IT Job Interviews

What To Do in Interviews if You Don’t Know a Technology

IT recruiters find that sometimes employers change the requirements of IT jobs even as they’re conducting interviews.  Sometimes a candidate will be asked about a technology they’ve never had exposure to or aren’t very confident in.  If this happens to you, here are a few tips from technical recruiters.

1. Don’t lie. Never, lie about having familiarity or experience with a technology.  This will always hurt you.  If you wind up hired for a job you can’t do, ultimately you’ll be fired. If your lie is exposed, either because you can’t answer further questions about the technology or some other way, you’ll lose all credibility with this employer and IT recruiting firms.  Once IT staffing agencies or employers find out you’ve lied about something, you’re often blacklisted.  Worse, sometimes they’ll tell others in the industry about your actions.  That means you might ruin your reputations with others, too.

2. Stay calm and present the fact that you don’t know something in a neutral way. It’s ok not to have exposure or expertise with every programming language or web platform.  Things are changing constantly.  New technologies are released frequently and companies often implement new technologies to keep up with industry trends.  If you don’t have exposure, experience, or expertise in a technology, it’s fine. IT staffing firms find that if you present this as no big deal, your interviewer is likely to see it the same way.

3. Mention technologies you are familiar with, especially ones you think would help you learn the one(s) you don’t know. Employers hire candidates all the time who don’t have the exact skill-set they initially started for searching for.  You might be a good fit for the job, even if you need to spend some time studying a new programming language or development method before you start.

 

IT job search
Don’t have exposure to the technology your interviewer is asking about? Don’t panic. Photo credit: TeroVesalainen via Pixabay

 

Fix Your Summary on Your Technical Resume

When you’re polishing your resume for IT recruiters, you want every change to be as impactful as possible.  Why waste time updating a technical resume when every word doesn’t increase your chances of landing your dream IT jobs?  One really powerful section of your resume is the summary.  Great summaries can hook technical recruiters and potential employers because they’re usually right at the top of the resume.  Here’s how to create a more powerful summary.

1. Delete all statements that are about subjective, personal qualities. IT staffing companies and employers aren’t interested in statements like ‘hard worker.’  If anything, IT staffing companies want to hear that you’re a hard worker from somebody who’s qualified to say that about you: a manager, team leader, possibly a coworker.

2. Make each statement speak to the IT jobs you want to land in the future. What are qualities your target employers want? What are the kinds of accomplishments or experience they’re looking for?  That’s what you should put in your bullet points.

3. Keep it a reasonable length. Some IT recruiting companies find that people will turn in a summary that runs to the end of page 1.  At some point, IT recruiters and employers may stop reading if your summary is too long.  If it’s in bullet points, more than 5 will probably be too many.  If it’s in a paragraph format, try keeping your summary to 4 or 5 sentences.

4. Mention key technologies in your summary. You don’t want to list all technologies (that’s for your ‘Technical Proficiencies’ section), but if the jobs you’re looking for will all require, say, a certain programming language, make sure to include that you have experience using it!

 

IT resumes
Leave all the subjective statements out of your summary. Photo credit: StartupStockPhotos via Pixabay.

 

Don’t Ask About This When You’re Interviewing

When you’re interviewing for IT jobs, it’s always important to have good questions for your interviewer.  Good questions not only help you make a more informed decision about whether a job would be a good fit for you.  They also help your interviewer see that you’re truly interested in the employer, the work, the project, etc.  IT staffing firms find there are such things as bad questions, though.  You may wind up completely blowing your interview if you ask questions that are irrelevant, too personal, or related to a controversial topic like religion or politics.  Here’s one more kind of question that IT recruiters find candidates too often (unfortunately) ask in an interview: anything that is exclusively about the perks of the job.

Especially in tech, perks can be a pretty common part of the decision-making process for candidates.  When major, trendy tech employers like Google are known for the perks they provide for their employees, why would it a bad idea to ask about them in the interview?  The problem is that it breaks professional norms and it can lead an employer to assume you’re not interested (or worse, perhaps prepared) for the work.  IT recruiting companies find that, as in most other fields, it’s very important for candidates to focus on the technical aspects of a job, as well as the corporate culture.  Employers want to hire candidates who are completely prepared to handle the technical work they need done, as well as somebody who fits well with their corporate culture.  Your job in an interview is to decide if that’s you.  And if it is, your job is to advocate for yourself as a good fit for the role.  Especially with rarer skills, a bad hire can be very costly for tech employers.  They really can’t afford to hire somebody who doesn’t have the skills or experience they need.  When you waste time talking about things like the free snacks or happy hours, you’ll turn off an interviewer quickly.

So if you actually do have questions about the perks of a job, who can you ask?  Your technical recruiters.  This is exactly what they’re there for.  Your IT recruiting firms are there to talk about all the elements of a job that you can’t or wouldn’t really want to discuss with an interviewer.  These include compensation, commute, and if a company has bad reviews on Glassdoor or elsewhere.  Basically, if a topic could make an interview awkward, your rule of thumb should be to discuss it first with your IT recruiters.  So don’t risk hurting your interview by asking about the perks of a job.  If they’re really that important to you, discuss them with your IT staffing companies.  They’ll be happy to look into it for you—and happy to have you focus on what’s important in your job interview.

 

Interview questions
Stop yourself before you make the mistake of asking about perks in a job interview. Photo credit: Activ-Michoko via Pixabay.

 

Reasons Candidates Are Late to Job Interviews

One of the worst reasons to be rejected for IT jobs is because you showed up late to the interview. After all the prepping you did, all the studying and time spent editing your portfolio, you don’t want to blow an interview just because you didn’t leave early enough.  Here are a few reasons why IT staffing companies find that people are late.

You didn’t leave enough time for security checks.  IT recruiting companies do find that candidates will sometimes have to go through security checks before interviews. These may not take long, but if you’ve planned on arriving just in time (which you probably should not) then a surprise security check will make you late.  To avoid this issue, try asking your IT recruiters before the interview if they anticipate any security checks.  If they say yes, ask for an estimate of how much time you should build in for it.  If your technical recruiters aren’t sure about this (which is unlikely) build in an extra 15 minutes for yourself.  If you’re more than 10 minutes early when you arrive, you can go take a walk, grab coffee, or simply wait in your car.

You didn’t leave enough time for traffic.  IT recruiting firms usually recommend that you leave enough time for yourself to get to your interview, even if there is severe traffic.  You never know when there may be an accident or construction on your route.   Even if you’re leaving outside of rush hours, there’s still a risk of something slowing down your trip and making you late to the interview.  Give yourself a buffer of time that’s generous enough to handle the most severe traffic and still get you to the interview 5-10 minutes early.  As mentioned before, if you arrive too early, no problem.  Simply find a way to wait so that you’re out of your interviewer’s hair.

You replied on public transportation—and it took longer than you expected.  As anybody who rides public transportation knows, there are a lot of factors that can make a trip take longer than you anticipated.  Even if you go by the estimate on a public transportation website, you may still wind up late to an interview.  Truthfully, most IT staffing companies suggest that you take a taxi, Uber, or get a ride to an interview.  It will likely be much faster and more reliable for this kind of situation (where lateness is so problematic).  If you do decide to use public transportation, give yourself a large buffer of time.  Consider practicing the trip if you can, as well.  If you can’t, make sure you’re familiar with the buses or trains you’ll be taking and buy your ticket in advance online if possible. Remember that if you need to take a few minutes to find the correct train, that could be the few minutes you’re late by!

 

Late to job interviews
Give yourself a big buffer of time if you’re taking public transportation to your job interview. Photo credit: Pexels via Pixabay.

 

 

This Will Land You Help Desk Jobs in 2017

Help Desk jobs are slated to be one of the most common jobs that IT recruiters will be filling this year.  IT staffing firms will get a lot of Help Desk roles to fill for two reasons.  Firstly, there’s plenty of turnover in the field (often because of people moving up into new phases of their career).  Secondly, every company these days needs Tech Support.   (This will be especially true this year as the economy continues to recover from the  past recession and companies grow larger.)  With IT recruiting companies expecting to have so many Help Desk job openings this year, this makes people with the right skills and experience in demand.  However, this is still a competitive market.  IT recruiters find that if any section of the tech field is competitive for job seekers, it’s Help Desk.  Here’s the best way to make sure you’re ready to land the Help Desk job you want this year: Get your CompTIA A+ certification.  While some say the certification isn’t worth it, here are 3 reasons technical recruiters would strongly suggest you get.

1. Employers trust this certification.  IT staffing agencies find that employers will always choose to interview or hire the candidate with the CompTIA A+ certification over the ones who don’t.  This certification is comprehensive (covering important topics like installation, preventative maintenance, networking, security and troubleshooting), vetted, and has been around long enough that it’s recognized and respected by pretty much all employers.  It’s also internationally accepted, which says something about how well-regarded it is.

2. You differentiate yourself in a competitive field.  Since the Help Desk market for job seekers is largely entry level, there are more people who claim to have the skills and experience necessary for these jobs than something higher level (like Data Scientist jobs). If you get this certification, you definitely set yourself apart in a section of the tech job market that it’s hard to stand out in.  Though the certification may be getting more common on resumes, it still provides a strong competitive edge.  Employers will always prefer to have the candidate who comes having already learned the skills they need, rather than one that who might have to learn them on the job.    This can be especially imperative in a role like Help Desk, where end users expect speedy, competent service.  Having a CompTIA A+ certification guarantees employers you already have a good base of skills.

3. You’ll get paid more.  When you do land jobs, employers always pay more for CompTIA A+ certified candidates.  While it costs money to get the certification, it’s well worth it in the gains you’ll make your salary immediately and in the future.  Even if you’re not searching for a new job, your current employer will likely give you a raise if you get this certification.  They may even help you pay for the process of obtaining it!

 

helpdesk jobs
Getting the CompTIA A+ certification will make you a more desirable Help Desk candidate. Photo credit: StartUpStockPhotos via Pixabay.

 

Good Signs in a Job Interview

Candidates often try to analyze interviews for good or bad signs. This is a pretty natural thing to do, especially if you’re interested in the IT jobs you’ve interviewed for. While there are some things that might indicate that your interviewer liked you, you can never assume you got the job based on any particular signs. Unless your technical recruiters call you with a job offer, there are no ‘signs’ that will definitively indicate that you landed the job.

Taking that into account, there are signs an interview went well. This is worth knowing whether you landed the job or not. If you know you did well in an interview, you can continue performing well in other interviews. Here are three things that IT staffing companies find usually indicate a job interview went well (though not that you definitely landed the job).

1. Your interviewer discusses next steps with you in a non-generic way. This means hearing more than the usual ‘we’ll be in touch with your IT recruiter soon’. While interviewers will often discuss the nitty gritty of the process with your IT recruiting firms, they may share their timeline so you don’t take another offer before it’s done. Things move fast in the tech field and good candidates are often interviewing for multiple opportunities at once. If an employer likes you, they will often share info about next steps with you so they mitigate their risk of losing you to another job offer.

2. Your interview feels more like an interesting technical discussion. Great technical interviews can sometimes be less of a back and forth than just a good conversation about technologies that are relevant to the position. If you find the interviewer seems engaged and you’re both really delving into technical scenarios, hypotheticals, or problems, you may have just had a good interview.

3. Your interviewer is trying to sell you on the work you’ll do in the position, their team, or the company. Because the tech field is such a job seeker’s market, interviewers will often start selling the opportunity if they like the candidate. As mentioned before, good candidates are usually pursuing several opportunities at once. Keeping this in mind, if employers like a candidate they’ll often try to highlight things like the interesting projects their team handles, office perks, or the exciting new technologies they put at employees’ disposal.

 

IT job interviews signs
Knowing an interview went well helps you perform better in future interviews. Photo credit: PDPics via Pixabay.

 

2 Ways Being Over-Prepared Ruins Your Job Interviews

Here’s one surprising mistake IT staffing companies see too often in job interviews: over-preparing.  While it’s certainly important not to underprepare for you job interview, IT recruiting firms definitely see some candidates rejected for the opposite reason.  Here are 2 ways being over-prepared can hurt your chances of landing IT jobs.

1. The interviewer doesn’t feel like they’re having a genuine conversation with you.  IT staffing firms want you to practice some of your answers or questions, but only to the point where you are familiar with them.  Employers really want to see who you are when they interview you—your personality as well as your technical skills and experience.  When you’re so over-prepared it sounds like you’re delivering a monologue, you’ll probably turn off your interviewer.  Making a good connection with your interviewer and showing off great communication skills goes a long way in the tech field these days.

2. You don’t answer the interviewer’s questions or provide the info they want.  Sometimes being over-prepared can make you come across as inflexible or unresponsive to your interviewer.  Technical recruiters find that being over-prepared can lead you to inadvertently neglect to provide all the information the interviewer wants.  You don’t want to be so busy making the points you practiced that you can’t answer an interviewer’s questions or respond warmly and genuinely to their small talk.  IT recruiting companies suggest you make a conscious effort to let the interviewer lead the interview.  Do this even if it means you may wind up leaving some of the material you prepared or studied by the wayside.   Don’t worry, you can always mention it your thank you note!

 

IT job interview mistakes
Delivering monologues won’t impress your interviewers. Photo credit: Concord90 via Pixabay.

 

Tips for Conducting Technical Interviews

Finding great tech talent for the right price is hard.  Even with IT recruiting companies to help you find a candidate pool, it can still be hard to find the best people to fill open IT jobs in your company.  Here are a few tips IT staffing firms suggest using as you conduct technical interviews.

1. Consider ditching any tests or exercises.  IT recruiting firms find that many candidates who are great employees don’t always do well in a timed, pressure-filled exercise or multiple-choice test.  Some candidates will even be less likely to want to continue the process if there’s a coding test or exercise as part of the interview.  With such a limited market, you don’t want to limit your candidate pool further.

2. Aim to have an interesting technical conversation.  The less a technical interview feels like an interview, the more you’ll get a real understanding for what the candidate is like.  One way IT staffing companies suggest doing this is by asking the candidate to talk about a project they loved working on.  Letting them pick the project they discuss will allow the candidate to show you their passion and their strengths in an authentic way.

3. Don’t forget to sell the position to the right candidates.  While your IT recruiting agencies will certainly help you sell the position to the candidates you like, it’s also important they catch your enthusiasm.  They will be sold if you can share what you like about working on your team, your project, etc.  If you have members of your team sit in on the interview, make sure they’re all people who can genuinely convey why it’s great to work at your company or organization.  Nothing sells an IT job better to a candidate than seeing current employees who enjoy the work and culture of a company.

 

technical job interviews
You may limit your candidate pool with a difficult coding test. Photo credit: PIXI1861 via Pixabay.

 

Tips for Exit Interviews

If you’ve been working with your IT recruiters to find a new position, the last step of your transition won’t be giving your notice.  Employers often want to conduct an exit interview before you leave.  These may seem like a time to vent with impunity, but the truth is that you could do some serious damage to your reputation if you handle one badly.  Here are a few tips that IT staffing firms suggest following as you go through exit interviews.

1. Approach an exit interview as seriously as you do a job interview.  Just like you would in a job interview, IT recruiting companies suggest you be professional, keep things positive, and be cooperative.  Especially with all the back-door references that LinkedIn enables, it’s important to perform exit interviews as the kind of IT professional you to be known as.  Check your emotions at the door, even if it’s tempting not to.  You never know if your words will make it back to other’s ears and burn bridges for you. (Some technical recruiters suggest venting to a trusted friend or family member before the exit interview so you get it out of your system.)

2. This isn’t a time to improve the company or give much feedback.  Even if exit interviews are sometimes presented this way, it’s often pretty ineffective to share criticism about an employer.  In fact, IT staffing agencies find that doing this will usually just hurt you.  If you’re leaving to seek out IT jobs that pay more, have a better work culture, let you do more interesting work, etc, now isn’t the time to say it.  The best time to ask for a raise, to give feedback about the workplace, or to ask for more interesting projects, was when you were actually an employee.  It’s often just going to be viewed as a slight if you detail all the reasons why you worked with IT recruiting agencies to get out of your current employer.  And as mentioned above, it’s always a bad idea to slight people.  You might unwittingly be burning an important bridge you need in the future.

3. Leave your future employer out of it.  Your IT staffing companies wouldn’t suggest you spend much time talking about how excited you are to join your new employer.  Even if you don’t mean to, people may assume you’re belittling your soon-to-be employer by comparison.

4. Lastly, try to say a few positive things about your soon-to-be ex employer before you go.  While it’s not helpful to say something that feels fake or forced, you can probably find one or two positive things to genuinely note.  Perhaps you had the opportunity to learn more about a new technology, or got to work on an interesting project.  Taking a moment to mention these things you’re grateful for will make you look professional and gracious.

 

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Take the exit interview as seriously as the job interview. Photo credit: multifacetedgirl via Pixabay.

 

How to Pick a Good Coding Boot Camp

If you’re thinking about a coding boot camp, you’re not alone.  IT staffing companies have seen an explosion in boot camp popularity in the last few years.   IT recruiters certainly find that many candidates seeking new IT jobs (especially their first programming roles) have a boot camp on their resumes.  The questions is, are they worth it?  The tuition for many of these boot camps is often in the thousands, so it’s imperative you make back that money with some great IT jobs.  Here’s how to make sure you pick the best boot camp for you.

1. Do research on the job market in the area you live in. What are the most in-demand programming languages?  Just as importantly, what are the most in-demand programming languages for the kinds of roles you want?  IT staffing firms would advise you to make sure you understand not only what skills are marketable, but what skills are marketable and will land you a job you will at least moderately enjoy.  You don’t want to realize that you hate the kinds of roles you paid thousands of dollars to be able to land.  IT recruiters find that people who hate their jobs rarely succeed at them, or at least succeed at them long-term.

2. Seek out recommendations. Ask people in your network if they have gone to, or know of, boot camps that are effective.  Check online at sites like Course Report.  You might also reach out to your IT staffing agencies to see if they can recommend any great local boot camps for the kinds of roles and skills you’d like in the future.

3. Once you find some programs that look good, IT recruiting agencies suggest that you step back and look them over one last time. Ask questions about them, including these:

  • What is the rate at which grads land their ideal roles?
  • What is the rate at which students graduate?
  • Do these boot camps offer connections to internships, projects or potential employers?
  • Can you handle the final cost of this boot camp, or will it be too expensive of a risk?

4. Based on all these steps, make a choice.  IT recruiting companies would urge you to consider the fact that sometimes, your best choice may be to skip the coding boot camp (at least for now).  Sometimes there truly aren’t any coding boot camps that would be a good investment in your career.  Though boot camps are being hailed as the new gold rush, there are many that won’t help you land the IT jobs you want. The wise IT professional sees this– and saves their time and money.

 

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Coding boot camps  are always intense, but they aren’t always worth the money. Photo credit: skeeze via Pixabay.