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Tag Archives: IT recruiting firms

How to Describe Yourself in IT Job Interviews

Sometimes in interviews for IT jobs, you’ll be asked to describe yourself.  Even if you don’t prepare for this question with your IT recruiters and IT staffing companies, you can have a basic idea of how to respond.  Here are some guidelines for how to formulate this answer so that you do you technical recruiters and IT recruiting firms proud.

1. Don’t use words to describe yourself that are very obviously matters of opinion.  For instance, don’t call yourself bright, smart, well-liked, likable, successful, etc.  This only tells your interviewer that you think you’re smart.  Since most IT professionals probably believe this about themselves, that doesn’t really set you apart.  Use this question to give concrete achievements, anecdotes, or to demonstrate that you’ve got a great process for problem-solving, troubleshooting, etc.  This is the kind of thing that impresses hiring managers and IT staffing agencies.

2. Don’t call yourself obsessive, a perfectionist, or some other false “flaw”. Now is the time to be honest and straightforward.  Coyly praising yourself will just waste time and frustrate the interviewer. It’s also a much overused strategy, which will just feel meaningless to a hiring manager. Use your interview time wisely and IT recruiting companies will be happy to set you up for interviews.

3. Do try to incorporate a quality or two that you know the interviewing company values.  If you know a company values efficiency and you can legitimately say that you’re great at getting things done quickly, it will help to note that.  Try to have a quick story or two to back up these statements, too!

 

What to Do If You Don’t Understand A Question in an IT Job Interview

So you’ve put in the preparation with IT recruiters and practice for an interview for IT jobs.  But maybe there’s a question you just don’t understand.  Maybe it’s a on a technology your technical recruiters and IT staffing agencies didn’t know you’d be asked about.  Or maybe you just don’t know what kind of answer the hiring manager is looking for.  Take a deep breath and don’t worry.  You can use these tips to help yourself answer the question and avoid embarrassing yourself and your IT recruiting companies and IT staffing firms.

  1. Don’t be afraid to take a beat.  If you’re thrown off by the question, feel free to ask for a moment to think.  It’s not going to hurt you, and it may help you relax and answer the question better.
  2. Ask for a little clarification if you’re unsure what the hiring manager is asking you about or for.  They won’t mind, and they may appreciate seeing that you’re thoughtful and thorough.  These are good qualities in IT professionals.
  3. Lastly, don’t try to fake an answer.  If you don’t think you can answer the question at all, be honest.  If you do think you can start to outline how you’d get to the answer, and then do that for your interviewer.  Sometimes, just demonstrating your thought process and resourcefulness will help.

Try these tips the next time you’re asked a stumper in a job interview.  Your IT recruiting firms and IT staffing companies will appreciate it—and it might just land you the job.

 

Why You Need to Ask Good Questions in IT Job Interviews

Most IT recruiters and IT staffing companies will tell you that you need to come to your interviews ready to ask a few questions.  The candidates IT staffing companies and technical recruiters have an easy time placing in IT jobs are the ones who come to interviews with plenty of relevant questions. Ever wonder why?

The reason IT staffing agencies and IT recruiting firms need people to have questions on hand for interviews is because it demonstrates that they are trying to find the best job for them.  No hiring manager wants to hire somebody who is just looking for the first job they get offered.  This usually results in a poor fit—either in terms of skill or culture.  When IT professionals ask well thought out questions that are clearly relevant to them, hiring managers know they’re seriously considering how much they’d succeed and enjoy the job.  So for your next interview, prepare a few questions, possibly with the help of your IT recruiting agencies. It may win you the job.

 

How IT Professionals Should Answer ‘Why Should We Hire You?’

Sometimes in interviews for IT jobs, candidates are given a tough question: Why should we hire you?  The question is very broad and that can be intimidating to IT professionals, but it doesn’t have to be.  If you take a little time to prepare with your IT recruiters and IT staffing firms, you can turn this question into a great opportunity to sell your candidacy.  Here’s how you and your IT staffing agencies can prepare an excellent answer to this kind of question.

Firstly, take a few minutes to talk with your technical recruiters about what’s important to this company—broadly and in this particular role.  Take note if they list a quality or skill that you have and can really demonstrate, especially with a concrete achievement. Practice talking about this skill or quality and giving an anecdote that illustrates it.

Secondly, run through the rest of your accomplishments.   If you want, you can ask your IT recruiting firms for feedback on this part, but this isn’t necessary if you’re a seasoned interviewer.  Pick a few accomplishments that are concretely quantifiable and practice speaking about them.  Think about ways you can connect them to the company you’re interviewing for, and suggesting how these accomplishments are things you might be able to do in this new role.

Lastly, in IT roles, soft skills are actually at a premium.  IT staffing companies are often asked to provide candidates who aren’t just good at the required skills, but also easy and pleasant to work with.  Again, it’s best to be able to illustrate your people skills with (brief) stories or anecdotes.  Find a soft skill or two, illustrate that you have it/them, and you’ve driven home your point.  After hearing these three talking points, Hiring managers will be considering you very seriously and your IT recruiting agencies will be very happy with you!

 

Want to see our open IT jobs?  Follow us on LinkedIn.  We post new jobs daily!

Tips for IT Job Seekers Over 50

As the economy continues to improve, technical recruiters are finding that the people who still struggle a bit finding IT jobs are those over 50.  What do IT staffing firms suggest that IT professionals over 50 do to help make themselves more marketable to both hiring managers and IT staffing agencies? Here are a few tips.

  1. Clean up your resume—don’t leave every job on there.  The longer your resume, the more it suggests to hiring managers, IT recruiting companies, and IT recruiters, that you’re older.  If you want to avoid making this obvious, as most people do in the IT field, it’s time to take a few jobs off your resume.
  2. Make sure your resume highlights the technologies you’re proficient in, especially current and new ones.  Fair or not, companies sometimes hesitate to hire older IT candidates because they’re concerned about whether their technical knowledge is up to date.  If you can demonstrate that you’re well-versed in current and new technology to IT recruiting agencies, you can make yourself a much more attractive candidate.
  3. If IT recruiting firms call you about jobs, take the time to explain why you’re qualified, but not overqualified, for them.  When you’re older than 50, sometimes this is a concern.  Take a little time to assuage it.

 

Don’t Forget to Bring This to IT Job Interviews

Your IT recruiters and IT staffing companies probably gave you a checklist of things to bring to your interviews for IT jobs.  Your technical recruiters likely spoke to you about what to wear, how many copies of you resume to pack, etc. But there’s one thing that your IT staffing agencies may not have told you to bring: your energy.

Though they may not explicitly talk about it, IT staffing firms and hiring managers want you to make a conscious effort to display a good level of enthusiasm and energy in interviews.  While it’s not necessary (or even good) to be as bubbly as a cheerleader, you do need to make sure you display some excitement about the job.  IT recruiting firms have countless stories of candidates who were rejected because they seemed utterly unenthused about jobs or companies.  Don’t be one of those stories—bring your energy with you to your IT job interviews!

 

Don’t Do This in Your IT Cover Letter

Sometimes, your IT recruiters and IT staffing companies ask you to write up a cover letter for IT jobs they’ll be submitting you for.  If your IT recruiting firms and IT staffing agencies ask you to write a cover letter, try to avoid this major mistake: don’t gush on and on about the company—particularly if it’s not genuine.

IT recruiting agencies do want you to mention what you like about a company in a cover letter.  However, you should only do this if you can genuinely and succinctly do it.  Taking up more than a few sentences to go on and on about a company that probably don’t know much about will come across as insincere.  Hiring managers may think that you’re working with a form letter (especially if you give pretty generic praise to the company) or that you’re focusing on the wrong things—possibly even trying to distract from, or covering up, your weak candidacy.   Your IT staffing firms and technical recruiters want you to write cover letters that focus on why you’d be a great fit for the job.  If you take up too much time saying things that don’t feel genuine about the employer, it’s a red flag to them and they’ll lose interest in you.

Want to see our open IT jobs?  Follow us on LinkedIn.  We post new jobs daily!

 

Ask This Question in Your Next IT Job Interview

If you didn’t already know it, your IT recruiters and IT staffing firms probably prepared you to ask questions in your next IT jobs interviews.  Some of the questions you probably plan on asking are for your own benefit—they’re questions about the job that the technical recruiters and IT staffing agencies you’re working with can’t answer for you.  But some of the questions you ask will be to make yourself look good to the recruiter (and to build up your reputation with your IT staffing companies).

The next time you have an interview for an IT job, try asking this question to really polish your impression.  “How has this role evolved over time and how would you ideally want it to continue to grow?” This question will impress your IT recruiting firms and interviewers because it shows that you’re interested in performing well for your potential employers.  Beyond just giving the usual 9-5 bar minimum, this question indicates that you want to be an employee that contributes real value to your next company.  Try asking it in your next interview.  It may just win you the job.

 

Nail your Skype IT Job Interviews

More and more IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies these days are able to offer their job candidates skype (or similar technologies) interviews.  If your technical recruiters or IT recruiting firms set up a skype interview for you, here are some tips to make sure you get offered the IT jobs.

  1. Start by scheduling the interview a day and time when you can be fully prepared.  Your IT staffing companies and IT recruiting agencies want you to succeed in your interviews.  So they’ll understand when you ask them to help you schedule the interview for a day and time when you’ll be able to do the interview with a secure internet connection, have a clean, quiet, and appropriate location to do it in, and be able to wear interview-appropriate clothing.
  2. Make sure you practice interviewing with the technology you’ll be using ahead of time.  It’s not enough to simply practice interviewing.  You want to know how you come across and what it feels like to use this technology.  You also want to know how to use it so you can easily set it up the day of the interview.
  3. Lastly, it may seem obviously, but remember that this interview is just as serious as an in-person interview.  It could be easy to forget this because you’re at home, but don’t!  Stay professional and keep your head in the game—your IT recruiting companies will really appreciate it and so will your interviewers!

 

 

Help IT Recruiters Find You

Are you looking to connect with some IT recruiters and IT staffing firms to get started on a job search? Are you having a tough time creating good relationships with technical recruiters and IT recruiting companies?  It might have to do with your online presence.  Here are some ways to make sure you’re more visible to IT staffing agencies and IT recruiting firms online—and in most flattering way possible.

Firstly, you’ll want to clean up your online presence.  If you have a Facebook page or are on any other social media, try to take down any inappropriate, unprofessional, or embarrassing pictures or posts.  You don’t want IT recruiting agencies to come across these, nor do you want a hiring manager to see them!

After making your unprofessional aspects of your life invisible, it’s time to make sure your professional achievements are visible.  IT staffing companies will be more likely to contact you if you make sure to have a great profile on LinkedIn and post your resume on major websites for job seekers.  Once you’re on LinkedIn, it’s important to start using your profile to make connections.  It will be even easier for recruiters to find you if you wind up being connected to people already in their network.