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AI in the workplace

In this post, we discuss AI in the workplace with our Chief Digital Officer, Felix Lemaignent.

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Who are the that AI revolution will affect employees affected and what are their challenges?

There are two categories of employees who will face different impacts. Firstly, those whose jobs will be directly transformed by AI. They will have to use it on a daily basis to accomplish their tasks, or work on its development. These are often technical or technology-related profiles. These employees absolutely must stay up to date on AI and understand how to integrate it into their work.

Then there are employees in more traditional professions. They will experience an indirect impact. As with those who have already mastered Excel or Google, those who know how to use generative AI will have an advantage. They will be more productive and versatile, completing their tasks faster and more autonomously. However, this does not always guarantee a better quality of work.

AI is already integrated into many tools, often invisibly. But here, we’re talking about generative AI, that works via prompts or a chatbot interface. This type of AI raises questions about the digital divide. Digital inequalities could increase with the rise of AI.

In this AI expert job description you will find everything you need to know about this profile.

AI in workplace: between challenge and opportunity for employees

Another main challenges is job-related fear. Many wonder whether AI will replace their jobs. Does using AI mean it can do the same job as them? In the case of budgets cuts, will they have to compete with their colleagues to keep their jobs? The ability to use AI to stay competitive will be essential in many areas. For some, AI represents a survival issue.
For others, it is fascinating. Many people are already accustomed to learning new tools, but generative AI marks an important change.

Unlike traditional tools with menus and buttons, AIs like ChatGPT work with text queries. This requires a new way of interacting with technology and developing critical thinking skills. It’s important to understand that the answers provided by AI are not always based on facts. They follow a probabilistic logic.

As with the transition from fax machine to computer, generative AI marks a turning point. The computer has transformed employees into “equipped workers”. Those who master AI will become “augmented workers”.

What are the risks for profiles that don’t train at the IAG?

The digital divide, already visible between generations, will widen between “augmented workers” and “outdated workers”. AI in workplace is here to stay. Those who train will become more competitive, more productive and more versatile. Employees need to be trained, whether in AI or in skills not covered by AI.

But training alone will not suffice. Mastery of generative AI will come with experience and regular use. This process will develop the digital acuity that is essential to remain competitive.

This reasoning also applies to companies. Companies that don’t invest in training their staff run the risk of being left behind. They will also have to deal with data protection and security issues. They can’t afford to have their employees blindly following the mistakes of an AI or copying unverified content.

Will IAG become a criterion for employability?

Companies are looking to optimize productivity while reducing costs. A candidate capable of using AI is an asset. However, mentioning this skill on a CV is not enough. During an interview, the candidate must provide concrete evidence of the impact of these technologies on business problem-solving.

Workers who have mastered AI show their curiosity, adaptability and versatility. These qualities make them capable of evolving and taking on new challenges – profiles that are highly sought-after.
Generative AI is also becoming a valuable training tool. Coupled with lifelong learning, it makes it possible to rapidly deepen knowledge and put new concepts into practice. This capacity for self-training will be crucial to staying competitive.

In career terms, the adoption of generative AI offers a competitive advantage. It accelerates skills development and broadens the scope of users’ tasks.
Take the example of office tools: thanks to AI, a professional can use a wider range of Excel formulas without having to memorize them. Similarly, AI can suggest page layouts or structure PowerPoint content more effectively.

In written communication, AI transforms the drafting of emails and reports. It speeds up the process and improves accuracy, clarity and tone. Employees gain in efficiency and credibility.
These improvements go far beyond increased productivity. They enable employees to devote more time to high value-added tasks, such as strategic thinking or human interaction, which are essential for career development.

Also, read Top 5 Strategies to Overcome the AI Talent Gap

AI in workplace: what does Mindquest do for its employees and customers?

Mindquest offers AI awareness workshops to train its employees, as well as personalized coaching. We actively monitor prompting best practices, AI-related risks and the latest innovations.

We also develop in-house AI tools to meet our needs while maintaining control over our data. Integrating AI into our recruitment processes is nothing new, but generative AI marks a major step forward.

However, we remain vigilant about possible AI biases. At Mindquest, we have put safeguards in place to prevent these biases. AI is not a substitute for human expertise. Properly used, it improves efficiency and ensures fairness in our recruitment processes.

Find your next assignment on our freelance and permanent IT recruitment platform, or join Mindquest so you don’t miss out on any job opportunity!

Tags AI, Artificial Intelligence, Chief technology officer, interview

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Mindquest Welcomes Melchior du Boullay as General Manager to Support its Hypergrowth Ambitions

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 6th May 2021
No Comments on Mindquest Welcomes Melchior du Boullay as General Manager to Support its Hypergrowth Ambitions

Mindquest welcomes Melchior du Boullay as its new General Manager to lead its fast-evolving organizational structure and propel its international expansion.

Mindquest and its parent company Club Freelance are welcoming Melchior du Boullay as the new group General Manager. This entrepreneur, IT specialist, and business development expert is now back in his native France after 14 years in the United States. His mission: to lead the group’s fast-evolving organisational structure and propel its international expansion.

A new structure for new needs

Above all, the appointment of Melchior du Boullay comes as the recruitment group embarks on an acceleration phase, driven by the strong vision of its founders and materialized by the launch of Mindquest at the start of the year.

In recent years, IT skills have become much more complex and harder to secure. Consequently of talent shortages, demand has shifted towards a stronger hybridisation of tech roles and careers.

Discover The Top IT Skills to Master in 2021

An agile approach to IT recruitment

By providing both freelancer sourcing services and recruitment on permanent contracts, Mindquest offers an agile approach to IT recruitment that is unique in its sector. This approach meets both the needs of companies to build mixed teams (freelancers and permanent employees) and the desire of talent to break the linearity of their careers based on their evolving life plans.

Profitable since day one, the Mindquest / Club Freelance group hopes to reach 70 million euros in turnover and 100 employees by 2025, compared to 21 million and 35 employees at present. The ambitious plans include the deployment of the group’s services in several European countries: an expansion that will now be supported and spearheaded by du Boullay as new General Manager.

A hypergrowth management specialist at the helm

A graduate of the EPITA, the first Engineering and Computer Science school in France, and endowed with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, Melchior du Boullay has spent his entire career at oXya, a provider of technical services and cloud solutions for SAP customers, now part of the Hitachi group.

Du Boullay held various positions there: IT consultant deployed at customers, SMBs and large enterprises, then project manager and development manager. His international career took him to Congo, Canada and various other countries. He then settled in the United States, where he has led the American subsidiary of oXya for 14 years and achieved double-digit growth year after year. Nearly 20 years of continued challenges and successful conquest have enabled him to acquire very strong expertise in management, process optimization, and corporate governance.

The importance of inclusion and diversity

Close to the field, to his teams, and to his clients, du Boullay has made inclusion and diversity his guiding principles and will be keen to put his passion for people at the service of Mindquest. His transatlantic experience will also be an asset in the context of the group’s international ambitions.

Mindquest new General Manager Melchior du Boullay will work to take the excellent quality of service that characterises the company into a context of hypergrowth. A phase always difficult to manage.

“My role will be to structure the organisation in order to realise the vision of its leaders. It’s about bringing together and engaging our entire ecosystem. It is especially important for me to preserve the values of goodwill and high standards that permeate the group and made me want to join this adventure. Coming from the IT world myself and having already had to manage complex phases of strong growth, I want to support Mindquest in its development while keeping its values intact. My goal is to make it grow from a recognised player to an undisputed leader both in its original French market and internationally, “assures du Boullay.

For any press inquiries, please contact:

Sarah Hachemi

shachemi@quatriemejour.fr

Antoine Billon

abillon@quatriemejour.fr

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Tags Expansion, General Manager, Internationalisation, Melchior du Boullay, mindquest

About us Captains’s Log Growing your career: permanent & freelance IT Consultants

How the Covid-19 Pandemic is Accelerating the hybridisation of Careers in Tech & IT

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 28th April 2021
No Comments on How the Covid-19 Pandemic is Accelerating the hybridisation of Careers in Tech & IT

Freelancers in tech: did you say precariousness? — How the Covid-19 Pandemic is Accelerating the hybridisation of Careers in Tech & IT

The current health and economic crisis is generating profound changes in careers and recruitment within companies. And especially within tech & IT departments. Manuela Delfort-Garampon, co-founder of Mindquest and Club Freelance, sees both a rise in freelancing and a comeback of permanent contracts. Two trends which may seem contradictory but which in reality testify to a convergence of the two forms of employment. The pandemic is causing a hybridisation of tech.

Originally published on Alliancy.

Pandemic hybridisation tech – Crisis-proof agility: the confirmation of the freelancing model

The common denominator in all crises is urgency. With the Covid-19 pandemic, companies have had to reorganise under unprecedented pressure. In this context, many organisations called on freelancers and external experts; a phenomenon far from being new in the IT field. But which has intensified in certain industries essential to business continuity.

Specifically: the urgent deployment of tools that are essential to the implementation of teleworking has generated a wave of requests for network and support consultants, cloud, VPN, and cybersecurity experts of all kinds. Some IT departments have also resorted to freelancing to compensate for the recruitments that were already planned.

At the same time, some candidates and IT professionals have made a choice in this period of crisis to turn to freelancing opportunistically. Both to stay active and to position themselves on high added value missions that help companies quickly deploy critical solutions.

While the flexibility of the freelancing model has long appealed to companies and applicants alike. The agility it provides has made it an obvious solution to the current situation. But that’s not the only trend regarding careers transformation in the tech world.

Consolidation for tomorrow: the return of the permanent contract

Beyond the emergency, many companies see the current crisis as an opportunity to get ahead and differentiate themselves. Many paused their recruitment efforts during the first lockdown, but most have resumed – or even accelerated – their search since September.

Why? Quite simply because in times of crisis, the best talent is more essential than ever in an IT team. Hence the need to attract and retain top performers that sustain strong teams. The war for talent has intensified around these key profiles. Which companies are tearing off and now want to “secure” under permanent contracts.

At the same time, the permanent contract has made a comeback in the hearts of many candidates and tech & IT professionals; even among some who previously swore only by freelancing. A certain number of freelancers have chosen to go (or go back) to salaried employment, in order to (re) find greater stability in these times of crisis.

Resorting to the freelance model, although it has grown in importance with the crisis, does not however supplant the permanent contract model. In fact, the two statuses coexist now more than ever.

IT Job Hunting Done Well: A Step-by-Step Guide

Pandemic hybridisation tech, towards the end of the silos between statuses?

In terms of professional careers, the last few decades have seen many silos gradually fall. For a long time, the norm was to do the same job in the same company throughout one’s life. Then careers began to be built across several companies. For the past twenty years or so, it has been common practice to have several different jobs during a professional career, and sometimes to retrain or reskill completely. Today, there is also the alternation and combination of statuses, with an increasingly porous border between permanent contracts and the self-employed status.

In fact, this trend of hybridising careers in the world of technology and IT did not originate from the pandemic. The motivations for moving from one status to another can be multiple and independent of the current crisis. Example: many freelancers decide to (re) switch to permanent contracts to access management positions. But the current pandemic is greatly accelerating the phenomenon.

Status doesn’t matter as much as it used to. For companies, the challenge now is to attract the best talent, whether they are on permanent or freelance contracts, to accelerate their IT projects. For professionals open to new opportunities, what matters is more the interest in the project and the technical stack, as well as the dynamics of the team. Status is no longer an end in itself.

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Women in IT: Women Must Claim Their Spot in the IT World

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 15th October 2020
No Comments on Women in IT: Women Must Claim Their Spot in the IT World

The numbers are clear: women are under-represented in most IT roles. Yet, ironically, companies are increasingly looking for women’s talent and their unique skills to fill technical and leadership positions. So how can we ensure that women get the place they deserve in IT? How can we collectively be better at speaking to their dreams and ambitions? How can we encourage them to pursue a career in technology?

By Manuela Delfort-Garampon, co-founder of Mindquest.

Looking for a job in IT? Check out our IT job hunting guide.

It can often be difficult to find a single woman in the IT department of a large company, even across entire office floors. As we celebrate Ada Lovelace Day in honour of this champion of women in STEM; we should take a deep look at how much progress we have made towards equal gender representation in technology. Spoiler alert: not enough.

According to various recent studies on the subject, the proportion of women in IT professions varies between 10 and 30%. Gartner estimates this proportion to be at 31% globally in 2018.

What is more, the higher up in the hierarchy, the fewer women there are. Only 13% of women occupy the position of CIO according to the 2018 Gartner CIO Survey.

But most alarmingly, the gap appears to be widening if we consider the decline in the number of women enrolled in IT-related schools.

IT needs women more than ever

IT functions are affected by a terrible talent shortage. The number of unfilled positions in digital professions is exploding. To the point that the main threat to start-ups and large IT departments has become how difficult it is to find the right person for the job.

But, as it stands, the IT world is virtually depriving itself of half of its talent pool. Attracting more women would certainly go a long way in solving the problem.

On the other hand, IT professions would have everything to gain from welcoming more women for one simple reason. Gender diversity increases team performance. Numerous studies show the positive impact of gender diversity on employee engagement and confidence, customer satisfaction and the company’s brand image.

According to McKinsey, which has been publishing the “Women Matter” study series for ten years now, companies with 3 women or more within their management bodies; or 30% of a classic boardroom; obtained performance scores up to 7 points higher than more male-dominated companies.

The challenge of attracting interest

So, there is no lack of good arguments to move towards greater gender parity, but how can we push for it? Several axes should be tackled at once. The often-proposed principle of quotas could be a solution. But it is not a very good strategy from a talent quality point of view. Above all, it would be necessary to change social perceptions around women in tech. Rather than imposing, we should facilitate and streamline women’s access to IT professions and encourage them to choose these careers.

In the era of digital transformation, IT jobs have gained in atractiveness. But many functions are still widely associated with men. Systems architect, network engineer, project manager, data scientist, software developer … are all professions from which women tend to stay away. It is important that we give more visibility to the women already working in these sectors in order to attract future candidates.

Campaings like #WomenInTech or #WhomenWhoCode are good examples of how the IT community is working towards this goal.

Want to read more about Women in IT ? Discover our articles 20 Amazing Women Leading Europe’s Tech Revolution and A Look at Diversity in Tech

The challenge of empowerment

To break the glass ceiling, we must also make women aware of their abilities, of their value and what they have to bring to IT teams.

Today, great figures from political circles and the show business are encouraging women to get out of their comfort zone, to be vocal about their goals and fully unleash their potential and break down all these social barriers.

We should apply this global push to the world of IT so that women can stop devaluing themselves and settle for lower salaries. Finally gaining access to more strategic and technical positions.

Here again, education and communication are key. So are role models.

Women are undeniably welcome in IT, they just need to be more daring.

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Tags ada lovelace, gender equality, glass ceiling, it recruiting, women in it, women in tech, womenintech, womenwhocode

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The Mindquest Manifesto

Technology is reshaping not only the ways in which we live and communicate but also how we work. Discover the Mindquest Manifesto.

The skills we need to be successful in our careers and business projects—that means both hard and soft skills—are constantly evolving. The ways in which companies and teams operate are changing dramatically, even more so since the start of the pandemic. But that is just the beginning. The classical employee-employer relationship is being fundamentally redesigned.

These sudden and profound changes can be confusing for both companies and employees, creating a great deal of uncertainty and posing a new set of challenges.

Today’s IT professionals are concerned about how to best manage and build a successful career of their choosing in an ever-changing environment where skills must be constantly updated to stay relevant. On top of that, tech workers, like any other professional collective, have personal lives to attend to and want to figure out a way to achieve career success while ensuring that all their needs are covered at each stage of their life cycle. Should they work as a permanent employee, or as a freelance contractor? The answer might change depending on which point of their lives they are in.

For companies and IT managers, it is all about how to adapt to and stay ahead of this changing landscape while retaining agility, competitiveness and a cohesive approach to talent and operations. New ways of working require shifts in company structure, as well as new ways of managing teams that are increasingly composed of both permanent employees and external contractors. Aspects like maintaining a unified company culture, securing the best talent before the competition does, and preparing for upcoming regulations are of major importance to today’s business leaders.

At Mindquest we like to think of these changes as a journey, for professionals as well as for businesses.

The journey requires all parties to be in constant motion, to step out of one’s comfort zone, to make a few mistakes and learn a lot to keep on advancing.

Some people can get lost along the way and make the wrong decisions, resulting in greater concerns, anxiety, and a waste of talent and energy.

Mindquest – This is where we come in.

Our mission is to provide people and businesses with the best possible guidance and support throughout their entire professional journey. For us, it’s all about people, and it’s all about growth — personal and business growth.

We are here to uncover the true potential of brilliant and unique minds and help them build their desired career paths, working with companies and projects where they will be able to excel and achieve their professional goals.

We are here to help business leaders find the best IT talent and develop comprehensive talent strategies that generate as much value as possible.

We are here to create a new kind of community within the tech sector, to create long-lasting professional relationships and partnerships from a win-win perspective.

We are here to help our partners live up to their full potential in this new technology-driven world of work.

We are here for you.

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Also discover our special guide: IT Job Hunting Done Well: A Step-by-Step Guide

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Calling on Freelancers: A Winning Strategy for IT Departments in Times of Crisis

Post author By Thomas Delfort
Post date 10th September 2020
No Comments on Calling on Freelancers: A Winning Strategy for IT Departments in Times of Crisis

IT Contractors: How to Manage Your Activity in This Unprecedented Period — The dual health and economic crisis we are going through creates a particularly high level of uncertainty and instability. How to manage your activity?

While flexibility, responsiveness and speed are more necessary than ever, the use of independent consultants takes on a new dimension.

Manage emergencies

IT departments – and especially support services – were put to the test during the lockdown. Between the massive deployment of remote work, the explosion of security threats and the problems of VPN congestion or application availability, support teams have had to deal with a major increase in requests. And this, overnight and under a lot of pressure. The business continuity of the company – and therefore its survival – is at stake.

Imagine that your organization is facing a massive ransomware attack. If you are not able to mobilize the right skills in-house very quickly, you expose yourself to serious consequences in terms of data loss and potential suspension of your activity.

Using freelancers such as cyber security consultants makes it possible to respond very quickly to the overload of work and to absorb the peaks in demand. Whether these are basic requests or tasks requiring specialized skills, calling on additional reinforcements on an ad hoc basis allows the company to have all the responsiveness necessary to respond to these exceptional and urgent situations.

Dealing with uncertainty

While the lockdown has plunged companies into paralysis or at least a slowdown in their activity, the looming economic crisis will be a long-lasting problem. Uncertainty and doubt set in, challenging businesses to continue to grow when they are virtually forced to navigate on sight.

In this context, agility and the ability to adapt are crucial. IT departments have long been used to working in project mode, but this ability to mobilize the best skills very quickly for success will become absolutely essential moving forward.

Ambient instability greatly increases the risk, especially in terms of recruitment. Caught between the need to restart as quickly as possible and the threat of economic crisis, companies must nevertheless act. In the IT field, using freelancers makes it possible to reinforce existing teams in an efficient and less risky manner.

Did you plan to recruit a Data Scientist or a Product Manager on a permanent contract before the economic and health crisis broke out? Opt for a freelance profile while things stabilize internally and externally. Companies can find the talented and experienced consultants they need, while still maintaining the budgetary and organizational flexibility needed if the situation worsens or if the prioritization of certain projects needs to be changed.

Without forgetting that freelancers have, in essence, a great capacity for autonomy and adaptation and are also more used to teleworking. They are therefore a particularly suitable response to the crisis.

Accelerate development

Despite the difficulties and complexity of the current context, there is no reason for companies to get stuck. On the contrary, they must find the tools to continue to develop and grow. This crisis is a test: companies must not only prepare for a quick recovery, but also think beyond the crisis and build solid and innovative models for tomorrow.

For these reasons, structuring technological projects and IT architectures that enable business transformation is at the heart of the game. It is essential, even vital, to continue to implement them, and even to accelerate them. However, the success of these strategic projects largely depends on the teams in charge. So how do you make sure you have the most competent people possible?

Using one or more experienced freelancers on specific IT subjects, such as cloud or machine learning, can save a lot of time and significantly speed up these major projects. In addition, the contractual relationship between freelancers and the company often requires them to make a higher commitment in terms of performance and quality of service.

In conclusion, the use of freelancers is not a one-size-fits-all solution and must be part of a more comprehensive strategy. But it represents a flexible, responsive and efficient solution for IT departments, which must more than ever learn to juggle between internal and external employees to emerge winners from this period of instability. One thing is clear: the success of companies in these times of crisis depends in large part on the skills and talent it can mobilize.

Tags freelancers, it recruiting, it staffing, it talent, talent strategy

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IT Contractors: How to Manage Your Activity in This Unprecedented Period

Post author By Thomas Delfort
Post date 6th August 2020
No Comments on IT Contractors: How to Manage Your Activity in This Unprecedented Period

The dual health and economic crisis we are going through creates a particularly high level of uncertainty and instability. And it will probably last for a while. How to manage your activity?

In this unprecedented context, independent consultants may fear a drop in the number of new assignments and income. Here are a few thoughts to help you better understand the situation and come up with a strategy to maintain and develop his activity.

Also discover our special guide: IT Job Hunting Done Well: A Step-by-Step Guide

The state of the market

In this period of relative normality, many wonder what the next few months will look like in terms of economic activity. And it is true: the outlook is worrying. All predictions point at GDPs falling across the world’s biggest economies.

While not the hardest hit, the IT industry will nonetheless feel the impact of the Covid-19 crisis. Gartner recently published a new report in which it estimates that global CIO spending will fall by 8% in 2020.

Before the crisis; during the Gartner IT Symposium, October 20, 2019; the same analyst predicted an increase of 3.7% in 2020. Entering now a period of resource management and reassessment, CIOs will suddenly be forced to prioritize critical services.

IT Pros: How to Work On Remote in the Post-Pandemic World

As a result, many projects are and will be postponed. This isn’t a complete market shutdown or outright cancellation of projects, but the impact is going to be heavy nonetheless. And there’s no denying the fact that freelancers are often one of the first to be scratched of the budget.

However, and this is the first reason to remain positive, IT freelancers are also the ones who are called on first when projects restart. (We are already seeing this with the confirmation of many migration projects to SAP S/4HANA). Freelancers offer companies a flexibility that is an obvious advantage in a context where business is unstable and where uncertainty remains.

We should also take a closer look at the IT sector, since its different sub-segments are not impacted uniformly. In some areas, the role of the IT department has even been reinforced by the crisis and certain skills are in greater demand.

With the advent of teleworking in particular, IT departments are under heavy pressure to implement dedicated technologies. While overcoming the cybersecurity challenges that go hand in hand with this trend.

Manage you activity: Tips for adapting in times of crisis

Several best practices can be recommended to manage your activity in times like these. The choice of industry is the first element that deserves the attention of IT freelancers looking for a job. If this choice was already important before the crisis; now it is even more so as all the sectors of activity do not suffer the same impact.

It is, therefore, advisable to sectors that are experiencing a strong peak in activity due to the Covid-19 crisis. Such as mass distribution, health or even online entertainment and education.

The second tip is flexibility. More than ever, the independent consultant needs to adapt to changing situations and be more flexible on certain criteria for choosing an assignment, such as the location or the context of the assignment. It is not about accepting just anything or being underpaid, but simply about punctually and opportunely expanding your usual criteria. For example, it may be wise to position yourself more in the area of TMA (third-party application maintenance) and carry out small assignments rather than embarking on full-fledged projects.

It is also important to pay special attention to your “self-marketing.” As always, you must know how to sell yourself. This can start by taking stock of your skills and aspirations to properly orient the way of presenting yourself before employers. Being active on social and professional online networks is also something that will help you stand out from the crowd and develop new connections.

Finally, you have to continue to train and learn, all while cultivating your softer skills. Keep in mind that the ability to adapt in times of crisis and other interpersonal skills can often make the difference between two similar candidate profiles.

Stay positive

Focus on the positive. We know that we have entered a difficult and complicated period from an economic point of view. However, as we have seen, there are several things that should keep IT freelancers positive. First of all, the IT sector is largely spared compared to other sectors (tourism, catering, hotel industry, etc.).

Secondly, the pandemic has strengthened the role of IT departments (setting up teleworking, cybersecurity, etc.), and the current circumstances can encourage companies to resort to hiring more freelancers.

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Tags covid-19, IT careers, it contractors, IT freelancers, it recruiting, tech careers, tech jobs, technology consultants

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Need Extra IT Support? Avoid Mistakes When Hiring Tech Freelancers

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 15th April 2020
No Comments on Need Extra IT Support? Avoid Mistakes When Hiring Tech Freelancers

How to avoid mistakes when hiring IT freelancers? With most of the workforce operating remotely, it is highly likely that your company needs to expand its IT team. Whether it’s due to a lack of preparedness in terms of digital transformation or increased cybersecurity concerns. A good way to go about it is to seek the help of independent experts. Working with freelancers grants you quick access to the specific skills that you need while reducing the risk of hiring new employees in uncertain times.

But beyond budget restrictions, to recruit is to take a risk. The risk of selecting a candidate who does not have the right skills or who will not be able to adapt to your team or your company. This risk is all the more obvious in the case of the recruitment of tech freelancer; since they are expected to be operational and produce results right away. So how do you limit this risk as much as possible? And find the right profile, within the limits of your budget and in an often-tight schedule?

First things to avoid mistakes when hiring: define your ideal candidate

Be careful, as hiring mistakes can be made from the start of the recruitment process. To find the right person, you must first define the profile you are seeking. The first common mistake is to ignore this first key step. Start by listing your needs, write a clear job description and validate your budget.

Next comes the step of selecting candidates. Are you looking for an SAP expert or a Business Intelligence consultant for a mission of several months? You will need to assess the level of expertise of your candidates. Beyond the CV and the list of skills, you should ask freelancers for examples of their previous work. You can also ask for their portfolio or their GitHub profile, which can provide a lot of information.

Finally, the interview stage is essential for evaluating the skills of a freelancer. And the candidate is not the only one who has to prepare. Think beforehand about the points you want to assess and do not hesitate to alternate concrete questions and open questions to test the ability of freelance to solve complex problems. If you do not have the level of technical knowledge necessary to assess a profile; it may be wise to be accompanied by someone who does and to set up specific filters such as technical tests.

Have you found the freelancer with the most suitable skills? Very well. Do not stop there. If you do, you might be on the verge of committing the most common hiring mistake. Limiting yourself to the technical aspects and neglecting social skills.

Know-how or the distinguishing element

In any recruitment, the human factor is essential. You may find the candidate with the highest level of expertise and with the most suitable experiences. But these will never be sufficient factors to ensure a successful recruitment. The so-called soft skills have become a must-have for IT professionals. This is particularly true in the case of freelancers. An independent consultant will have limited time to integrate into your team and will have to adapt very quickly to get to the heart of the project.

But how do you assess the soft skills of a tech freelancer? It is not easy to measure elements as subjective and intangible as the human and relational qualities of a candidate. The interview is again decisive: you have to know how to ask the right questions and be emotionally intelligent to properly identify a profile. Here again, being accompanied by a specialized actor. An actor who knows the tech & IT talent market well, can prove to be saving to avoid hiring mistakes.

Avoid mistakes when hiring: The secret weapon to assess a freelance profile

Last tip: seek professional references to limit the subjective aspect of assessing a candidate’s skills. Who better than a former client or employer to tell you about their reliability and expertise? Keep in mind that a “good” freelancer will never be reluctant to give you the contact details of these contacts, as they will be confident in having fulfilled the objectives set during previous projects. This check often takes time if you decide to do it yourself, but it will allow you to dispel your last doubts and confirm that the freelancer you have chosen is really the expert you are looking for.

HR Managers: How to Assess the Technical Skills of IT Candidates

Hiring or onboarding error?

Have you followed all of these steps and recruited the perfect profile, and yet are disappointed with the freelancer’s performance? First, give them some time. Of course, a freelancer must be operational very quickly, but they must nevertheless be allowed enough time to assimilate the context and all the data necessary for the success of their mission. Be realistic and don’t expect your freelancer to work miracles from day one.

But above all, ask yourself the following question: have I taken the necessary steps to integrate this freelancer into the business and team? Sharing information, providing the necessary equipment, and introducing them to key team members are all important parts of the onboarding process. The performance of your freelancer also depends on you. You have made the choice to take an external expert to accelerate the work on a project: go all-in with your investment and make sure that they have all the weapons required to succeed.

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Tags avoid mistakes when hiring, interview tips, IT freelancers, it recruiting, tech freelancers

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AI for recruitment: How AI will allow recruiters to focus on people

Post author By Thomas Delfort
Post date 20th February 2020
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AI for recruitment. AI penetrates all areas and promises tremendous gains in efficiency, speed and performance. There has been a lot of media buzz lately around its recruitment applications. What long-term impact will AI have on the staffing industry? Used well, these new technological tools will allow recruiters to focus on their added value and; paradoxically; make the recruitment of the future more human.

AI promises in automation

For the past twenty years, we have witnessed an ever more extensive and efficient automation of the recruitment processes. These developments are built upon extremely complex analytical models. Defining and anticipating the skills that the company needs, identifying the most suitable talent and ranking candidates based on precise job criteria are processes that require taking into account many variables.

Moreover, through its ability to consider contextual elements as rich as they are varied, artificial intelligence promises to make this level of automation a reality. In a field like IT recruitment, where time is of the essence, being able to quickly match candidate profile with company requirements is a decisive advantage.

Artificial intelligence in IT recruitment

In the recruitment of IT freelancers, for example, AI makes it possible to process very quickly huge volumes of data linked to the profiles of candidates. Previous gigs, areas of expertise and preferred sectors, years of experience… But also exogenous data such as the candidate’s place of residence and travel times. AI also makes it possible to analyze the quality and interest of the positions offered. Helping identify the types of projects that are most promising in terms of career development.

Furthermore, considering elements linked to quality of life or to the characteristics of the offer maximises the chances of success of an investment; by making it possible to identify profiles with high potential and that are likely to be interested in the mission.

**AI for IT recruitment: Towards an uberisation of recruitment?**

AI’s capabilities are making great strides in matching supply and demand. Hence the emergence of fully automated solutions, of players who “platformise” recruitment. Which bring about a vision of recruitment as an almost exact science.

This vision would like technology to replace human appreciation entirely; thus putting an end to the recruitment profession and replacing it with ever more sophisticated and intelligent algorithms.

But this vision is implausible. Recruiting is not just a science, it is also an art.

IT recruitment: the human touch

In recruitment more than in any other field, the human being occupies by definition a central role. Soft skills, matching the values and culture of the company, and compatibility with other team members… They are all key factors for a successful placement. As much as the level of education, years of experience, references or results obtained in a technical test. And yet, these are all parameters that an artificial intelligence can never assess as well as a human.

Even more so when we talk about recruiting for high-level positions. It is hard to imagine choosing a CIO or an Innovation Director via a fully automated process. Neither the candidate nor the company would subscribe to it.

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From artificial intelligence to augmented intelligence

It is really a question of going beyond the dialectic “all digital vs. all human”. Recruitment professions must integrate AI and make the most of it as a tool for human decision-making. And thus allow the business to refocus on its true added value.

AI involves a real qualitative leap, reducing the risk of error and saving unprecedented amounts of time. AI will certainly replace humans on certain tasks, but mainly in repetitive and boring tasks. It increases the performance of the recruiter by allowing faster and more targeted searches. And thus optimizes time and communication with the candidate. Far from dehumanizing the relationship, AI, on the contrary, allows us to focus even more on humans.

Artificial intelligence for recruiter: the next level

This is good news for recruiters. These new tools will allow the profession to gain new levels of recognition, with richer and more interesting daily tasks. Also, it will give us the ability to understand the needs of the company in terms of skills. To create a stronger connection with the candidates. As well as to understand the aspirations and constraints of each party involved.

It is also and above all good news for candidates. Because recruiters will be able to devote more time to them and offer them a better experience. Firms will be able to enrich their service offer with more support. Especially in the key stages of onboarding and taking of office of the selected candidate.

It is, therefore, the human-machine association, the combination of artificial intelligence and emotional intelligence. That will revolutionise recruitment and put people back at the heart of the processes. We may no longer be talking about Artificial Intelligence, but augmented Intelligence.

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Tags AI, Artificial Intelligence, it jobs, it recruiters, it recruiting, it recruitment, it recruitment strategy, it sourcing, it staffing, it talent

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Freelancers in tech: did you say precariousness?

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 7th February 2020
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Freelancing is the subject of much ink as the gig economy keeps on growing. Frequently portrayed as the future of work, freelancing is not always the Holy Grail of well-being … especially not in tech, an area that is so buoyant.

Whoever says freelance often implies freedom, autonomy, a passion-driven career. But make no mistake: the reality is often far from ideal. Freelance status is also synonymous with limited social protections, fluctuating activity and having to deal with a good amount of internal red tape. A mixed bag, then. A status that might not always be enviable.

What’s it like in the fields of technology, digital and data, which are particularly dynamic and hungry for talent? Are freelancers to envy or do they face the same difficulties?

Tech, a sector rather favourable to freelancers

It is quite evident that the situation of freelancers in tech is significantly better than for those in other sectors. With the same level of experience, a freelance web developer or a SAP consultant will find it easier to find assignments and will be better paid than a freelance photographer or a communications consultant.

Firstly, because the talent war is particularly intense in these areas of competence, with companies fighting to attract and retain the best profiles. Secondly, because in tech and digital companies often work in “project mode”. This operational mentality lends itself very well to freelancing, with very specific skill needs and limited time.

And this trend is accelerating — Organizations are progressively opening up to the idea of collaborating with freelancers and are increasingly structured in ways that allow for greater integration of this type of employee. However, on closer inspection, the reality is more heterogeneous than it seems.

Varying career prospects

As in all sectors and areas of activity, it can be difficult for freelance consultants to make themselves visible to companies. Furthermore, the logic of supply and demand varies greatly depending on the field and the function.

If a consultant with expertise in SAP management software is in addition specialized in a specific SAP module, they will be able to expect an average daily rate of between 500 and 850 pounds. Meanwhile, an independent web designer will often be satisfied with a daily salary of 250 to 350 pounds.

Beginners can find it difficult to find a place among the experts, as companies never hire a freelancer that needs to be trained. Additionally, for assignments that require a lower level of expertise, firms are more likely to call on lower-cost, offshore services.

In contrast, some tech freelancers hold a “rockstar” status, with a very high level of experience, highly specialized and sought-after skills, and excellent references. These profiles have a particularly enviable situation because they are over-solicited by recruiters and agents, and therefore in a position to impose very high levels of remuneration and particularly advantageous contractual conditions.

These rare profiles do not endure a latency period between two gigs, often have higher salaries than they would on permanent contracts, and enjoy the luxury of being able to choose their assignments. All the advantages of being self-employed, without the constraints.

Freelancers in tech: what is the recipe for success?

No miraculous formula here: success is first reserved for those who have proven themselves in terms of results and performance in the workplace. Reliability and flawlessness are fundamental.

And that’s not all. The entrepreneurial spirit counts quite a lot. Working freelance is a lifestyle choice that does not suit everyone. You must know how to manage the relational aspect and build trust with your customers, juggling between know-how and interpersonal skills. It’s also important to know how to make the right career choices.

What does exactly mean to make the right career choices? Well, first specialize in areas of expertise and / or sectors where the demand is high. Among the highly rated profiles of the moment: SAP consultants, Microsoft technology specialists and security and infrastructure expert.

Then you must make an effort to continuously improve and develop your skillset. Build a good CV with solid experiences, keep abreast and adapt to technological developments. Finally, learn how to enhance your profile and experiences, manage your visibility and maintain and nurture your professional network. It’s not easy when you’re independent since you often tend to focus on the present or the near future.

The good news is that you’re not alone. Tech recruiters and sourcing experts are well placed to guide professionals in the management of their development, as well as in the present and future development of their skills.

In summary, if tech freelancers want to be successful in this ever-evolving market, it is vital for them to know how to seize the right opportunities while positioning themselves in the best niches of expertise.

And thus the “rockstar” is born.

Tags freelance, IT careers, IT freelancers, tech freelancing