IT Job Interviews

Graduating in May or June? Recruiters Can Help You Now

If you’ll be graduating from college this spring, you could benefit from calling IT staffing agencies this month.  While it may seem too early, there are a few things that good IT recruiting firms can do for you so you’re even more prepared to land great IT jobs when you graduate.

Help with your resume. If you’re graduating from college or grad school, you may be creating your resume for the very first time.  While your career center can advise you on basic resume templates, IT staffing firms can tell you exactly what the employers in your field are looking for.  Because they have close contact with employers, technical recruiters can help you build exactly the resume they want to see— the first time you create your resume.

Guidance building a portfolio, LinkedIn profile, website for job searching, etc. Since you have about 6 months before graduation, you’ll have plenty of time to start creating things like a digital portfolio, a website, or any other materials to show off your technical skills.  As mentioned before, IT recruiters have plenty of contact with employers, so they can help you create materials that will make you all the more employable.

Guidance on what to study.  With 6 months to graduation, you may have enough time to focus your studies on particular technologies, programming languages, certifications, etc.  Even if your classes have already been decided on, you might want to consider learning these things in your spare time or refreshing your familiarity with them.  Whatever the case may be, IT recruiting agencies know what technologies are in demand with employers.  They can help you prepare to meet these demands so you’re a hot commodity on the job market when you graduate.

 

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You may still have 6 months of college or grad school left, but you can be prepping for your job search now. Photo credit: Pexels via Pixabay.

 

What IT Jobs Will Be In Demand In 2017?

IT recruiting agencies from California to NYC are still seeing a great market for job seekers, even as the fall is winding down and other industries are slowing their hiring.  While the whole tech field is booming, there are a few IT jobs that will be particularly hot in late 2016 and 2017.  Here are some of the jobs that IT staffing agencies will find most in demand in the next year or so.

Software Engineers, Systems Engineers: IT recruiting companies will be looking for candidates to fill these jobs because they’re so often essential.  Systems Engineers keep technologies running for businesses and keep them current.  When things crash, Systems Engineers are needed.  They’re also needed for installations, updates and/or maintenance.  Software Engineers will be essential to businesses and consumers in the next year because they’ll create and update the applications for cutting edge technologies.  There is no industry that won’t need Software Engineers and Systems Engineers in 2016 and 2017.

Network Analysts: IT recruiting firms will be seeking Network Analysts a lot in the near future because they can be so useful both on the business and technology side of things.  As business owners are coming to embrace the way technology can really enhance their business’s performance, Network Analysts will become all the more in-demand.

Data Analysts: With big data becoming more and more prevalent as a business tool, IT staffing companies will definitely be looking for Data Analysts.  The healthcare field especially, which is big and only getting bigger, has come to rely heavily on data analysts.  Of course, healthcare won’t be the only field using IT staffing firms to find data analysts.  Education and retail are also noted enthusiasts for Data Analysts.

 

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Healthcare is one industry driving the need for Data Analysts. Photo credit: Parentingupstream via Pixabay.

 

One Easy Job Interview Mistake to Make– and Avoid!

IT recruiting agencies find that candidates make some mistakes in interviews that are pretty egregious.  Maybe they are particularly late, rude, or can’t answer technical questions.  However, IT recruiters also see candidates make subtler mistakes in interviews.  Here’s one mistake you may not even know you’re making as you interview for IT jobs:  not giving your interviewer a genuine weakness (if they ask for one).

What does this mean exactly?  IT staffing companies find that often, candidates are tempted to give a weakness that isn’t actually a weakness.  IT recruiting firms see candidates give weaknesses like “perfectionism”, that aren’t really weaknesses.  The problem with giving answers like this when an interviewer asks for a weakness is that it comes across as disingenuous. Interviewers actually do want to hear a weakness from you.  They need to see that you’re being open and honest with them in the interview. They also need to see that you’re a good fit for the job—so when you can’t list a weakness, it’s hard for them to ascertain if you’d do well in the role.

So how would IT recruiting companies suggest you tell an interviewer about a weakness in a genuine, effective way?  Start by thinking about a weakness that wouldn’t affect your ability to do the job you’re interviewing for.  For instance, for a job that doesn’t require you to manage anybody else, you could say you have a hard time sharing or delegating tasks.  For a programming job that doesn’t require any client interaction, you might mention that your customer service skills are lacking.

The next step is to briefly talk about steps you’ve taken to improve on this weakness.  You don’t want to go into excessive detail, but this part is important.  Technical recruiters find that what really impresses interviewers is evidence that you’re able to improve upon your performance as an employee.  This helps them to picture you as a self-motivated employee on their team, always striving to do better.

IT staffing firms suggest you wrap up your exchange about weaknesses by painting an optimistic picture of the future.  Just a sentence here would suffice.  You want to show your interviewer that you can see yourself continuing to improve on this weakness, perhaps using this improvement to enhance your performance at work.

 

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Are you giving a fake weakness? It’s not going to land you the IT job. Photo credit: PeteLinforth via Pixabay.

4 Steps To Take When an Employee Resigns

It’s usually difficult for any employer when an employee resigns.  However, it’s particularly  difficult when you lose an IT professional.  In today’s market, it can be difficult to find the right person for your open IT jobs.    IT recruiting agencies suggest taking these 4 steps to make this loss for your team a lot easier—even if you have big looming deadlines.

1. Make a plan for knowledge transfer.  IT staffing agencies suggest you start by taking time to figure out what information you will need to transfer to this employee’s replacement. Figure out how you’ll get this information.  Will you have a meeting with the exiting employee?  Will they train their replacement?  Make a plan so you can get the new employee up to speed, no matter where the exiting employee was on a project.

2. Figure out what you need in a replacement.  IT recruiting firms suggest you continue by pulling up the resume you hired this employee with (if you have it).  Think about the strengths and weaknesses they brought to the position.  Create a list of what you think you’ll need.  The last thing to consider is if you need a full time employee to replace this person or if you need a contractor.  IT recruiters can help you find either.  There are certainly advantages to both.

3. Call your trusted technical recruiters.  Meet with your IT recruiters and share the information you’ve gathered in steps 1 and 2.  Be honest about what you need and give timelines for when you’d like to have the replacement employee.  Share your knowledge transfer plan.  The more you share with IT recruiting companies, the more they can help you find the best fit for your open job.

4. Consider taking feedback from the rest of your team as you complete the hiring process.  IT staffing companies suggest you ask for feedback and guidance from you team, as they may have a uniquely useful perspective on what you’ll need in a new hire.  It’s also important for the new hire to fit into your team.  Corporate culture is highly underrated.  Picking somebody who’s technically fit for the role and who gets along well with the team, end users, clients, etc will be far more successful.

 

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Don’t panic when an IT employee quits. Just focus on how to transfer important knowledge to their replacement. Photo credit: stevepb via Pixabay.

 

3 Things You Should Do the Old Fashioned Way in Tech Interviews

When you’re working with IT recruiting companies to find your next role, sometimes it can feel like technology rules the job interview process.  You might do a skype interview, connect with your IT recruiters on LinkedIn, or maybe complete a coding test online.  But there are some things that you really should do the old-fashioned way.  Here are 3 things that IT staffing companies suggest you consider doing the more traditional way, even if you’re applying for IT jobs using the most cutting edge technologies.

1. Send a hand-written thank you note.  If your IT recruiting firms can pass the note along for you or give you the address, a hand-written thank you note after a job interview can go a long way.  This is especially true for thoughtful notes that go beyond a generic template.  Time and again IT staffing agencies have seen that good thank you notes can be your secret weapon in a job search—they can be your last, and best, impression on an employer.

2. Bring hard copies of your resume and any presentation or applicable portfolio materials you might use.  Sometimes your technical recruiters will bring the hard copies of your resume for you, but you’ll always need to bring your own hard copies of your presentation or applicable portfolio materials.  You may be showing some examples of past work on a computer or a projector, but you should also try to provide a hard copy for everyone in the interview if it makes sense to do so.

3. Wait for your interviewers quietly, with your smartphone put away.  Even if you have to wait for a while, IT recruiting agencies find that it makes a far better impression if you use that time to look over your presentation materials, resume, etc.  Avoid playing games, answering emails, texting, or browsing the internet on your smartphone.  Send your interviewers the message that this interview is your priority at this moment—nothing else.

 

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A hand-written thank you note is far more effective than an emailed one. Photo credit: mhouge via Pixabay.

 

Hiring from a Great Candidate Pool

Most employers know that a bad hire can be very costly.  Sometimes  employers have a more subtle problem, though: making a final choice between a few candidates.  When you have a couple of candidates who possess all the technical skills and experience you’re seeking, how do you pick the one to hire? Here are a couple of tips that IT staffing firms suggest you consider when you need to choose between great candidates.

Think about, or ask the IT recruiting firms you’re working with, if the candidates you’re choosing between have ever worked in a similar kind of company and corporate culture before. For instance, are they used to the kind of autonomy your company gives employees?  Or are they used to the kind of teamwork this project or work requires?  This is something you may find on their resume, but it’s exactly the kind of info your IT staffing agencies are happy to find out for you.  Even if a candidate hasn’t worked in a similar corporate culture before, your technical recruiters can still help you figure out if they would fit into yours.  They understand what the candidate is looking for in their next role, including work environment, so they have a more in-depth insight into questions like this.

Ask yourself, and anybody else who interviewed the candidates, a simple question. Which candidate would you, your typical end users, or clients, and the rest of your team, most like to invite to a happy hour?  Sometimes a candidate has the right personality to really click with your team or, more importantly, the end users or clients they’d be serving.  Maybe they’re laid-back and have a sense of humor that would serve your start-up well.  Personality isn’t everything, but IT recruiters have seen time and again that when it comes to roles that support clients or end users, it can be very important.  It can also make a big difference when you’re working on a small team that needs to collaborate well.  The bottom line is, IT staffing companies suggest that if you’ve got a few candidates that are great technically, use personality as another factor in the decision. The most successful hires for IT jobs are usually people that you, your end users, and clients enjoy working with.

 

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Bad hires can cost a lot. But good hires can bring your company unlimited value. Photo credit: Pixabay.

 

Ramp Up Your Job Search Now!

If you’re thinking about looking for new IT jobs, fall is one of the best times to ramp up your search.  Here’s why IT recruiting firms find that the employers have more open jobs and hire faster in the fall.

The key decision makers, the people who work closest with IT staffing companies to hire, are often in the office and available most consistently in the early fall months.  This is for a few reasons.  For one thing, there are fewer major holidays in September and October.  IT recruiting companies also find that people tend to be just returning from bigger summer vacations in the early fall months.  They’re also usually saving the rest of their vacation time for the winter and late fall holidays.

Another reason that IT staffing firms find that hiring moves faster in the fall is that they want to get new hires in the door and trained before the late fall and winter holidays occur. No employer wants to start a new hire when their managers and coworkers, who are crucial to training, will likely be out often or less available.

The last reason IT recruiters suggest you ramp up your job search now is because it’s always a good time to be searching for a new IT job. The tech field is constantly a job seeker’s market.  Technical recruiters find that there are far more open positions than there are qualified IT professionals to fill them.  You can tell this is true because the national unemployment rate for Java Developers, Sys Admins, etc is always so low.  While the national unemployment rate for all professions last year was at around 5.7%, for the tech field it was much closer to 2.6%.  These numbers mean if you’re a Project Manager, Business Analyst, .Net Developer, etc, you have a great chance of finding an IT job you’re excited about.  It’s just up to you to reach out to your trusted IT recruiting agencies and get your search going!

 

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The time to search for your new IT role is now. Photo credit: Hans via Pixabay.

 

Why You (Usually) Can’t Interview Outside of Work Hours

Sometimes IT recruiters will find that candidates are completely prepared for interviews and phone screens but there is one obstacle that makes it hard for them to land IT jobs: they can’t figure out how to schedule them.  IT staffing companies find that sometimes candidates think they think they can’t take time from their workday for a phone screen or take time off for the job interviews.  For most people in the tech field, though, this simply isn’t true.  Here’s why IT recruiting companies suggest that you rethink this if you have a hard time scheduling a phone or in-person interview during business hours.

1.     Sometimes candidates think that since technical recruiters are available to talk before work or after-hours, this means that employers will be, too.  The truth is that IT staffing agencies very often work around the clock to fill IT jobs.  Employers, however, usually don’t.  Most employers will fit a phone or in-person interview into the work day.  (Some will stay late or meet with candidates before the workday, but they are often in the minority.)  If you can’t step away to take a phone interview during business hours, or if you aren’t willing to take a day or part of a day off work for a job interview, you will miss all opportunities to interview.  IT recruiting firms find that other candidates usually are willing to do take time for their job search.   This means employers will interview and hire them instead of you.

2.     On a similar note, it’s important to understand how it looks to employers when you refuse to interview during normal business hours.  There are two very bad messages you might send to potential new employers when you try to insist they meet you outside of business hours.  Firstly, IT recruiting agencies find that when you demand this kind of scheduling, you can wind up looking like you don’t understand professional norms and are unprofessional.  As mentioned above, doing interviews or phone interviews during the work day is pretty normal.  True professionals know how to gracefully and discreetly accommodate interview requests into their normal schedule.  Secondly, if you insist that employers interview you outside of normal business hours, you’re also possibly suggesting you’re a difficult person to work with.  No matter how technically adept you are, this will really hurt your candidacy.  More and more, IT recruiters find that having great communication skills and being pleasant to work with are important in IT jobs.  This is due to many factors, including the fact that tech departments now work with end users, clients, and other departments more than they used to.  So be flexible about scheduling your interview—it just might help land you the job.

3.     Lastly, taking time away from work for your job search is a normal, acceptable activity if done with discretion.  Sometimes candidates think they’re doing something wrong or disloyal if they take time away from their job to do an interview.  This simply isn’t true.  You certainly don’t want to make it obvious to your current employer that you’re looking for a new job.  However, most decent employers know that people do job search.  If you are taking time off from your job it’s either sick/vacation time that you’ve earned.  It’s your time.  You are allowed to do what you want with it—including going to the interviews your IT staffing firms set up for you.  It’s also worth noting that the technical recruiters you work with and the employers you interview with will also be discreet.  They will not bring it to your current employers’ attention that you’re job searching.  Unless you are indiscreet about it, going on interviews doesn’t carry much risk of alerting your employer that you’re considering leaving.

 

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Taking time off for job interviews isn’t wrong or bad. Photo credit: SplitShire via Pixabay.

 

 

Have Questions About Background Checks?

Sometimes when you’re working with IT recruiting companies to find new IT jobs, you’ll be asked to do a background check. Since candidates often have a lot of questions about these items, here are some common questions IT staffing agencies tend to get about background checks.

1. Why do I need to do these?   Your IT recruiters are usually telling you they need to do background checks for a couple reasons. Firstly, because the field requires it or it’s required by law for this particular kind of job. Since tech is so involved in the security field, technical recruiters are working on more and more jobs now that require background checks. Fields like education and healthcare also tend to require certain background checks, whether you’re working directly with patients, students, etc or not. Secondly, some companies have been burned before by lawsuits or other issues. In order to protect themselves from future harm, they may require new hires to pass certain background checks. The last thing to consider here is that a background check is done at the (sometimes expensive) cost of the IT recruiting firms or employer. Thus it isn’t something taken lightly or just thrown into the process for no reason. It’s an absolute necessity that cannot be avoided. So when your IT recruiters tell you that you’ll need to pass a background check (or background checks) you can trust that this isn’t done out of anything other than necessity.

2. What kinds of background checks are done? There are a few kinds of background checks that IT staffing firms have to do. The most common are education or employment verification checks, drug testing, or criminal background checks. Credit checks are done pretty rarely and drug testing is also becoming a rarer necessity. Depending on the employer, you may be asked to do only one check or a combination of them.

3. Will I have to pay for these checks? You should never pay for these checks if you’re working with good, reputable IT staffing companies. If you’re working with IT recruiting firms that tell you to pay the cost, you may want to check to see if they are running a scam.

4. What can I do if I have a reason that I’m unsure I’ll pass a background check? IT recruiting firms sometimes work with candidates who have legitimate reasons why they think they won’t pass a check (but they’re still good fits for the job). Perhaps somebody made a mistake in the past or has a medication that will muddy a drug test. Be open with your IT recruiting agencies. Talk to them about your concerns and see what can be done. Often if you present something reasonable, your technical recruiters can lobby on your behalf. This is one of the advantages of working with IT recruiters to find a job—employers trust them and listen to what they say about a candidate.

 

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Sometimes background tests, including drug tests, are required by law. Photo credit: crsssteve via Pixabay.

 

How to Interview with Piercings and Tattoos

More and more, IT recruiters are finding that piercings and tattoos are something candidates need to consider as they interview for new IT jobs.  According to some studies the number of Americans with tattoos has reached around 14%, or around 45 million people.  Tattoos are becoming more prevalent among younger generations, especially workers under 40.  All of these numbers mean that IT staffing firms definitely work with– and will work with– IT professionals who will be interviewing with a tattoo or piercings.     If you’re working with IT recruiting agencies to find your next IT role, here are some tips for how to deal with your tattoos or piercings.

1.    Start by letting your technical recruiters know if you have visible tattoos or unconventional piercings that are visible.  For instance, if you have a tattoo on your shoulder, it’s probably not an issue.  If you have one on your hand, wrist, neck, etc, this is worth discussing with your IT staffing companies.  They will be able to advise you if you need to cover up, take the piercing out for the day, or if the employer wouldn’t mind either way.

2.    If the interview goes well, stop and consider what the long term requirements will be for the job.  If you have a visible tattoo and your IT recruiting companies advise you that you’ll have to cover it every day if you get a job offer, don’t ignore the advice.  There are some industries where, even after you land the job, the workplace is just more conservative.  Finance, for instance, usually frowns upon dress that is anything but very conventional.

It’s also important to remember that some roles require you to hide tattoos or piercings more than others might.  If you’re providing face-to-face service to end users, meeting with important clients, or meeting with high-level staff, it will be all the more important for you to be able and willing to hide a tattoo.  If you are working at a young start-up where you are left to complete your work on your own schedule, hiding a piercing or tattoo is obviously less imperative.

3.    Take the company’s attitude towards tattoos or piercings as a little more data about what their corporate culture is like.  If they frown upon tattoos and you love them (and perhaps want more), this job may not be a fit for you.  Again, consult with your IT staffing agencies on this.  They may be able to tell you more about this. Good IT recruiters want to place you in a job you’ll like and be able to succeed in.  So be honest with them about this topic.

 

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Will an employer need you to cover up your tattoo every day? Photo credit: Myriams-Fotos via Pixabay.