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During your last IT job interview did the timeframe go from the anticipated one hour to two or three hours?  You may leave thinking you won the hiring managers over, but think again.  If you were doing most of the talking and managers seem disinterested, this is generally not a good sign.  Some IT candidates might speak more when they are nervous or have so much experience on their resume they do not know where to begin.  Here are some suggestions for maintaining confidence and control while not spilling too much detail during any upcoming interviews for IT jobs.

Prepare Your Questions and Answers

Look up typical interview questions and prepare your answers along with relevant examples.  When you have finished, practice by having a mock interview with a family member, friend, or IT recruiter and, if necessary, time your responses.  You do not want to provide too much detail to the point where you bore the hiring manager or technical recruiter, but you also do not want to leave out any important experience.  Ask for honest feedback and weed out any unrelated material by sticking to the point.

Take a Breath

In order to qualify for a position, you must communicate why your experience and skills are ideal for the role.  Almost everyone becomes nervous when they are put on the spot and rushing through their speech is a common occurrence.  Rather than flying through your spiel, annunciate each word and pause to check for the attention of IT recruiters and hiring managers.  This pause will also indicate you have made a point and allow them to comment or ask for further detail.

Look for the Signs

If the hiring managers appear to be bored, wrap up your response and wait for the next question.  When a manager stops taking notes, move the interview on to the next stage for new material. Checking the clock could indicate they are short on time, so get to the point!

Other Advice

Speaking too much during an interview may indicate to IT staffing companies and hiring managers that you are easily distracted or may talk too much on the job.  Also, by not letting managers or technical recruiters get a word in you are being disrespectful and frustrating which most coworkers cannot handle in the IT staffing office.  Interviews only provide a glimpse of who you are as an employee and your experiences so make use of the time with valid, relevant points.