Submit Resume
Submit Job Order
Locations
Submit Resume
Submit Job Order

Applications & Development IT Staffing Services

How to Be Likeable in IT Job Interviews

If you’re interviewing for IT jobs, you may be preparing for them by checking with your IT recruiting firms on what technologies to brush up on, what questions to prepare for, etc.  You may be talking to your technical recruiters about standard things like where the interview will be and at what time.  These things are important, but IT staffing agencies have found that it’s often equally important that you come across as likeable in an interview.  It’s hard to say exactly what makes somebody likeable, but here are two tips IT staffing companies would suggest you use that may help.

Be a little humble.  It’s possible to retain a confident, competent air but still show a healthy amount of humility.  The best team members, the ones IT staffing firms place over and over again, are open to hearing new information and new ways of doing things. They are far from arrogant, which makes them highly responsive to feedback, training, and acclimating to new workplaces and managers. Show off a little humility in your interview—it might just land you the job.

But don’t ‘humblebrag.’  A humblebrag is exactly what it sounds like: Bragging wrapped in an appearance of humility.  You’ve probably heard a few humblebrags before and disliked it yourself.  You’ll need to sell yourself in an interview, but it will make you come across as disingenuous and out of touch if you aren’t just direct about it.  IT recruiting agencies want you to be open and honest in your interviews.  If you’re good at something, say this directly.  It will get the point across better and will make you seem like the kind of person who is confident and socially graceful.  Both are imperative qualities in good hires.

How to Polish Your IT Resume: Part 2

Continuing the theme from our previous blog post, today we’ll continue to look at ways you can update your resume so you wow your IT recruiters, IT staffing firms, and hiring managers.  Last time we explored using more powerful words, but this time we’ll talk about why writing your resume with a different perspective will make it more attractive to technical recruiters and IT recruiting companies.

Often, a resume is written with the perspective of the person seeking IT jobs.  The objective is about what the job seeker wants. The bullets under each job are about the daily to-do lists the job seeker operated under.  While this all seems pretty natural, it’s not the best way to really grab the attention of hiring managers and IT recruiting agencies.  The best strategy is to write the resume from their perspective. Take out the objective—it’s hard to write about anything but what you as a job seeker wants.  This isn’t a hiring manager’s first concern—their first concern is what they want.  To really address what a hiring manager and IT recruiting firms are seeking, write out what you achieved under each job.  Give the most concrete results you can—even if you can give actual numbers like ‘Increased revenue by 10%.’  Talk about what your employer gained during your time there.  This makes it easier for IT staffing companies and interviewers to picture you in a potential job.  They can literally see you as a value-add for the hiring company.

 

How to Polish Your IT Resume: Part 1

If you’re searching for new IT jobs this year, January is a great time to start.  You may already have relationships with IT recruiters and IT staffing firms, but you should consider overhauling your resume.  Whether you’ve been at a new position, or it’s just been a while since IT recruiting companies have submitted your resume to potential employers, a sparkling new resume will get you far and impress your technical recruiters.  Over the next few blog posts, we’ll examine a few key ways you can update your resume and improve upon it so you wow IT staffing agencies and hiring managers alike.  Today, we’ll focus on using powerful words.

When you create your resume, you do yourself a disservice to use words that are too generic. Firstly, this means that you should stay away from buzzwords.  Nobody thinks much of it if your resume states that you’re a ‘team player’ because pretty much everybody says they are.  Ditto saying that you’re detail-oriented or a hard worker.  Focus on articulating the skills and experience you bring to the table instead of these generic qualities.

Secondly, to impress IT recruiting agencies and potential employers alike, make sure your bullets under each job tend to start with verbs.  The best statements give accomplishments.  Employers will be excited to interview you if you can document exactly what you’ve done for your previous employers.  They’ll be able to see the value you could add to their organization.

NEVER say this in an IT Job Interview, Part Two

There are plenty of ways you can prepare for job interviews – both with your IT staffing companies and IT recruiters and on your own.  But even with the best preparations and tips from IT recruiting agencies, there are some ways you could still shoot yourself in the foot.  If you’re at interviews for your dream IT jobs, then make sure you never, ever, under any circumstances say you don’t think you’re completely qualified and prepared for the job.

Why is this a mistake?  Technical recruiters certainly want you to be honest about your abilities and experience, but this isn’t really about that.  Firstly, if you don’t think you are able to do a job, then you shouldn’t let IT recruiting firms submit you for it—it’s wasting your time and theirs.  However, if this is a case of a lack of confidence, or perhaps you need to learn a new technology, then it’s a different situation.  If you and your IT staffing agencies think you could succeed in a job, but you’re just unused to selling yourself, then it’s time to practice that.  Hiring managers don’t want to take a risk in who they hire, so confidence is key.  If you need to learn a new technology, you need to detail the steps you can (or perhaps already are).  The bottom line is to make sure you let the hiring manager know that you can see yourself as a rock star in the position—and nothing less.  You’ll sink yourself if you don’t.

 

NEVER say this in IT Job Interviews

If you prepare for IT jobs with your IT recruiters and IT staffing firms, you’re likely to be ready to answer questions about technologies, your strengths as an employee, and to be able to demonstrate you fit well into the corporate culture.  But your technical recruiters and IT staffing companies may not even think to tell you this: Never ever say that a job is not your first choice.

Why is this important?  IT recruiting companies would advise that while honesty is important, it’s more important to let the hiring managers who interview you know that you’re interested in a job.  If you say anything that indicates that a job is your second choice, or perhaps that you’re equally interested in another position, they have room to doubt your interest.  IT recruiting agencies would never want you to lie, of course and you shouldn’t push hard for a job that you wouldn’t want at all.  It’s important to think about the fact that the few words you say will make a big impact on your interviewer.  If some of those words indicate that you might turn down a job offer, be give anything less than your best in a job, then you’ve hurt your chances.

 

Finding the Best IT Recruiters for You

If you’re looking for new IT jobs, you’re probably shopping around for good IT staffing firms and technical recruiters to work with.  There are a ton of options out there, so it can be overwhelming to figure out what IT recruiting companies and IT recruiters you should work with.  What makes a recruiter and IT staffing agencies right for you?

Firstly, you need to be feel comfortable with the recruiters at the IT staffing companies and be able to trust them.  Unfortunately, there are some IT recruiting agencies that do things that may not always be in your best interest.  You can research IT staffing agencies will often have reviews online from candidates they’ve worked with.  Secondly, you should feel like the recruiters you work with are listening to your needs.  They should submit you for jobs that you can succeed in and would enjoy.  If they’re trying to submit you to a lot of roles that may not fit what you’ve asked for, it’s time to reconsider working with them.  Lastly, it’s ideal if your IT recruiting firms that you work with pair you with a single recruiter who works with you consistently.  The best IT recruiting firms will make sure you can create a strong relationship with IT recruiters who know you and your career goals.

 

Don’t Forget to Add Awards to your IT Resumes!

If you’ve ever worked with IT recruiters and IT staffing companies in your search for IT jobs, you have some idea of how to format your resume or the basics of what to include.  Your technical recruiters don’t know everything about your career, though.  This means if you’ve won any awards or honors, particularly ones in your industry, your IT recruiting firms may not have told you to include them on your resume.

It may seem obvious, but there are a lot of reasons to include awards on your resume, even if they’re not entirely relevant to your industry.  Even in IT (an industry that has far more jobs than candidates) you still want to make sure you make your candidacy as appealing as possible to hiring managers and IT staffing agencies.  Awards that show off a skill that could be relevant to your job, or be translated into a skill relevant to your job, can provide a competitive edge.  For instance, an academic award is appealing to IT staffing firms, even if it’s not directly in IT.  It shows your ability to work hard as a student—and perhaps you can apply this skill in learning new technologies.  The same could be true of an athletic award, or maybe one in a different field.  If you could articulate how the award or honor showcases a talent that’s relevant to an IT job, it’s worth adding to your resume!

How to Write Follow Up Emails After IT Job Interviews

Landing IT jobs definitely gets easier when you enlist some strong IT recruiters and IT staffing firms to help you in your job search.   There are some things you need to do on your own, though, to strengthen your candidacy.  One of the most important things that your technical recruiters can’t do for you is to write a thank you note after job interviews.  How do you do this well?

Firstly, take notes in the interview.  Are there topics of conversation you will want to re-hash in the thank you note?  Maybe something the hiring manager said was vital to the job?  Write it down for yourself during the interview so you don’t forget it later.

Secondly, tell your IT staffing companies you’d like to write thank you notes to your interviewers.  IT recruiting agencies are usually thrilled to pass along thank you notes for candidates, so this won’t be a problem.  You may even be beating them to the punch—sometimes IT recruiting firms will ask you to write a thank you note themselves.  For a timetable, you should try to aim for about 24-48 hours.  A quick response will reflect well on you and the IT staffing agencies you’re working with.

Lastly, do more than just thank the interviewer for their time.  Continue a piece of the conversation you may have been having with the interviewer, mention a resource, or offer some thoughts on what you’d do if you were offered the job.  The point is to show a little initiative and interest in the position itself.  A generic thank you note won’t mean much.  However, one written with real thought about the position, company’s needs, or even just the interview itself, will make a big impact.

 

 

Keep This in Mind for Your IT Resume

Technical Recruiters and IT staffing firms all offer a lot of advice on fixing up resumes.  Your IT recruiters may give you advice on formatting, content, or even proofread your resume.  Some of this advice is objective, but sometimes it’s simply tied to the preferences of their particular IT recruiting firms.  Here’s one rule of thumb that aIl IT Staffing Companies would agree on, though: treat the space on your resume as very valuable– particularly on the top of the page.

What does this mean?  For both the IT staffing agencies and hiring managers who look at your resume, time is precious.  This means that these IT recruiting companies might only take a few minutes to check out your resume.  Knowing this, you should edit your resume down to its most concise form.  This ensures that everything gets seen and given ample consideration.  You should also put the most important parts of your resume first, because they will likely be given the most consideration.  Put things like your summary and technical proficiencies first.  These give hiring managers and IT recruiting firms a quick answer to the most important question for them: can you probably do this job?

 

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.