August 31, 2020

Learnings from lockdown: Insights for Kiwi tech professionals

8 min read

Going into lockdown as a country has been a truly surreal experience. As the ‘team of 5 million’ pull together to eliminate the community transmission of COVID-19, we are learning a lot about our collective resolve and adaptability. For many, their day-to-day lives were considerably different during a lockdown. After the first nationwide outbreak starting in March 2020, the workforce looked to restore some normality whilst making business changes for a new world where health and safety practices and flexibility on working arrangements are required. This has already proven invaluable as Auckland returned to level 3 in August 2020 and many employees were working from home once again.

Accordant, New Zealand’s largest recruitment and resourcing company (under which Absolute IT operates), ran a survey of clients to build an understanding of how businesses were impacted during the first lockdown – and how they responded. Now, we will dig into these findings and share how IT businesses specifically can help their staff thrive in the COVID-19 era, where we may have future lockdowns to navigate.

The survey

The AWF Madison client survey saw almost 270 responses, with representation across a wide range of sectors and organisation sizes spanning Absolute IT and our sister companies – AWF, Madison and JacksonStone & Partners. It was delivered straight after our nation’s first full lockdown during level 3, where changes and business impact was fresh in the minds of employers.

We have dug into both the report and Absolute IT client responses to provide readers with some insight into how organisations responded to lockdown life.

How businesses operated during lockdown

When surveying employers, it was clear that the Lockdown affected all businesses in some capacity. 36% of businesses operated in a different way due to COVID-19 restrictions, changing their focus to better manage through the period. 30% saw a reduction in productivity – unsurprising given the economic slowdown New Zealand went through from March to May 2020.

The percentage of businesses experiencing reduced levels of demand for services was considerable at 45%. However, there was a segment of respondents who had experienced little to no impact (28%) and even some businesses for whom the lockdown presented an increase in activity (15%). It is important to note that the lockdown was almost immediate, with businesses unable to prepare for this period ahead of time.

Adapting

The immediate, economy transforming forces of COVID-19 have driven innovation and change. Businesses at the very least have had a stark reminder of the need for business continuity and contingency plans.

The demand for services through Lockdown varied greatly – the loss of international tourism vs. the essential need for supermarkets perhaps the clearest example of this. While tech businesses enjoy the flexibility of working digitally when needed via remote access and mobile devices, restrictions around security and infrastructure still remain for larger organisations. As part of the enforced working from home period, many businesses have since started looking to transition over to secure cloud and remote access solutions in order to allow their staff to maintain productivity without being located on site.

Supporting staff wellbeing

Perhaps one of the most critical parts of the lockdown period was ensuring that staff were supported through a scary and uncertain period. 81% of Absolute IT clients surveyed said they had advised staff that they had access to EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) for mental health support. An EAP can help staff confidentially get support with struggles they are experiencing both personally and professionally. These providers have seen a spike in demand during lockdown and continue to actively encourage employees to use these services if available.

We were happy to hear how employers were looking after their teams. Wellbeing activities and challenges were a way to keep their team engaged and healthy while at home, with some teams even engaging in virtual Pilates or yoga classes. Other businesses supported staff with children by providing educational resources and flexibility around working hours.

Staying connected digitally

We are sure that you will have seen plenty of video chat group screenshots on the web during Lockdown. Video chat suddenly became our primary channel for interacting with our co-workers. While not quite a replacement for in-person interaction, businesses have used video chat platforms to keep teams connected with each other, to support productivity and keep staff up to date on important comms from the business. It is also a great way to get to know our co-workers better, be introduced to their partners, kids – and pets! The majority (91%) of Absolute IT clients surveyed reported back that they would have frequent online catch ups via VC to keep the team feeling connected.

In many cases, the enforced work from home and virtual meeting procedures have opened up possibilities for workers in the future to do more of their job away from the office. With many employees finding the work from home (WFH) arrangement excellent for productivity and avoiding distractions, organisations are quickly seeing the benefit and responding accordingly.

Providing staff tools for the job

In order to work from home, employers have had to provide staff with equipment that’s secure and reliable. For some businesses, staff were already equipped with mobile devices like laptops. For others in a more traditional desk-based workstation environment, remote working has meant supporting team members with equipment and internet connections to assist continued productivity.

Of the respondents within Absolute IT’s network, almost 94% provided their team with IT equipment to get the job done at home. 31% went further, providing compensation (in some form like a subsidy) for home internet or power usage.

Coming out of lockdown, we expect to see more tech employers moving to mobile computing for staff to enable remote working when it’s required, or even requested.

Additional digital-based learning & training

During decreased demand for commercial services, businesses looked to internal projects and other business improvement initiatives during lockdown. From our survey of Absolute IT clients, 42% offered online training and e-learning for staff to upskill. Internal training is typically part of all businesses’ staff development plans but can often be overshadowed by work itself. With lockdown, businesses have had the opportunity to come out of lockdown with new skills to apply to a recovering and competitive market.

New health and safety measures

COVID-19’s spread across the world comes with frequent reminders of just how easy transmission can be. As New Zealand starts moving around again, workplaces have adopted more stringent health and safety practices to reduce risk of spread. This ranges from contact tracing QR codes to hand sanitiser, all the way to enforced PPE such as face masks on public transport. 32% of our respondents have enforced PPE guidelines beyond what was standard guidelines in their organisation. Broadly, we expect the IT industry to continue playing a key role in developing health and safety solutions to keep Kiwis safe and achieving our goal of ensuring COVID-19 is eliminated from the community.

Ensuring productivity during trying times

We asked our clients how they had encouraged staff to stay productive throughout lockdown with all the stress and distraction to contend with. We learnt that many of the great ideas that employers came up with will remain in place well into the post-COVID era. These include:

Setting clear, realistic expectations around productivity levels as the workforce adjusts to a new normal.
Adjusting decision making flows and team distribution for new working environments.
Flexible working policies – outside of standard 8.30-5.30 hours
Split-shifts or rotational policy for staff working at home vs. the office to reduce business impact and support social distancing.

Life lessons

If these lockdown periods have taught us anything, it is that Kiwis are resilient. We find a way to persevere through challenges and find opportunities to persevere through the most difficult of circumstances. The IT industry is well positioned to thrive in a post-COVID-19 world where virtual interaction and non-traditional working habits will become the norm.

IT professionals looking for their ideal role may no longer be confined to the standard workday. Perhaps businesses who viewed certain roles as full time in-office, may now be open to offering flexibility of when and where this work is done. Lockdown in New Zealand proves that staff can still deliver great work and operate as a team, without being in the same physical space.

The support many Kiwi employers showed for their teams during this time is encouraging. With the clear benefits of additional wellness support, we would expect the workforce to take some large steps forward in the work-life balance space.

As a country, we have now faced two different lockdowns – first nationwide, and more recently, Auckland returned to Level 3. The experience of lockdown has prepared the country to act quickly and work remotely to contain and reduce the spread as needed.

Lockdown, and the wider impacts of COVID-19 has affected everyone in different ways. We are really interested to hear about your own unique experiences. How has working remotely affected you? How has your team stayed connected through lockdown periods? Have your say on our LinkedIn page – we would love to follow up this piece with some more accounts of how this impacted our IT community so we will be asking some relevant questions over the coming weeks – be sure to jump online and join the conversation.

Absolute IT

August 24, 2020

12 tips to supercharge your CV and Cover Letter

7 min read

Getting your CV and cover letter to stand out is a bugbear for many when looking for a job in the IT industry. A stock standard CV and cover letter is not going to cut it nowadays.

It is important to understand what tech employers, hiring managers and recruiters are really looking for amongst their piles of resumes and cover letters. We’ve put together our top tips on how to supercharge your CV and cover letter to help you stand out from the crowd.

Get selective – hit that delete button if these four things feature in your CV/cover letter

Focus on facts and edit the fluff

The first step to improving your CV or cover letter is simple – get rid of the fluff you don’t need. Look at your CV/cover letter critically; what makes you sound awesome and hireable? And what will likely appear on the majority of other candidates’ applications? Remember, an IT recruiter will probably only spend 10-15 seconds per CV, unless one stands out. Make their job easier by only including skills and experience relevant to the opportunity at hand.

Say goodbye to a list of generic skills

If it’s a skill that’s expected of you, or that everyone else has, consider removing it. Some skills make you sound unique, whereas others sound like they’ve been copied and pasted from a generic resume template. Being proficient at Microsoft Word or Excel is not particularly ground-breaking in this day and age! Mention skills that are interesting, different and special – niche knowledge is your friend.

Delete the vague professional jargon

“Team player”, “results driven” and “good communicator” are examples of skills we often see sprinkled through resumes. Instead, use lively language and specific examples to explain how you use these skills in the workplace. Sure, you might be a great communicator, but how have you demonstrated this? Include action verbs and measurable quantities like “managed fifteen team members”, or “developed a process that decreased deployment risk by 50%.” Prove why that skill deserves a place on your CV/cover letter.

Rethink the “objective statement”

Unless you have just finished studying and are on the hunt for a graduate IT job, or are changing careers, the objective statement should be left out. In these scenarios, an objective shows the recruiter that you have drive and passion for a certain field, even if you have no prior experience. In most other instances, the objective statement hinders more than helps! An employer may misinterpret your objective statement, and assume you’re only interested in a very specific job role – meaning you miss out on other rewarding positions. Remove the objective from your CV and see what opportunities come your way.

Think of your CV as a highlight reel. Keep everything relevant, interesting and unique.

Focus on the wildly important – four game changer things to include in your CV/cover letter

We’ve told you what not to include, so what do you need to mention in your CV and cover letter?

Open your cover letter by addressing a pain point.

Why is the company hiring? It’s usually because they need a new employee to solve a particular pain point. The job description will give you an insight into why they are looking for a new person, and the opening few sentences of your cover letter should address that. It’s as if you are answering their call for help – focus on how you could make an immediate impact in the role, not just on how much you want the job.

Your project portfolio is your new best friend.

The saying “a picture speaks a thousand words” is the driving logic here – present your skills in a visual way. Include examples of recent projects you’ve worked on, or add a link to your personal website. Having actual work to support the skills/experience mentioned in your CV is a great selling point. If you’re “fresh” to the IT market, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t show off your skills! Feature examples from course projects, content you’ve learned in class or any interesting discoveries you made during your studies.

Include your tech extracurriculars.

Put time aside for your professional development outside of work or your studies. Watch webinars, attend industry meetups or learn a new coding language – and document all of these efforts on your CV! Employers love to see candidates working hard to step up their game. Taking initiative to develop your IT skills outside of your work/study time shows you have a genuine passion for your work.

Showcase your accomplishments.

Simply listing out the functions of previous roles/courses doesn’t show your potential employer where you added value. Instead, demonstrate where you made a tangible impact in previous roles; to the processes, workplace culture or the tech itself. Avoid being vague – use actual numbers to support your examples. If a new process you implemented increased overall productivity by 60%, sing your praises and make the recruiter want to follow up with you.

Change your tune – tailor your CV/cover letter for the tech industry using these four techniques

We shared some great hacks to smash your CV/cover letter out of the park. Read our four quick tips below to finish of your new and improved CV!

Check out some of our other tips on how to write a cover letter:

Speak the same language as the company

Do a bit of research prior to applying for the job and customise your CV/cover letter accordingly. Look for insights into the company’s culture and their values. If the company seems to value creativity and lateral thinking, be sure to weave these values throughout your job application. Employers aren’t only looking for someone with a technical skill set, they will also consider your “fit” with the company’s culture.

Be specific to beat the bots

IT recruitment can be a tough gig. Managing the application process is a hefty task for many businesses, and more employers are relying on automated online application systems to assist. The systems filter through CVs, by searching for keywords and phrases. The CVs the system deems most relevant are then sent to the employer for review. There are some great tips and tricks on how to beat the robots, increasing your chances of getting your CV in front of an actual pair of eyes! A quick tactic is to include keywords in your CV/cover letter that are relevant to the job on offer. Rather than writing “coding” as a skill, use “HTML” or “CSS” instead – the robot will pick it up and your chances of landing that dream job are greatly improved!

Stay on topic and use that job description to your advantage

Your cover letter needs to directly speak to the job description and relate your skills to the job at hand. While you’re writing and editing your cover letter, keep asking yourself: does this relate to the job description? Avoid going on tangents, or discussing previous experiences that are irrelevant to your ability to smash that new job. An employer will read your cover letter with a critical eye, assessing how relevant it is to the specific role they are hiring for – make it easy for them.

Take a look at your current job title

Use the information from the job description and if your current job title is too generic, add your relevant experience to your job title when you write your CV/cover letter. For example, if you’re applying for the role of “PHP Developer”, and you did a lot of PHP development in your previous job and your official role title was “Web Developer,” you can add more detail to your title to make it more specific and show your skills i.e. “Web Developer (PHP, MySQL, CSS, HTML)”. As long as you have actual experience in that role to justify the added wording, it will be allowable. This will answer your potential employer’s first question: can they do the job?

So there you have it – our top twelve tips to supercharge your CV! To summarise:

· Erase anything generic and keep the content specific to your skill set

· **Focus on the most important – how can you help the company?**

· Change your tone to suit the tech job listing at hand

Send your CV into Absolute IT and be the first to get contacted when one of our clients uploads a job listing that suits you. Our IT hiring experts can also review your CV to make sure you land that dream job!