Tag Archives: IT staffing agencies

Avoid This Topic During IT Job Interviews

It’s rare for IT recruiters to work with candidates who aren’t at least a little nervous to interview for IT jobs. Even for candidates who have been interviewing for years, the process can still be uncomfortable.  IT staffing firms certainly see nervous candidates come through and land the job anyways.  The key is to appear calm and stay focused on performing well.  A big part of this is not talking about being nervous with your interviewer.

Why would IT recruiting firms strongly suggest that you not tell your interviewer you’re nervous? For some IT jobs, working under pressure at least occasionally is part of the job.  A job interview is a great time to demonstrate your ability to do this.  Even if it’s not an explicit part of the job description, IT staffing companies still suggest that appearing calm and giving your best performance in a job interview, a fairly high pressure situation, will still strengthen your candidacy.

Secondly, IT recruiting agencies would suggest you not talk to your interviewer about being nervous because it won’t look professional.  Professionals are able to focus on what’s important and put their feelings aside, even in uncomfortable situations.  Additionally, plenty of IT jobs also require good communication skills, whether with coworkers, end users, or managers.  Derailing an interview with a conversation about your nervousness might give your interviewer a bad impression of your communication skills.

So the next time you’re tempted to tell your interviewer about how you nervous you are, remember this advice from IT staffing agencies suggest and hold off.  Use your precious interview time to show your interviewer you’re a great candidate.

 

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Don’t let your nervousness derail your performance in IT job interviews. Photo credit: Lindsay_Jayne via Pixabay.

 

Leave This Off Your IT Resume!

When you polish up your resume to attract IT staffing firms, you may be tempted to create fancy tables or graphs to show your technical proficiencies or achievements.  Perhaps you’ve even heard that these kinds of elements might make you stand out to IT recruiting firms and hiring managers.  This is terrible advice, though.  Here’s why IT staffing agencies will respond better if leave fancy tables graphs, pie charts, etc off your IT resume.

Firstly, while it may take skills to create a pie chart or graph on your resume, this isn’t the impression that elements like this often give to IT recruiting companies and hiring managers.  If you have a strong resume with good experience and a great arsenal of technical proficiencies, you don’t need any special gimmicks to make your resume stand out to IT recruiting agencies.  If you do use these elements, you’re distracting from the strength of your candidacy and suggesting you may not understand professional norms.

Another reason IT staffing companies wouldn’t suggest you use any graphs, pie charts, etc on your resume is that these may make your resume more difficult for hiring managers or technical recruiters to read.  Since IT recruiters and interviewers are often pressed for time, they won’t usually appreciate a graph that will require them to slow down and decipher it.  Even if it’s simple, an element like this will still require more time to read than a simple, well-formatted resume.  At best, you’ll simply irritate interviewers or technical recruiters.  At worst, they may actually abandon your resume altogether in favor of one that is easier to look over (and thus establishes great candidacy faster).

So use a simple, clean format for your IT resume.  Fancy charts won’t win you IT jobs.

 

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Don’t put one any pie charts on your IT resume, no matter how beautiful you can make them. Photo credit: OpenClipartVectors via Pixabay.

 

 

Don’t Let Tough Questions Sink You in IT Job Interviews

If you’re working with IT recruiting companies to find your next IT job, your IT recruiters will likely give you some idea of questions to prepare for before interviews.  Even with plenty of practice and research, most IT professionals do encounter some questions that are just uncomfortable to answer.  For instance, IT recruiting agencies often find that candidates who have been fired don’t enjoy answering ‘Have you ever been fired before?’  Here’s how IT staffing firms would suggest you deal with it if you get asked a question that you don’t feel good about answering.

  1. Don’t be vague or try to hide anything. Your technical recruiters don’t want you to spill your guts about every gory detail of a firing, unpleasant situation, weakness, etc.  However, they also want you to make your interviewer feel like you’re untrustworthy.  Interviewers can usually tell when you want to hide something, and they don’t give your IT staffing companies good feedback when that happens.
  2. Try to stay calm. You can guide how your interviewer feels about your answers to a question by appearing comfortable yourself.  If you are visibly nervous, ashamed, or upset by something, your interviewer is all the more likely to feel like it’s a bad thing.  IT staffing agencies want you to remember that everyone has flaws.  Seeing those flaws clearly and having a plan for how to work on them is what sets you apart.

Don’t assume your IT recruiting firms will always tell you that you lost IT jobs because you’ve had to divulge less than flattering info about yourself.  Whatever the question, there’s usually a way to respond to it honestly, but without reflecting poorly on you.  (For example, if you’ve been fired before, you can state that simply– and mention what you learned from it.)  It’s even possible to turn uncomfortable questions into an opportunity to show something positive about yourself as an IT professional.

 

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Don’t be afraid. If you’re calm and open, you can answer tough questions at your IT job interviews. Photo credit: SEVENHEADS via Pixabay.

 

Don’t Say This Phrase in Your IT Job Interviews

When you’re interviewing for IT jobs, there are plenty of clichés you may be temped to reach for.  IT recruiters can understand this.  Saying you’re a ‘team player’ or that you’ll ‘be the first one in and the last one out’ may actually be true.  The problem is that these clichés have become pretty meaningless.  IT staffing firms can guarantee it won’t help you at all in job interviews to reach for any of these common phrases.  Here is one particularly harmful one that IT staffing companies would suggest you avoid: ‘I’m a quick learner!’

Why will your IT recruiting companies want you to avoid saying this in your interviews?  As discussed above, the phrase has been rendered pretty meaningless.  You may make yourself look a bit unprepared for the interview or even damage your candidacy by using such a meaningless phrase.  Good candidates can speak about their assets in specifics and are often prepared with concrete examples of professional achievements.

If you’re tempted to say you’re a ‘quick learner’ or something along these lines, here’s what IT staffing agencies would suggest instead.  Take a breath and reach for an anecdote about a time you actually did this.  Was there a time you needed to learn a new programming language in a short time?  Was there a time you needed to assimilate quickly to a team’s processes?  By telling these stories, you’re demonstrating your value to your interviewer.  Not only that, but you’re doing so in a way that helps them imagine you in the role you’re interviewing for.  So at your next interview, remember that your IT recruiting agencies will be more likely to give you good news about your interview if you stay away from saying you’re a quick learner!

 

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Can you tell a story about a time when you actually were a quick learner? Photo credit: Hans via Pixabay.

 

This May Be the Most Important Part of Your IT Resume to Update

Often, when IT recruiters and hiring managers are looking over resumes to fill IT jobs, they don’t have the time to really scrutinize them in detail.  If you’re an IT professional who may want to attract technical recruiters to help in your job search, this means you need to make it easy for IT staffing agencies to quickly confirm you’re a great fit for positions.  One surefire way to do this?  Create a thorough, well-formatted ‘Technical Skills’ section at the top of your resume.

IT recruiting firms often see that candidates will update their experience, but may not create–  or just as bad, update–  a section that solely lists their technical skills and certifications. If you leave skills off this section, you might just be losing IT staffing companies’ interest.  Often this is the first part of the resume that IT recruiters will scan.  It will also help to keep and maintain IT staffing agencies’and hiring managers’ interest if you format your technical skills section in a neat, easy-to-read manner.  Complicated or messy diagrams may lead IT recruiting companies to pass on your resume or to miss an important skill.  The last and most important thing to keep in mind is that you should put your technical skills section right at the top of your resume. By making this section the first thing people read, it will help IT recruiting agencies to be able to quickly decide you’re a  good fit for a position.

 

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Update your technical skills section– it could be what gets your IT recruiter’s attention! Photo credit: Stokpic via Pixabay.

 

 

Tips For Better Research Before Your IT Job Interviews

You’ve probably already heard from your IT recruiters that you need to research a company before going to interview for IT jobs there.  Besides brushing up on relevant technologies and skills for the role, any IT staffing firms will tell you that knowing about the company is the most imperative part of interview prep.  If you really want to stand out, though, you need to direct your research in a more targeted way than simply Googling the company.  Here are 2 ways that IT recruiting companies would suggest you approach your research.

1. Look for what the company is proud of.  Your first step here may be just asking your technical recruiters if they can list anything for you, as they know the client best.  Next, check the company’s website for a press or awards page.  If they don’t have anything like this, be sure to Google the company to see if they’ve been honored or achieved anything impressive.  Being able to rattle off some of the company’s recent achievements or awards will help build a nice rapport with your interviewer because it gives them a moment to feel positive—and perhaps direct some of the positivity towards you!  Additionally, knowing this information shows that you’re knowledgeable about the company.  If you think it will sound natural, try to note some of these points in speaking about why you want to work with the company.

2. Look for information about the company’s competitors or industry.  Plenty of IT staffing agencies work with candidates who research the company itself.  You can set yourself apart by extending beyond this view to a bigger picture.  Are there major issues in this company’s industry?  Interesting new technologies that competitors are using?  If you can find a way to briefly mention this kind of information in your interview, your IT recruiting firms are likely to hear some great feedback about you.

 

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Go beyond getting basic facts about the companies you interview at. Photo credit: FirmBee via Pixabay.

 

Don’t Let This ‘Surprise’ Mess Up Your IT Job Interview

IT recruiters hear about a lot of things that throw IT professionals off in an interview.  No matter how diligently candidates prepare, surprises can still pop up that your IT staffing agencies couldn’t have predicted for you.  Here’s one potential surprise that you can prepare yourself for: a grumpy or disinterested interviewer. It’s easy to see why IT recruiting companies hear that a grumpy or disinterested interviewer really throws candidates off.  At best, it’s uncomfortable.  At worst, it’s a sign of a difficult boss or work environment.  If you encounter an interviewer who isn’t very friendly or enthusiastic, here’s how to deal with it gracefully.

Firstly, try not to take this personally or as a definite sign of a bad work environment.  IT staffing firms work with plenty of employers who have good reasons why they’re unenthused about an interview.  Perhaps they’re already slammed at work and don’t have time to do interviews on top of that.  Maybe they’re dealing with personal issues outside of work.  Your interviewer may just be having a terrible day.  Keep in mind that interviewers are people and they deal with the same issues as the rest of us.

Secondly, IT recruiting firms would suggest that you complete the interview cheerfully and to the best of your ability.  Try to pretend the interviewer isn’t in a bad mood.  This also means not showing concern or asking what’s wrong.  In any other circumstance, a little sympathy would go a long way.  In an interview, you don’t want to be cold, but you do need to stay on track.  Trying to cater to your interviewer’s emotions could distract you, your interviewer, or just make things awkward.

The last thing IT staffing companies would suggest is to reach out to your technical recruiters after your interview.  Let them know how it went.  Ask them if they think this is a sign of other issues for the team or if it’s more of a temporary thing that you can just disregard.  Your IT recruiting agencies want you to land in a job that you’re happy– it’s hard to be successful otherwise!

 

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Don’t let a grumpy interviewer throw you off at your IT job interviews. Photo credit: Aquilatin via Pixabay.

 

 

Remember This During Your IT Job Interviews

Have you ever wondered why your interviewers often ask you about your career, even if your IT staffing agencies have already given them copies of your resume?  Here are a couple reasons why your interviewer may need you to walk them through information that’s already on the resumes your IT recruiting firms have provided them with.

  1. They simply don’t remember it. IT recruiters would suggest you not take this personally at all.  Your interviewer may be talking to many candidates.  They may be handling various projects at the same time—in addition to interviewing.  If your interviewer asks you about something that’s already on your resume, your technical recruiters would urge you to answer it pleasantly anyways.  Being rude or condescendingly pointing out that the information is on the resume definitely won’t land you any IT jobs!
  2. Your interviewer may have questions because your resume is full of technical details. Especially in IT, resumes can be long and full of complicated details for various projects.  Don’t be upset if your interviewer needs to ask you something that is already covered on your resume. Your IT staffing companies would urge you to patiently respond to any questions, remembering that your resume might be too long and complicated for them to remember perfectly.
  3. Your interviewer might be less technical, and thus need you to re-word or explain things on your resume. Your IT recruiting agencies may be able to let you know this before the interview, but sometimes they may not.  If your interviewer isn’t as familiar with the technologies you’ve worked with, or possibly isn’t technical at all, they may ask you questions that you’d think your resume can answer.  Again, your IT staffing firms would suggest you answer them patiently and offer to clarify further if needed.  The key here is to make sure you demonstrate an ability to communicate well, even with people who have less experience or understanding of certain technologies.  This can be a moment where you really cement your candidacy!

 

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Your interviewer may have a lot going on before they meet with you that day. Photo credit: cloudhoreca via Pixabay.

 

2 Strong Questions to Ask in IT Job Interviews

If you’ve worked with IT recruiters before to find new IT jobs, you already know that strong questions can be your best assets.  Here are two strong questions that IT staffing agencies would recommend you ask.

Firstly, your IT recruiting firms would suggest that you ask about how the company or team does performance reviews. Since this is the kind of in-depth information that your technical recruiter doesn’t include on the basic job description, it shows that you’re considering the position a bit more deeply.  It also shows that you’re considering how success is measured in this position.  This is the kind of candidate that IT recruiting companies have no problem placing in jobs.  You can show that you’re the kind of candidate who doesn’t just want to land any job; you want to land a job you can succeed in.

Secondly, IT staffing companies would recommend that you ask if the interviewer has any ballpark ideas of what they’d like the person they hire to achieve in the first month or the first quarter.  Sometimes interviewers won’t have any estimates about this, but often in IT your interviewer could have specific ideas of what they’d like done on a project and deadlines.  If you show that you’re already interested in these deadlines and expectations, you can demonstrate that you’re a conscientious employee.  You can also gauge for yourself if you think the company works at a pace that’s compatible with your work style.  If they expect too much to be done too quickly, you’ll know that you should tell your IT staffing firms the role isn’t a good fit for you.

 

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Asking how the company does performance reviews strengthens your candidacy. Photo credit: geralt via Pixabay.

 

Don’t Get Too Technical in Your IT Job Interviews

One question IT recruiters find that you’ll usually be asked in interviews for IT jobs is something along the lines of ‘tell us about your professional achievements.’ Most technical recruiters find that their candidates do well at this question.  It’s not tricky and doesn’t require you to speak candidly about your faults or failures (these are things IT staffing companies find that candidates do have a hard time with).  Here’s one way that IT recruiting firms find that their candidates sometimes run into trouble with this question, though: you give too many (or too few) technical details to your interviewer.

What exactly does this mean?  Unfortunately IT recruiting companies can’t give you a hard rule, but your best bet is to check with your IT staffing agencies and read your audience.  Firstly, before going on the interview, ask your IT recruiting firms to let you know who you’ll be interviewing with and how technical they are.  They may be able to help you gauge how detailed you should get when describing your professional achievements.

In addition to checking with your IT recruiting agencies, you should also read your audience as you interview.  They’ll probably give you hints – either direct or subtle about whether they’re interested in the technical details of past professional successes.  If you can read these hints, especially if they’re subtle, you’ll demonstrate another desirable skill: communication.  The ability to communicate well and read you coworkers, managers, clients, and/or end-users is often prized in IT.  So if your interviewer looks bored as you describe how you debugged some complicated code, take a step back and try to give a less detailed answer.  You may just impress them with your technical skills and your communication skills!

 

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Don’t dive into how elegant your code is until you know your interviewer wants to hear about it! Photo credit: lmonk72 via Pixabay.