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Tips for Second Job Interviews

When you’re working with IT staffing firms to find a new role, sometimes you’ll have to do a second in-person interview.  Since second job interviews aren’t as common, candidates often feel unsure about how to approach them.  Here are some tips from IT recruiting companies on handling second in-person job interviews.

How to dress: Dress in a suit or other business professional attire. Even though dress codes in many companies are becoming more relaxed, the suit is still king for interviews.  Sometimes, candidates will go to a first in-person interview and find that everyone is wearing jeans.  Don’t let this throw you off.  Technical recruiters find that candidates make a better impression when they dress professionally at all stages of the interview.  You want to show respect to the company and their hiring process.  Following the dress code is part of that.  If you get the job, you can dress down when you start the job.  

How to prepare: Do two things in particular this time.  Firstly, research the company a bit more deeply.  Secondly, prepare new questions.  Your second interview will likely differ from the first.  First interviews are often more about establishing your technical skills and experience.  You might do white-boarding or coding tests. The second in-person interview is much more about how well you fit into the team and/or company.  Start your preparation by doing a deeper dive into researching the company, product, and corporate culture.  Your IT recruiting firms might have some thoughts on web sites to visit, as you do this.  They may also be able to tell you who your interviewers will be.  If so, it’s a good idea to do a little research on your interviewers, too.  The more you know about the company, its products or services, and your interviewers, the more you can show an interest in them.  In the tech field, a deep passion for the work, the company, and the products or services will go far!

The second thing you should do in your preparations for your interview is to come up with new questions.  You can use some of your research about the company to come up with these questions.  You can also just come up with other questions about the role, management styles, etc.  It will be important for you to have different questions than you asked in your first interview.  For more ideas about interview questions to ask, check out this blog post. 

How to answer questions:  Focus on bringing something new to the table and really let your personality shine in this interview.  Even if you’re asked the same questions again, there are many ways you can tweak your answers to be different.  Be patient if you’re asked a question twice or asked something similar.  You may be meeting with a mix of new and old people who will unwittingly repeat each other.  You want to answer questions so people who have already interviewed you hear something new that strengthens your candidacy.  You also want to try to be understanding of this if they repeat questions or discussions.  If you are impatient about it, you won’t land the job.  Nobody wants to work with somebody who is rude or difficult.  IT staffing agencies advise you to remember that your personality and your ability to fit into the culture of the team and company are what hiring managers are focusing on in this second interview.  Make sure you present your best self here.

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IT job interviews
Your second job interview is all about culture fit. Photo credit: miranijenish via Pixabay.

 

 

Don’t Make This Rookie Mistake in Your Job Interviews

If you’re a recent grad, you’re probably diving into the job market now and going on some of your first real job interviews.  Even if you’re not a recent grad and you’ve interviewed before, it’s still possible you’re making some of the same mistakes.  One of the worst mistakes that IT recruiters see too frequently is when candidates have no questions for their interviewer or ask bad ones.  Tech employers want candidates who are passionate about the technologies and the work they’re doing.  Asking good questions can help demonstrate that.  When you have no questions, it can seem like you’ll just take any IT jobs.  Asking good questions also helps demonstrate good social skills.  More and more, tech employers want candidates to have good communication skills, no matter where they are in the company.  The days of heads-down coders are fleeting, if not completely gone.  Here are some tips from IT staffing companies on how to have some good, solid questions ready for your next interview.

1. Practice some strong questions about the work or the role. Are you familiar with all the technologies they use?  Are you curious if they’ve ever used others?  Do they use a Scrum or Agile development methodologies?

2. Ask some good questions about the company, the team, or the corporate culture. How do people get feedback in this role?  How much does the team work together?  Did you notice any interesting news about the company as you did research for the interview?  Ask about it.  Show that you’re not just interested in this role, but this role for this company.

3. Don’t ask questions about things like the perks, pay, or the commute. Questions about these topics don’t let an employer know you’ve really thought hard about the role.  You could be asking these questions in any job interview.  They’re also very egocentric.  Yes, you want a job that’s good for you.  But you also want to be selling yourself, as well.  When a candidate comes across as ‘me, me, me’ then the company often tells their IT staffing firms they’ll pass.  They need candidates who will contribute, not just take a paycheck.  If you do have questions about the more basic items like compensation, commute, hours, etc. you can ask your technical recruiters.  This is what they’re there for!

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IT job interview mistakes
Don’t come to a job interview without preparing some questions! Photo credit: OpenClipart-Vectors via Pixabay.

 

 

Are You Missing this Key Quality as an IT Job Seeker?

When you’re applying for new IT jobs, your first consideration is making sure you have the right technical skills.  In addition to their technical skills, there’s something else that IT recruiters find is key to landing new roles: the ability to work in a team.  This soft skill might seem irrelevant, but it’s actually imperative because of 3 major trends in the tech field.

Constant innovation.  Since companies must now keep up with the ever-faster speed of technology, constant innovation is important. In an effort to consistently improve their products and processes, companies are now turning to large brainstorming sessions, hackathons, and other group activities.  IT recruiters find that this type of activity requires an increased emphasis on teamwork and the ability to work well with others.  If you’re not willing to jump into a team brainstorming session, your IT staffing firms may be less willing to submit you to jobs.

Scrum and Agile. Scrum and Agile are some of the more coveted project management methodologies out there. This means that technical recruiters are on the hunt for candidates that want to be a part of stand-up meetings.  If you prefer Waterfall because you like to work independently, your options will ultimately be limited. If you’re serious about your job search, tap into your extroverted side and let your IT recruiting agencies submit you to Scrum and Agile teams.

Open plan offices. Fun, collaborative team culture has been a staple in the tech field since the dot com boom.  But this trend has been amplified by the open plan offices that more and more companies are turning to.  This isn’t just about where your desk is.  Open plan offices are discouraging employees from simply putting their heads down and working straight through from 9-5.  Social interaction is considered part of the job.  Building relationships with coworkers has become an imperative skill.  So if your IT recruiting firms ask you to bring energy and a positive, upbeat, outgoing personality to your interview, you should do it.  It could be the difference between landing the job and losing it!

 

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IT job search
The ability to work with a team is a crucial piece of the puzzle. Photo credit: wilhei via Pixabay.

 

 

Tips for Asking ‘Creative’ Questions in a Job Interview

‘Wacky’ questions have been a trend for a while in job interviews—especially in the tech field.  IT recruiting firms find that many candidates have had at least an interview or two where they’ve been asked what color crayon they would be, or how many light bulbs there are in Disney World.  While these questions can certainly be helpful to hiring managers, IT staffing companies find that there are more times when they hurt an interview than help it.  Here’s how to make sure you’re using these kinds of questions effectively when you interview candidates.

1. Don’t ask the question if you don’t know what you’re looking for or if there is no direct relevance to the role.  Technical recruiters find that candidates can tell pretty quickly when a manager is asking a question just because they think they should.  Don’t ask questions just because they showed up on a Googled list of interview questions.  It makes the candidate feel like you’re just making them uncomfortable with an unexpected question for no reason.  Think about what your ideal answers would be.  What should the candidate demonstrate when they answer this question? Take time to consider this before you ask.

2. Don’t ask these questions to purposefully make the candidate squirm or to throw them off.  IT staffing agencies find that some employers will give questions like this just to see how a candidate does under pressure or handles discomfort.  These kinds of questions certainly do, but they will also probably make the candidate want to turn down the job offer.  Good managers don’t intentionally make their employees uncomfortable.  In fact, their job is to support them as they handle difficulty.  If a candidate can tell you’re trying to purposefully throw them off, they’ll see it as a big red flag about your management style. Since it’s much more of a job seeker’s market in the tech field, keep in mind that you’re courting the candidate as much as (if not more than) they’re courting you. Asking them a lot of questions that feel silly or weird can leave a bad taste in their mouth.  If a candidate has the technical experience you need, you don’t want to lose them because you asked them what kind of animal they’d be at the zoo.

3. Don’t assume asking these questions makes you seem like a ‘cooler’ employer.  Many employers ask these kinds of questions because they think it will give candidates the impression that they’re cool, like Google, Uber, and other cool tech employers  who are known for asking some ‘wacky’ interview questions.  If you want to let candidates know you have a cool company culture, there are better ways to do it.  IT recruiting agencies suggest you take time to talk about why your company culture is great.  Share your Glassdoor reviews or have current employees meet with the candidate to share what it’s like working at your company.  These things are all much more enticing to a candidate than answering weird, unexpected interview questions.

4. Look for process, not a right or wrong answer.  The point of many of these questions isn’t to focus on whether the candidate answered exactly what you were expecting.  The point is to get a window into their thought process.  If they can think about solving problems in a way that’s advantageous, or can provide an interesting justification for their answer, take note.  Remember that these kinds of questions can be hard on candidates because they’re so unexpected.  Their answer may not be polished or perfect, but it could still tell you much about how they think.

Want to see our open IT jobs?  Follow us on LinkedIn.  We post new jobs daily!

 

weird questions in IT job interviews
What color crayon would your candidate be? It may not matter! Photo credit: Stux via Pixabay.

 

Common Questions (and Answers) about References

IT staffing firms find that references can be one of the last things on a candidate’s mind.  Maybe it’s because they’re so far along in the job search process.  Or, maybe it’s because they seem to require the least amount of work.  References just need to be called.  Resumes need to be written and polished, and you need to do extensive prep and study up on relevant technologies for interviews.  Whatever the case, IT recruiting firms find that many candidates and hiring managers have a lot of questions and even misconceptions about references.  Here are some common ones that IT recruiters get:

Do ‘backdoor references’ really happen?   This phenomenon is even more prevalent in the last 5 years or so because of LinkedIn’s growing popularity.  If you’re not familiar with a backdoor reference, this is the basic premise: hiring managers will reach out to any personal contacts they have at your previous employers.  IT staffing agencies find that this can be a problem particularly when you may had a bad experience working at an employer.  Even if you choose not to give anybody there as a reference, backdoor references can reveal the skeletons in your closet.  Backdoor references can be especially common when you’re looking for IT jobs because most people in this field are on LinkedIn.  (In fact, it may say something negative about you as an IT professional if you’re not on LinkedIn or other social media!)

Can managers really be forbidden from acting as a references? Yes, but some will do so anyways. There are companies that have set policies that forbid managers from giving a reference.  The severity of these policies and how strictly they’re enforced varies.  Some managers feel like they have the ability do this without any real consequences, so it could be worth considering this if you’re leaving a company with such a policy.  You don’t want to push too aggressively, but it may be worth asking if the manager would feel comfortable acting as a reference—you never know if they’ll say yes.

Is giving a bad reference illegal?   IT recruiting companies find that some candidates assume that managers will never give them a bad reference.  This is absolutely not true, so it’s important to act with this in mind.  Give only references who will say positive things about you.  Don’t burn any bridges.  Work hard to build good working relationships with coworkers and bosses.  As mentioned before, you never know if hiring managers will reach out for a backdoor reference. The point of a reference is that for employers to get a complete, honest picture of somebody as an employee.  While technical recruiters find that many managers will refrain from outright trashing somebody (just out of basic human decency), they will be honest if they see red flags.

Can I just hand over my references when it’s time?   This is a mistake IT staffing agencies see far too often.  Contact your references and give them a heads-up you’re on the hunt for new IT jobs.  Ask them if they wouldn’t mind acting as a reference for you.  Let them know a bit about the kinds of roles you’re looking for.  You want to treat them with courtesy, respect, and remember to thank them.  Bad references can ruin your candidacy, just as good ones can strengthen it.

Want to see our open IT jobs?  Follow us on LinkedIn.  We post new jobs daily!

 

References for jobs
Don’t forget to call your references before you start a job hunt. Photo credit: edar via Pixabay.

 

Running Late to Job Interviews – Everything You Need to Know

Is it ever ok to run late to interviews? IT recruiters find that the answer here is no, but there are a few notable exceptions.  First, if there’s a serious family or personal emergency, that’s pretty understandable.  Just call your technical recruiters and let them know what’s happening as soon as possible. Giving as much notice as possible will be key here.

Here’s another exception.  You can be late without consequence if you talked with your recruiter about possibly being late when they scheduled the interview.  When the recruiter reaches out to set up the time, you can mention if you think you’ll potentially be late (for a legitimate reason, of course).  Your recruiter may be able to schedule the interview with 5 or 10 minutes of wiggle room for you.

The last exception is if you’re very, very minimally late and you’ve let your recruiter know.  If you think you’ll be less than 5 minutes late, it could be fine.  You just need to reach out to your IT recruiters to give them a heads up.  This isn’t always true, of course.  Some employers have no tolerance for lateness.

Can I say I’m late because of traffic? The short answer is no.  IT recruiting firms find that this doesn’t hold much water with interviewers.  Good candidates will plan for the worst and leave enough time for a terrible traffic jam.  They’ll leave early and maybe even try out a practice run of the commute to the interview.   Even with IT recruiters selling you as a candidate, you still have to make every moment count.  You know that your resume should be polished, your interview answers practiced, and your interview suit ironed.  The same is true for that first impression you make—show up a little early and make it perfect. Your recruiter has already set the stage for you as an ideal candidate.  Don’t ruin that!  And if that doesn’t motivate you, picture losing the IT jobs you want to other candidates.  Why let them land the job because they left 10 minutes earlier than you did?

Well, I’m late to an interview right now.  So what do I do?  Firstly, take a deep breath and focus on controlling what you can control. Call your recruiter and calmly explain what has happened.  Offer to reschedule the interview if they believe it’s necessary.  This will go a long way if you’re super late.  If you’re still going through with the interview, apologize once you get there.  Don’t make your apology over the top.  A simple, calm apology is all that you need here.  Then move forward and give the best interview you can.  Focus on that instead of the fact that you were late.  Letting it knock you off your game will only compound things.  You don’t want to be dinged because you were late and you were nervous or upset in the interview.  Then you’ll really sink your chances of landing the job!

 

late to job interviews
Call your recruiters as soon as you realize that you’re running late to an interview. Photo credit: stevepb via Pixabay.

 

Want to see our open IT jobs?  Follow us on LinkedIn.  We post new jobs daily!

 

Tips for Employers on Glassdoor, Indeed, Vault, etc.

By now, most employers are at least aware that they have a presence on Glassdoor, Indeed, Vault, and other employer review sites.  Many actually take the time to cultivate their spots on these sites, too.  These companies find that it’s absolutely worth it to take time to add pictures, text about the company and its corporate culture, or even encouraging employees to leave reviews.  When your presence on these sites is good, your company can draw more and better applicants.  Especially when you’re searching for tech professionals to fill your open IT jobs, this becomes all the more imperative.  Since it’s such a job seeker’s market for tech professionals, IT recruiters find it’s all the more important for employers to make sure their presence on career websites is stellar.  Here are some tips from IT staffing companies to help employers make sure their online brand will attract great talent.

1. Post pictures on sites that let you.  Having pictures of fun company outings will make a difference when candidates look up your profile.  People will find your company profile more interesting and memorable.  They may also connect better with smiling faces than just a boilerplate text about your company’s mission, culture, etc.  Since IT recruiting firms find that candidates are often getting hit with multiple potential opportunities at once, you’ll want your company to stand out.

2. Get some reviews on your page.  You can’t bribe or pressure employees to leave great reviews on your page.  You can encourage your employees to leave reviews though if you think they’re happy.  Happy employees usually won’t mind spreading the word if they do enjoy their workplace.  (They’d want peers to do the same thing!)  IT staffing firms find that getting lots of great reviews is the best way to counteract bad ones.  You can ‘bury’ negative reviews so that when IT professionals are checking out your company, they see more good than bad.  Remember, the tech talent you’re seeking have plenty of options.  If a company looks like they don’t treat employees well, IT professionals will just tell recruiters to submit them elsewhere.

3. Don’t forget to respond to negative reviews.  When IT professionals are on your site, it’s ok if they do see negative reviews.  What really matters is if you show you care.  Even the best employers have unhappy employees.  What makes them the best is that they take negative feedback and grow from it.  (Terrible employers are the ones who know their employees are unhappy and don’t seem to care!)  So write responses that show you’re listening.  Thank the reviewer for their feedback.  Mention any actions you might be able to take to fix the issue in the future.  Keep the tone calm, cordial, and concerned.

4. Don’t forget to keep your IT recruiting agencies in the loop.  They should know the good and the bad.  Give them links to your Glassdoor, Indeed and Vault pages.  If you’re working to fix things that have inspired bad reviews, talk to them about it.  Your IT staffing agencies can help sell you as an employer in addition to your presence on these sites.

 

IT employers glassdoor
How many 5-star reviews are on your Glassdoor page? Photo credit: zahmetr via Pixabay.

 

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IT Professionals Should be Documenting This

Every IT professional has triumphant moments at work.  Maybe you solved a difficult ticket for the VP.  Maybe you suggested some powerful changes to your company’s technical environment.  It’s great to take a minute to bask in your achievement, but there’s something else you should be doing: documenting it for later.  Taking 5 minutes to document your achievement, in a word doc, by hand, or by simply saving relevant emails to a folder, will do a lot for you in the future.  Here’s why IT recruiters suggest you document your triumphs at work.

1. You can use this document to easily update your resume. The resumes IT staffing firms find most marketable don’t list responsibilities below IT jobs.  They list achievements and contributions.  Electronically documenting your big wins at a job can especially streamline the process of updating your resume.  All you’ll have to do is copy and paste. There are many reasons why tech professionals suddenly find themselves needing a current, polished resume.  Maybe they’ve been laid off or fired.  Or perhaps, especially in the tech field, they’ve been contacted by IT recruiting firms about a passive opportunity that’s too good to ignore.  Documenting your achievements at work makes the scramble to unexpectedly update your resume less stressful.

2. You can use this list of achievements at your next review or in your next request for a raise. Even if it seemed like a huge deal when you found that bug in the program and took the initiative to debug it by yourself, you may not remember it 6 months later.  And it’s not only hard for you to remember these moments— sometimes it’s downright impossible for your bosses to remember them.  When they’re managing a team, a department, or a whole company, your achievement might not be something they think of when you need to ask for a raise or are doing a review.  IT recruiting agencies suggest you take matters into your own hands and advocate for yourself.  Document the contributions you’ve made at work so you can share them all with your bosses when it counts!

3. Lastly, this document might serve as a great pick-me-up. Just as all tech professionals have great days, they also all have a bad day now and then.  Save a document with all your big wins at work and take a look at the next time you’re having a tough day, a crisis of confidence, or are just feeling unmotivated.  Just as you benefit from advocating for yourself, you also benefit from cheering yourself on.  True tech professionals know that you can’t always count on coworkers and bosses to do this—sometimes it’s great to be able to rely on yourself.

 

Documenting
Documenting your achievements will help you in the future. Photo credit: JaneMarySnyder via Pixabay.

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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.

 

When Applicants Are Overqualified for Your Jobs

IT staffing companies often hear that managers are anxious about interviewing candidates that look overqualified.  Their usual instinct is to tell IT recruiting firms that they pass on these candidates.  This isn’t always the best course of action, though.  Here’s what to do if you get an overqualified applicant to your open IT jobs.

Consider interviewing them anyways.  Especially if you talk to them only for a phone screen, you don’t have much to lose (and potentially a great employee to gain).  IT recruiters find that some candidates apply to positions they’re overqualified for because of perfectly legitimate reasons.  Sometimes it’s because they’re seeking a position with better work-life balance.  Perhaps they’re now responsible for caring for an elderly parent, small child, etc.  Sometimes a candidate is more interested in a different technology that they have less experience in.  The bottom line is that sometimes a candidate who looks overqualified is actually a perfect fit.

It’s also worth noting that some employers are anxious about hiring candidates with too much experience.  They’re concerned they’ll be too set in their ways to adapt to new procedures and technologies.  When you’re using IT recruiting companies to help with the hiring process, you don’t need to worry about this.  IT recruiters are only sending over candidates who are interested in the work and the environment you can offer as an employer.  Good IT recruiters will make sure the candidate is interested in your tech stack and your company’s procedures.  They won’t send you somebody who can’t ‘play by your rules’ for many reasons.  IT recruiting agencies want to send you candidates who will succeed in your roles and be happy there.  The truth is that particularly in contract or project-based roles, extensive experience can be an asset.  Candidates like this may need less training and will be able to hit the ground running.  This can save time and money when your team is under tight deadlines.

Interview a candidate who looks overqualified by asking some extra questions.  If a candidate looks overqualified, you want to do a little more than just the usual whiteboarding session or have the usual technical discussion.  Asking what draws the candidate to the role, the company, or the project you’re hiring for, is a good start.  If the candidate’s answer doesn’t directly help you understand why they want a role they seem overqualified for, it’s time to ask more directly.  Ask the candidate if they’re comfortable with the pay scale for the role, the fact that it will be entry level, or anything else that directly addresses the fact that they’re overqualified.  The candidate should be ready to answer questions like this because their technical recruiters have likely gone over it with them.

 

overqualified job candidates
Don’t automatically pass on overqualified candidates. Photo credit: Ashlinbpg via Pixabay.