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Tag Archives: IT recruiting agencies

Polishing your IT Resume and LinkedIn Profile – Language, Part 1

If you’re currently updating your resume and/or LinkedIn profile, you’re probably trying to find ways to make it more attractive to IT recruiters and IT staffing firms.  While IT staffing agencies are usually drawn to the content of a resume or LinkedIn profile, it’s worth it to try to make sure it’s the most polished version that you can present.  There’s a lot you can do to make your LinkedIn profile more attractive to IT recruiting companies, but today we’ll focus on the words you use to describe yourself.

Probably the trickiest part of making a resume or LinkedIn profile that really garners interest from IT staffing companies is making it stand out.  It’s easy to write a resume that technical recruiters feel like they’ve seen a hundred times already. A powerful way to differentiate yourself to IT recruiting agencies is to make sure you skip using all the buzz words and phrases that everyone else uses – particularly in describing yourself.  You probably already have an idea of what some of these words and phrases are, but we’ll post a list below.  It may seem like a great idea to call yourself ‘passionate’ or a ‘team player’—you may actually even be these things!  The problem is that these words are so overused, they’re useless.  If you list yourself as ‘creative’ all you’re doing is wasting precious space on your resume or LinkedIn profile and boring IT recruiting firms.  Focus on listing your skills and accomplishments.  This is what they care about most.

Avoid these words on your resume or LinkedIn Profile:

Creative
Motivated
Passionate
Expert
Team-Player
Quick Learner
Collaborative
Hard-working
Driven

 

How to Be Likeable in IT Job Interviews

If you’re interviewing for IT jobs, you may be preparing for them by checking with your IT recruiting firms on what technologies to brush up on, what questions to prepare for, etc.  You may be talking to your technical recruiters about standard things like where the interview will be and at what time.  These things are important, but IT staffing agencies have found that it’s often equally important that you come across as likeable in an interview.  It’s hard to say exactly what makes somebody likeable, but here are two tips IT staffing companies would suggest you use that may help.

Be a little humble.  It’s possible to retain a confident, competent air but still show a healthy amount of humility.  The best team members, the ones IT staffing firms place over and over again, are open to hearing new information and new ways of doing things. They are far from arrogant, which makes them highly responsive to feedback, training, and acclimating to new workplaces and managers. Show off a little humility in your interview—it might just land you the job.

But don’t ‘humblebrag.’  A humblebrag is exactly what it sounds like: Bragging wrapped in an appearance of humility.  You’ve probably heard a few humblebrags before and disliked it yourself.  You’ll need to sell yourself in an interview, but it will make you come across as disingenuous and out of touch if you aren’t just direct about it.  IT recruiting agencies want you to be open and honest in your interviews.  If you’re good at something, say this directly.  It will get the point across better and will make you seem like the kind of person who is confident and socially graceful.  Both are imperative qualities in good hires.

How to Polish Your IT Resume: Part 2

Continuing the theme from our previous blog post, today we’ll continue to look at ways you can update your resume so you wow your IT recruiters, IT staffing firms, and hiring managers.  Last time we explored using more powerful words, but this time we’ll talk about why writing your resume with a different perspective will make it more attractive to technical recruiters and IT recruiting companies.

Often, a resume is written with the perspective of the person seeking IT jobs.  The objective is about what the job seeker wants. The bullets under each job are about the daily to-do lists the job seeker operated under.  While this all seems pretty natural, it’s not the best way to really grab the attention of hiring managers and IT recruiting agencies.  The best strategy is to write the resume from their perspective. Take out the objective—it’s hard to write about anything but what you as a job seeker wants.  This isn’t a hiring manager’s first concern—their first concern is what they want.  To really address what a hiring manager and IT recruiting firms are seeking, write out what you achieved under each job.  Give the most concrete results you can—even if you can give actual numbers like ‘Increased revenue by 10%.’  Talk about what your employer gained during your time there.  This makes it easier for IT staffing companies and interviewers to picture you in a potential job.  They can literally see you as a value-add for the hiring company.

 

How to Polish Your IT Resume: Part 1

If you’re searching for new IT jobs this year, January is a great time to start.  You may already have relationships with IT recruiters and IT staffing firms, but you should consider overhauling your resume.  Whether you’ve been at a new position, or it’s just been a while since IT recruiting companies have submitted your resume to potential employers, a sparkling new resume will get you far and impress your technical recruiters.  Over the next few blog posts, we’ll examine a few key ways you can update your resume and improve upon it so you wow IT staffing agencies and hiring managers alike.  Today, we’ll focus on using powerful words.

When you create your resume, you do yourself a disservice to use words that are too generic. Firstly, this means that you should stay away from buzzwords.  Nobody thinks much of it if your resume states that you’re a ‘team player’ because pretty much everybody says they are.  Ditto saying that you’re detail-oriented or a hard worker.  Focus on articulating the skills and experience you bring to the table instead of these generic qualities.

Secondly, to impress IT recruiting agencies and potential employers alike, make sure your bullets under each job tend to start with verbs.  The best statements give accomplishments.  Employers will be excited to interview you if you can document exactly what you’ve done for your previous employers.  They’ll be able to see the value you could add to their organization.

NEVER say this in an IT Job Interview, Part Two

There are plenty of ways you can prepare for job interviews – both with your IT staffing companies and IT recruiters and on your own.  But even with the best preparations and tips from IT recruiting agencies, there are some ways you could still shoot yourself in the foot.  If you’re at interviews for your dream IT jobs, then make sure you never, ever, under any circumstances say you don’t think you’re completely qualified and prepared for the job.

Why is this a mistake?  Technical recruiters certainly want you to be honest about your abilities and experience, but this isn’t really about that.  Firstly, if you don’t think you are able to do a job, then you shouldn’t let IT recruiting firms submit you for it—it’s wasting your time and theirs.  However, if this is a case of a lack of confidence, or perhaps you need to learn a new technology, then it’s a different situation.  If you and your IT staffing agencies think you could succeed in a job, but you’re just unused to selling yourself, then it’s time to practice that.  Hiring managers don’t want to take a risk in who they hire, so confidence is key.  If you need to learn a new technology, you need to detail the steps you can (or perhaps already are).  The bottom line is to make sure you let the hiring manager know that you can see yourself as a rock star in the position—and nothing less.  You’ll sink yourself if you don’t.

 

NEVER say this in IT Job Interviews

If you prepare for IT jobs with your IT recruiters and IT staffing firms, you’re likely to be ready to answer questions about technologies, your strengths as an employee, and to be able to demonstrate you fit well into the corporate culture.  But your technical recruiters and IT staffing companies may not even think to tell you this: Never ever say that a job is not your first choice.

Why is this important?  IT recruiting companies would advise that while honesty is important, it’s more important to let the hiring managers who interview you know that you’re interested in a job.  If you say anything that indicates that a job is your second choice, or perhaps that you’re equally interested in another position, they have room to doubt your interest.  IT recruiting agencies would never want you to lie, of course and you shouldn’t push hard for a job that you wouldn’t want at all.  It’s important to think about the fact that the few words you say will make a big impact on your interviewer.  If some of those words indicate that you might turn down a job offer, be give anything less than your best in a job, then you’ve hurt your chances.

 

Ace Your Phone Interview for IT Jobs!

All your hard work has paid off!  You’ve met and spoken with IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies.  You’ve polished your resume per your technical recruiters’ requests.  It’s time to do some phone interviews for your dream IT jobs.  Besides studying upon the relevant technologies that your IT recruiting companies have told you about, what else can you do to prepare?

Practice answering basic interview questions and study your resume.  Research the company, and basically do everything you’d do to prepare for an in-person interview.  It’s tempting to wing a phone interview, but IT recruiting agencies would strongly urge against this.  Phone interviews are just as important, if not more important than in-person interviews.  If you don’t bring you’re ‘A Game’, hiring managers will tell your IT staffing firms that they’re not interested.  It’s also important to make sure you’ll have a quiet place with a landline to take the phone call for phone interviews.  Taking even the slightest chance that you’ll have a bad connecting during the interview isn’t worth it.  IT recruiting firms know that it doesn’t take much for a hiring manager to form a bad impression of a candidate.  Don’t let your phone hurt your chances of winning your dream job.

 

Finding the Best IT Recruiters for You

If you’re looking for new IT jobs, you’re probably shopping around for good IT staffing firms and technical recruiters to work with.  There are a ton of options out there, so it can be overwhelming to figure out what IT recruiting companies and IT recruiters you should work with.  What makes a recruiter and IT staffing agencies right for you?

Firstly, you need to be feel comfortable with the recruiters at the IT staffing companies and be able to trust them.  Unfortunately, there are some IT recruiting agencies that do things that may not always be in your best interest.  You can research IT staffing agencies will often have reviews online from candidates they’ve worked with.  Secondly, you should feel like the recruiters you work with are listening to your needs.  They should submit you for jobs that you can succeed in and would enjoy.  If they’re trying to submit you to a lot of roles that may not fit what you’ve asked for, it’s time to reconsider working with them.  Lastly, it’s ideal if your IT recruiting firms that you work with pair you with a single recruiter who works with you consistently.  The best IT recruiting firms will make sure you can create a strong relationship with IT recruiters who know you and your career goals.

 

Are You Making These Mistakes in Your IT Job Interviews?

If you’ve spoken to your IT recruiters and IT staffing companies about how to prep for interviews, you’ve probably spoken about the basics: questions you should practice answering, technologies to study up on, etc. Your technical recruiters may not have prepped you on a few subtle mistakes you could be making—mistakes that might cost you IT jobs.  Here are a few things to avoid doing in interviews to make sure you land jobs and impress your IT recruiting agencies.

Don’t wear anything distracting: This includes jewelry, clothing, hair, makeup, or perfume or cologne.  You don’t want the hiring manager to remember any of your wardrobe or grooming habits.  You want them to contact your IT staffing firms ASAP because they can’t forget how skilled and competent you are.

Don’t let your phone make an appearance.  Your IT recruiting companies might advise you of this, but it’s worth repeating.  Keep your phone in your pocket or purse and don’t play with it or answer calls when you’re in the office building for your interview.

Don’t let your confidence waiver.  The best employee is the one that doesn’t need constant management.  IT staffing agencies want to represent job candidates who are confident in their abilities and experience.  Don’t do things like ‘uptalking’ or adding “I guess” onto the end of statements.  These undermining your confidence– and the interviewer’s confidence in you.

Don’t Make These IT Job Interview Mistakes

So you’ve worked with IT staffing agencies and IT recruiters, found IT jobs that would be a great fit, and you’re ready to interview.  Are you ready to put your best foot forward and really impress the hiring managers (and of course the technical recruiters who are representing you)?  Take a minute to run through this list of mistakes to avoid.  It could be the difference between getting the job and making a bad impression on your IT staffing companies and interviewers.

Don’t dress poorly.  Your IT recruiting firms will be happy to give you guidelines for how to dress for your interviews.  If they absolutely aren’t sure (which is pretty unlikely), then it won’t hurt to just go with a suit and tie.  It’s always much better to be overdressed than underdressed.

Don’t lose focus on the most important topic of conversation: the job.  Putting too much emphasis on the perks of the job, small talk with the interviewer, or anything else, will detract from your overall candidacy.  You’re at the job interview for a reason, so focus on that.

Don’t try to wing it.  Study up on any relevant technologies that your IT recruiting agencies tell you about.  Research the company.  Get a job description and stud