Archives June 2022

3 Questions to Ask Before You Get a Master’s in Engineering

Engineering jobs are readily available across the United States. Yet the top candidates for these roles typically possess a master’s degree. Ask these questions before you get a Master’s in engineering.

A master’s in engineering can help you stand out in a crowded job market. Meanwhile, with more jobs for engineers expected to become available, a master’s can put you in an excellent position to secure your dream job and earn a high annual salary.

Of course, earning a master’s in engineering is easier said than done. Before you pursue a master’s for engineers, here are three questions to consider.

1. Do I Need a Master’s to Achieve My Career Goals?

A master’s degree can help you land a leadership role in engineering. The degree can also make you an attractive job candidate to companies in need of engineering talent. However, the degree is not a requirement to land a job in engineering. Rather, a master’s can help you further your career.

Examine your career goals and consider how earning a master’s degree can help you achieve them. It can be helpful to list your career goals and the steps you’ll need to take to accomplish your aspirations. If you find you’re ready to take another step forward in your engineering career, now may be the right time to pursue a master’s.

2. Do I Have Enough Time to Earn a Master’s?

Earning a master’s requires time, energy, and resources. If you work an engineering role, you may need to take time away from work to earn your degree. On the other hand, you can enroll in online classes that let you complete your coursework on your own schedule.

Review your schedule and how you can change it to pursue a master’s. If you want to earn your master’s as quickly as possible, you can cut back on your workload. Comparatively, if you want to work while you earn a master’s, you can revamp your work schedule accordingly.

3. What’s the ROI of Earning a Master’s?

Those who have a master’s in engineering generally earn more money than engineering professionals without one. But keep in mind that location, the job market, and other factors can dictate the amount of money you earn in an engineering role.

Look at the cost of earning a master’s degree at different schools. In addition, consider how much you can earn with a master’s degree versus how much you can earn without one. This helps you determine the ROI of earning a master’s. And it can help you map out your engineering career.

Want to Find a Great Job in Engineering?

Having a master’s degree in engineering can improve your chances of landing a great job. If you ask these questions before you get a Master’s in engineering. Moreover, if you partner with ABBTECH, we can help you engage with companies in search of quality engineering job candidates. We are a staffing firm that helps engineering job candidates in any way we can. Our team can learn about you and your engineering career goals and help you land a role that meets your expectations. For more information, please contact us today.

Create a Successful Workplace Mentorship Program

You want workers to join your business and stay with your company long into the future. To achieve your goal, you need to create a workplace mentorship program.

A workplace mentorship program opens the door to new career opportunities. It allows workers to learn from colleagues and experience. In the program, an employee can gain insights into how to advance their career with your business. Plus, a worker can bolster their skill set. The worker may be more prone than ever before to remain with your business and help it thrive.

Now, let’s look at four things you can do to create a successful workplace mentorship program.

1. Establish Goals

Consider what you want to accomplish with your workplace mentorship program. Next, you can create program goals.

Define steps for each program goal. Steps should be easy to understand. They should help an employee use the program to take the next step forward in their career.

2. Help Mentors and Mentees Connect with One Another

Match mentors and mentees. Oftentimes, it helps to create criteria for both mentors and mentees. Then, you can use these criteria to ensure a mentee is placed with a mentor who can deliver the optimal results.

In addition, you can use mentor-matching programs and algorithms. This allows you to leverage technology that can match mentors and mentees based on myriad criteria. The technology can speed up the process of getting your workplace mentorship program up and running.

3. Promote Your Program

Think about why an employee should become a mentor or mentee. At this point, you can develop promotional materials that highlight the benefits of your program. You can share these materials with your workers and urge them to join your program.

Promote your program consistently. Also, be accessible to respond to any concerns or questions regarding your program. Give employees the information they need to understand your program’s importance. Ultimately, you may find many workers want to join your program right away.

4. Check in with Mentors and Mentees

Do not expect your program to be an instant success. Check in with mentors and mentees frequently following your program’s launch. This allows you to collect program feedback. If you find any issues with your program, address them immediately.

Keep the lines of communication open with mentors and mentees. Continue to learn from participants and search for ways to improve your program. Over time, you can ensure your program can deliver outstanding results.

Get Started on Creating a Successful Workplace Mentorship Program

Develop a workplace mentorship program and make it the best it can be. Your program can help you keep your current workforce happy. Moreover, your program can make your business stand out to top talent. Along with launching a workplace mentorship program, partnering with a staffing agency can help your company land top talent. At ABBTECH, we’re a staffing firm that helps companies engage with IT professionals. Our team takes the guesswork out of IT talent recruitment and can put you in touch with skilled IT pros at any time. For more information, please contact us today.

Books to Encourage and Inspire Job Seekers

You want your job search to be a success. However, you consistently encounter problems as you seek out your dream job. Below are books to encourage and inspire job seekers.

The job market is tough to navigate, even if you have plenty of industry experience. Thus, adversity is common for today’s job seekers. When faced with adversity during your job search, you may want to change your mindset. To do so, it helps to learn from individuals who have coped with adversity and overcome challenges in a variety of ways.

To learn more about how to overcome adversity in your job search, read a book. In fact, there are many books available that encourage and inspire job seekers. These include:

1. StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath

This book is designed to help job seekers develop their natural talents. It features a StrengthsFinder test that you can use to identify your personal and professional strengths. Once you read this book, you’ll be well-equipped to transform weaknesses into strengths and further enhance your existing strengths. Plus, you can gain confidence that can help you put your best foot forward during job interviews.

2. Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown

In this book, Brown offers insights into what you can do to overcome any past problems. She points out that you are in control of your destiny. In addition, you can learn from your past and do what’s necessary to avoid making the same mistakes twice. As a result, you can rise strong, to the point where you can achieve any personal and professional goals.

3. Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Let’s face it — it can be tempting to pursue as much as possible, all the time. Yet, in this book, McKeown argues the pursuit of less may be the most fulfilling option. By pursuing less, you can focus on specific goals. You can live your life to the fullest extent, without compromising your personal health and wellbeing. The result: you can feel your best and get the most out of your time, energy, and resources.

4. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk

You need to promote yourself to stand out from other candidates in a fierce job market. This book offers insights into how you can do just that. Vaynerhuk emphasizes that every person has their own unique story to tell. With the right approach, you can share your story with the world. And you can use your story to make a positive impression on anyone you meet.

Ready to Find a New Job?

The job market offers no guarantees. Conversely, those who feel confident and motivated can find job opportunities with great companies. They can boost their chances of landing their ideal job and building a successful career, too. If you want help during your IT job search, partner with ABBTECH. We are an IT staffing agency that can help you navigate the job market. For more information, get in touch with us today.

Ensuring Equity for Your Hybrid Workforce

Your business lets its employees work both at home and remotely. To date, your hybrid work model has been successful, and your in-house and remote workers are thriving. But going forward, changes may be on the horizon for some of your hybrid employees. Here’s a look at how ensuring equity for your hybrid workforce will help your company.

Ultimately, employees may enjoy working from home. However, work-from-home (WFH) may have been a temporary option due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. You want employees to increasingly return to the office. However, you are uncertain about how you can let some staff work remotely and others resume in-office work.

Ensuring equity for your hybrid workforce can be challenging. There are several things you can do to ensure WFH and in-office employees receive the same level of care and support. These include:

1. Learn from Your Workers

Find out what workers enjoy about your company. This gives you insights into how your company can support employees, regardless of whether they work in the office or remotely.

Conduct employee surveys and questionnaires. These assessments can help you check the pulse of your hybrid workforce. From here, you can generate insights to help you deliver the care and support all of your workers need to succeed.

2. Invest in Technology

Give workers the technology they need to complete everyday tasks. Furthermore, provide employees with technology so they can keep the lines of communication open with their peers and superiors.

Slack and other communication tools enable workers to stay connected from anywhere in the world. Choose communication tools that are easy to implement across your hybrid workforce. These tools can make it simple for workers to chat with one another. They can help these employees remain productive if they work from home or remotely.

3. Offer Training

Provide training to help workers become more productive and efficient than ever before. This training can be offered to employees of all skill and experience levels. And it can help bridge the gap between in-office and remote workers.

Develop training initiatives for career advancement, too. These initiatives allow workers to grow their careers. They can help employees take the necessary steps to accomplish their career goals.

4. Update Your Hybrid Work Policies

Create hybrid work policies in alignment with your business needs. If you establish new policies or update existing ones, notify workers. You should give employees ample time to adapt to hybrid work policies. If employees have concerns or questions about these policies, you should be ready to answer them.

Communicate and collaborate with employees on hybrid work policies. Then, workers can share feedback and insights to help you get the most value out of these policies.

The Bottom Line on Ensuring Equity for Your Hybrid Workforce

You want your hybrid workforce to thrive. By creating opportunities for in-house and remote workers to achieve the best-possible results, you can ensure equity across your workforce. Lastly, if you want to hire in-house or remote IT workers, ABBTECH can help. We offer IT job staffing assistance at your convenience. To learn more, please contact us today.