now let's say that you've got that type of experience as well as experience developing thick client internal apps using base Java. You probably don't want to take up a lot of space talking about the thick client Java since the employer doesn't have an interest in that particular type of experience. Of course there's nothing wrong with sharing the various dimensions of your technical repertoire but make sure that you're expounding upon and EMPHASIZING THE RELEVANT EXPERIENCE in J2EE/Websphere Portal Dev.
-Triangle Point Two: Prioritization. Prioritization pertains to all aspects of the resume- objective statement, technical summary, work experience, etc. etc. If in your technical summary if you've got 10 different UI development technologies notated, you'd better have the ones relevant to the employer listed FIRST. When listing work experience you may have a dozen bullets detailed with your most current employer. The bullets MUST be put in order of importance as it pertains to the req. in question.
-Triangle Point Three: Key Words and Phrases. LEAVE NOTHING TO THE IMAGINATION! Be overt and obvious by repetitively mentioning key words and phrases. Just because you mentioned Linux in your technical summary doesn't mean you don't have to mention it specifically in your work experience. Pepper your resume with key words and phrases. The objective is to get the screener to NOT EVEN HAVE TO READ YOUR RESUME to have an interest. All they should have to do is glance at it to realize interviewing you is a no-brainer.
Employing the resume revision triangle will increase your chances of communicating with a real person (interview) and build value. It's said in the music business that a piece of music doesn't really come alive until it's "taken off the paper", i.e. when it's played by heart instead of being read. Our objective is to get you "taken off the paper" by putting you into direct contact with a real live human being. To accomplish that end we must have something good written on the paper to begin with. The Resume Revision Triangle will help you create "good paper".
I'd mentioned earlier that employing the Resume Revision Triangle presumes knowledge of what a req. entails. For those seeking new opportunities and those seeking resources, please consider the following advantages of utilizing Target IT Resources, LLC as your recruiter:
On the Candidate side: Target IT spends considerable time researching the type of skills and personality desired by employers. We understand what's being sought technically as well as the employer culture. The reality of what an employer seeks in a resource is more often than not DIFFERENT than what's stated in an official req. Implicit in Target IT submitting resources to an employer is that there's a personal relationship with the decision makers. This includes HR and the technical leaders that need and will lead the resources in question. Because of these personal relationships and intimate knowledge of the technical and cultural environment, you can be assured that your resume will be revised with the intent of hitting the bullseye and that you'll be "taken off the paper" and given thorough and careful consideration.
On the Employer side: I've placed many a candidate with organizations that already possessed a resource's resume; the resume was glanced over because it just didn't read or look right. Unfortunately the average IT resource isn't a master of the written word nor particularly knowledgeable about putting together a great resume. Equally unfortunate is the fact that the average hiring authority doesn't have time to look beyond the one-dimensional confines of what they read on paper to understand what a candidate can truly bring to the table. Because resources often work with dozens of different technologies, it's almost impossible to extract their true "sweet spot" from a technology perspective without spending a lot of time pre-interviewing them. Target IT will communicate with you and your team members to fully define exactly what it is you're in search of and will take the time to develop a deeper understanding of candidate skill sets and cultural attributes beyond the limited vantage point of a resume. Many times resources aren't as scarce as you'd think; quite often the "perfect fit" is hidden right in front of you and that's why Target IT Resources, LLC can be a valuable partner in your search.
Please visit Mike Reitz's Recruiting Blog in the coming weeks for more nuanced suggestions on building and revising your resume.
-Mike
Because reqs. are ambiguous at best if existent at all, sending your resume to a company "blind" is not advisable. As a general rule I like to have the power to control outcomes. Submitting your resume blindly takes the ability to control outcomes out of your hands and puts it in the hands of those that may not even have a full understanding of what it is they're looking for. We have a term for submitting resumes blind in the recruiting industry, we call it the "Black Hole".
Consider this: the average first level screener is working many reqs simultaneously and is quite often inundated with dozens of resumes. I can assure you based on personal experience that after reading just a few resumes it all starts becoming a blur. Screeners are specifically looking for key technologies, industry specific experience., and levels of expertise commensurate with what's desired, i.e. Jr., mid., Sr., etc. etc. There's certain things you can't change such as the industry type experience you've had or the level of expertise you possess but if you're close to the mark in terms of your relevance, there's a whole lot you can do to increase your chances (this of course presumes a knowledge of exactly what's being sought from the employer but we'll tackle that at the end of this post).
To increase your chances of success I suggest utilizing the
"Resume Revision Triangle"
-Triangle Point One: Emphasis. Pretty basic huh? Let's say the employer is looking for J2EE development expertise in the Websphere Portal environment. Now let's say that you've got that type of experience as well as experience developing thick client internal apps using base Java. You probably don't want to take up a lot of space talking about the thick client Java since the employer doesn't have an interest in that particular type of experience. Of course there's nothing wrong with sharing the various dimensions of your technical repertoire but make sure that you're expounding upon and EMPHASIZING THE RELEVANT EXPERIENCE in J2EE/Websphere Portal Dev.
-Triangle Point Two: Prioritization. Prioritization pertains to all aspects of the resume- objective statement, technical summary, work experience, etc. etc. If in your technical summary if you've got 10 different UI development technologies notated, you'd better have the ones relevant to the employer listed FIRST. When listing work experience you may have a dozen bullets detailed with your most current employer. The bullets MUST be put in order of importance as it pertains to the req. in question.
-Triangle Point Three: Key Words and Phrases. LEAVE NOTHING TO THE IMAGINATION! Be overt and obvious by repetitively mentioning key words and phrases. Just because you mentioned Linux in your technical summary doesn't mean you don't have to mention it specifically in your work experience. Pepper your resume with key words and phrases. The objective is to get the screener to NOT EVEN HAVE TO READ YOUR RESUME to have an interest. All they should have to do is glance at it to realize interviewing you is a no-brainer.
Employing the resume revision triangle will increase your chances of communicating with a real person (interview) and build value. It's said in the music business that a piece of music doesn't really come alive until it's "taken off the paper", i.e. when it's played by heart instead of being read. Our objective is to get you "taken off the paper" by putting you into direct contact with a real live human being. To accomplish that end we must have something good written on the paper to begin with. The Resume Revision Triangle will help you create "good paper".
I'd mentioned earlier that employing the Resume Revision Triangle presumes knowledge of what a req. entails. For those seeking new opportunities and those seeking resources, please consider the following advantages of utilizing Target IT Resources, LLC as your recruiter:
On the Candidate side: Target IT spends considerable time researching the type of skills and personality desired by employers. We understand what's being sought technically as well as the employer culture. The reality of what an employer seeks in a resource is more often than not DIFFERENT than what's stated in an official req. Implicit in Target IT submitting resources to an employer is that there's a personal relationship with the decision makers. This includes HR and the technical leaders that need and will lead the resources in question. Because of these personal relationships and intimate knowledge of the technical and cultural environment, you can be assured that your resume will be revised with the intent of hitting the bullseye and that you'll be "taken off the paper" and given thorough and careful consideration.
On the Employer side: I've placed many a candidate with organizations that already possessed a resource's resume; the resume was glanced over because it just didn't read or look right. Unfortunately the average IT resource isn't a master of the written word nor particularly knowledgeable about putting together a great resume. Equally unfortunate is the fact that the average hiring authority doesn't have time to look beyond the one-dimensional confines of what they read on paper to understand what a candidate can truly bring to the table. Because resources often work with dozens of different technologies, it's almost impossible to extract their true "sweet spot" from a technology perspective without spending a lot of time pre-interviewing them. Target IT will communicate with you and your team members to fully define exactly what it is you're in search of and will take the time to develop a deeper understanding of candidate skill sets and cultural attributes beyond the limited vantage point of a resume. Many times resources aren't as scarce as you'd think; quite often the "perfect fit" is hidden right in front of you and that's why Target IT Resources, LLC can be a valuable partner in your search.
Please visit Mike Reitz's Recruiting Blog in the coming weeks for more nuanced suggestions on building and revising your resume.
-Mike
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
OPPORTUNITY/perm: Lead DBA/Analyst
A couple exciting points before we get into the technical specs:
The company located in the Northern 'burbs and is looking for a "buck stops here" Lead DBA/Analyst. They're primarily a SQL Server shop but also have UDB/DB2, iSeries, Sybase, and DTI as ancillary technologies. They plan to phase out all but the SQL Server and DTI and replace it with technologies yet to be determined. The resource that will be hired for this opportunity will play a major role in deciding where the organization goes from a technology perspective on the back end! Also, if you've read my June posting "Job Security, pt. 3- The Leverage Niche" you'd find that this is precisely the type of opportunity which puts you in a position of being incredibly leveraged in terms of your value to the organization. This is a smaller shop looking for an individual that will have ownership over the systems. Talk about job security!
On to the specs:
1. Create and maintain documentation on enterprise database schemas, data dictionaries, physical database configs and daily database functions/custom apps. Overall monitoring of standards and procedures.
2. Design/develop/implement/maintain the use of database infrastructure and related apps (they have a home grown data warehouse based on SAP technologies, so this bullet pertains to the evolution and maintenance of this particular system).
3. Work with staff, identify workflow process weaknesses and develop solutions to automate office procedures and functions.
4. Design and manage data import/export processes and procedures.
5. Assign work to programmer and supervise as needed.
6. Coor. dev. of adhoc queries/reports, forms and datasets.
7. Develop and monitor standards, procedures, and methodologies for effective operation, access, and control of backup and recovery of all database systems.
8. Work closely with IT staff on performance, sys support, software upgrades/updates, and patches; unified database user/security admin practices.
9. Database Administration.
10. Provide status to immediate supervisor, collaborate with team members.
11. Minor app dev. and web integration.
Now for the wish-list (if you don't have everything don't worry; SQL Server and Crystal Reports are the biggies)
-SQL Server, UDB/DB2, MySQL or Oracle
-Linux, Solaris, OS400, Windows Structured Query Prog. Language
-Crystal Reports, PHP, Java, Javascript, VB, CGI-Perl, or ASP ODBC.
-Exp. supervising others.
-Comp Sci degree.
For more information or to be considered for the position, send your resume and contact me ASAP.
Mike
The company located in the Northern 'burbs and is looking for a "buck stops here" Lead DBA/Analyst. They're primarily a SQL Server shop but also have UDB/DB2, iSeries, Sybase, and DTI as ancillary technologies. They plan to phase out all but the SQL Server and DTI and replace it with technologies yet to be determined. The resource that will be hired for this opportunity will play a major role in deciding where the organization goes from a technology perspective on the back end! Also, if you've read my June posting "Job Security, pt. 3- The Leverage Niche" you'd find that this is precisely the type of opportunity which puts you in a position of being incredibly leveraged in terms of your value to the organization. This is a smaller shop looking for an individual that will have ownership over the systems. Talk about job security!
On to the specs:
1. Create and maintain documentation on enterprise database schemas, data dictionaries, physical database configs and daily database functions/custom apps. Overall monitoring of standards and procedures.
2. Design/develop/implement/maintain the use of database infrastructure and related apps (they have a home grown data warehouse based on SAP technologies, so this bullet pertains to the evolution and maintenance of this particular system).
3. Work with staff, identify workflow process weaknesses and develop solutions to automate office procedures and functions.
4. Design and manage data import/export processes and procedures.
5. Assign work to programmer and supervise as needed.
6. Coor. dev. of adhoc queries/reports, forms and datasets.
7. Develop and monitor standards, procedures, and methodologies for effective operation, access, and control of backup and recovery of all database systems.
8. Work closely with IT staff on performance, sys support, software upgrades/updates, and patches; unified database user/security admin practices.
9. Database Administration.
10. Provide status to immediate supervisor, collaborate with team members.
11. Minor app dev. and web integration.
Now for the wish-list (if you don't have everything don't worry; SQL Server and Crystal Reports are the biggies)
-SQL Server, UDB/DB2, MySQL or Oracle
-Linux, Solaris, OS400, Windows Structured Query Prog. Language
-Crystal Reports, PHP, Java, Javascript, VB, CGI-Perl, or ASP ODBC.
-Exp. supervising others.
-Comp Sci degree.
For more information or to be considered for the position, send your resume and contact me ASAP.
Mike
Friday, July 10, 2009
OPPORTUNITY/contract: combo DBA, Oracle & SQL Server
Demand for DBAs continues to be resilient. Even in a slow economy where new projects may be put on hold businesses must keep pre-existing systems running. This latest opening on the DBA side confirms the value the market continues to place on this skill set.
The client- a major bank located in downtown Minneapolis is undergoing organizational changes resulting in the need for this resource and others. The duration of this req. is approx. 6 months and is in California.
Qualified candidates will have a combo Oracle (9i/10g) & SQL Server (2000/2005) DBA skill set. This resource will be responsible for monitoring, tuning, backups, recovery, and when needed will design, test, implement, maintain, and control the organizations physical, relational, and object oriented databases across multiple platforms and computing environments. Will participate in data architecture, database management policies, and standards for current and future apps. Will participate in the planning, design, and usage of data resources and also support development team. Will provide daily status of application and performance and may develop data models and entity relationship diagrams. Knowledge of PeopleSoft databases a big plus.
Any interested parties should contact me ASAP.
-Mike
952-465-0157
The client- a major bank located in downtown Minneapolis is undergoing organizational changes resulting in the need for this resource and others. The duration of this req. is approx. 6 months and is in California.
Qualified candidates will have a combo Oracle (9i/10g) & SQL Server (2000/2005) DBA skill set. This resource will be responsible for monitoring, tuning, backups, recovery, and when needed will design, test, implement, maintain, and control the organizations physical, relational, and object oriented databases across multiple platforms and computing environments. Will participate in data architecture, database management policies, and standards for current and future apps. Will participate in the planning, design, and usage of data resources and also support development team. Will provide daily status of application and performance and may develop data models and entity relationship diagrams. Knowledge of PeopleSoft databases a big plus.
Any interested parties should contact me ASAP.
-Mike
952-465-0157
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