Monthly Archives: January 2015

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.