Interviewing for IT Jobs When You’re Sick
January and February are great months to work with your technical recruiters and IT staffing agencies to find new IT jobs. They’re also months in which you’re likely to get sick—maybe a couple times. If you’re sick, here’s how to proceed if your IT recruiters and IT staffing firms have you set up for an interview.
- Assess how you feel. Is it awful? Will it affect your performance? If so, call your IT recruiting agencies and IT staffing companies ASAP and let them know. They can help you reschedule the interview if you aren’t in good shape to go. On the flip side, you may be feeling a little under the weather, but you won’t have a problem interviewing. In that case, you probably still want to go anyways. Time is usually of the essence in employers’ searches to fill IT jobs. Don’t delay the interview if you don’t have to.
- If you do go to the interview, be considerate. Make sure you bring tissues, sneeze or cough into your hand or elbow, and hold off on shaking hands. Tell your interviewer that it’s great to meet them, but you’re getting over a cold and don’t want to risk infecting them. This won’t come across as rude.
- Be your best at the interview and try not to draw any further attention to your cold or illness. You want the interviewer to focus on your candidacy and to remember you for that. If you keep mentioning your cold, your IT recruiting companies will likely get some negative feedback about you. You don’t want your interviewer to have any doubts about your ability to muscle through and get work done in the face of challenges.
Fix Your LinkedIn Profile, Kick Your IT Job Search into Gear
In 2016, one of the best things you can do to attract IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies is to update your LinkedIn profile. While technical recruiters and IT recruiting companies will definitely need a resume, your LinkedIn profile is almost as important. Here is one major mistake to avoid as you update: Giving excessively long descriptions of all the IT jobs you’ve ever held.
Why is this a problem and what should you be doing instead? Firstly, consider your LinkedIn profile akin to a movie trailer for your real resume. IT recruiting firms tend to see hundreds upon hundreds of LinkedIn profiles. Make it easy for IT staffing agencies to decide you’re a great candidate to contact. Very briefly list the best information about your career. If your profile is long and full of extensive details, it’s less likely that you’ll get a call from IT staffing firms.
Here’s how to clean up your profile a bit if you have too much information under each IT job. Copy all the material to a new document so you can start fresh. Now use that info to create only a handful of statements that are all about your accomplishments at these IT jobs. Check out this blog post for some great verbs to help you build powerful sentences. With fewer bullets that really showcase your worth, get ready to impress IT staffing companies and kick your job search into gear!
Happy New Year from AVID’s Technical Recruiters!
Use These Verbs to Revamp Your IT Resume
The New Year is a great time to polish up your resume for your IT recruiters and IT staffing firms. Employers often hire much more in January than November or December. To make the most effective bullet points, put the verb at the front of the sentence.
The first kind of verb that will really wow employers and IT recruiting firms are verbs that show a dedication to great customer service. IT staffing companies often are tasked with filling IT jobs that require not only great technical skills, but also excellent communication skills and abilities with end users or clients. Some verbs that you might want to use for these bullet points might include: Delivered, Enhanced, Expedited, Improved, Accelerated, and Outpaced.
The second kinds of verbs that will impress your IT recruiting companies and IT staffing agencies are verbs related to significantly improving something (perhaps a process, software, websites, etc). Listing concrete achievements like this will help employers see your worth and envision you at their company. Try using verbs like Customized, Merged, Modified, Overhauled, Refined, Remodeled, Restructured, Streamlined, and Upgraded.
The last kind of verb that will impact your resume is one that shows leadership. Whether it’s a project you officially led, or simply a project you showed some initiative on, make sure to show off a bit and mention them as bullets under your relevant jobs. Try to use verbs like Designed, Developed, Initiated, Instituted, Launched, Pioneered, and Spearheaded.
Try Using A Slogan in Your IT Job Interviews
There are plenty of obvious, conventional tips and etiquette that your IT recruiting firms and technical recruiters can give you that you should use as a guide when you’re interviewing IT jobs. Here’s one unconventional tip that will really impress your interviewers and IT recruiters: Work with a personal slogan.
What does this mean exactly? Your IT staffing companies and IT recruiting agencies don’t want you to have some sort of cheesy personal slogan that you keep throwing out awkwardly in the interview. What this means is that you should think about a single statement about why you’re an excellent candidate. Maybe it’s because you’re great at problem-solving, or your debugging skills are legendary. Whatever it is, keep this in mind when you are answering questions in your interviews.
The point is not to be repetitive, but to help you focus in on the main point of your interview: strengthening your candidacy. Your IT recruiting companies set the stage for you, but you need to hammer this point home in every question you answer. Try restating your slogan at the beginning of a many of your answers, fitting it to the questions you’re asked. For instance, if you’re asked why you want to leave your current job, bring it back to your slogan. If your slogan is about how you’re a legendary de-bugger, you can answer the question by saying that you want a job where your programming and debugging skills will help your team achieve success on new projects.
If you’re unsure about this tactic, you can use it for less questions or only questions that you don’t feel confident answering. It might also help to check in with your IT staffing firms and make sure your slogan is something would appeal to your potential employer. Does this company need somebody who is really excellent a de-bugging? Or are they more interested in other skills? Your IT staffing agencies are there to help you understand what the ideal candidate is like, so don’t hesitate to talk to them as you prepare!
Happy Holidays from AVID Technical Resources
Telling Interviewers Why You Want a New IT Job
One question that IT recruiters and IT staffing companies tell you to always be ready to answer in interviews is ‘Why do you want to leave your current IT job?’ Most of the time, technical recruiters and IT recruiting firms find that candidates have a negative reason they want to leave their current IT jobs. You want to spin things in a positive way, though. Here is how to talk about a couple of the reasons why you want a new IT job.
- If you’re working with IT recruiting agencies to find a new job because your boss or team are difficult to work with or just plain jerks, you obviously can’t say this. How can you get around this? Try keeping a positive spin by talking about what you want in a future team or manager. It will be tempting to go into detail about what your boss or team does wrong, but don’t do it. You’ll scare away potential employers. Your IT recruiting companies are likely to get good feedback if you can say something about what you want in your next IT role, especially if these are qualities this employer prides themselves on. You’re effectively recasting yourself as a good culture fit for the company.
- If you’re working with IT staffing firms because you want more money, you can tell them this. They’ll be upfront with you about what the compensation might be for the jobs you interview for. However, money isn’t something you should really mention in the interview. While you don’t want to lie, try to focus on other things you’re looking for in your next job. Maybe you’re looking for a new challenge, more responsibility, or a better commute. Don’t forget to make sure these are actually things the jobs you’re interviewing for can offer, or else this answer will make things awkward and potentially ruin the interview.
Thank You Notes that Might Salvage a Bad IT Job Interview
All IT recruiters and IT staffing firms have had a candidate or two not perform as well as they wanted to in an interview. Interviews for IT jobs can be intimidating and technical recruiters see IT professionals who prepare and practice, but still get nervous at the actual interview. If you make a mistake in answering a question, there’s a chance you might be able to salvage it with a good thank you note that you give to your IT recruiting firms and IT staffing agencies to pass on to your interviewer.
Start by trying to directly address any mistakes or areas where you wish you had said more. While the whole thank you note shouldn’t be consumed by this, a brief, well-written paragraph could go a long way. If you mention that you wish you had given more of your technical background, or perhaps that you had solved a problem differently, you might make an impact on your interviewer.
Secondly, if you have some concrete professional achievements, projects, or work that might cast you in a better light as a candidate, go ahead and provide that. The most effective way to prove something, especially in an IT job interview, is with hard evidence. Your IT recruiting companies and IT staffing companies will be thrilled if you can do that in your thank you note.
2 Questions To Learn More About an IT Company’s Culture
IT professionals tend to enjoy their IT jobs for two reasons: their work and their company/team culture. If you’re working with IT recruiters and IT staffing companies to find a new job, there are plenty of questions you can ask about the work itself. Your technical recruiters and IT recruiting firms will also be able to tell you a lot about the work. However, if you want to know about the culture of a company, you need to ask some questions in your interview. Here are two questions that will help you get more info about the company culture, yet won’t make your interviewer uncomfortable.
- Do team members give each other feedback? If so, how? If the answer suggests a formal process that feels more about blaming and punishment, you may want to consider how you feel about that. If a company uses mistakes as true opportunities to grow and fix problems, that’s a good sign. It’s also a very good sign when a company gives a lot of public praise.
- Especially in IT, you’ll want to know not only how things are between you and potential teammates, but also between you and clients or end users. Your IT recruiting agencies and IT staffing firms should already be setting you up for job interviews in which you’ll do the kind and amount of client interaction that you enjoy. Basically you can just confirm this by asking questions like ‘how often do people in this role interact with clients or end users? What are these interactions like?’
Ask These Questions in IT Job Interviews
IT recruiters and IT staffing companies often encourage job candidates to ask in interviews about what a typical day looks like. Sometimes this doesn’t yield enough information about what the responsibilities will really be for IT jobs. Perhaps the interviewer says there is no typical day, or is simply too vague. While your technical recruiters and IT recruiting firms can provide you with some info, here are two ways you can try to dig for more detail.
Firstly, try asking if the IT job you’re interviewing for has changing responsibilities throughout the year. Perhaps there are seasonal projects, databases need to be updated, installations are necessary, etc. Not only will this help you, but your IT recruiting companies are bound to hear that you impress your interviewer with this question. It shows a real interest in the role and the ability to plan and see a bigger picture. A good IT professional isn’t just great at their day-to-day work. They’re also able to prepare for, and excel in, future work.
Another way to get more insight into an IT role is to try asking if there are any projects the team anticipates taking over or helping with outside of the ones already mentioned. Again, you will not only get a more comprehensive idea of the role, but you’ll also likely impress your interviewer. IT staffing firms have an easy time finding roles for candidates who are thorough and capable of critical thinking. You can demonstrate both qualities by asking this kind of question. You’re doing more than taking the basic job description at face value (which counts critical thinking). You’re also gathering all the info about the role that you can (which demonstrates an ability to be thorough).
