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The ‘Internet of Things’, or IoT, is changing every single aspect of our lives at a rapid pace. It’s connectivity on a worldwide scale – and this presents an incredibly exciting business opportunity.

The IoT’s growth rate is equally incredible as Gartner predicts that by 2020, so in less than three years’ time, there will be more than 26 billion connected devices. This shared connectivity means we as human beings, and our devices, are far more connected than ever before.

And this represents a huge opportunity for your organisation, but only if you have developers with the right capabilities and skills to exploit it.

What skills will my business need to reap the rewards of the IoT?

The IoT has opened the floodgates to an unprecedented demand for a range of technical skills. There has been an increase in demand for workers with tech skills related to the IoT, including business consulting, Apple’s Swift programming language, Big Data analytics, machine learning and traditional coding languages such as AngularJS and Node.js, according to the IoT Institute.

IoT markets are also interdependent and this means that developers will need to work across industry boundaries, according to a recent report from VisionMobile. It concludes that: “developers are a driving force in every IoT industry and a source of competitive advantage.” As such, the app sector, in particular, will be significantly affected by this borderless IoT landscape.

The IoT prompts increasingly sophisticated apps

This proliferation of connectivity has created endless opportunities to create even more intelligent apps, both for personal and business use.

For personal use, we now use apps to make our homes smarter. Amazon Echo is a clear example here. This smart speaker integrates a personal voice assistant named Alexa who can answer your questions and take basic commands. Key recent additions include support for Nest and WEMO to control smart home devices. The UK version even lets you order your favourite takeaway through the Just Eat app.

Our cars are also getting smarter – connecting to your office calendar and navigating the quickest route to your next meeting. More than 380 million connected cars are predicted to be on the road by 2020, up from 36 million in 2015, according to BI Intelligence.

Smart cities are also a very real possibility where connectivity across different facilities improves the efficiency of services to seamlessly meet residents’ needs. It’s not the stuff of science fiction either – Barcelona, for example, recently implemented a number of IoT initiatives to help enhance transport and environmental activities.

How will the IoT impact on app developers?

Under the IoT, apps have evolved from only connecting to and communicating with one mobile operating system to connecting to a myriad of devices. Therefore, app development and programming will become a far more specialised, and in-demand, skill. We predict the following impact on app developers:

1. App developers will need to embrace an increasingly diverse and adaptable skill set
Apps must be designed for flexibility to remain relevant. With the advent of new technology, the app must not become obsolete as it will, most likely, need to connect to this new technology via the IoT.

As a result, the skills of your app developers need to be equally flexible, and they should be committed to investing in their own development, with the support of you. An analysis of your current development teams should highlight any skills gaps so you can plan accordingly.

2. Third party software is important
It makes sense to build an application on top of a ready-made “IoT platform” to reduce development time and to communicate with as many “things” produced by as many manufacturers as possible.

This doesn’t let app developers off the hook though – they will need to understand how to connect to these third-party platforms, probably using a diverse range of APIs. For example, a developer may need to write connectors in JavaScript that allow new things to communicate with the platform as manufacturers develop them.

3. Security is paramount
The unsurpassed connectivity of the IoT gives cyber criminals a new vulnerability to exploit and developers must build security into the heart of every app. For example, the “Mirai” malware specialises in infecting IoT devices and was made open source last year. Shortly after this release, a massive botnet-powered DDoS attack disrupted GitHub, Spotify and Twitter.

Yet, more than 80% of IT decision makers said they lack cyber security skills within their business, according to a recent report from Intel Security. Part of the problem is a lack of adequate cyber-security training for developers. We expect to see a huge surge in demand for IT security skills and training to redress this imbalance and DDoS strategies, in particular, will play a pivotal role.

4. Mobile development will also grow
The IoT application that the end user interacts with could be a web app, an enterprise application or a mobile app.

A mobile app seems a natural fit for the IoT as your smartphone is already your communications hub. We expect to see growth in the mobile app development sector to complement the growth of the IoT sector.

Hybrid apps are a good match for the IoT. The app is hosted inside a native application that uses a mobile platform’s WebView. In other words, the bulk of the app is built using cross-compatible web technologies, such as HTML5, CSS and Javascript – the same languages used to write web apps. Some native code is used, however, to allow the app to access the wider functionality of the device and produce a more refined user experience.

What does IoT mean for companies recruiting for app developers?

Essentially, there’s not currently enough talent with the right skills to manage and execute on IoT projects. So, if your company is planning to focus its recruitment on IoT app development, I urge you to amend your hiring requirements to find the right people with the right mix of skills to bring the IoT into your organisation.

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Whether it’s been two hours or two days, time is dragging ever since you had that interview. You are sitting by the phone willing it to ring with some good news. You know that this job is a great opportunity, and hopefully, your eagerness and suitability came across in the interview room, but you can never quite be sure.

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So you have a vacancy to fill, a shortlist of applicants who are mid-way through the interview process, and you want to get this right.  There is one candidate in particular who stands out and you have a gut feel swaying you towards them, but hiring them would be risky. Whether it’s a gap on their CV or the fact that they don’t have enough industry experience, something is stopping you from making that offer.

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In 2017, International Women’s Day called for us to #BeBoldForChange. Perhaps one of the boldest suggestions I’ve seen is the offering and acceptance of equal parental leave and flexible working options without career consequences for women and men.

It’s not the concept of parental leave and flexible working that’s bold; it’s the shift in thinking required for employers and employees to accept that parental leave and flexible working should be the norm for male parents too. If we can do that, female representation in the workplace should improve.

In fact, 81 percent of respondents surveyed recently said shared parental leave and child rearing responsibility would help break down unconscious biases and improve gender diversity in the workplace.

Yet just 19 percent said their organisation offers parental leave for male employees on equal terms to female employees, most men rarely take all the parental leave they’re entitled to and less than five percent of men currently work flexibly.

But there’s a big step between talking and doing. And while there’s a lot of issues I could write about in relation to this topic, I’m going to focus on just one today: how a working dad (or mum for that matter) can balance professional and parenting priorities.

While I don’t claim to have the perfect balance, after 19 years as a working parent (and I’ve been lucky enough to share the parenting responsibility equally with my husband) I am able to offer up some tips for dads (and mums) who are looking to enter the crazy and unpredictable world of being a working parent.

Don’t listen to the naysayers

It’s still rare for male employees to be offered let alone take their full amount of parent leave, so expect to receive comments (even from total strangers) of disbelief at your decision. When I had my first child and returned to work after four months, this would happen to me too. I’d smile and then walk away.

Thankfully cultural norms have shifted for women, as they are now,  slowly, starting to for men. You only have to look as far as LinkedIn to see the number of professional men who list ‘stay at home dad’ as a current or former role on their profile. Even Lego’s introduction of a stay-at-home dad figure, portraying a man pushing a baby stroller, helps move us one step closer to accepting that men can work flexibly for family reasons, just as women can.

You can’t succeed every time

This may not be a headline-grabbing tip, but I think it’s important to acknowledge that your careful planning will, occasionally, fall to pieces. Don’t set expectations too high for yourself and know there will be days when things don’t go as predicted.

For instance, your toddler’s rash will ban them from their childcare centre for 48 hours, outbreaks of head lice will see you rushing to a pharmacy on your way to school pickup, and you’ll be invited to a seemingly endless number of recorder recitals, information sessions, book parades and assembly presentations – most of which come with very little notice. The point is, be flexible and don’t blame yourself when your well-intended plans fall apart.

Plan

Speaking of plans, I couldn’t live without my diary and to-do list. At work, they keep me productive, ensure I don’t miss an important task because I’ve been awake half the night with a sick child and let me leave the office knowing that the important tasks for the day are completed so that work won’t impede on family time. Similarly, at home, our family planner ensures everyone is where they need to be when they need to be with the right equipment.

Set expectations at home

Even young children can learn the value of being organised and resilient. From packing their own lunch box and school bag, to independently completing their homework and additional projects on time- taking responsibility for important tasks helps develop skills that will serve them for life.

I’ve also found a morning routine or checklist covering everything that must be completed before you all walk out the door is instrumental to an organised school and working day, just make sure everyone sticks to it!

Set expectations at work

Make it clear when you are available and when you are not. Don’t feel the need to apologise for not being available to work colleagues at certain times; you have two jobs and need to be present at certain times for both. Turn your phone off when you say you will not be available so the message is not diluted and your colleagues don’t ignore your schedule.

You can also ask colleagues or your team to categorise their emails. If it’s not urgent or can wait until a certain date, ask them to add this to the subject line.

Have a support network

There will be occasional school events that you or your partner are unable to attend due to prior work commitments that cannot be changed. Make sure you have a trusted support network, whether that’s grandparents, an aunt or a close friend, so that an adult attends these important occasions with your child.

Get to know other working parents in your office

From school readiness advice to babysitter tips, your fellow working parents understand the juggling act and are ready and willing to share, support and offer encouragement when you need it most.

Be proud

As a working parent – and especially for dads who work flexibly to take on caregiving responsibilities at home – you are demonstrating to your children the value of equality inside and outside the home. By supporting each other, you show them that together you can all achieve your full potential.

As you can see from my above advice and examples, it is entirely possible for working dads (and mums) to balance their career and their parenting priorities.  You just need to be organised, willing to reach out for support, safe in the knowledge that you have nothing to feel guilty about.

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For anyone following women in tech, the past few months have been eventful to say the least. From Melinda Gates throwing her weight behind improving gender equality  in computer science, to a viral blog post about the treatment of female employees at a well-known Silicon Valley giant, the recent news is indicative of the wider situation: For women in the industry, it is one step forward, one step back.

You only need to look at the many female tech entrepreneurs making their mark on the landscape to see that progress is happening. However, it is no secret that IT continues to be a male-dominated space, arguably to a greater degree than many other industry sectors. The reasons for this are frequently cited.

The gender profiling of careers begins at school when girls are discouraged from taking STEM subjects and considering a future in tech. How IT is taught during these formative years should also bear some responsibility, as too often it does little to excite, engage and enthuse both gender.

Many women who do decide to pursue a career in the sector often find themselves guided towards client facing roles thanks to the myth that women have better soft skills. A lack of flexible working can also become a barrier to many women who have family commitments.

Yet around the world, employers are searching for people with IT skills. One of the most acute skills shortages we have seen over the past five years has been in the area of software and web development, and as global political instability continues, this skills shortage has the potential to become even more pronounced. The poor representation of women in IT does nothing to help close this skills gap.

So what can you do to the address this and help attract female talent to your organisation today?

Hire talent that can be up-skilled

I would always urge employers to think outside the box. Consider hiring a candidate who has the potential to meet their business requirements even if they require further in-company training. The time and resources needed to mould raw skills into an effective employee may ultimately be more productive for companies than engaging in an endless search for the perfect employee at a time when there is a global skills shortage in the sector. Such a culture will also enable women with some technical skills but who are perhaps in client-facing roles, to gain the experience they require and move into a position with a greater ‘tech’ remit.

Consider introducing ‘returnships’

In order to ensure that women are welcomed into the industry throughout their career, businesses should look at introducing returnships. One area where this idea has started to gain momentum is in the UK. These are returning professional internships, which act as a bridge back into senior roles for experienced professionals who have taken extended career breaks – in many cases women returning to work after maternity leave or having taken a career break to raise children. Usually, short-term employment contracts and returnships can help a returner update their skills, knowledge and experience in their previous role or possibly to transition into a new area.

Take the lead on flexible and remote working

The issue of getting work-life balance right is not unique to IT. However, tech organisations should look to be leaders in the flexible and remote working revolution. Given the increasing use of mobile devices and remote access for work, the productivity of working parents outside ‘normal’ working hours needs to recognised. If practical, priority should be weighted on the delivery of high-quality work and projects as opposed to needing to deliver during the ”standard” working hours.

Get involved in industry-led initiatives

Increased diversity of skills and gender in the IT sector stands to improve the industry as a whole. The industry’s reputation as male-dominated is likely to hamper its potential to attract the best new talent of all genders. We have a responsibility to counter that stereotype and promote IT as the exciting, dynamic and welcoming industry that it is. This includes the promotion of the many female role models in the UK’s tech space,  facilitating intra-company mentoring networks for women in the industry, and getting involved in internship programmes to ensure young people, including women, are exposed to the world of tech from an earlier age.

IT offers worthwhile and fulfilling careers for men and women alike, and we should work together to drive this message forward. In the process, we will help tackle an acute IT skills shortage and create even more diverse, energetic and innovative workplace cultures.

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Daunting, terrifying, a major case of butterflies in the stomach, but also an increasing sense of exhilaration, purpose and commitment. These are just some of the many feelings I have experienced when making major decisions in my professional life.

The first bold decision I made in my career was early on, and it was my decision to step away from my role as a lawyer, something I had spent many years working towards, and forge a career in the completely unfamiliar field of professional recruitment.

More recently, I made the bold decision to propose to my current employers that we create a new role of Head of Diversity, and that I should be the person to step up to the plate and take this on.

Both very different moves at very different stages in my career, both very bold for me professionally and personally, but both linked by honest self-reflection, strategic planning, positive action and determination.

Why am I telling you this? Well, the 2017 global theme for International Women’s Day is #BeBoldForChange. International Women’s Day “celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women”.  In light of this year’s theme, many professional women around the world are telling stories of the bold decisions they have taken to advance themselves in the world of work, with the hope of inspiring other women to do the same.

Having the courage to back myself and to be bold in my professional ambition is something I have reminded myself of regularly throughout my career journey, and is one of the key messages I promote with my colleagues at Hays, plus the many candidates and clients with whom I work.

The problem is, change is scary.  A lot of the time, self-doubt, negativity and anxiety can get in the way of following through with the bold step you would like to make in your career.  Ask yourself if this sounds like you. Do you want to be bolder and braver in your career choices, but you’re just not sure how? If the answer to this question is yes, then in the spirit of #BeingBoldForChange, I would like to share some of my insights and advice to assist you in taking decisions which are brave, bold and in time, successful.

Be bold in finding the time to really listen to yourself

My first piece of advice to you would be to trust your instincts. If you feel like something is wrong in your career or that you could be doing more, then you are probably right. Simple though it sounds, in our full and often hectic lives, creating the time and space to really question and listen to ourselves can be a major challenge. Stop doing the doing, and be honest with yourself. More so, be open and accepting of what your instincts and emotions are telling you. Always remember that you know yourself better than anyone else.

Be bold in believing in yourself and understand your strengths

If you don’t believe in yourself, and understand what you’re really good at, then how can you expect anyone else to? Have the courage to look within yourself and find your key strengths. More often than not, I’ve found that my strengths and subsequent successes lie in the things I’m naturally drawn to and energised about. So start there.

This can be an extremely empowering exercise. You’ll probably find that you didn’t fully appreciate just how many strengths you really possess. Take this new-found understanding of your strengths to give you confidence, to inform your decisions and help drive your career forward.

Be bold in recognising your weaknesses, but don’t let them hold you back unnecessarily

Let me use applying for jobs as an example. We have all heard the stats that whilst many men will dive in head first and apply for a role even if they don’t match all of the criteria, most women will only do the same if they are confident they match 100 percent of the criteria (and then some!) It’s important to remember that a job specification is often a wish list which combines perceived essentials and nice to haves.

You often don’t need to be able to tick every single box from day one. Many skills can be learned and as many are transferable. The pressure to be the perfect match often comes from you and if you let this go unchecked, then you risk being the biggest barrier to your own career progression.

So don’t get hung up on all the criteria on the checklist. Instead – focus your energy on the core elements of the job description that do play to your strengths and be confident that you can master the rest when required.

Be bold in communicating what you want

You may know where you want to be, but do other people? By people, I mean those who might be able to help get you there? Look to your professional and personal networks; be it friends, family, former colleagues or university friends.

Have the confidence to communicate your vision and ambition with enthusiasm and self-belief and enlist their support.  Reach out and tell them what you are hoping to achieve, and ask for their help.

Guest speaker for our Hays Leading Women programme and negotiation expert Natalie Reynolds talked extensively on this matter at our last event. Natalie outlined how various studies have shown that women are good at asking for assistance and support on behalf of someone else, but are less comfortable and therefore more reticent when it comes to asking for what they want for themselves. The reasons for this are plenty, but my point here is to be careful not to fall into this trap. Be bold enough to put your cards on the table and ask for what you want. If you don’t ask, you run a high risk of coming in short.

So, what I want to say to you today is, be bold when taking key, strategic and considered decisions in your career. Don’t let another year pass where nothing significant changes although the opportunities are there for the taking. Now is the time to come out of maintenance mode and start actively managing your career.

For those of you who are already taking the above steps, I applaud you for being bold in your approach.  And for those of you that aren’t, why not make International Women’s Day 2017 the day when that changes?

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Negotiation is probably the most important skill you can master to be successful both at work and in your personal life, but it can be stressful and difficult at the best of times.

As I explained at two recent talks I gave to the “Hays Leading Women network” – many people are “avoiders”. Put simply, because they find negotiation so awkward, difficult and uncomfortable they will go to great lengths to either avoid it completely or, will spend as little time doing it as possible.

In addition, this discomfort is often magnified when you are negotiating something for yourself. Studies suggest we are far more confident and successful when negotiating on behalf of others; whether its team members, clients or our employer. However, when we start to negotiate for something that matters personally to us, we often lose confidence and our performance suffers.

For many people, the most personal and challenging negotiations revolve around salary. Discussing pay is the ultimate example of negotiating for something that matters to you and as a result, many people become incredibly nervous and intimidated at the mere thought of talking about their remuneration.

In my book “We Have a Deal: How to negotiate with Intelligence, Flexibility and Power” I elaborate upon our habits and behaviours in a lot more detail and the different ways in which you can overcome these in order to get the outcome that you want.

In this article, I will provide you with a snapshot of how you can execute your salary negotiations whilst managing your nerves and fears:

1. Have a structured approach to your pay rise conversation

For my coaching clients, I advocate the REAP approach (Research, Establish, Ask and Persevere) as a manageable way to think about preparing for and executing your salary negotiations.

  • Research: Make sure you do your research, conduct some industry base lining, compile your contributions and value to the company, understand what might matter to your employer in terms of future success.
  • Establish: Establish what really matters to you.  Is it the number or is it associated benefits such as flexible hours or working from home?
  • Ask: Plan plenty of proposal options in advance, have a clear first choice and ask for this first.  Be precise and avoid using a range- they only hear the lower end and you only hear the upper end. Don’t appear apologetic or uncomfortable about what you are asking for.
  • Persevere: Don’t accept defeat as soon as you hear a “no”.  Suggest your next choice of proposal incorporating different elements of a potential package. Have a strategy to keep the conversation alive either through questions (what changes could I make to help you get closer to my figure?) or requesting a follow up meeting at a designated time to allow you to further evidence your contributions.

2. Recognise you are probably going to feel uncomfortable – and that’s fine

A few nerves may actually enhance your focus and performance. However, if you know that negotiating a pay rise has a tendency to reduce you to a nervous wreck, take steps in advance to try to manage this. Simple techniques such as taking deep breaths and counting to ten slowly in your head before the meeting can help. You should also practice projecting a more powerful state of mind through your body language.

3. Know that negotiation is not greedy, selfish or unacceptable

It is how things have gotten ‘done’ for generations. If you don’t ask for yourself, who will? Trust your gut instinct which is telling you that you deserve this, and stick to your guns. This will help you stay confident, focused and assertive throughout the meeting.

This blog was co-authored by Natalie Reynolds (@AdvSpringCEO), CEO of advantageSPRING and Devon Smiley (@AdvSpringDevon), Head of North America at advantageSPRING.

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