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Monthly Archives: December 2014

2 Times to be Honest, but Edit Yourself in IT Job Interviews

All IT staffing firms would certainly agree that honesty is important in interviews for IT jobs.  If you’re not honest as a candidate or the company is dishonest, you’ll wind up in a job you’re not able to do well or are unhappy in.  Nobody wins in this case– not the hiring managers, candidate, or IT staffing agencies and IT recruiters. There are some times when it’s best to walk the line between honesty and editing yourself, though.  Here are two instances in interviews when technical recruiters would advise you to be honest, but edit yourself.

First is when your priority is your family, not work.  Most IT staffing companies and hiring managers know that it’s likely your family time is more precious to you than time spent at work.  However, you don’t have to say this out loud.  It underscores the point too much and might scare off the interviewer.  Most interviewers won’t ask about this topic anyways.  In this case it’s all the better to avoid making strong statements about how you prioritize family over work.

Second is when you’re leaving a job because your boss or coworkers were difficult to deal with.  Again, this is the kind of thing that IT recruiting companies know happens.  However, when you speak ill of a boss or colleagues, you make a poor impression on interviewers.   There are a few reasons for this, but the most important is that it’s hard for them to know if your complaints are valid. Keep the conversation positive and focus on what you’re looking for in your next job.

 

IT Jobs, Danger and Responsibility: The Story of Pavel Durov

Most IT recruiters and IT staffing firms wouldn’t describe IT jobs as dangerous.  This is, of course, the case, 99% of the time.  Recently, though, IT staffing agencies and technical recruiters have been shown an exception: the wild story of a very dangerous IT job—being creator of Russia’s version of Facebook.

Pavel Durov, a celebrity in Russia on par with Mark Zuckerberg in the US, has recently become endangered due to issues between the government and his company.  While Russia’s own issues with corruption and censorship weigh heavily on this story, there’s another message for IT recruiting companies and IT recruiting agencies: IT is a powerful industry with a great deal of responsibility and power.  As it begins to truly shape our world and deeply affect our politics, Information Technology endows its jobs with a great deal of ethical responsibility.  IT professionals, and by extension, IT staffing companies, are not just coding—they’re deeply influencing the future.

 

Tips for IT Office Parties

As the holidays approach, plenty of IT staffing agencies and IT companies will be having office parties.  These may seem unnecessary, but they’re actually a great moment for you to network with technical recruiters, colleagues, and possibly increase your chances of landing IT jobs in the future.  Here are a few tips from IT staffing firms to help you ace your holiday office parties.

Firstly, be a little more casual and comfortable.  Events like this don’t call for exactly the same manners, dress code, etc as work.  In fact, if you’re too stiff, it will be detrimental.  IT recruiting agencies would recommend relaxing a bit, making a few jokes, and coming in clothes that aren’t quite business professional.

Second, don’t bring your smart phone with you and don’t cling to your date.  IT staffing companies would suggest that the best way to make the most of holiday parties for work is to be fully engaged.  Don’t spend long spans of the party checking your phone in the corner.  Don’t only speak with your date.  Work the room and be social with your coworkers and managers—it’s the reason you’re at the party.

Don’t indulge too much on the alcohol.  It seems like common sense, but it’s worth repeating.  IT recruiting firms would absolutely recommend keeping your drinking to a minimum so you’re fully in control for the whole evening.

 

 

Ace your IT Interviews by Telling Stories

IT staffing firms and IT recruiters are always looking for job candidates who excel in ways beyond just their technical skills.  Having certain skill-sets might make it seem like somebody is a great fit for particular IT jobs.  Howevever, it’s important for IT staffing companies and technical recruiters to be able to present candidates who not only have great IT skills and experience, but are able to demonstrate they’re excellent assets to their teams and managers.  How do you demonstrate to IT recruiting firms, interviewers, and hiring managers, that you’re an asset to the teams you work on and will work on in the future?  Tell some stories.

Tell IT recruiting agencies or interviewers a story about a time you stepped up and owned a process, fixed a problem, or did something else that was out of your job description.  Talk about how this affected your team and managers (positively, obviously) and what you learned from it.  These kinds of stories will demonstrate initiative, follow-through, team-work, and reliability.

Tell IT staffing companies or a hiring manager a story about a time you met somebody’s expectations—before they even expected it.  Maybe you anticipated a manager’s need, headed off a potential problem with a project, or were just prepared for something your team wasn’t.  These kinds of stories demonstrate that you are not only capable of doing your job, but doing it with little supervision.  This is a manager’s dream.