The following is an e-mail interview of Rob Hubert of EliteIT Services. For more information, read the EliteIt Services Blog.
1. What is your role at Elite IT Services? How long have you been there?
At Elite, I focus on Talent. I have a two part title, Chief Talent Officer and Director of Technical Recruiting. My role is to identify, qualify, acquire and grow talent. I started my career in a technical role and created a personal process to continuously advance into roles with more responsibility. I eventually moved into Sr. Management, as a Sr. Manager I was responsible for developing a team of technical professionals that were focused on delivering results. In my current role with Elite, I bring a background of coaching, mentoring and training IT Professionals to become results oriented superstars. I also lead the Personal Coaching program for IT Professionals, which is a program specifically designed to help participants determine what they truly want and then get it. I've been with Elite since it's inception in 2002 as the founder. I've been in my current role for a little over a year. This is the best job I have ever had. I am truly in a role that emphasizes my strengths and I am enjoying every aspect of what I do.
2. Every company says they are different in the way they recruit. We can't all be the best, so what makes you unique to the client? And for this question, you're not allowed to use marketing speak.
I don't know that we are different in the way that we recruit, but I would say that we are different in our beliefs, value system and behaviors. I have spent my entire career building a network of people that have the same values. We are very effective in finding best match passive candidates for permanent and contract positions, in fact over 70% of my candidates come from referrals. Our clients benefit from our deep network and we work hard to build close relationships with them and they look to us as trusted advisors in the marketplace.
3. Give me three reasons why a candidate should call you before calling other recruiters.
The recruiting side of Elite is about helping our candidates to improve their lives. We know that we have a very important job, because we affect one of the most important areas of a persons life - how they earn their income. Our contribution helps them pay their mortgage, feed their families and purchase birthday presents for their children. We provide personal attention to every candidate, we focus on the best career match and we can help them land their ideal job.
4. What are current searches you are working on? Is there anything truly exciting that a passive candidate might be interested in?
I've got two positions that I'm really excited about. The first one is a a permanent position as an "Internet/Web Product Manager - Web 2.0 Experience". I'm looking for a person that has a background in Web Strategy to manage the core Web Services offering of a local client. The ideal person will understand the Internet and specifically Web 2.0 environment and services. I'd love to tell you more about it, this is a truly unique and excited opportunity.
The second one that I'm pumped about is also a perm position as an IT Director. The ideal candidate has managed an IT Department of around 20 people, has a strong IT strategic planning background and has created and demonstrated results through key performance indicators. What's exciting about this position is the career growth opportunities are unlimited. It is also with a company that promotes work/life balance (imagine that!!!).
5. What would you like to see improved in the way Elite IT does business in the next year?
We are actively working on improving our ability to provide Project Staffing and deliver full project teams. Our client base continues to grow and we fully expect to expand into the Government IT Services market. Our GSA is nearly complete and we are actively bidding on a couple of large contracts right now. I'm also constantly improving our recruiting process, I think it's already above average, but that's not good enough for me. All of our recruiters want to reach "Big Biller" status and I feel like we've got the right group of people and the right context to make that happen. We also have plans to roll out a new web site in the Spring timeframe.
6. Do you currently read Blogs or use any of the new Web 2.0 tools? Which ones?
Yes, I read Blogs and I use Web 2.0 tools extensively. I use a My Yahoo page that allows me to add RSS feeds from the Blogs that I follow. I also use Technorati to help me identify Blog posts that contain specific topics that I'm researching. I'm a big proponent of LinkedIn.com, which is a tool that can help IT Professionals gain exposure in the market and connect to other professionals to help each other with advice, guidance and career opportunities. We use Typepad.com for our business blog, I use Meebo.com and provide a Chat with Rob Hubert Live page on our website. We also use LivePerson on our corporate website, which gives candidates the opportunity to get more information instantly about any of our open opportunities. Wikipedia and Shopwiki are also on my favs link.
7. What is the best way for a candidate to reach out to you? What can they do to make themselves more presentable in the eyes of a recruiter?
The best way to reach me is to call. Emails sometimes get lost in junk mail or spam filters, call me and you will get my attention.
8. True or False. We're in the middle of a Talent War.
True - Multiple Offers are becoming the norm, active candidates have more choices and passive candidates are very selective. Salaries for mid-level IT Professionals have increased and not all hiring companies have figured this out yet. This is a trend that Steve Stadler recently posted about on our blog. See "IT Job Market is Heating Up.
9. List two trends affecting corporate recruiting departments.
Increased difficulty in matching up candidates in their databases with open positions - while this has always been a problem, the number of unqualified candidates applying to jobs sometimes causes the unintentional consequences of a qualified candidate being overlooked.
Finding candidates is more relationship based then ever, many candidates have told me that they prefer working with us to give them insight on the positions, their future bosses and help them negotiate offers. I don't believe that the corporate recruiters will have time to build relationships with candidates, making it more difficult to fill their positions.
10. Anything you want to add? Any special promotions, press or referral plans you want to talk about?
We are on quite a roll right now, our market is expanding and we have several new strategic clients. While our success continues to grow we believe that it is important to reach out and help others in the community. Sandi is on the board of Directors for Connections to Success, a non-profit with a mission to stomp out poverty one family at a time. We are very active in helping them achieve this goal. If there is anything that I've learned in my life it is to pass on my knowledge and success to others, so they can have the same wonderful experiences that I have had. I know that I can only achieve the greatest success possible when others around me win as well.
