The idea of OtH has been around for as long as the staffing industry itself. It’s a tactic that has historically had its place within the ranks of lower-level, unskilled positions. Candidates for these positions were not always easy for employers to confidently screen and the candidate pool was usually fairly large. Staffing firms were generally pretty accommodating when it came to providing these candidates on an OtH basis. But when it came to IT professionals the story was very different. In the 1990’s IT talent was at a premium and the country was basking under the glow of, almost, full employment. IT staffing firms rarely gave away talent, choosing to enforce non-competes in employment and services contracts.  True consultants were able to ply their trade with the freedom that comes with virtual self-employment and enjoy all the perks that you’d expect in a strong economy (high compensation and lots of time off!).

As unemployment rates have crept ever higher over the last few years more and more employers have decided to take advantage of a perceived glut of IT talent on the job market and insist on OtH arrangements with IT Staffing firms. Like many of our competitors, we have seen these requests as opportunities to provide additional value to our clients. There are many advantages for us, our clients and our candidates. These include, for us, the opportunity to engage with candidates who may be consulting- averse and present a scenario whereby they can ease into it, consult with a safety net, as it were; our clients can shorten their interviewing process, secure in the knowledge that they, in essence, can look forward to a 3 to 6 month “on the job” interview with their chosen consultants; and our consultants have the opportunity to, likewise, use that 3 to 6 month interview, knowing full well what to expect when the time comes to make a permanent commitment. But the arrangement is not without its pitfalls. There is a flip side to many of those advantages (e.g., the OtH consultant may feel more empowered or indispensable at the end of the “contract” portion, and demand a higher salary than previously negotiated; or, if you’re the OtH  consultant, the client situation could change for the worse during the contracting period). In short, as a consultant you need to do everything possible to prepare and to ace the “3 to 6 month interview.”              

The best way to prepare for it is to treat it as just that–  a really long interview. If you come from a consulting background its pretty easy, business as usual. You are used to showing up every day and justifying your existence on an almost hourly basis. You are used to being surrounded by people who may view you as a “hired gun,” and a pricey one at that. Carry that kind of mindset into the contracting portion of an OtH position and you’ll do just fine.  If you come from the FTE world and consulting is new to you then you’d be well-served by taking  a cue from the really good consultants that you’ve worked with and going into work every day with the idea of proving yourself over and over again. The hiring entity made a decision to invest in you as a consultant in order to eventually hire you as an employee. Most likely, he had many qualified and quality people to select from. You were not brought in, solely, for your technical skill (as true consultants sometimes are). You were brought in because of the additional leadership skills and cultural compatibility that you showed. The person that you are reporting to everyday selected YOU. And it’s your job to make him or her feel great about that decision each and every day.

Write, re-write and re-write again…

Communication is an important core skill for virtually every position out there. In many cases there is no requisite skill that is more important. We need to be aware that the manner in which your resume is written- grammar, spelling, syntax- will be serving as the primary screening device for HR professionals and hiring managers. Every day candidates are SCREENED OUT of the process because of sloppy verbiage. You need to be excruciatingly critical of yourself, write, re-write and re-write again (and don’t forget to PROOFREAD – multiple times).

Apply the “SO WHAT” rule liberally: 1) after you write a paragraph or a section sit back and put yourself in the position of a semi-interested reader; 2) read the paragraph you just wrote and ask/exclaim, “So what?”; 3) answer the question- in the form of a re-write; 4) repeat as needed. And remember that the best way to improve on a resume is to bring in examples; more examples and better examples. For instance, if a position requires an ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously don’t just write: “managed multiple projects simultaneously.” Instead, describe the scenario where you’ve done it in great detail, include detail of both the successful outcome and the benefit to the company. Be the candidate that gets SCREENED IN.

Custom Fit Always Trumps Off the Rack…

As the old adage goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result each time. How many of us have crafted a resume and then blasted it out to hundreds of hiring entities; then we wait, and we wait some more. Still waiting? I thought so. Sending the exact same resume in response to many different positions is akin to taking aspirin for everything that may ail you. Sometimes it will work but most times it doesn’t. It’s a bit of a crap-shoot. It’s an “off the rack” approach that has no place in today’s bespoke job market. At a minimum your “SUMMARY” section should speak to each pre-requisite of the position that you are applying to (speaking of which, a well written SUMMARY is the most important part of the resume).

Stay focused and be concise…

Yet another adage, though not as old as the last one; a resume should be one page in length for every ten years of experience. There is some value to that advice, it’s critical to concentrate on staying focused and writing in a concise manner. You have a limited amount of time to grab a hiring authority’s attention and a limited amount of space to present your credentials. Don’t waste either. Of course the trick is in knowing where to use economical language and where to elaborate. You can start by avoiding things like detailed presentations of team accomplishments (concentrate on your contributions- it’s your resume, after all), lengthy descriptions of your company, and too much personal information. But DON’T skimp on specific and detailed examples of your accomplishments that are relevant to the position that you are applying to.

The bottom line is to remember that your resume is not crafted for the purpose of helping you to ace the interview or land the job, perform well in the job or land the big promotion. Its sole function in life is to get you a conversation with a hiring authority. The rest is up to you.

Please click here to download a sample resume.