IT recruiting

Don’t Forget to Bring These Items to Interviews

There are a lot of ways to prepare for your IT job interviews.  You can role play answering important questions.  You can study up on the technologies that your IT recruiters say you’ll be quizzed on.  You can do research on the companies your technical recruiters send you to interview for.  But here’s one thing that IT staffing firms find candidates often forget to do: bring a pen and notepad.

In a digital age, especially in the tech field, why would IT recruiting firms suggest you really need to bring a pen and notepad with you to interviews?  There are 2 reasons: it helps show that you’re engaged and interested and it helps you write a killer thank you note after the interview.  To start with the first reason, IT staffing agencies want you to take notes because it helps a manager see you as organized and engaged in your interview process.  Perhaps more importantly, taking notes helps your interviewers picture you bringing these qualities to the IT jobs you’re interviewing for.

The second reason IT recruiting agencies want you to bring a pen and notepad to your interviews is to make sure you take down the information you’ll need to write an excellent thank you note.  IT staffing companies see too many candidates underestimate the power of a great thank you note.   You’ll want to bring a notepad and pen to write down details that you can use in your notes.  You could jot down are reminder of important topics you discussed, perhaps a question you wanted to expound on a bit more, or maybe just something that you really liked about their team or corporate culture.  Considering how long, stressful, and overwhelming a job interview can be (especially a technical one where you might whiteboard an answer, get quizzed on technical skills, etc) it’s a bad idea to assume you’ll remember these kinds of details.  Bringing your notepad and pen lets you prep to write thank you notes that go beyond the generic ones that IT recruiting companies are too often given to pass on to interviewers.  Why not take this chance to differentiate yourself?

 

ITJobSearchToDoList
Don’t forget this item on your list of steps to prep for your IT job interviews. Photo credit: inspirexpressmiami via Pixabay.

 

3 Reasons to Take an IT Recruiter’s Call, Even if You Don’t Want To

There are a fair amount of IT professionals that prefer not to take calls from IT recruiters.  Some even add this to their resumes.  However, even if you’re not currently searching for new IT jobs, you should consider taking that call anyway.  Here are 3 reasons why you should take calls from IT staffing companies:

  1. It can be helpful to establish a relationship with technical recruiters you trust before you need them. Finding IT recruiting agencies that you like working with makes things much easier when you actually do want to search for a new role.  They’ll know you, what you want, and probably have an old copy of your resume on file.  When you’re actually ready to work with IT staffing firms, it will be an easier, more stream-lined process.
  2. IT staffing agencies have connections with hiring managers. Ever applied to jobs online and just felt like your applications were getting lost in cyberspace?  This may have been true.  Hiring managers often receive far too many submissions online to be able to adequately consider them all.  When you work with IT recruiting companies, your resume is the only one submitted or one of a very small set.  Your IT recruiters also often make a case for you to the hiring manager.  The advantage you have as an applicant when you work with IT recruiting agencies is hard to beat.
  3. IT recruiters hear about jobs you may not. Since IT recruiting firms have relationships with various employers, this means they are alerted to a myriad of jobs.  They’re also made aware of jobs before they’re even posted online.  Taking that call with a recruiter might take 5 minutes, but it will open you up to a much larger amount of potential IT jobs.

 

Call IT Recruiters
Pick up that call from an IT recruiter. It could help you land a job! Photo credit: skeeze via Pixabay.

3 Easy Tips For Better References

IT recruiters usually find that candidates have references lined up by the time they start searching for IT jobs.  Unfortunately, technical recruiters find that some candidates haven’t prepped their references well.  Here’s a few tips to make sure that you’re not only providing your IT staffing agencies with references, but references that are primed to really help your candidacy.

  1. Start by making sure you’ve spoken to your references recently and notified them of your current job search. Do this to make sure they’re prepared, but also because it’s simply the polite thing to do. (IT staffing companies are surprised by how many people skip or forget this step!)
  2. Prep your references with your current resume, the kinds of positions you’re looking for with your IT recruiting agencies, and a suggestion of what kinds of qualities and/or technical skills and experience will be pertinent to mention. If you give your references more and better information about what you need from them, they can do more to make you look good!
  3. Make sure to say thank you to your references! Unfortunately, this yet another step that IT staffing firms see skipped over or forgotten too often.  If you want your references to continue to be enthusiastic in helping you in your job searches, you need to make sure they feel appreciated!

 

ITJobSearchReferences
Don’t forget to call or email your references before your IT job search begins. Photo credit: E1N7E via Pixabay.

 

 

Take Notes During Your IT Job Interviews

Even if you’re completely engaged during your interviews for IT jobs, there are still little details you could miss or forget later.  IT recruiters would absolutely suggest taking notes as you interview.  Here are two guidelines IT staffing agencies would suggest you follow to take notes for your own reference later.

  1. Write down info for your thank you note. IT recruiting companies have seen time and time again how powerful a good thank you note can be.  To write a good one, you’ll probably need to have some things written down to refer to after the interview.  Start with the names of all your interviewers.  (Your IT recruiting firms may not know who your interviewers were if you can’t remember their names—and this will make it impossible to deliver a thank you note!)  Then make sure to note any major concerns that are brought up about your candidacy, any questions you feel you may be able to answer better or expand upon, or just any particularly good moments/connections you may have had with your interviewer(s).  These are all the kinds of things that you want to address in a thank you note.  They will show that you were deeply engaged in the interview.
  2. Write down any questions you have for your technical recruiters. These are the things you don’t feel comfortable asking your interviewer.  Or  perhaps these are things you think may not help you give your best impression to the interviewer.  This is exactly what IT staffing companies are for.  If you have concerns about the job, it’s best to talk with your IT recruiting agencies about them so you can be more candid.  If you have questions about compensation, perks, vacation time, benefits, etc then save them for a conversation with your IT staffing firms.

 

ITJobInterviewsNotes
Great thank you notes start with great notes taken during IT job interviews. Photo credit: Condesign via Pixabay.

Why You Need To Do Research On Your IT Salary Expectations

Many IT recruiters find that the candidates they work with don’t always have realistic (or sometimes any!) salary expectations when they’re looking for new IT jobs.  This can actually make it harder for candidates.   Perhaps you might be consistently  (and erroneously) disappointed in the salaries/rates you’re quoted by IT recruiting agencies and turn down jobs that would be a good fit for you otherwise.  Or perhaps you’ll undersell yourself to IT staffing agencies and wind up being paid significantly less than you had the potential to earn.   If you’re ready to start working with IT staffing companies to find a new role, take 15 minutes or so to do a little research before you post your newly polished resume or before you reach out to IT recruiters you already have a relationship with.  Here’s how to direct your research:

1. Take into account not only the job titles you’ll be working with technical recruiters to find, but also the location.  A Java Developer in Boston will hear far different salaries/rates from their IT staffing agencies than a Java Developer in the Midwest.  You’ll be likely to hear about jobs that pay higher salaries if your IT recruiting agencies submit you for jobs in busy, metropolitan areas with higher costs of living.

2. Take your experience, certifications, and education into account.  IT recruiters can check over your resume to guess at what you’re worth.  However, nobody knows things like what projects you’ve lead and what programming languages you’ve studied like you do.  Especially in a field like IT, the work you’ve done or the training and education you’ve received can be very complicated.  You are the expert on what you have to offer a potential employer—make sure you factor that into your salary research.

3. Take the information you find with a grain of salt.  Some sites have inaccurate or outdated information.  Don’t just use one source or do a lazy Google search.  If you come to technical recruiters with unrealistic salary expectations you’ve found via research, it will be just as harmful to you as if you hadn’t done any research at all!

4. Reach out to people in your network and be open to hearing your IT recruiter’s opinion, too.  Once you have an idea of numbers that might be realistic, it can be very helpful to reach out to people who have firsthand knowledge of what people in your field and chosen location make.  Ask them if they concur or their experience/knowledge differs from what you’ve found.  It’s also fine to ask your technical recruiters what they think of the numbers you’ve researched.  The more money you make, the more money your recruiters make.  So they will have your best interest in mind as they speak with you about compensation.

 

ITJobSearchSalaryExpectations
Don’t just rely on your IT recruiters to give you a salary range! Photo credit: Geralt via Pixabay.

 

 

Better LinkedIn Profile Picture, Better IT Job Search

LinkedIn has become so important in the hunt for IT jobs that now many IT recruiters find candidates there, rather than other sites.  While the format of a LinkedIn profile certainly differs from a resume, the picture may be the most obvious difference.  Here are some tips on how to use your Linked profile picture to make your profile more attractive to IT recruiting firms and hiring managers.

Firstly, don’t skip the picture.  Even if you don’t love taking pictures, it’s best to use a picture here.  IT staffing firms will be more likely to check out a profile with a picture than one without.

Secondly, make sure your picture is a good representation of you as a professional.  This means a couple things, starting with the fact that the picture will ideally be of just you.  Keep out family members, pets, etc.  IT staffing companies are trying to figure out if you are right for the job (not your wife, kids, friends, etc).  Don’t distract technical recruiters with other people or animals.  Or worse, don’t make it hard for them to figure out which person in the picture is you!  Making the picture a good representation of you as an IT professional also means a few things about the way you look.   IT recruiting agencies want to see you in at least somewhat professional clothing.  Even if you go to work in jeans and a T-shirt (as many IT professionals do!) it’s better to go with at least business casual clothing for your picture.  This makes it easier for IT recruiting companies to picture you in various company environments.

The last, and possibly most important, tip to make your profile picture more attractive to IT staffing agencies is to smile in a natural way.  Many, many IT jobs don’t just require you to be able to do the work.  You usually need to be able to work well within a team, with managers, or even in a customer service capacity or with end users.  When you smile in a friendly, unforced way, you can project that you’ve got good communication skills and are easy to work with.  Looking serious or grumpy in your picture will likely make IT recruiters think twice about contacting you!

LinkedInProfile Pictures IT Job Search
Using a vacation picture for your LinkedIn photo won’t help your IT job search. Photo credit: SplitShire via Pixabay.

 

Avoid This Topic During IT Job Interviews

It’s rare for IT recruiters to work with candidates who aren’t at least a little nervous to interview for IT jobs. Even for candidates who have been interviewing for years, the process can still be uncomfortable.  IT staffing firms certainly see nervous candidates come through and land the job anyways.  The key is to appear calm and stay focused on performing well.  A big part of this is not talking about being nervous with your interviewer.

Why would IT recruiting firms strongly suggest that you not tell your interviewer you’re nervous? For some IT jobs, working under pressure at least occasionally is part of the job.  A job interview is a great time to demonstrate your ability to do this.  Even if it’s not an explicit part of the job description, IT staffing companies still suggest that appearing calm and giving your best performance in a job interview, a fairly high pressure situation, will still strengthen your candidacy.

Secondly, IT recruiting agencies would suggest you not talk to your interviewer about being nervous because it won’t look professional.  Professionals are able to focus on what’s important and put their feelings aside, even in uncomfortable situations.  Additionally, plenty of IT jobs also require good communication skills, whether with coworkers, end users, or managers.  Derailing an interview with a conversation about your nervousness might give your interviewer a bad impression of your communication skills.

So the next time you’re tempted to tell your interviewer about how you nervous you are, remember this advice from IT staffing agencies suggest and hold off.  Use your precious interview time to show your interviewer you’re a great candidate.

 

FocusITJobInterviews
Don’t let your nervousness derail your performance in IT job interviews. Photo credit: Lindsay_Jayne via Pixabay.

 

Don’t Say This Phrase in Your IT Job Interviews

When you’re interviewing for IT jobs, there are plenty of clichés you may be temped to reach for.  IT recruiters can understand this.  Saying you’re a ‘team player’ or that you’ll ‘be the first one in and the last one out’ may actually be true.  The problem is that these clichés have become pretty meaningless.  IT staffing firms can guarantee it won’t help you at all in job interviews to reach for any of these common phrases.  Here is one particularly harmful one that IT staffing companies would suggest you avoid: ‘I’m a quick learner!’

Why will your IT recruiting companies want you to avoid saying this in your interviews?  As discussed above, the phrase has been rendered pretty meaningless.  You may make yourself look a bit unprepared for the interview or even damage your candidacy by using such a meaningless phrase.  Good candidates can speak about their assets in specifics and are often prepared with concrete examples of professional achievements.

If you’re tempted to say you’re a ‘quick learner’ or something along these lines, here’s what IT staffing agencies would suggest instead.  Take a breath and reach for an anecdote about a time you actually did this.  Was there a time you needed to learn a new programming language in a short time?  Was there a time you needed to assimilate quickly to a team’s processes?  By telling these stories, you’re demonstrating your value to your interviewer.  Not only that, but you’re doing so in a way that helps them imagine you in the role you’re interviewing for.  So at your next interview, remember that your IT recruiting agencies will be more likely to give you good news about your interview if you stay away from saying you’re a quick learner!

 

learningITJobInterviews
Can you tell a story about a time when you actually were a quick learner? Photo credit: Hans via Pixabay.

 

Make Time To Practice This Before IT Job Interviews

As you prep for job interviews, here’s one way to give yourself an advantage: practice speaking about a professional achievement in a brief, but comprehensive way.  Here’s how IT staffing firms would recommend you do this.

  1. IT recruiting agencies would suggest you start by identifying some of your major professional achievements. These might be obvious, but they could be things that seem smaller, like putting in extra work to make sure a project was delivered on time for end users.  Make a list for yourself.
  2. Go over the descriptions your IT recruiters gave you for the IT jobs you’ll be interviewing for. Try to pinpoint if any of the achievements on your list will be especially pertinent to these jobs.
  3. Once you’ve selected the best achievements, think about them in terms of three things. Figure out what exactly you did, what the impact was, and if there were any particular groups that benefited (like end users, clients, your team, etc).
  4. Now practice talking about each achievement in these terms. IT recruiting firms would suggest you practice speaking with a friend, family member, or in front of the mirror.  Use a timer and try limiting yourself to 2-4 minutes at most.  The reason IT staffing companies would suggest you limit your time here is that it will keep you from making a few mistakes.  You won’t be able to get too technical (something that technical recruiters have certainly seen ruin interviews), nor will you be able to sound too arrogant or take the interview off track.
  5. When you find an opportune moment in an interview, don’t be afraid to pull this ace out of your pocket. You don’t want to sound rehearsed, but practicing and thinking about how to talk about your professional achievements ahead of time will make you much more succinct and effective!

 

IT Job Interview Prep
Use a timer as you practice speaking about your professional achievements in past IT jobs. Photo credit: Nile via Pixabay.

 

4 Steps to Landing an IT Job that Makes You Happy

As you interview for IT jobs, your top concern is likely whether you are prepared for and/or can succeed at the kind of programming, debugging, troubleshooting, etc that the role requires. While IT recruiters would definitely advise asking questions about the scope of the work the role will require, it’s also important to think about the corporate culture.  Why would IT staffing companies suggest you make this a priority in your decision-making process?  Because if you aren’t happy or don’t fit into the team and company culture, IT recruiting firms can almost guarantee it will be hard for you to really succeed in your role.  IT staffing firms see plenty of talented IT professionals fail at jobs because they can’t get along well with their teams, bosses, or end users and clients.  Here’s how to make sure you land a job where you’re not just a great fit for the work, but also the culture!

  1. Think about what kind of workplaces you’ve succeeded in previously. What made them comfortable for you?  The pace of work?  The communication styles of team members?  Did you have standup meetings?  Did you communicate directly with clients or end users? Take some notes for yourself.
  2. Talk to your technical recruiters. Ask them if the roles you’re interviewing for have these elements to their corporate culture.  Make sure they’re clear on what will and won’t work for you.  Good IT recruiting agencies don’t want to place you in jobs where you’ll have a hard time fitting into the culture.
  3. Research online.  Check out Glassdoor reviews and see what the company says about its own corporate culture on its website or social media accounts.
  4. Come to the interview with questions. If you have specific questions about the corporate culture, you’ll make an even better impression on your interviewer.  If you don’t have any specific questions, more general questions will still help you make a better decision.  Try asking what people enjoy about working at the company.  Ask what people don’t like about working at the company.  Ask about what personal qualities make people successful (or not!) at the company.

 

Happy IT Job
You can make sure you land an IT job you’re not only good at, but also happy at! Photo credit: melissajuarez0 via Pixabay.