How to Talk About Weaknesses in IT Job Interviews
Lots of IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies come across IT professionals who aren’t sure how to answer this tough interview question: What is/are your weakness(es)? Worse, some technical recruiters and IT recruiting agencies work with candidates who think they know how to answer this question, but do it poorly. Here’s how to talk about weaknesses so you impress your interviewer and get some positive feedback for your IT staffing firms and IT recruiting companies.
- Don’t give a fake weakness. Give one that is real. If you say something like ‘perfectionism’ it will make it harder for the interviewer to feel like you’re being honest and genuine with them.
- Give a weakness that isn’t prohibitive to doing the IT jobs you’re interviewing for. If you’re interviewing for a Software Developer job, you wouldn’t want to say you’re not very attentive to detail.
- Lastly, make sure your weakness is something you can actually improve upon. It’s best if you can give a brief summary of how you are currently working on this weakness, too. This will ensure that your IT staffing companies and IT recruiting firms get some great feedback after your interview!
Do This to Wow Your IT Job Interviewer
Most IT professionals are looking to differentiate themselves in interviews for IT jobs. Your IT recruiters and IT staffing companies will certainly advocate for you, but you also will want to really stand out in your interview. Here is one way that you can really impress your interviewer (and by extension your technical recruiters and IT recruiting firms).
Before you interview, get a good, thorough idea of what the job will entail from your IT staffing agencies and IT recruiting companies. Then think through any potential challenges you’ll face if you get the IT job. Make a list for yourself, and then work on some basic strategies you’d apply to these challenges. If you’ve faced similar challenges, think about what strategies did work in these instances. Now practice going through these. When you go to the interview, you can use these challenges and solutions if the interviewer seems open to hearing them. If your examples are good, your IT recruiting agencies and IT staffing firms will likely hear some great feedback about you!
Don’t Quit Your IT Job Yet!
When your IT job is unpleasant or stressful, it can be tempting to simply quit and focus solely on finding new IT jobs with your IT staffing companies and IT recruiters. Technical recruiters and IT staffing agencies will tell you that this isn’t a good idea, though. Here’s why you need to tough it out in your current job until your IT recruiting companies and IT staffing firms find you a new job.
- If you work as an IT contractor, your resume is already probably full of shorter stints at a lot of companies. This isn’t a problem on its own. However, if you quit a job without having another to move into, these things combined can create a red flag. Hiring managers want to be able to trust that you’re reliable and resilient, even if you’re faced with a tough project, team, end-user, etc.
- Quitting a job without having another lined up will make it easier for hiring managers to assume you were fired or about to be fired. While your IT recruiting firms can try to explain these things, it’s better to have nothing for your IT recruiting agencies to explain for you. Do your best to keep your resume as pristine as possible, because you never know what other candidates you might be up against.
