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Surprises in IT Job Interviews (and How to Handle Them!)

IT recruiters and IT staffing companies can usually tell you exactly how IT jobs interviews will go.    However, sometimes hiring managers and employers will change things—either out of necessity or for other reasons.  Here are some surprises your technical recruiters and IT staffing firms might not be able to prepare you for – but you can still handle with grace.

  1. If your interview has to be changed or rescheduled due to an emergency: The best way to respond to this is with patience.  Even if your IT recruiting companies and IT staffing agencies do their best to schedule a good time and day for interviews, some things can’t be avoided.  If you can roll with the punches, your interviewers will see that you’re flexible and able to be a true team player.  Think of this moment as a time to show off your soft skills.
  2. If you are suddenly asked to interview more people (either separately or in a group situation) than your IT recruiting firms said you would: Don’t panic.  If you’re in a group interview, make sure to take notes on the conversation (so you can send personalized thank you notes later) and get everyone’s individual contact info for thank you notes.  If you’re meeting with people one-on-one, it’s also worth taking notes and getting contact info.  Since you’re also meeting one-on-one, don’t worry too much about repeating yourself.  You may be asked the same question a few times and it’s ok if your answer is the same.

Ace Your Phone Interviews for IT Jobs

When your IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies set up phone interviews for you, here are a few tips to keep in mind.  These will not only help leave a great impression on your interviewer, but also cement your reputation with your technical recruiters and IT recruiting firms.  If you do well in phone interviews, even if you don’t get the IT jobs, IT staffing firms and IT recruiting companies will want to keep working with you until they can place you.

  1. Be prepared.  Don’t wing it.  Don’t hope you’ll find a good place to take the call.  Prep for the call and have a place in mind that you can go to take the call in private with an uninterrupted connection.
  2. Don’t sit- stand.  Or better yet, pace a bit.  Walking around will keep your voice strong and probably help you think better.  Instead of relaxing, as you might when you sit, you’ll keep your blood flowing to your brain and stay more alert.
  3. Lastly, this is the time to show your interest in the role and company.  Ask thoughtful questions about the company, team, and role you’re interviewing for.  If you don’t, your interviewer will feel unsure of your interest level.  They may even relay a bad impression to your IT staffing companies and IT recruiting agencies.

 

 

Mobile Developer Jobs Get a Huge Boost

If you’re looking to go in a new direction with your IT career, you’re guaranteed to become very popular among IT recruiters, IT staffing firms, and IT recruiting agencies if you move towards becoming a Mobile Developer.  IT staffing companies and technical recruiters were already seeking Mobile Developers frequently in the past few years, but Google’s latest move has really increased the need for them.

Since Google will now be penalizing websites that aren’t mobile-friendly in their search results, the race is on for sites to keep up.  Google officially implemented this policy back in late April, but IT recruiting companies and IT staffing agencies will only continue to be on the lookout for Mobile Developers.  Even as companies make their sites mobile friendly to match Google’s request, they’ll also be working to satiate the needs of consumers.  At a recent conference, serious discussion revolved around how prevalent mobile commerce will continue to become.  Smartphones are likely to become a strong competitor for brick and mortar businesses—if not completely replace them one day.

 

 

IT Job Market Faces Unexpected New Ethical Questions

IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies have been working to place candidates in IT jobs for decades.  They’ve seen a lot of surprising ethical questions come up as the field changes in new and unexpected ways.  Some of the more recent ethical questions and challenges that technical recruiters, IT staffing companies, and IT professionals have been dealing with are centered around security.

White hat hacking and security jobs have become more and more imperative as IT recruiting companies and IT staffing firms have seen major institutions like The New York Times and the White House fall victim to hackers.  This profusion of hacking—and the blurriness of what separates white-hat hacking from black hat has only increased on a more individual level.  One of the most fascinating topics of conversation amongst IT professionals is the site Hacker’s List.  Is the work this site facilitates ethical?  Legal?  When does hacking cross the line between white hat and black hat?  Does it matter whom the hacking is done for?  What should consequences be for black hat hacking?  This site is bringing urgency to these questions and more as IT professionals, IT recruiting agencies, and the rest of the world alike are forced to ponder the ethics of hacking.

 

Don’t Underestimate Soft Skills in IT

Andrew Bosworth, a VP and one of the original employees at Facebook recently wrote an article about how working on his interpersonal skills at work was crucial to his career.  IT professionals should take note that this isn’t an isolated anecdote, either.  IT recruiters and IT staffing firms are certainly already encountering a dearth of good, qualified candidates for IT jobs.  But in addition to this, technical recruiters and IT staffing companies are seeking something even rarer- IT professionals who put a lot of effort into their people skills.  The best candidates, the ones IT recruiting firms have no trouble getting placed in IT roles, are the ones who are easy to work with.

There are obviously many, many different kinds of roles in IT, and thus many reasons why good social skills are important for them.  Here are just a few examples.  Service-oriented roles and client facing roles are probably some of the most important for IT staffing agencies and IT recruiting companies to fill with sociable IT professionals with excellent people skills.  Without good people skills, you could only do half—or less! – of these jobs.  Even jobs that aren’t client-facing or service-oriented still require good people skills because of the demands of the corporate culture.  Particularly in a startup environment, IT recruiting agencies need candidates who can work well with others.  Since a team must grow and stretch together, it’s crucial that they are able to respect, and even like each other.  It’s becoming more and more clear that soft skills aren’t just a plus in IT—they’re absolutely crucial for real success!

 

 

Downplay Money in IT Job Interviews

In interviews for IT jobs, it’s not uncommon to be asked what motivates you.  You may want to tell your IT staffing firms and IT recruiters that you’re looking for a job that makes more.  Making more money isn’t a bad reason to want to switch jobs.  However, you never want to tell hiring managers and interviewers that you’re motivated by money.  Why is this?

Technical recruiters and IT staffing companies understand that making more money can be an important factor in your job hunt.  However, both your IT recruiting companies and your potential employer want to know that you’re interested in the job and the work that you’d do in the role.  If you’re purely motivated by money, it means you’ll always be on the lookout for a new role.  If you’re interested not only in the compensation for the role, but also the role itself, hiring managers will feel more comfortable investing in training and on-boarding you.  Keep this in mind the next time you head to an interview.  Downplaying your interest in compensation and playing up your interest in the role, the work, the company’s culture, etc, will leave a stronger impression on your interviewer—and make it easier for your IT staffing agencies and IT recruiting firms to find you new jobs.

 

Why Being Late to IT Job Interviews is a Big Deal

Most IT professionals have been warned by their IT recruiters and IT staffing firms to never ever be late for interviews for IT jobs.  Unfortunately, being late usually means you’ll never get the job, nor will you win points with your IT staffing companies and technical recruiters.  Most people don’t know why being late to an IT job interview is such a problem, though.

The main reason it’s not ok to be late is that there isn’t really a good reason for it anymore.  Between smartphones, GPS, and of course your IT recruiting companies, you should be able to get good directions to your interview.  If you don’t take the time to consult any of these sources and get lost, then you’ll look particularly unprepared and not resourceful or good at problem-solving.  None of these are qualities you want attached to your name. So do what you have to do to make sure you’re 5 minutes early to all interviews.  It’s not even worth going if you don’t.

 

Creating Your LinkedIn Profile Picture to Attract IT Recruiters

If you’re looking for IT jobs, of the best ways to attract IT recruiters and IT staffing companies is to really polish and update your LinkedIn profile.  Your profile picture may seem like an afterthought, but it’s actually pretty important in making a good impression on IT staffing firms and IT recruiting companies.  A bad profile photo can give the wrong impression or worse – make technical recruiters bypass your profile completely.  Here are some key things to keep in mind when you’re adding your profile.

Firstly, make sure your face is visible in the picture.  This is what people will connect with and remember the most.  Secondly, make sure that recruiters can see your face—and everything else in the picture—well.  A blurry picture looks sloppy and suggests your IT skills might be subpar.  Take the time to add a well-taken and cropped photo.

Third, the composition of the photo doesn’t have to be fancy, but it shouldn’t be confusing.  Make sure you’re clearly the subject of the photo and nothing distracting is going on in the background.  You don’t want it to be hard for IT recruiting agencies to identify you in your own profile picture.  Lastly, your facial expression should be positive.  A simple smile is perfect here.  Especially in IT, where sometimes soft skills are at a premium, you want to look easy and pleasant to work with!

 

Can You Answer These IT Interview Questions

Prepping for interviews for IT jobs usually involves going over your best possible answers for the standard interview questions.  Perhaps you get some feedback and some instructions from your IT staffing firms and technical recruiters.  Here are some questions that you, your IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies may not think of in your preparations.  It’s worth noting that even though these questions aren’t obvious to you, IT recruiting companies and IT staffing companies are likely to recognize them.  They’re among the top 50 asked interview questions.

1. How would you deal with an upset client/user?  This is a common question for helpdesk positions or positions that are client and user-facing.  It’s important to have ideas about how to respond to these questions.  It will set you apart from your competition.

2. What would you achieve in the first 30, 60, or 90 days on the job?  This question seems more fit for a Presidential candidate, but they’re pretty relevant to project-based IT work.  Don’t wing it—take time to think about how you could contribute quickly and in an impactful way to the company you’re interviewing with.

 

Your IT Resume: Too Technical or Not Technical Enough?

Because the IT field has such a unique set of skills, sometimes IT professionals can be torn as to whom their resumes should be accessible to.  Should resumes speak to IT recruiters, IT staffing companies, and HR and be less technical?  Or should resumes go into the kind of technical detail that hiring managers and potential coworkers could understand (and might confuse technical recruiters, IT recruiting agencies, and people in HR)? The answer is, unfortunately, not so clear-cut:  it depends.

If you’re having a tough time deciding how much technical detail to leave in or take out of your resume, it could be worth it to develop two different resumes: one can be more technical.  One can be a more general version for your IT staffing agencies and IT recruiting firms, who often only need a picture of your career progression and skills. You can offer both versions to IT recruiting companies when they submit you to IT jobs.  They may use one, either, or both depending on the potential employer.  They may also help you meld the two together into a perfect version for the hiring manager.  Whatever the case may be, your preparation of 2 resumes will be useful to you and your IT staffing firms.