Tag Archives: IT recruiting firms

Unconventional Titles on IT Resumes

IT recruiters come across plenty of candidates who have odd job titles in IT.  IT staffing companies find that especially in the tech field (and particularly startup companies) titles can include words like ‘ninja’ or ‘rockstar’.  If you have one of these creative titles, here’s how to handle it on your resume so you attract IT staffing firms and hiring managers.

Firstly, try to figure out what your title would be at a more conventional company.  If you’re having a hard time coming up with this, IT recruiting agencies would suggest you check out the titles other people use on LinkedIn, reach out to people in your network, or consult with your technical recruiters. Next, list your official title on your resume.  Then in parentheses, list the conventional title next to it.

The last thing IT recruiting firms would suggest you do if you have an unconventional title is to make sure the bullets below that job represent your duties and accomplishments clearly.  Good bullets will work with that conventional title to clear up any lingering confusion about your title and role.  As your write your bullets (under this and all other IT jobs on your resume) keep in mind that sometimes IT staffing agencies might be sharing your resume with less technical hiring managers.  Try to write your bullets so they can be understood by a variety of readers.

 

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Are you a Coding Ninja? You may need to add a bit more info on your IT resume. Photo credit: OpenClipartVectors via Pixabay.

 

Will an Online Degree Help Your IT Job Search?

IT recruiters are sometimes asked by candidates if an online degree will increase their prospects for IT jobs. On one hand, online degrees used to have a certain stigma to hiring managers and IT staffing agencies. On the other, these programs are becoming more and more popular, rigorous, and respected by IT recruiting firms and hiring managers in the tech field.   So are they worth the money, time, and effort now?

If you’re considering an online degree, it may be far more useful in helping you land and be considered for more IT jobs now than 10 years ago.  You just have to be careful about how you choose your program.  Start by researching the reputation of the online degree program.  There are plenty of programs that are widely known by IT staffing firms and employers as reputable, strong programs.  There are also plenty of programs that are so worthless, IT recruiting companies would just tell you to take them off your resume.  Make sure you find out exactly where the program you’re thinking about stands before you invest and time, money, etc in it.

The second thing to consider is how much interaction with clients, end-users, managers, etc your ideal roles require.  When you’re getting a degree to increase your options for roles with a lot of communication, you probably want to avoid an online degree program.  Doing real classes that help you practice working with others will be far more useful to you.  (This will also be something you can bring up in interviews.  You can demonstrate that you’ve not only studied certain technologies or skills, but you’ve also gotten to hone valuable communication skills.)  For certain positions, IT staffing companies have the easiest time placing candidates who can boast both a strong arsenal of technical skills and communication skills.  Why not pick a degree program that helps you develop both?  When you’re not seeking roles that require a lot of communication and interaction with various people, an online degree may be just as valuable to your job search as a more traditional one.

 

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Thinking about an online degree? Make sure it’s a program IT recruiters and hiring managers will respect.

 

 

3 Reasons to Take an IT Recruiter’s Call, Even if You Don’t Want To

There are a fair amount of IT professionals that prefer not to take calls from IT recruiters.  Some even add this to their resumes.  However, even if you’re not currently searching for new IT jobs, you should consider taking that call anyway.  Here are 3 reasons why you should take calls from IT staffing companies:

  1. It can be helpful to establish a relationship with technical recruiters you trust before you need them. Finding IT recruiting agencies that you like working with makes things much easier when you actually do want to search for a new role.  They’ll know you, what you want, and probably have an old copy of your resume on file.  When you’re actually ready to work with IT staffing firms, it will be an easier, more stream-lined process.
  2. IT staffing agencies have connections with hiring managers. Ever applied to jobs online and just felt like your applications were getting lost in cyberspace?  This may have been true.  Hiring managers often receive far too many submissions online to be able to adequately consider them all.  When you work with IT recruiting companies, your resume is the only one submitted or one of a very small set.  Your IT recruiters also often make a case for you to the hiring manager.  The advantage you have as an applicant when you work with IT recruiting agencies is hard to beat.
  3. IT recruiters hear about jobs you may not. Since IT recruiting firms have relationships with various employers, this means they are alerted to a myriad of jobs.  They’re also made aware of jobs before they’re even posted online.  Taking that call with a recruiter might take 5 minutes, but it will open you up to a much larger amount of potential IT jobs.

 

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Pick up that call from an IT recruiter. It could help you land a job! Photo credit: skeeze via Pixabay.

Be Ready for this Question in IT Job Interviews

The best job interviews are almost always the ones you feel prepared for.  While you can’t be ready for everything, here’s one thing IT recruiters can warn you to be ready for: questions about what you like or will miss at your current IT job.

IT staffing firms find that these kinds of questions are usually common, but some interviewers do ask some iteration of ‘what do you enjoy about your current IT role?’  IT recruiting agencies find that it’s easier to answer this kind of question correctly when you understand why it’s being asked. Technical recruiters find that this kind of question is usually asked for two reasons: to ascertain what makes you happy in IT jobs and sometimes to gauge your relationships or general performance at your current job. Taking that first motive into account, IT staffing agencies would suggest you try to speak directly to it.  Come to your interviews armed with a couple of things you actually do enjoy about your current job.  Is it the work?  Your coworkers?  Being able to list a few things, especially things you think will also be present at the role you’re interviewing for, will help your interviewer picture you enjoying (and thus more likely to succeed at) the job.

On to the second reason why this kind of question is asked: to gauge your relationships or general performance at your current job. To satisfy this motive and make yourself look like a great candidate, make sure you answer this question positively and professionally.  Even if you’re working with IT recruiting firms to find a new role because your current boss is evil and the workload is unmanageable, IT staffing companies would suggest you find something positive to say here.  It will help maintain an image of you as somebody with a positive attitude that understands professional norms.  Saying something negative here (or saying nothing) would reflect very negatively on you.  It might  even hurt your chances of landing the IT job!

 

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Don’t be caught unprepared to answer this kind of question in IT job interviews. Photo credit: NDE via Pixabay

 

 

Take Notes During Your IT Job Interviews

Even if you’re completely engaged during your interviews for IT jobs, there are still little details you could miss or forget later.  IT recruiters would absolutely suggest taking notes as you interview.  Here are two guidelines IT staffing agencies would suggest you follow to take notes for your own reference later.

  1. Write down info for your thank you note. IT recruiting companies have seen time and time again how powerful a good thank you note can be.  To write a good one, you’ll probably need to have some things written down to refer to after the interview.  Start with the names of all your interviewers.  (Your IT recruiting firms may not know who your interviewers were if you can’t remember their names—and this will make it impossible to deliver a thank you note!)  Then make sure to note any major concerns that are brought up about your candidacy, any questions you feel you may be able to answer better or expand upon, or just any particularly good moments/connections you may have had with your interviewer(s).  These are all the kinds of things that you want to address in a thank you note.  They will show that you were deeply engaged in the interview.
  2. Write down any questions you have for your technical recruiters. These are the things you don’t feel comfortable asking your interviewer.  Or  perhaps these are things you think may not help you give your best impression to the interviewer.  This is exactly what IT staffing companies are for.  If you have concerns about the job, it’s best to talk with your IT recruiting agencies about them so you can be more candid.  If you have questions about compensation, perks, vacation time, benefits, etc then save them for a conversation with your IT staffing firms.

 

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Great thank you notes start with great notes taken during IT job interviews. Photo credit: Condesign via Pixabay.

Why The IT Job Market is Better Than Ever!

Even though IT recruiters never saw the same kind of downturn that other industries experienced during the recession, the market is certainly growing now.  If you’ve been considering working with your IT recruiters to find a new IT job, now is a great time.  Here’s why you should polish up your resume and call your IT staffing companies today.

  1. More workers are retiring. IT recruiting companies are finding more and more roles open now due to a higher rate of retirees this year.  This means your technical recruiters will have even more IT roles to submit you to.
  2. Employers are having IT staffing agencies seek out more recent grads to fill their open jobs. NACE reports that employers expect to hire 5.2% more new graduates this year than last year.  If you’ve just graduated with a degree in computer science, IT recruiting firms are very likely to have jobs for you to consider.
  3. Even if you’re not a recent grad, the tech sector is still steadily growing.  Mobile communications and social media will continue to drive IT in the next year at least.  That’s good news for all candidates thinking about working with IT staffing firms to find new roles, recent grads or not.

 

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Smartphones are driving growth in the tech sector, which means there are plenty of IT jobs out there.

 

 

Is Your IT Resume Mobile Ready?

In today’s world, searching for IT jobs requires more than just polishing your resume and printing it on nice paper for IT recruiters.  Especially if you’re trying to attract IT recruiting firms, it’s important to make sure your resume is adapted for a more digital world. Here’s how to make sure your resume can be most attractive to technical recruiters.

  1. Polish the content on your resume. IT staffing firms will be less likely to want to work with you if your resume is difficult to read, doesn’t show off your professional achievements, or is so long it could be a novel.  Check out more tips here on how to update your resume to attract IT recruiting agencies.
  2. Make your resume mobile-friendly. This means a few things.  Make sure it’s clean and brief. Don’t use any graphics, odd formats, or colors.  Cut out all extraneous information.  (It’s worth noting that IT recruiting agencies prefer this on mobile formats or otherwise.)  Try emailing yourself your resume and checking it on your phone.  Busy IT staffing agencies and hiring managers often have to look at your resume that way.  Make sure the view is good.
  3. Don’t forget hyperlinks. If you have a website, professional blog, or online portfolio, don’t forget to provide links to it.  IT recruiting companies may also appreciate seeing a link to your LinkedIn profile.  Take full advantage of all that a digital resume can do to bolster your candidacy.

 

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Test your IT resume on your phone – it may help you land your next IT job. Photo credit: FirmBee via Pixabay.

 

Ask IT Recruiters About This Topic, Not Interviewers

IT recruiters are seeing more and more IT professionals who want some kind of flexible work or work-from-home arrangements in their next roles. Due to the nature of IT jobs, this is actually possible relatively often.  However, you can safely assume you’ll seriously hurt your chances of getting one of these jobs if you ask about it during the interview.

First, why do IT staffing companies advise against asking your interviewer about work-from-home and flexible hours arrangements?  IT recruiting firms don’t want you to ask about work-from-home and flexible hours perks in an interview because it suggests that your focus is on the perks (rather than the actual work, the team, the company, etc).  Interviewers want to see that you’re assessing if (and proving) that you’d succeed in the role.  They’re working with IT staffing agencies to find candidates who are a great fit for the work, the corporate culture, etc.  If you use the little time you have with an interviewer to focus on the perks (like flexible hours or work-from-home options) you won’t help your candidacy at all.

If IT recruiting companies don’t want you to ask interviewers about work-from-home and flexible work arrangements, how will you make sure you land a job with these benefits?  You can talk directly with your technical recruiters about it.  This is a big perk of working with IT staffing firms:  they want to know your wish list for your next job.  You can speak frankly with your IT recruiting agencies about your wish list and they work to negotiate on your behalf.  This lets you focus on advocating for your candidacy and landing your dream IT job.

 

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Want to work remotely? Talk about it with your IT recruiters, rather than your interviewers. Photo credit: tookapic via Pixabay.

 

This Programming Language Will Land You IT Jobs in 2016

IT recruiting firms are finding that one of the biggest programming languages of 2016 will be Scala.  There are a few reasons why having this language on your resume will make you more attractive to IT recruiters and hiring managers.

1. Scala is used by some important companies.  LinkedIn, Twitter, Novell, and Sony are just some of the big name companies that are having their technical recruiters reach out to IT professionals with Scala. Even if you aren’t looking for IT jobs at these companies, their influence will likely trickle down.  Scala will probably become important to IT recruiting companies working for other employers, as well.

2. Scala is a great language for startups.  As a language that is elegant and concise, it allows solid programming that can be done quickly.  Since many startups often need quick releases of new products, IT staffing firms will likely see Scala become a more common requirement for them.

3. Scala has a strong community.  Since people are what drive a programming language’s popularity, this is a big factor in how popular a language will be.  With such a strong community for Scala, IT recruiting agencies will likely see it become more and more valuable to employers.

 

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Scala will make your IT resume more attractive to IT recruiters this year. Photo credit: StockSnap via Pixabay.

 

Don’t Ask About This in IT Job Interviews

IT recruiters often advise their candidates to have questions to ask at the end of interviews.  There are a lot of great questions your IT staffing firms want you to ask, but here’s one topic you should not ask about: vacation time andor your upcoming vacation plans.

Why do technical recruiters advise against asking about vacation time or asking if you’ll be able to take a vacation you’ve already scheduled?  There are few reasons.  Firstly, your time in interviews is precious.  Your IT recruiting agencies start by advocating for your candidacy, and you should consider pretty much every minute of your job interview your chance to do the same. Don’t waste that time asking about things you could clear up with your IT recruiting firms, like benefits and vacation time.

Secondly, when you ask about vacation time or talk about your upcoming vacation plans in your interviews, you’re actually hurting your chance of landing the IT jobs you’re interviewing for.   If you focus any of your questions on your vacation time, rather than the job itself, you give the impression that you’re not interested in the job.  Worse, you may even give the impression that you’re just generally lazy.

Lastly,  IT staffing agencies advise against asking about vacations because you may make the interviewer feel like you’re wasting their time.  Since IT staffing companies and human resources are often the ones who handle negotiations for vacation time and other benefits, it’s very possible your interviewer knows nothing about these items– nor do they likely care about them.  Add to that the fact that your interviewer is likely interviewing you on top of an already full day of work.  Any unnecessary questions you ask may actually make the interviewer feel that you aren’t valuing the time they have taken out of their day to talk to you.

 

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Ask your IT recruiters about vacation time, not your interviewers. Photo Credit: PublicDomainPictures via Pixabay.