Why Use IT Recruiting Firms?
Ever wondered why IT recruiters are useful in your search for IT jobs? Why not just do the search yourself instead of working with IT recruiting companies? There are few reasons you should cultivate a relationship with technical recruiters—some of which are not obvious.
Firstly, IT recruiting companies have access to far more job openings than you do as the average job seeker. Not all job openings are posted publicly. Sometimes hiring managers have IT staffing companies working on a job that you may not even know exists. Working with them means you will know about them and be able to apply.
Secondly, IT recruiting agencies have strong relationships with the companies they’re working for. This means they can recommend you (as somebody whose expertise the hiring managers trust), make sure your resume doesn’t get lost in a stack of resumes, and even fight for you to get the salary or pay rate you want. All these benefits are hard to put a price on, but they’re very important in a competitive job market.
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Don’t Stop Your IT Job Search During the Holidays
As the holidays approach, IT recruiters and IT staffing firms are fighting the common myth that it’s not worth keeping up a job search until after New Year’s. This misconception drives IT staffing agencies crazy because it’s simply not true—there are still plenty of IT jobs in November and December that they’re working to fill. Here are two reasons why you should keep working with IT recruiting companies and IT recruiters all the way through the holiday season.
Firstly, a surprising number of companies find extra cash in their budgets that they need to spend before the year’s end. This means new projects, possibly even new IT positions that are temporary or permanent. If you pick up your calls from technical recruiters during the holidays, you could be one of the IT professionals who gets hired with this unexpected money.
Secondly, Even if a company does not find money in the budget they must spend, they may lose workers over the course of the holiday season. Workers will sometimes wait out a year-end bonus, and then leave a job. IT staffing companies could be calling you to fill that spot.
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The Golden Rule for Success in Your IT Jobs
So you’ve worked with some IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies to land your dream job. How do you excel at your new gig so your boss and coworkers notice and IT staffing companies fight other IT recruiting companies to place you for your next IT jobs? There are a lot of ways to ensure success, but there is one golden rule everyone should try to follow: Bring your boss solutions, not problems.
How can you do this? Make sure you think one step beyond issues that arise or you’re concerned will arise. IT recruiting firms have an easy time placing the kind of employee who not only notices a problem, but can then anticipate for his boss what some possible solutions would be for it. Employees who make solutions, not just identifying problems, their focus are easy to manage and work with. These are the kind of people IT recruiting companies get requests for—employees that make life easier for their teammates and bosses. Take a shot at this the next time you spot a problem—you’ll be surprised at how well this habit will impact your job performance and career.
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Don’t Lose IT Jobs For These Silly Mistakes
IT recruiters see all sorts of reasons that IT contractors fail to get IT jobs. Sometimes IT professionals don’t get jobs for good reasons: they don’t have the right skills, experience, or their salary expectations aren’t right for the job. However, sometimes technical recruiters find out that their candidates don’t get the job for very avoidable reasons. Here are a couple below that you can avoid the next time your IT staffing agencies or IT recruiting companies set you up for a job interview.
Don’t come off as selfish or too interested in compensation/benefits. While compensation is certainly a very important part of any IT job, the best thing you can do is let your IT staffing firms handle this part. Have candid conversations with IT recruiting agencies about what you expect for benefits and compensation before you go on interviews. They can handle this topic for you, leaving you free to really focus on the job and the company in interviews. When an interviewer gets the impression that you’re more interested what you’re getting paid, they’ll be concerned you’re not interested in the work itself. This is a red flag you can easily avoid!
Don’t cross professional boundaries. Sometimes, when people are either nervous in interviews or too relaxed, they can be less than professional. You certainly don’t want to come across as a robot, but you’ll shoot yourself in the foot if you start to overshare, swear, or get too chummy with your interviewer. Making your interviewer uncomfortable is the quickest way to lose a potential job, so keep things professional at all times!
Don’t show up too early or late. Being either too early or too late are easy to avoid. They’re also easy reasons interviewers to jump to all sorts of negative assumptions about you. Show up 10-15 minutes early for an interview.
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IT Job Hunters: Check Online for Info About Corporate Culture!
In the past, IT contractors have to ask their IT recruiters and IT staffing companies about the corporate culture of the IT jobs they’re interviewing for. Things are changing now, though. IT recruiters are no longer the only source of info about a company’s corporate culture—now the companies themselves are posting videos, pictures, and more info about their corporate culture online.
If you’re up for an IT job, ask your IT recruiting agencies if they know about any online info about the company’s corporate culture. It’s worth looking into this info for yourself so you can decided if the company is a place you could be happy. While corporate culture is often mentioned secondary to the actual job description by IT recruiting firms, it’s still very important. IT staffing firms that can place people in jobs they love and corporate cultures they love, find the most success and longevity in the placements. This is because happy workers have been proven to be more loyal and productive workers. So don’t hesitate to ask your technical recruiters if there is info online about the corporate culture of companies you’re interviewing with. This information is important!
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IT Jobs Are Now Offering Bring Your Parents To Work Days
Particularly in the world of information technology, ‘Bring Your Parents to Work Day’ has caught on. IT recruiters have noticed that over 50 companies and organizations in the US are now holding their own days when parents can come in and see their children at work in their IT jobs. While having your parents tag along to your IT job would have once been a huge issue for IT recruiting companies and indicated a serious lack of professionalism to technical recruiters, this is no longer the case….depending on the company and IT recruiting firms.
There is obviously IT staffing firms that will always see Bring Your Parents to Work Day as a highly unprofessional convention. However, some IT recruiting agencies and companies see this kind of event as a way to market themselves and to allow parents to finally understand their high tech jobs. It’s also likely the prevalence of Bring Your Parents to Work Day is made slightly more popular by the way millennials tend to be closer to their parents than previous generations. Researchers have noted this about millennials for a while, and it would be hard to say this observation doesn’t have any influence on IT staffing companies and the companies and organizations that hold Bring Your Parents to Work Day.
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Don’t Make this Mistake at Your IT Job Interviews
IT staffing firms and technical recruiters will almost always prep you for the technical questions you’ll face in interviews for IT jobs or what you should wear. However, the best IT recruiters can’t prepare you for how to milk every question in an interview. The good news is this is a skill you can learn on your own, without the help of IT staffing agencies or IT recruiting firms. Here are some tips on how to use every question of a job interview to highlight your own skill-set and experience, wow your interviewer, and make sure you’re the kind of IT contractor that IT staffing companies can place over and over again.
Ever had a question about experience or skills you don’t exactly have? Don’t just answer no in these instances. Take that moment to do a few things. Firstly, suss out what the interviewer is asking about. Do they want to know about a more general skill you do have or a kind of on-the-job experience (like ‘dealing with difficult coworkers or clients’) that you could easily suggest is similar to something you already do or have done? You don’t have to go overboard, but really examining the questions they ask you and thinking about what they’re looking for in a candidate will make you look very hirable. The best candidates for a job don’t just take its description at face value. They also try to parse all the nuances of a job and figure out what success at that job looks like.
Once you know exactly what the interviewer is looking for, try to make a (graceful) connection here to showcase skills and experience that you have. You may not have exactly the experience or skill the interviewer is seeking, but you might have something similar. Highlight this for your interviewer. Doing this will ensure they really see your full value as a candidate.
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IT’s Next Best Employees: Veterans
IT recruiters and IT staffing firms tend to see plenty of resumes from recent veterans, but not all of them value the military experience. While there plenty of IT staffing companies that do think about it, not all technical recruiters understand how military experience translates to most IT jobs. Though the skills can be different, sometimes this is a good thing. IT recruiting companies and the companies they work for are starting to realize that military experience can translate to special skills that not all IT contractors have.
This trend isn’t currently growing fast enough to accommodate the number of unemployed veterans in the US. However, the good news is that it will likely grow in the future. The military relies on technology more and more every day. Soon IT recruiting agencies will be able to see a plain link between the jobs IT professionals have done in their military past and the civilian jobs they’d like to be considered for. In the interim, it’s up to IT staffing agencies to be creative enough to start to see how well veterans are often prepared for civilian IT jobs.
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Avoid These Issues in IT Job Interviews
IT recruiters can often give IT contractors direct feedback on why they don’t get IT jobs, but sometimes the reason is more nebulous. Technical recruiters may not even hear from the company about these reasons, but sometimes companies will disqualify a candidate for things that are hard or awkward to explain. While IT staffing firms can prepare you for the basic requirements of IT job interviews, only you can try to prevent yourself from disqualification for one of these reasons.
You were desperate. If you reek of desperation, interviewers will unfortunately be turned off and question whether you could do a great job. This is a hard thing for IT recruiting companies to help candidates avoid, but you can do a few things on your own to mitigate coming off as desperate. Try relaxing and focusing only on the questions at hand. Make sure to take a breath before you speak and speak slightly slower than you may normally. Most people speak quickly when they’re nervous. Lastly, if you’re feeling desperate, try to hold yourself back a bit and really edit what you say or do. Showing enthusiasm is fine and IT staffing companies certainly want you to look interested in the job. However, you want to avoid seeming like you think the job is too good for you. Your interviewer will pick up on this and wonder the same thing!
You weren’t likeable. Again, this is hard thing to even begin to qualify, let alone for IT recruiting firms to help you avoid. But, you can do a few things to make yourself more likeable. Smile, try to relax, and engage in small talk if your interviewer does. Hold back any possibly controversial opinions, stories, or speech. Offending your interviewer is the easiest way to destroy your image as likeable.
You smelled or looked odd. This seems like a small thing, but it really is important. IT staffing agencies will likely not be able to tell you that you smell, but this is something to think about before you go to the interview. Make sure to shower and avoid wearing any strong cologne or perfume. Sometimes people are allergic , or simply don’t like these things. Wear clothes that are conventional for the industry. Check in with your IT recruiting agencies if you’re unsure, but usually a simple, conservative suit that fits well will work. Bright colors or patters aren’t your best bet here.
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Could You Do an IT Job From Home?
IT recruiters all over the US are pretty familiar with one request when it comes to IT jobs: IT professionals very often want the option to work from home some of the time, if not all the time. IT recruiting agencies certainly do get their fair share of jobs that allow at least some flexibility to work from home. However, technical recruiters can’t just fill these jobs with anybody. IT recruiters search for somebody with some particular skills and a set-up at home. This is what IT staffing firms will look for if you want to talk about jobs that allow you to work from home.
Firstly, IT recruiting firms look for a proven ability to work with little-to-no supervision. This is might seem simple, but it requires real discipline and problem-solving skills. IT staffing agencies need to know that the people they submit for work from home jobs will be able to stay on track with their work even if they don’t have their boss checking in every 5 minutes. They also need to know that these people can direct their own work, solve problems on their own, and generally save their bosses the burden of having to do much managing.
Secondly, IT staffing companies need to know that the people they submit for work from home jobs have a good setup to get their work done. A home office is optimal, but not entirely necessary. However, childcare arrangements are necessary. Workers need to be able to focus entirely on their jobs, and childcare will almost always conflict with this.
Lastly, IT headhunters are looking for people who will make themselves available to their coworkers, clients, managers, etc. Working from home requires a lot of independence, but the best employees who work remotely make themselves easily accessible for work questions. Being physically absent from the office is no excuse for being difficult to reach—in fact, it makes this quality all the more imperative.
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