Blog

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?