Companies who think that salary and benefits are what their employees value most are in for a rude awakening. Did you know that of the workers who accepted a new position in 2021, 40% are already actively looking for another job. That’s a big problem when it can cost at least half an employee’s annual salary to replace them.

Here at Averity, the tech experts that we work with on a daily basis — the most sought-after job candidates in Software Engineering, Data Science and Engineering, DevOps, and — aren’t just in the market for a better-paying job. They are looking for a company where they are valued, where they can feel challenged, and where they can use their skills to the best of their abilities.

Talking with these candidates, they told us when they knew it was time to leave their last job. Here are some of the top reasons they mentioned:

Their company went in the wrong direction. Whether it was new management, a recent merger, a revised mission statement, or someone new at the helm, they no longer felt confident that their company was headed down the right path. Nobody wants to feel like they are on a sinking ship.

Their job offered little or no flexibility. A survey of 5,000 workers found that more than three out of four want to work from home at least one day a week. Most said that they’d prefer working remotely two to three days a week. In the tech field, where working in the office isn’t always a requirement, this was often a deal breaker.

Work negatively affected the rest of their life. Whether they call it work-life balance, or the more new-fangled “life-work integration,” many people have started questioning whether their job overshadows the rest of their existence. They began to look for jobs that didn’t require working nights or weekends.

They dreaded going to work. This is the big one for most people. Nobody wants to have to force themself to get out of bed and get ready for work every morning. The prospect of actually enjoying what they do for a living prompted them to start looking for their next job.

At Averity, we’re a people-first company. What does that mean? We give our team the tools to do their jobs and the autonomy to accomplish some really great things. When someone comes up with interesting and innovative ways to reach their goals or even push past them, we all cheer them on.

Creating a positive company culture and work experience takes hard work and active intention everyday. At Averity, we believe people hire people and the team we’ve built here centers around that belief. From the beginning, my goal was to have a recruiting agency with a people first culture, both in how we work with candidates but also how we work with each other. Our EVP of Customer Relations, Alex Dubovoy describes working at Averity as:

“It’s a cliche but we genuinely come from the world of ‘We get to be here, we don’t have to be here’. We all work together to achieve one common goal. And that goal is quality, to be the best company anywhere to work for.”

This is why being named the Best Staffing Firm to Work For in 2022, (with a team of 10-20) by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), is such an honor for us. Each year we strive to achieve this goal and for the third year in a row we are leading the pack. Companies in the survey are measured on items including teamwork, trust in senior leaders, diversity and inclusion, manager effectiveness, compensation and benefits.

Over the past few weeks you’ve gotten to meet some of our recently promoted team members and hear what brought them to Averity, but now I’d like to introduce you to the rest of the team. In the video above each team member dives into what makes working at Averity so special.

Don’t just take my word for it. Listen to what Averity’s industry-leading team has to say.

When I talk to other business leaders, the topic of working parents comes up a lot. Everyone knows that we have a responsibility to make things easier for our employees who have to juggle responsibilities at work and at home, but nobody seems to know exactly what they should be doing. Here’s our policy at Averity:

That might seem like common sense, but it turns out that in the business world common sense is not so common. It’s great if you have generous parental leave when someone becomes a new parent. Same thing for stipends for childcare and other benefits. But it’s time that we stop thinking about policies like these not just as something nice we’re doing for parents, but something important that we’re doing to strengthen our teams as a whole.

After nearly two years of the pandemic, we’ve all seen firsthand the challenges that working parents face when work and family make demands of their limited time. Jennifer Magley, a Talent Advocate in Data Engineering at Averity, put it best when she told me that during the pandemic “it’s not about ‘work-life balance’ but rather ‘work-life blending.’” It’s time that we talk to the people on our teams so we can understand their top priorities.

I reached out to working parents and asked them what they need to succeed. It wasn’t hard because my team is still small enough that I know everyone by name, but even companies with hundreds or thousands of employees should be figuring out ways to do the same thing. Here are some of the insights I heard from my amazing team.

We’ve all had bosses who never opened up about their personal lives. That’s not how we operate at Averity. I’m a parent myself, and so is everyone on the executive team. We talk about it a lot, mostly because we really enjoy having kids.

It turns out that it’s important for the rest of our team to hear about our own challenges. Erica Nagy, a Talent Advocate specializing in Go and Java, said it makes her feel like we have her back.

“What is really refreshing is that the leadership in the company is proud of being parents themselves,” she said. “They are clearly hands-on dads despite being partners in a company that is experiencing tremendous growth.”

One thing that has become clear while we’ve all been working from home is that we can’t put parenting on hold during normal business hours. When the two things conflict, it’s work that has to give.

“We have flexibility with our schedules, which is huge,” said Erica. “I actually have on my daily Google Calendar: “Time to start homework.” It’s at 3:45 pm, directly after school, so that my son isn’t too tired.”

She added that she participated in a work meeting from her car as her son was enjoying a Halloween “trunk-or-treat” event at school. (“It’s a suburban thing,” she explained.)

“My boss and my team were totally cool with me being at a school event,” she said. “I feel fully supported in my position and I know that my family comes first.”

When his kids were toddlers, Senior Recruiting Manager of Backend Engineering Pete Klochaney had the feeling that he was “missing seeing them grow up.” He decided at that point that he didn’t want another job that took him away from his family all the time. That’s part of the reason he joined Averity.

“The obvious answer is to give working parents the autonomy that they need to succeed,” he said. “When I started here they told me, ‘We don’t care what days you take off. If you have to work a little more sometimes and a little less sometimes, that’s fine.’ That’s really instilled in everyone here.”

Jennifer told me that letting people plan their own schedules and set their own goals isn’t just good for working parents — it’s a win for the company.

“Allow your people to set their own goals,” she said. “Their expectations may be higher.”

I don’t pretend that we have everything figured out. It’s still a work in progress. But I’m pretty confident that we are moving in the right direction because Staffing Industry Analysts, the global advisor on staffing and workforce solutions, recently recognized Averity as one of the top staffing firms to work for the third year in a row.

In the meantime, we’re going to continue doing everything we can to support all our employees, whether they are raising kids, taking care of sick family members, or have other challenges. That will always be one of the pillars of our organization.

There were several moments throughout the past year when the experts predicted that things would soon be back to normal. Remember early in the summer, when it looked like the pandemic was starting to fade, or the fall, when the demand for office space was increasing every month?

Those of us who’ve been closely watching the job market knew that there wasn’t any chance that we’d go back to normal. A new normal had already been established, one where companies had to quickly adapt to changes in the market and adjust their expectations about how quickly they could fill crucial positions. Workers have realized that there are so many available jobs that they can wait to find one that’s the best fit for what they need and what is important to them.

Here at Averity, we’ve noticed several trends over the course of the year. They focus on where we’ll be working, how we’ll find top talent, and what matters most to the people looking for jobs. We wanted to share a few of these insights as you look ahead to 2022.

Companies that require their employees to come into the office five days a week are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to finding top tech talent. A hybrid model that lets employees split their time between the office and home is better, but even that won’t get you access to the best people.

A just-released report from McKinsey & Company found that more than two-thirds of the work in the tech sector can be done remotely without any loss of productivity. That’s not news for tech professionals, who have maintained that their productivity has increased during the months they have been working from home. They have made it clear that they don’t want to return to the office. Averity’s own research has shown that one of the main reasons tech professionals quit their jobs is a mandatory return to the office.

Although hybrid models seem to be gaining traction, employees have pushed back hard against corporations like Apple who have announced plans to bring employees back into the office a few days a week. Many professionals have moved away from where their companies are located and have no interest in returning.

The upshot: If you want to keep your best employees and attract the best ones that are currently on the job market, find ways to let them work remotely.

Demand for top tech talent is at an all-time high. That’s great news for people in the job market, especially those with skills like Data Engineering, DevOps, and Software Engineering, to name a few. Great engineers literally have their pick among hundreds of positions in their field.

It’s not such good news for employers, who are scrambling to find credible candidates. They are being forced to offer salaries that are significantly higher than a year or two ago. That means that — don’t kill the messenger — engineers that were hired at $160,000 before the pandemic are now routinely getting more than $190,000.

Smart employers are starting to cast a wider net, especially with entry-level/junior level staffers. They know that if a candidate has the right “soft skills” — things like creative thinking, problem solving, intellectual curiosity and effective communication — they are likely to be a good addition to the team. You can teach someone the technical aspects of a job. It’s harder to instill intellectual curiosity, emotional intelligence, and the ability to work with others.

The upshot: First and foremost, hire great team members. Don’t focus on finding the right person for the job — find the right job for the person.

People want to work for companies they can relate to. They are looking for corporate values that align with their own. We aren’t seeing nearly as much interest in massive corporations that are in the news for bad business practices or for exploiting their customers. Putting it simply, people want to work for places where they can do some good in the world.

We recently placed a candidate who had gotten offers from eight prominent tech companies. He decided to accept a job with the company he chose because he appreciated the company’s reputation and felt he could have organizational impact there.

The upshot: Get the word out about your company culture, values, and vision. Everyone on your team should be able to talk about not just what you do, but what you believe in.

Relationships have always been important, but right now they’re crucial. People want to be in business with someone that they trust. That means that when a key position is open in their company, they are going to go to their relationship base first.

With the current shortage of top-level candidates, Averity has been fortunate enough to receive referrals for some amazingly talented people. These are the types of candidates who aren’t interested in throwing their resume into a pile with dozens of others and don’t necessarily have LinkedIn profiles. We have been able to match them up with companies where they can continue to grow their careers.

We’re getting these referrals because we’ve never stopped building relationships with the people we work with, whether it’s the hiring manager at a major tech company or an engineer looking to take the next step in their career. The simple formula here is relationships > transitions.

The upshot: Your own network is likely to bring the best candidates to your door.

Here’s a final thought: People hire people. That still rings true in today’s market. Companies that put the needs of their people first and provide them with what they need to do their jobs well are going to be the ones who will be able to attract the best new employees in 2022.

When we run across a bad resume, the first impulse a lot of us have is to toss it in the thanks-but-no-thanks pile. Who has the time to slog through a resume that’s incorrectly formatted or poorly organized?

But here’s the thing: Some of the worst resumes are sent in by perfectly good job candidates. A few might even be excellent.

Here at Averity, a top recruiter in technology, we’ve seen a lot of “bad” resumes. Sometimes, especially with younger applicants, they include information that isn’t relevant at all. Those from more seasoned professionals often have the opposite problem. They include all their experience, which can sometimes go on for pages and pages. Either way, it can make reading through them quite a chore.

That’s why we work with all our talent on presenting exactly the information that companies are looking for, including salary range, most relevant skills, goals and motivations for their next career move, reasons for looking, who they are as a person, and what is important to them.

We boil all that down to what we call the “X Factor.” That’s a sentence or two describing what sets them apart from the crowd. We make sure that you know the key information about the candidate right away.

A lot of employers ask us about the best way to read resumes. The first thing we tell them is to actually read them. Don’t rely too much on your company’s applicant tracking system or keyword searches. They are great at searching for certain terms, so there’s no reason not to use them to filter out applicants that don’t meet your basic requirements. But even the best ATS platforms, the ones that take advantage of the latest advances in artificial intelligence, aren’t always on the mark when it comes to deciding which candidates are worth bringing in for an interview.

First, take the time to glance through the applicant’s cover letter. This is where many applicants mention experience that didn’t seem to fit on the resume. It’s also where they might bring up related experience that make them valuable team members. Look for a mention of why the applicant thinks they would be a good fit at your company — that’s a good indication that the applicant has done their homework.

With online applications widely available, job-seekers can apply for a nearly unlimited number of jobs at the same time. But that doesn’t mean that they should send out the same documents to everyone. As you review the resume itself, look for evidence that they have tailored it for the job you have posted. The experience they highlight should be relevant to your company.

Don’t limit your search to candidates with a narrow range of skills. It’s understandable that you want to find the most qualified person for the job. Certain skills are not negotiable. But consider everything the candidate can bring to the table. For example, they might have project management skills that would make them valuable on an upcoming campaign.

Don’t forget the so-called “soft skills” like creative thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication. Often overlooked, these skills are critical when building a strong team. I recently spoke with a business owner who had recently hired two or three entry-level staffers who had less experience than he initially was looking for. He said he was confident that could bring them up to speed on the technical aspects of the job. What he couldn’t do was teach them intellectual curiosity, emotional intelligence, and how to work with others in the department.

It used to be that gaps in a resume raised red flags for hiring managers, but almost half of all employers say that is no longer the case. They realize that many people have left their jobs because of changes in the job market. A gap of more than a few months is something that will probably come up in an interview, but is no longer a deal breaker.

So what should catch your attention? People move from job to job more often than they did in the past, but frequent job hopping can signal someone who isn’t likely to stay around for long. On the other hand, staying at one job too long might show a lack of ambition. The same goes for a series of jobs that don’t show any advancement. All of these are certainly worth asking about.

The point I’m making is that you should keep an open mind when you’re reading through a resume. If someone doesn’t have quite the qualifications you’re looking for, consider their other skills. You might find that someone whose resume doesn’t quite measure up has a lot to offer.

When a prospective employee is about to sit down for an interview with your company, what does it look like on your end? Has your interview panel been carefully chosen in advance? Has it been briefed on the candidate and had plenty of time to look over their resume and other materials? Did they huddle beforehand to hammer out the questions they want to ask?

In a perfect world, the interview process would always be well-planned and executed. In reality, interview panels are often assembled at the last minute and include whoever happens to be around that day. They are missing key team members while including others who probably shouldn’t be present at all. Nobody has been prepped in advance, and it’s clear that some are reading the resume for the first time.

It’s not a good look for your organization, especially when so many companies are competing for the same top talent. Why should that candidate consider joining your team if it can’t even get the interview process right?

Badly organized interview panels are a waste of time for everyone involved. They’re a poor use of your company’s valuable team members, both those who are present and those who may have to conduct follow-up interviews later on. And they aren’t even good at identifying the best candidate for the job.

At Averity, we advise companies of all sizes who are facing challenges in the hiring process. One problem that comes up again and again is the difficulty of putting together the most efficient interview panel. In reality, it’s not hard at all. It just takes careful planning beforehand and picking the perfect group of people.

Picking the right people. After your recruiter decides that a prospective employee is a good match for an open position, they will pass that information along to the appropriate manager or department head. That’s when they should start putting together the interview panel.

The makeup of the panel is extremely important. That doesn’t mean they have to be on the executive team. Unless your company is an early-stage startup, it doesn’t make sense to have a CEO interviewing a mid-level engineer. Look for people who will have some kind of regular contact with the employee.

The size of the panel can vary, but it’s usually between three and five people. For most companies, we usually recommend that a panel include:

A manager. If possible, this should be the supervisor for the role the candidate is interviewing for. This person will be able to address the specific responsibilities of the position, and make a great first impression.

A couple of engineers. They should ideally be from the team with the open position. They should be able to talk about how members of the team work together and what a typical day might include.

A representative from senior management. This might be a director or a vice president. This person is on hand to address the company’s current goals and its vision for the future.

Remember that it can take a week or two to find a time everyone can get together for the interview. This is especially true if it’s going to be an in-person interview. It’s a good idea to get the interview on everyone’s calendar as soon as possible.

It’s not uncommon for someone to have to miss a meeting. Have alternates in mind, and let them know in advance.

Running the interview. The panel should meet together at least 10 minutes before the interview to brief the members about the candidate and discuss their qualifications. It’s a good idea to prepare a list of questions in advance and divide them among all the panelists in advance.

One person on the panel — most likely the manager — will serve as the facilitator for the interview. They run the meeting, make sure it starts and ends on time, and outline the process to the candidate. Remember that the facilitator doesn’t necessarily have to be the highest-ranking person in the room.

The rest of the panel are fact finders. They will have assigned questions to ask, but should all pay close attention, take notes, and ask follow-up questions when necessary. It’s very important that the facilitator and panel are on the same page about what type of person and which skills are essential.

The interviewer should also leave plenty of time for candidates to get their questions answered. These days, engineers are interviewing you as much as you’re interviewing them.

At the end of the interview, the facilitator should finish by letting the candidate know what the rest of the process will be and how long it will likely take. This ends the meeting on a professional note.

An interview process requires work, so avoid the temptation to “wing it.” With careful planning they can be a positive experience for everyone involved.

The year is finally coming to a close, and you’re really looking forward to collecting that end-of-the-year bonus. Considering all of the challenges that you faced at work over the past 12 months, you feel that you really deserve it.

But at the same time, the situation at work has made you realize that it might be time to start searching for a new job. From what you’ve read, there’s never been a better time to look for a new job, especially in the tech industry. Employers are fighting for top talent.

What do you do? Do you stick around for your annual bonus, or take advantage of the fact that there’s hundreds of thousands of open positions that employers are desperate to fill?

My knee-jerk reaction would be that if you’re waiting on a sizable bonus and don’t have an urgent reason to leave, then you should simply wait it out. That said, there’s a couple of things to consider:

Is the bonus really coming? Am I really going to get a bonus, or is my employer just dangling a carrot in front of me? A lot of cash-strapped companies didn’t give out bonuses last year. Although the economy has improved, it hasn’t been across the board. Clues that a bonus might not be coming include positions that remain unfilled or are outsourced — signs your company is trying to save money.

Is it worth waiting for? If we’re talking about a substantial bonus, that’s one thing. But if it’s not, you could bring in just as much at a job where the salary is higher than you’re making now. Spend some time crunching the numbers.

When will I get the money? Many companies announce bonuses in December and don’t get around to paying them out until well into the new year. Does waiting several more months change how you feel about staying? If that’s the case, you might consider starting your job search now.

Why do I want to leave? If you’re not getting along with a manager or don’t feel like you’re a good fit for your team, you have to weigh whether it’s worth it for you to stay for a couple of months and collect that payout. Your bonus might not be worth a few more months of mild frustration.

If you’re generally satisfied where you are but think you aren’t being paid what you’re worth, ask for a raise. Keep in mind that it’s rare for a current employer to be able to match the salary and benefits that a new employer offers. Another thing to remember is that the majority of people who decide to stay for a higher salary end up leaving within a year anyway.

If you’re not happy with your current benefits package (including things like the flexibility to work from home), if you don’t see opportunities for advancement or growth, or if you aren’t being challenged by the work, speak to your manager. Companies are working hard these days to retain their top talent. Especially if what you’re asking for doesn’t include a salary increase — something that often requires approval at multiple levels — you might find that your manager is more than willing to make changes in order to keep you.

If your decision about whether to look for a new job is just about timing — Is the end of the year really a good time to be on the job market? — let me reassure you. As I’ve written about in this column before, Q4 is an amazing time to be a job seeker. The candidate pool is smaller, so your resume will get additional attention. Hiring managers are desperate to fill positions before the end of the year because they will lose that budget line. The hiring process is less stressful because it doesn’t drag on for months.

At Averity, we’re busier than ever before. We’re being asked to fill opening for positions ranging from entry level all the way up to executive level. We can assure you that there are lots of great-paying jobs out there for ambitious people in the tech field.

When people ask me about starting a job search during the holidays, my answer is always the same: Don’t wait until after the first of the year, when job boards are overloaded with people competing for the same positions. You might end up feeling frustrated with the search process and put it off for six months or a year, when you’ll be in exactly the same situation you are right now.

If you’ve browsed through any of the leading business publications over the past few months, you’ve noticed an increased reliance on military metaphors. In today’s tightening labor market, companies aren’t just facing challenges, they’re “under siege.” They’re urged to put together an aggressive “battle plan” if they’re going to win in the “war for talent.”

It might make for compelling headlines, but declaring war isn’t going to help in your recruiting efforts. Today’s tech professionals aren’t swayed as much by the high salaries and generous signing bonuses that experts have insisted for decades are the only way to attract the best people in their field. And the perks of the last 10 years or so — like installing a keg of beer in the lobby — won’t convince them, either.

During the Covid-19 crisis, tech workers rearranged their priorities. There’s a reason why we’ve been seeing a record number of people quit their jobs in the tech sector in the past few months. If they were only looking for better compensation, they would have accepted other positions right away. But despite unprecedented growth in the IT sector, applicants are taking their time to sign on the dotted line.

Here at Averity, more and more job applicants are telling us that they are waiting for the right fit. They are looking for a great company culture, corporate values that align with their own, or a work schedule that considers their changing needs. The companies these IT professionals eventually join will be those that can best articulate why they are the best place to work.

Today’s applicants are asking a lot more questions than they used to. The most common ones these days are about what it’s like to work at your company. If an applicant asks you a question about your corporate culture, you’d better have an answer.

The trouble is that a lot of organizations know how to sell their product, but they have no idea how to sell their company. No matter whether you’re a startup or a major corporation, you still have to give them good reasons they should join your team. But how do you accomplish that?

Start off by talking about your company’s values. If you are committed to a diverse workforce, talk about the steps you are taking. If you are passionate about climate change, prove that you put your money where your mouth is. You’ll definitely see a difference. A recent study showed that 9 out of 10 people are willing to accept a lower salary to do work that they believe in.

Flexibility has become one of the most important incentives for those looking for new jobs. A recent survey of 1,100 engineers found that more than 75% want to work from home all or most of the time. Only 2% wanted to be in the office full-time. Companies that have announced that employees will eventually have to return to the office — even tech powerhouses like Apple — are getting serious blowback. If you offer more flexibility in terms of where and when your employees work, that’s a huge plus.

Your future employees want a chance to hone their skills. In fact, a survey conducted by the cloud computing company Citrix found that 88% of respondents say they look for the availability of learning opportunities when hunting for a new job. During the final interview, your team should map out a growth plan for the candidate. Give them a 30-, 90-, and 180-day timeline that shows what they can expect to learn at your company.

When IBM recently polled 14,000 workers about what they wanted from an employer, 43% put career advancement opportunities at the top of the list. Less than half of those reported that they were actually getting a chance to advance within their company. Talk about how you define success for your company, for your tech team, and for each employee. If you can demonstrate that you’re a company that promotes from within, it will set you apart from competitors.

Organizational impact is a term we’ve been hearing about more and more these days. Top-tier engineers want to make an organizational impact with their skills. If the interviewer talks about how the candidate can make an impact on the company, they are more likely to want to work there. Who doesn’t want to feel that their skills are valued?

It’s especially important that the interviewer be prepared with a story about why they accepted a job with the company and how it helped them grow on a personal or professional level. Telling their own story adds the human aspect, and it’s something potential employees really connect to.

Finally, the interviewer should leave plenty of time for questions. Give the candidate space to ask about anything so that they can make an educated decision.

Everyone on your team, from the CEO on down, should be able to articulate your company culture. Team leaders should discuss your company culture with potential hires. It should figure prominently on your website and in your social media posts. You’ve already got everything you need to attract top talent. You just need to get the word out.

Just about every article offering advice about when to look for a job tells you to avoid November and December. As the holidays approach, there are fewer and fewer openings. Human resources teams stop scheduling interviews. You might as well wait to start your job search until the new year.

Except that none of the above is true. In a normal year, October, November, and December are great times to look for a job in the tech industry. And in 2021, there’s never been a hotter job market than right now.

At Averity, we are being asked to fill tons of openings for Back-End Engineers — so many that we can barely keep up with the demand. We’re seeing a huge rise in listings for Data Scientists, Machine Learning Engineers, and Data Engineers as well. And if you have experience in specialties like DevOps, DevSecOps, or SRE, you have your choice of open positions.

What I’m saying is that if you’re in the market for a new job, or even if you’ve been thinking about testing out the waters, the time to do it is right now.

Contrary to popular belief, it’s never been true that the last quarter of the year is a bad time to start a job search. An analysis of more than 10 years of data shows that October and November have a higher than average number of job listings.

Positions that are open in Q4 are often those that fulfill business-critical functions in an organization. For most companies, this includes key jobs in the tech department. When companies find a qualified candidate for these jobs, they are often quick to seal the deal.

Toward the end of the year, companies know exactly how much money they have to spend on new positions. They are often eager to make their last few hires before the close of the calendar year because they risk losing that position in the next year’s budget.

It’s true that there’s often a dramatic increase in job listings in the beginning of the year, but the numbers are a little deceiving. Part of the reason is because comparatively fewer new hires are made in December. In addition, many people choose to leave their current job in January so that they don’t miss out on an end-of-the-year bonus. Those newly open jobs are posted in February and March.

The biggest reason for not waiting until January to start your job search is because everyone else does, too. There are more job listings, but also more competition. Your chances for landing your dream job actually start to diminish after the beginning of the new year.

In Q4, talented engineers have a lot more leverage. When competitors flood the job market after the first of the year, they lose much of the leverage they would have had in terms of negotiating salary, benefits, and much more simply because the supply of candidates went up.

When you’re looking for a job in Q4, here are a couple of things that you should keep in the back of your mind:

Be ready to pull the trigger. As I mentioned above, companies with open jobs in the last quarter are usually eager to make a hire. Don’t take too long to make up your mind. If it’s clear that you’re just shopping around, employers are likely to move on quickly to the next candidate.

Keep an eye on your calendar. Before your interview you should know your potential start date, any days you need to be out of the office, and any vacations you already have scheduled. Bring them up during your interview.

Don’t let a bonus stand in the way. If you’re one of those people waiting to receive your annual bonus from your current employer before you give notice, don’t be shy about mentioning that during your interview. If a company wants you bad enough, they are likely to adjust your compensation to reflect any lost bonuses.

Don’t put off the job search because you heard that nobody gets an interview in Q4. This year we’re seeing month-over-month increases in the number of job openings in the tech sector, and we don’t see it slowing down anytime soon.

If you’re feeling stressed out about that gap on your resume, take a few deep breaths. The truth is that a few months here and there are less of a strike against you than they were just a few years ago.

The coronavirus made employers more accepting of time periods where you weren’t working. According to a survey released earlier this year, 49% of employers said that resume gaps are becoming less of a red flag because of current market conditions, and 47% said the same thing about job hopping. Hiring managers are aware of how the pandemic has affected workers and will likely be sympathetic about any associated employment gaps.

That’s especially true if you’re looking for an IT job. So far this year, job growth in the tech industry has more than made up for the losses racked up during the pandemic. In June, employers posted listings for more than 365,000 tech jobs, the biggest monthly total since 2019. There just aren’t enough experienced engineers and analysts to go around. That means if you have experience in tech, companies are likely to be a lot more forgiving.

But trust us, that gap will come up during an interview. Your best tactic is to be upfront about it. Don’t wait for an employer to ask what you were doing for the last few months. Bring it up yourself in an interview. Better yet, mention it in your resume. If possible, talk about the time as a positive for you.

How can the time you spent looking for job be a positive? Make it clear that you were using your time in a constructive way. Hiring managers like to see forward motion, even if you weren’t employed full-time. And that growth can be personal or professional.

Remember that you control the narrative. Here are a couple of ideas to help you gap-proof your resume and ace the job interview:

Consulting work. Did you pick up projects here and there while you were searching for a job? You were a consultant, and this should be highlighted on your resume and emphasized in your interview. If you were working consistently, consider adding the name of your own company — even something as simple as Jane Doe Associates — to your resume and listing your major clients and the work you did for them. Being self-employed is no longer a negative for most companies. It can even be a major plus if the work you were doing is relevant to the position you’re applying for.

Building your skills. This is an important one, especially in the tech field. Taking an online course in a relevant area — such as Tensorflow, Keras, or PyTorch if you’re a Data Scientist, or Terraform if you’re in DevOps — should be front and center on your resume. If there’s no obvious place to put it, consider adding a separate skills section. Employers will be impressed that you’re making sure to keep your skills up to date.

Career development. If you’ve been thinking a lot about where your career is headed, that’s definitely something to bring up with a hiring manager. Spending time with a career coach or an employment counselor or working with a tech-focused recruiter like Averity shows that you’re serious about making sure your next job is right for you. Discuss how the experience convinced you to apply for a position at their company.

Family leave. If you were a caregiver during the pandemic — whether it was home-schooling your kids or taking in an elderly relative — it’s okay to bring it up. Tens of millions of people were in the same boat, so hiring managers are likely to be sympathetic. (If they were in a similar situation, it might even be a bonding experience.) Talk about how you were lucky to be able to do it, that you learned a lot from the experience, and that you’re excited to get back into the job market.

The point is that no matter what you did during those few months — whether it was taking courses to further your skills, doing volunteer work in your community, or taking care of family members — be prepared to talk about it. Express it in a way that reflects well on you. Stay upbeat and focused on the future. The only thing that is a complete negative is if you have absolutely nothing to say about how you spent those few months.

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