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.
Set Yourself Apart in Job Interviews With This Tactic
IT recruiters notice that most candidates who are skilled at job interviews tend to have a few things in common. One thing IT staffing companies notice good interviewers do is highlight key qualities about themselves. Here’s one key quality IT recruiting companies suggest you highlight in a job interview: that you’re reliable and will stick around for your whole contract (or at least a few years if it’s a permanent role).
Why is it necessary for you to make this obvious to your interviewers? Wouldn’t they assume that you won’t leave before a contract ends or in a particularly short time? In the tech field, the truth is that this isn’t a given. IT recruiting agencies find that far too often, companies hire candidates who will leave a job early to pursue other opportunities, move, etc. While this is certainly a problem in other industries, IT staffing firms find this kind of behavior is especially hard on companies in the tech field. Often employers are trying to complete projects by certain deadlines. Unexpectedly losing a member of their team makes it hard to do this. There’s also often a fair amount of training that goes into getting IT professionals up to speed to work on a project. So when they leave before it’s done, this makes it even harder to replace them with somebody fast enough. Basically, IT recruiting firms find that employers trying to fill IT jobs are (usually justly) worried that the people they hire will not be reliable and stick around a decent amount of time— thus costing them time, money, and causing a great deal of stress.
Taking this employer perspective into consideration as you interview can really make you stand out as a candidate. When you go into job interviews, take some time to demonstrate that you are ready to stick around until your contract is done, or at least a few years if the job is permanent. Take a minute to show how you’ve been reliable for past employers to really drive this point home. Showing your interviewer that you are capable of being reliable and sticking around will go far in building your candidacy. Even if they don’t ask about this topic, technical recruiters would highly suggest you make sure to drive this point home for your interviewer. It will make you stand out as an excellent candidate.
Ready to Start Hiring? Do These 2 Things!
When you’re working with IT recruiting agencies to fill your open IT jobs, there are two major components to consider: evaluating candidates to make sure they’re the best fit for the job and making sure you sell your team and corporate culture to the best candidates. Of course, IT recruiting firms will help you achieve both of these components, but there are some things that your company must do—IT staffing agencies can’t do these things for you. Here are 2 things your company will need to do help attract the best candidates.
1. Pay attention to your online reputation. 5-10 years ago, companies didn’t have to worry about sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, or Google. Today, these sites are often the first place job seekers go for research after technical recruiters call them about a job. It’s important to check and even manage your presence on these sites. Getting bad reviews can happen to any company, no matter how good they are to employees. Disgruntled employees or trolls can leave a surprise scathing review on your listing on major sites. It’s important to try to respond to these reviews if you have grounds to. Depending on the content, you may also want to seriously consider the reviewer’s feedback if it seems useful.
2. Communicate with your IT staffing companies about your online reputation. It will also help you attract better candidates if you let the IT staffing firms you’re working with know ahead of time about bad reviews. Especially if there’s a good response to these reviews, your IT recruiting companies can pass this information on to candidates if they ask about it. (Candidates will often bring up concerns about a potential employer with the IT recruiters they work with in a more candid way than they would with an interviewer.) If you have great reviews online, make sure you point these out to the recruiters you’re working with. These are a strong tool for IT recruiters to use in selling your open jobs to great candidates.
Avoid Asking Illegal Interview Questions
IT recruiters find that even when employers are experienced at interviewing to fill IT jobs, they may still wind up mistakenly asking illegal questions. In fact, a recent study shows that 1 in 5 employers asks illegal questions when they’re interviewing. While asking these questions doesn’t automatically mean you’ll get sued, IT staffing agencies would strongly suggest you take time to make sure your interviewers are fully versed on what they can and can’t legally ask. It may save you a great deal of trouble (and money) in the future. Here are some basic guidelines IT recruiting firms would suggest you follow in formulating your questions.
1. Don’t ask about their family structure. Asking whether a candidate is married, has children, expecting, etc may lead you into muddy waters. Often interviewers aren’t asking these kinds of questions with bad intentions. However, IT recruiters would suggest you choose other topics for friendly chit chat instead.
2. Don’t ask about their religion, gender, or sexual orientation. These are some of the most important areas IT staffing firms would suggest you avoid. Even if you’re just trying to make a connection with the candidate, these areas are the most dangerous in terms of potential lawsuits.
3. Don’t ask if English is a candidate’s first language or if they’re a US citizen. The IT recruiting agencies your company works with will be able to let you know if a candidate needs sponsorship or is authorized to work in the US. Let your IT staffing companies protect you here—let them look into this information for you.
Is it Time to Speed Up Your Hiring Process?
IT recruiters find that one of the biggest misconceptions employers have about hiring IT professionals is timing. The amount of time employers take to hire in most industries is simply too slow when it comes to hiring for open IT jobs. Sometimes by the time a company is ready to have the IT staffing firms they’re working with make an offer to a candidate or ask for an interview, the candidate has moved on to other opportunities. Here’s why hiring a little faster with your IT recruiting agencies will help you find the best candidates to round out your team!
1. The tech field is really a job seeker’s market. The truth is, the unemployment rate for IT professionals is incredibly low. In fact, IT staffing companies often wind up working with passive candidates who are already in jobs. This means that candidates are often pursuing more opportunities and getting offers faster. They come on the market for new jobs (or in some cases don’t because they’re passive candidates) and leave rapidly. With this kind of market, it’s imperative to speed up your hiring process to keep up with the pace of the candidates you want to hire!
2. Candidates expect quicker feedback in the tech field. Technical recruiters find that many IT professionals are used to companies quickly deciding whether to interview candidates or move them on in the hiring process. When companies move at a pace that might be normal for other fields, candidates will read this (perceived) slowness as disinterest. Even when IT recruiting firms suggest a candidate be patient, this doesn’t always work. If you like a candidate and want to interview them or move them on to the next step in your hiring process, IT recruiting companies suggest you wear your heart on your sleeve. Let the candidates know– and do it quickly. If you don’t, you may lose out!
3. The quicker you hire, the sooner your team can start achieving more! Especially in tech, deadlines for projects and deliverables can be all the more intense. When you speed up your hiring process, you can get more manpower on a project sooner– and thus get results for your company sooner.
2 Ways Candidates Blow Job Interviews
IT recruiting agencies have heard some interviewing horror stories from IT professionals and interviewers alike. Sometimes even when candidates have prepped and studied the technologies their IT recruiters recommended, things can still happen that make it hard (or impossible) to land the job. The worst stories technical recruiters hear are about the times candidates blow interviews for IT jobs by saying something controversial or talk about compensation in a counterproductive way.
How can you avoid making either of these mistakes? IT staffing agencies would suggest you start by making sure you don’t talk about politics, religion, or make any remarks that could be construed as intolerant of a particular group. You never know how your interviewer feels about any of these topics– and thus whether you may be offending them. Even if you don’t personally offend the interviewer, you may still lose your chance at landing the job. The interviewer might still tell your IT recruiting firms that they find you deeply unprofessional (and thus unemployable). Don’t take any risks in what you say—it’s simply not worth it.
When it comes to money, hold off on discussing it in the interview. The truth is, this part is really your IT staffing companies’ responsibility. Since interviewers often don’t want to discuss compensation, benefits, etc until they extend an offer, you’ll be breaking professional norms if you broach the topic during the interview. IT recruiting companies also find that since candidates take their compensation so personally (as they should), they have a hard time discussing the topic in a productive, professional way. Letting your IT staffing firms handle the negotiation for your compensation package is the best way to ensure that you don’t risk putting off your interviewer.
How to Answer This Tough Job Interview Question
Technical recruiters find that IT professionals are often stumped by one question in a job interview: how would you improve our company, product, website, etc? If this question stumps you, here are some interview tips IT staffing firms would suggest trying.
1. Practice answering this question. It might be obvious, but IT recruiting agencies would suggest that if a question truly intimidates you, practice. Practice responding with a family member, friend, or in front of the mirror. You’ll feel better prepared to answer it and may not even feel nervous if your interviewer asks it!
2. To answer the question, most IT staffing companies would suggest that you start with a compliment—the more specific, the better. Starting your answer on a positive note helps here. If you can make the compliment show off your own knowledge, all the better. Maybe the website has features you particularly admire since you’ve tried to create similar ones in previous roles. Perhaps the product is user-friendly in a way that competitors’ aren’t. Remember to keep this compliment efficient and on the shorter side so you have time to actually give your idea for improvement.
3. Now give the criticism or idea for improvement in the most positive way possible. This doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice confidence—IT staffing agencies often find that you’ll make a better impression on an interviewer if you give all your answers with confidence. The way to keep a positive spin on it is to focus on the advantage of the change you’re suggesting rather than the cons of the way the company/website/product/etc currently exists. Obviously IT recruiting companies would suggest you really need to avoid making negative comments about the company/website/whatever in its current state.
4. Finish your answer by actively bringing the interviewer into the conversation. Ask if your ideas have been considered, if the company has done something similar previously, or just try to get their feedback. Again, this isn’t about breaking confidence. You simply want to show your interviewer that you’re a collaborative person who’s capable of taking in criticism, new ideas, etc. IT recruiting firms often find that the best candidate is usually the one that has a great technical background, but is also easy to work with and has good communication skills.
2 Surprising Questions for Job Interviews
If you’ve worked with IT recruiting agencies to find new roles, you probably understand that interviewing for IT jobs is a two-way street. You probably ask a lot of interview questions to help you make sure the IT jobs you’re interviewing for are good fits for your needs and work habits. If you want to know about a company’s culture or pace of work, one thing IT recruiting firms suggest you ask about is lunch. Here are two questions IT staffing firms suggest you can ask about lunch that will actually reveal a lot about an employer’s workday.
1. Does your team often eat lunch together? IT recruiters would suggest you ask this question to get a general idea of how friendly and collegiate coworkers are in this company. It may be unlikely the whole team eats together every day, but if they grab lunch together a few times a week in pairs or small groups, this might say something positive about the culture. If the environment really is very friendly, this question will probably spur the interviewer to tell you about it.
2. Does your team usually eat lunch at their desks, or do they take time for a break? Technical recruiters would suggest this question if you’re concerned about the pace or workload. IT staffing companies can tell you a bit about the pace of a job as well, but this question will help round out your information. If employees are often too stressed and overworked to even take a quick walk or go grab food, you’ll know the workload and pressure at the company is high. That might be fine with you– and on some level that’s normal sometimes. Sometimes a team of programmers needs to get code ready in a tight deadline. Sometimes tech support will work through their lunch breaks to solve an important ticket. The key is to decide if the job’s usual pace is too hectic for you.
Is Your Resume in The Wrong Format?
Technical recruiters receive resumes from IT professionals that are built from all kinds of resume templates. Most resume templates are fine (even the free resume templates), but there is one type of format that IT recruiters usually cannot use: a functional format resume.
What is a functional format resume? It’s a resume that shows IT recruiting agencies and hiring managers your skills and duties and the top or bottom of the resume and lists your past IT jobs in a separate section. Sometimes IT staffing firms find that the candidate will list the years they held positions, sometimes not. Basically, this format seems like an easy way to write a resume if you’ve held similar positions for a while.
The problem is that the IT recruiting companies usually can’t submit you for IT jobs with this kind of resume. There are a few things hiring managers and recruiters hate about this resume template. Firstly, hiring managers tell IT staffing agencies that these templates don’t show the progression of your career very well. To truly understand how you’ve progressed in your career, a manager wants to see the variation in your duties at each job. That means you’ll need to list what you did at each job, not just give a general notion of what you did at all jobs in one spot at the top or bottom of the document.
Secondly, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage by using a functional format resume. This kind of resume format doesn’t really let you list your major professional achievements. IT recruiting firms find that the candidates who really impress employers are the ones who list their big contributions to each employer. This will require a little more work on your part and a more traditional format for a resume, but it’s worth it. This kind of resume lets hiring managers and IT staffing companies really see that you’ve been a valuable employee to each one of the places you’ve worked.
Lastly, resumes like this make hiring managers and IT recruiters feel like you’re trying to hide something. Particularly when you don’t give dates, it can look like you’re trying to quickly gloss over your professional history without giving much detail or information. This isn’t the first impression you want your resume to give anybody.
Don’t Do This When Working With IT Recruiters
Technical recruiters find that some candidates will make some desperate moves to ensure they land IT jobs. Sometimes this means being a bit too pushy and overbearing in the interview. Sometimes this means trying to reach out directly to the hiring manager too much after the interview. Probably the worst mistake you can make when working with IT staffing agencies, though, is to apply for the same jobs both with them and on your own.
Why would applying to the same job twice be a bad thing? Isn’t it just showing extra motivation and ensuring that you do the most comprehensive, best job search that you can? The truth is, when you apply for the same job both with IT recruiters and on your own, you usually wind up taking yourself out of the running for a job completely. Most hiring managers will actually nullify an application that comes from both IT staffing agencies and directly from the candidate. The reason they do this is that generally these candidates become too complicated to consider hiring from a legal standpoint. Since most employers have plenty of candidates to look at for the jobs in IT they’re trying to fill—ones that don’t come with legal complications—they’ll simply skip over your resume and move on to the others.
There’s also another reason this tactic is a bad idea: it reflects poorly on you as a professional. When you work with IT recruiting firms, you make a commitment to follow certain professional norms. Your IT staffing companies will handle certain elements of the hiring process (like negotiating salary, scheduling the interview, and getting your resume in front of the hiring manager). You will handle the interview, writing a thank you note, etc. When you apply to the same job on your own after IT staffing companies submit you, you’re not showing extra initiative. You’re showing a few negative qualities as a candidate. You’ll show an inability to follow directions, an inability to follow professional norms, and you’ll be creating extra work for the hiring manager. (Most hiring managers barely have time to read a resume once—never mind twice!) No hiring manager is pleased when you try to jump the line or do things against their usual hiring process. So when you apply to a job both with your IT recruiters and on your own, you’re not increasing your chances of landing the job. Truthfully, you’re hurting your chances– if not taking yourself out of the running entirely.
