Tag Archives: IT recruiting companies

2 Questions to Ask in IT Job Interviews

IT recruiters and IT staffing firms can help you prepare to answer questions in IT jobs interviews, but a good candidate comes to any interview armed with their own questions to ask.  Technical recruiters and IT recruiting companies love working with candidates who can ask insightful questions because it really wows hiring managers.  Here are two questions that will not only help you ascertain if you want the job, but also impress your interviewer and IT staffing agencies and IT recruiting firms.

How would you evaluate somebody’s performance in this role?  This question shows that you’re thinking about how to succeed in the role.  Managers want somebody like this—somebody who asks the right questions so they can nearly manage themselves.  If you are aware of your own goals and hold yourself accountable for them, you make your manager’s job easy.  Asking this question makes you a very attractive candidate indeed and make you more in demand with IT staffing companies.

What do you really value in your employees? Asking this question provides a similar impression, but on a more macro level.  Instead of looking for information about how to be successful in this particular role, you’re asking about how to contribute well to the company and team in a more general way.  Pay attention to response here, because it’s important that you feel like you can truly identify with their response.  For instance, if they’re looking for long hours and you aren’t, this is a red flag.

 

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.

 

Thank You Notes When You’re Interviewed by a Panel for IT Jobs

When you’re prepping with your IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies for IT job interviews, they’re likely to tell you to write a thank you note.  But what should you do if you’re interviewed by more than one person?  What if it’s a whole panel of people?  Here’s how to write thank you notes for more than one interviewer that will land you the IT jobs you want.

Firstly, take notes during the interview.  Write down any interesting conversation threads that occur and with whom you had them.  Next, make sure your get business cards from everybody who interviews you.  If you don’t manage to do this, ask your technical recruiters and IT recruiting companies to give you their names.  When you get home from the interview, sit down and start writing notes as soon as you can. Ask your IT staffing firms if they prefer to pass the notes on for you, or if you should do it yourself.  Then write a separate note for everybody who interviewed you.  This is where your notes will come in handy.  Make each note personalized as much as possible to each interviewer.  Make sure to close each note by reiterating your interest in the job.  Your IT recruiting firms can only represent you so much—you are the best person to show your enthusiasm and interest in the job.  Lastly, send out the thank you notes within 24 hours.  This will ensure a quick and effective impact on the interviewers.

 

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.

Graduating Soon? How to Prep for Your Upcoming IT job search

Will you be finishing school and ready to search for your first IT jobs this Spring (or maybe even this Winter)?  Whether you’re searching for your first job, or it’s just your first time working with IT staffing agencies and technical recruiters, here are some tips below.

1. Create a first draft of your resume and pull all your references onto one document.  This is the first thing you’ll need to show to any IT recruiters and IT staffing companies you decide to work with.

2. Contact IT recruiting companies and make appointments to meet with IT recruiters if possible.  You may want to develop a long term relationship with a few select IT recruiting companies, so meeting recruiters in person will help you decide what IT staffing firms will be the best fit for you.

3. Buy a suit or two that fit well and will last for a few years.  You’ll need them for interviewing, and you may need them for other work occasions.  Make sure you have plenty of time to buy a suit that’s flattering, conservative, and will last.  Buying it at the last minute isn’t usually conducive to this.

 

How to Get Recruited for IT Jobs

If you’re searching for new IT jobs over the year, you may be wondering how to connect with IT staffing firms and technical recruiters.  The good news is that it’s pretty easy to get the attention of good IT recruiters and IT recruiting agencies.  Here are some steps you can take:

  1. Contact IT recruiting companies yourself.  Call the main line, email their info number or reach out on LinkedIn.  Most IT staffing agencies welcome calls, emails, and contact from candidates.
  2. Make yourself visible online.  Make sure you have a profile on LinkedIn, Monster, and other job searching sites.  Post your resume so IT staffing companies can easily find you as they search for particular skills.
  3. Go to networking events, particularly ones that list a lot of recruiters who plan to attend.  Bring copies of your resume and/or business cards to hand out to IT staffing companies who may be there.

Keep This in Mind for Your IT Resume

Technical Recruiters and IT staffing firms all offer a lot of advice on fixing up resumes.  Your IT recruiters may give you advice on formatting, content, or even proofread your resume.  Some of this advice is objective, but sometimes it’s simply tied to the preferences of their particular IT recruiting firms.  Here’s one rule of thumb that aIl IT Staffing Companies would agree on, though: treat the space on your resume as very valuable– particularly on the top of the page.

What does this mean?  For both the IT staffing agencies and hiring managers who look at your resume, time is precious.  This means that these IT recruiting companies might only take a few minutes to check out your resume.  Knowing this, you should edit your resume down to its most concise form.  This ensures that everything gets seen and given ample consideration.  You should also put the most important parts of your resume first, because they will likely be given the most consideration.  Put things like your summary and technical proficiencies first.  These give hiring managers and IT recruiting firms a quick answer to the most important question for them: can you probably do this job?

 

Build Your Best IT Resume

There’s no shortage of advice on how to build resumes that attract IT recruiting firms and win IT jobs.  For most IT professionals, this is probably overwhelming—some advice conflicts.  Even more confusing, some of this conflicting advice comes from competing IT recruiting companies and IT recruiters.  So how do you sort through the tips from all the technical recruiters and IT staffing agencies and actually build a great resume?

Firstly, try not to get overwhelmed.  Even if advice conflicts, it’s probably not going to make a staggering difference if you take some IT recruiters’ advice over others.  The important stuff, the actual content of your resume, will probably overshadow any formatting choices you make.

Secondly, make sure to check over your resume and ask IT staffing companies to do the same for you.  The more times people check for errors, the better.  Getting the best formatting for your resume is nice, but it’s more important to have something that’s as close to error-free as possible.

Lastly, try focusing on results.  When you list bullets for a job, list your achievements.  When you describe your career, think about achievements you can provide.  No matter what format tricks you use, these results are what will shine through to hiring managers.