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One question that IT recruiting firms will want you to be ready for in IT job interviews is something along the lines of ‘How would you describe yourself ?’  (A common variation on this is ‘How would your colleagues describe you?’).  There are a lot of ways to answer this question, of course.  It’s worth knowing, though, that there are a couple things you need to avoid saying so that your IT staffing agencies and IT recruiters don’t get bad feedback.

Firstly, IT staffing companies would advise that you don’t give an answer that is too subjective.  It will be hard to say something completely objective.  However, especially in IT, where things are constantly backed up with numbers, percentages, and hard data, the best answer will be something you can back up with a story, accomplishment, or example.  For instance, don’t say that your coworkers think you’re funny.  This doesn’t really advance your candidacy, nor is it something you can back up well.  Instead you might say that you’ve got good communication or relationship-building skills.  Then back it up by saying that you’ve made great relationships throughout your previous companies (which of course helped you succeed in these IT jobs).

Secondly, technical recruiters would advise you to avoid answering this question with things that will make you sound arrogant or difficult to work with. You do want to highlight skills and achievements that would make you a great candidate.  But there are ways to describe yourself as competent without sounding full of yourself.  For example, there’s certainly a difference between calling yourself brilliant and saying that you are confident in your abilities in particular technologies or programming languages.  IT staffing firms have a much easier time placing people in jobs when they’re both competent and pleasant people to work with.