This blog will explain everything you need to set tangible, attainable professional goals. We’ll also look at some great examples of professional goals that you can work towards.

What ARE Professional Development Goals?

“Where do you see yourself and your career in five or ten years?” Professional goals are essentially the answer to that question. Professional goals, or career development goals, are active steps you can take to stimulate growth and advancement in your chosen career. Good professional goals offer a clear vision for your career path and the skills you need to succeed.

Good professional goals may be short or long-term, showing progress and setting measurable milestones along the way.

5 Professional Work Goals for 2023

Here are five ideas for professional development that will help you achieve your professional goals:

1. Take a Course to Sharpen Your Skills. Learning goals are a big boost for personal and career development. Choose something that interests you, that boosts your skills and knowledge for your career, and follow through.

2. Learn New Tools. Set a goal to learn new software or skills to expand your ability and flexibility within your job.

3. Improve Your Communication Skills. From meetings to presentations, communication is important in the modern workforce. Research different presentation styles and take public speaking to improve your ability to speak clearly and communicate your ideas.

4. Build Your Network. Building your network means being intentional about connecting with peers in your career industry. Networking may be challenging, especially if you are an introvert. Set small goals and keep track of your progress. You could attend a conference, a local meetup, or join a professional organization with regular activities and events.

5. Become a Business Owner. Starting a small business is very different from taking on a new job. Building a business is a long-term goal and a long-term commitment. It requires a lot of hard work daily and determination to take on a leadership role.

Today, it is easier than ever to set up an e-commerce business. Don’t forget to set some 2023 goals for your new business!

Conclusion

Professional goals help you focus on where you want to be in your career. They clarify the steps to take to reach your short- and long-term goals and give you the roadmap for success.

Is a new job in the new year a goal of yours? Search our open positions today!

The post Career Check-In: Did you Achieve your 2022 Professional Goals? appeared first on ABBTECH.

Veterans make incredibly valuable additions to your company’s culture. They bring extensive training and education to the civilian job world, along with essential “soft skills” and real-world experience that you can’t learn in a classroom.

There are big differences between the military and civilian worlds, however, and making the transition successful in the short and long term may seem daunting. Read on to learn some of the many ways you can build a more veteran-friendly workplace and maintain it year-round.

Foster Empathy Through Education

The best way to empathize with veterans, or anyone of different backgrounds and experiences, is through education. Educating yourself and others about the struggles of veterans helps you to understand better, accept, and connect with them. The Veterans’ Administration (VA) has tools, training sessions, and information that can help you build a welcoming culture attractive to veterans.

Create Opportunities for Building Community

Many veterans have difficulty adjusting to the lack of community in the average workplace. In the military, there is a structure of personnel and families who help new members adjust. In the civilian world, that structure is rarely in place.

Facilitating mentorship at work and encouraging positive professional friendships through social activities and family-friendly events can be helpful for veterans struggling with building professional relationships at work.

Implement Veteran-Friendly Onboarding and Orientation Procedures

Coming from a world where the chain of command plays a central role, it can be difficult for veterans to adjust to the less structured civilian working world. Consider adding detailed walk-throughs to the onboarding and orientation programming and ensure all resources are readily accessible for new veteran hires to refer to later.

Also, ensure that the expectations for the job are clearly outlined and that any urgent or priority information for projects and roles have been well-defined. This is a good guideline for all applicants, veteran and non-veteran alike.

Encourage and Promote Career Development & Advancement

For veterans, the path to promotion in the civilian world can be confusing. Setting up a clear career map and review process, as well as offering professional coaching and development opportunities, enables veterans to see the path to advancement within your company and encourages them to grow and progress forward.

Ready to expand your workforce and attract skilled veterans to your company? Contact ABBTECH today!

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ABBTECH^®, an award-winning, Women-Owned staffing firm located in Virginia, has connected strategic IT talent with high-quality jobs in high-tech, Fortune 500 companies and government agencies for nearly 30 years. In addition, ABBTECH^® launched the Veterans 2 Jobs Network, which helps hundreds of U.S. Military veterans learn new skills and find jobs in the civilian workforce.

The Veterans 2 Jobs Network

The transition from military life to civilian can be a difficult one. ABBTECH^® understands this and is committed to helping veterans make the transition as smooth as possible. We begin with securing the work they need to support themselves and their families. That’s where Veterans 2 Jobs Network (V2JN) comes in.

The program assists veterans in multiple ways. Veteran job seekers get a dedicated recruiter who assists them with job searches. Recruiters review candidate resumes, referring them to the certified resume writer if it needs improvement or focus. Recruiters also help with interview preparation. This gives candidates the extra confidence boost that being adequately prepared provides.

 In addition, ABBTECH^® helps with job searches, offering over 1,200 job opportunities at various companies, from small local businesses to Fortune 500 companies. The recruiter communicates regularly throughout the entire hiring process, from initial screening and interviews through skills tests, personality tests, hiring, and onboarding.

Conclusion

Introducing V2JN, the best way to honor returning veterans is to help them successfully settle into a new civilian life. ABBTECH^®’s Veterans 2 Jobs Network does just that by providing information, assistance, and access to thousands of job opportunities. These are open for veterans eager to apply their training and unique skills to the private sector.   

For three decades, ABBTECH^® has provided quality IT staffing solutions for businesses in the Washington, D.C. area. If you’re a Vet looking for jobs, or if you’re a company looking to hire more of our Vet workforce, get in touch with our team at ABBTECH^® today!

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1. What is the exact start date of the Job?

Two weeks’ notice is the standard when notifying your current employer that you’re leaving your position. So, if a potential employer wants you to begin immediately without sufficient time to provide notice, it might be a red flag regarding the company’s culture and flexibility. On the other hand, reluctance to give a start date may also signal internal problems in the company. Be sure to get verbal and written confirmation of the agreed start date.

2. What should I expect with the onboarding process?

Onboarding varies from company to company, so ask your prospective employer about their process and what you can expect. Training, tools, materials, and personal guidance or mentoring should all be explained thoroughly.

3. Who will be reaching out to me on the first day?

The first day can be anxious, but knowing who will reach out to you first gives you an idea of what to expect. It also allows you to look up the HR or management person on a professional platform such as LinkedIn and better understand their role within the company.

4. Can we explore a slightly higher starting salary?

Most companies are open to negotiating the starting salary for a position, so this is an essential question to ask. Come prepared with research regarding the pay range for the job, including factors such as geographic area and experience.

5. Will I receive benefits immediately?

Ask when required and optional benefits go into effect. While required benefits, such as Social Security and workers’ compensation, go into effect on the first day, other benefits, such as health insurance, may not. Find out when they go into effect and information about premiums and deductibles so that your coverage doesn’t lapse.

Benefits comprise nearly half of a position’s compensation package, so it is essential to understand your benefits and when you can access them.

Conclusion

Accepting a job offer is a serious and important decision. With these questions to consider before accepting a job offer, things should go more smoothly. Asking the right questions, starting with the ones listed above, ensures that the position is the right job for you.

If this job doesn’t work out, don’t worry! Explore our open positions down below.

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In this blog, we’ll look at how you may be attracting the wrong candidates and what you can do to attract the best candidates in the future.

Not Going Where The Qualified Talent Is

If you want to buy freshly grown produce, you do not go to find it in a butcher’s shop. Simply put, if you’re looking for well-qualified IT candidates, you must go where they are. Top-notch IT talent may not be actively hunting for a job, but they often lurk in niche online groups and professional networking sites. Become a member of the groups and forums they frequent and develop an attractive presence online by producing content that IT candidates want to consume.

Poor Company Reputation

Developing your company brand online is essential, especially when you want to attract qualified job applicants. If your company’s values and goals are not clear, you can be sure to attract unqualified, unusable applicants.

Ensure that your website and social media sites are clear and full of the correct information to convey your brand and company culture. Take a good look at your hiring process and refine and streamline it to effectively filter out unqualified candidates.

Unclear Job Descriptions and Requirements

That first step in the hiring process, the job posting, is a vital first step in filtering out unqualified candidates. Clearly explaining the required qualifications for the job, including education, experience, and specific skills, guarantees you will get applicants who do not meet your needs. On the other hand, not casting a wide net may mean missing out on good candidates that, while not ticking every box, are still well-qualified for the job and may prove a valuable asset.

Demonstrate your flexibility and inclusivity in your job postings while stipulating the required education and skills.

Asking the Wrong Questions

Standard interview questions won’t yield the answers you need when it comes to the interview process. Suppose you want to find the right IT candidate for your open position. In that case, you need to focus on questions that allow them to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a practical sense—for example, asking a candidate to describe a piece of technology or application in layman’s terms. Another important question would be how the candidate keeps their skills up and keeps up with current trends in the industry.

Conclusion

Posting a simple job available will never attract the right talent to your company. However, making yourself an attractive employment candidate and taking the time to reach out to the talent you want onboard will.

If you need help finding qualified talent, get in touch with our team!

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While data science and data analytics do have a great deal of overlap, they are quite different roles. Let’s look at the differences between these two disciplines and their careers.

Differences Between Data Science vs. Data Analytics

In simplest terms, comparing data science and data analytics is about reaching the general to the specific. Data science drives innovation by investigating new questions that need to be answered. Data science shapes the questions that need to be answered and builds connections to facilitate answering them.

Data Science:

• Focuses on machine learning and predictive modeling
• Is multi-disciplinary
• Requires experience in programming languages, data visualization tools, and databases, such as Python, Scala, Tableau, and MongoDB.

Data analytics, on the other hand is more specific and concentrated. Data analytics focuses on viewing and interpreting historical data in context, checking hypotheses, and answering data science questions for better decision-making in business.

Data Analytics:

• Require strong skills in statistics, modeling, databases, and problem-solving
• Ability to slice and dice data in programs such as Excel and SQL database
• Knowledge of Python, SAS, and other statistical tools

Data Science Job Roles

Data science job roles process, cleanse, and verify data, glean business insights, and identify new data trends to make future predictions. BI engineers, business analysts, IT application engineers, architects, and data analysts are all job roles involving data science.

Data Analytics Job Roles

Data analysts focus mainly on the analysis of data, cleansing data, using statistical tools to discover new patterns in the data, and developing KPIs and visualizations based on those patterns. Data analytics jobs include:

• Database administrators
• Data warehousing professionals
• QA engineers
• Various roles in sales, marketing, finance, and operations where data needs to be processed and used to create dashboards, reports, and visualizations

Conclusion

Data science and data analysis are the most in-demand jobs today. Pursue a career in data science or data analysis if you enjoy technology, love challenges, and are creative.

Start your career in data science or data analytics and search with the ABBTECH team today!

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While Millennials grew up without much of the technology available today, they have adapted to it quickly, making them both innovative and tech-savvy. Though often stereotyped as entitled, they are also very independent, quick-thinking, and skilled at solving problems independently.

So, how can you manage your millennial workers the right way? Here are five tips for doing it right.

1. Build a Strong Company Culture

Millennial workers are dedicated hard workers for a job and company they believe in. Building a solid company culture full of purpose and meaning that resonates with your millennial workers ensures they will invest their time and energy fully into helping the company grow and prosper.

2. Flexibility/ Work-Life Balance

Even before the Great Resignation, the pandemic, and the dawn of the Talent War, millennials craved flexibility in the workplace. For many millennials, the ability to have a complete family life and personal life is as important as their career. Providing flexibility when it comes to working hours and offering hybrid and remote work opportunities attracts the attention of this generation of workers right away. Managing millennials 5 ways to do it right.

3. Provide Leadership and Guidance

Even though millennials have adapted to be very independent and self-motivated, they thrive under the right kind of guidance and leadership. Instead of micromanaging your millennials, show them what to do and let them get the results their way. Not only will this boost their performance, but it will also show them you trust them.

4. Praise and Feedback

Millennials aren’t looking for trophies, but they do need validation. Recognizing their effort and accomplishment at work can go a long way toward supporting and encouraging them. In many ways, functioning more as a mentor than a boss will help your millennial workers to thrive. Give praise when deserved and provide constructive feedback regularly in group and private settings.

5. Encourage Career Growth and Leadership

Millennials want to succeed in their jobs and careers, so show them a future with the company that they can be excited about. Be transparent about their future opportunities, trust in their abilities, and provide them with the means to improve their skills and take on bigger, better projects and roles. Allow your millennial workers to lead the way, and they will perform at higher levels.

Conclusion

Millennials in the workplace are often misunderstood, but taking the time to appreciate these hard-working, passionate over-achievers will help you to lead them right and help you both grow professionally and personally. These tips on managing millennials 5 ways to do it right will help your business grow with the next generation.

If you’re ready to build your team, give the ABBTECH team a chance!

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There is no one-size-fits-all approach to attract and retain women in IT. However, there are several things you can do to enhance your talent recruitment and retention strategies. These include:

1. Offer Family-Friendly Work Policies

Help your employees put their families first. To do so, you can develop and launch family-friendly work policies. You can use these policies to encourage workers to spend ample time with their families. Plus, the policies can help your company stand out from others in a competitive job market.

A family-friendly work policy is simple to implement. For instance, you can provide women in IT with the flexibility to work remotely. This gives IT professionals additional time to spend with their families. In addition, it can help these professionals establish and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

2. Offer a Great Compensation Package 

A gender wage gap plagues many businesses across the United States. Fortunately, you can offer a great compensation package to all workers, regardless of role. This can help you attract and retain exceptional women in IT now and in the future.

You should evaluate the compensation package your business currently provides to its IT professionals. Ultimately, the package must include the benefits your workers want. It should also help your business keep pace with its rivals.

Review and update your compensation package regularly. That way, you’re well-equipped to ensure your company’s compensation package consistently hits the mark with your employees.

3. Offer Career Advancement Opportunities

You can give women in IT many opportunities for career advancement. This requires you to develop career advancement programs. With these programs in place, women in IT can develop the skills they need to thrive with your business. Or, they can work toward enhancing their existing skills and further growing their careers.

There are myriad career advancement programs you can offer. For instance, you can provide in-house training to women who are entering IT. Comparatively, you can provide women in IT with money they can use to enroll in college and university degree programs. With every career advancement opportunity you provide to women in IT, you can move one step closer to bolstering your workforce.

Take Your IT Talent Recruitment and Retention to New Heights

If you want to attract and retain women in IT, you need to plan accordingly. These 3 tips to help attract and retain women in IT. Thankfully, ABBTECH can help you do just that. We offer IT talent staffing services to businesses of all sizes and across all industries. Our professional recruiters can help you achieve your IT talent recruitment and retention goals. To learn more about our IT staffing services, please get in touch with us today.

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What Is Upskilling, and Why Is It Important?

Upskilling involves helping workers take their current skills to new heights. It emphasizes training that employees can use to become better than ever before at their current jobs. 

Ultimately, upskilling represents the future of work. It helps businesses avoid the costs of searching for and onboarding new employees. Instead, companies can provide training to help their current personnel advance their skill sets. This ensures workers are consistently well-equipped to perform at peak levels.    

Furthermore, upskilling can help a business bolster its employee engagement, retention, and satisfaction levels. Workers can complete upskilling programs to learn how to perform their best. From here, they can become masters of their craft. This can lead to a positive work environment in which every employee can contribute to a business’ success. At the same time, it can help a company distinguish itself from the competition. A company can even use upskilling to attract and recruit top talent moving forward.

How to Upskill Your Workforce

1. Prioritize Continuous Learning and Development

Offer online courses, workshops, and other training materials to your employees. Provide educational programs to workers throughout the year. In doing so, your workers will have no trouble keeping their skill sets up to date.

2. Promote Peer-to-Peer Coaching

Let your employees learn from one another. With peer-to-peer coaching, employees can work with each other on team projects. Meanwhile, workers can help their peers enhance their skill sets and develop new skills. Moreover, workers can foster relationships that can help them become key contributors across your business.

3. Expand Workers’ Job Responsibilities

Increase a worker’s job responsibilities as he or she bolsters their skill set. As an employee’s skill set grows, this worker can move closer to achieving their career goals.

4. Rotate Work Responsibilities

Give workers opportunities to rotate positions. For instance, an employee can perform one role during a certain work shift and another during a different shift. This enables the employee to become well-versed in different business areas. And it allows this worker to develop a diverse skill set.

5. Track Your Upskilling Results

Get employee feedback regarding your upskilling initiatives. You can conduct employee questionnaires and surveys to find out if these initiatives hit the mark with your workforce. Next, you can revamp your upskilling initiatives as needed.

The Bottom Line on Upskilling Your Workforce

Upskilling can benefit your company and its workforce. Get started with upskilling initiatives today, and you may reap the benefits of doing so in 2022 and beyond. Finally, if you want to add top IT talent, ABBTECH can assist. We know the ins and outs of IT talent recruitment and can connect your business with quality job candidates at any time. For more information, contact us today.

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