Tag Archives: IT staffing agencies

Weird Questions in IT Job Interviews

Periodically all IT professionals and IT recruiters encounter odd questions in interviews for IT Jobs. Questions like “What kind of cereal would you be?” or “What is the color of money?” are common, if not the prevalent in interviews for IT consultants and IT managers.  What is their use, though?

IT contractors and IT staffing agencies should take these odd questions seriously because they demonstrate a few important things about a candidate that resumes do not.  For one thing, IT jobs, especially customer-service oriented ones like tech support, tend to require the ability to think on one’s feet and respond to unexpected and sometimes stressful situations.  Questions that are bizarre can be the opportunity to test that in a job interview.

Another imperative reason to take these questions seriously is that they can be a moment to demonstrate how you are a cultural fit for an organization.  More than anything, these questions are good moments to showcase your personality.  If you know you’re interviewing at a team-oriented company or perhaps a company that really values creativity, these questions are the moment to show you have these qualities (rather than simply tell somebody you have them).  So be prepared to really give these questions a go—they might be the ones that get you the job!

 

The First 30 Days of Your New IT Job

The new year is a common time for IT recruiters to be placing IT contractors in new IT jobs.  There are plenty of obvious pieces of advice that IT staffing agencies give to their IT consultants starting new jobs.  There are a few subtle things that IT professionals can do to really impress their IT managers in their first 30 days on a new job.

Learn your new company’s business:  Learning your role and your job expectations is pretty par for the course, but to really stand out you can make a concerted effort to learn about the bigger picture for your company.  What are some of the major factors of your its industry?  What are the big challenges your company faces currently?  What are its goals?  Knowing these things and how your role might relate to them will make you really stand out from the crowd quickly.

Show passion and excitement for your new role:  Without getting on your managers’ or coworkers’ nerves (or taking up too much of their time), display an enthusiasm for your upcoming workload.  Show initiative and try to find ways to make sure you will truly succeed in your role.

Build relationships:  Build relationships with coworkers and managers, but also with contacts in your industry.  Create relationships with people who can act as resources within and outside of your company—whether it be the obvious, like potential clients, or the not-so-obvious, like a vendor that might get you a nice discount on some material your company uses.

 

Red Flags to Watch for in IT Job Hunting

Good IT recruiters want to put their IT contractors in IT jobs where they fit both in terms of the skills on their resumes and the workplace culture.  While IT headhunters can do their best to try to make good matches for workplace culture, IT consultants can do the most to make sure they wind up in a job with a great boss and good coworkers.  There are two kinds of red flags to watch out for in interviews: Red flags that indicate your boss will be difficult to work for and red flags that indicate the company culture is too toxic for you.

Though a single red flag isn’t really enough to avoid a job on its own, a few or more of these signs will show you that you may not be compatible with this boss.  If your interviewer comes in very late, hasn’t read your resume at all previous to the interviewer, or checks email and/or takes calls during the interview, it’s worth considering how much guidance you need from a boss.  If you rely heavily on a boss who is organized and provides pretty frequent direction, this isn’t the boss for you.  Their inability to be prepared and focus on the interview at hand shows quite a bit about how they’ll act during the regular work day.  On the other hand, if you prefer to work as autonomously as possible, these signs aren’t necessarily a problem.

Another major red flag to notice is how your interviewer/potential boss  speaks of the person who holds or previously held the position.  If he or she is warm and commends the person, this is a great sign.  However, if your potential boss skirts the issue of the previous person who held the role, or trashes them outright, take time to consider how you deal with difficult personalities.  If they don’t bother you, it’s not an issue.  If you need to have a positive, friendly relationship with your boss to be productive, however, this may not the job for you.

The last red flag that IT staffing agencies would want their IT professionals to watch out for is how the workplace culture looks.  If you find reviews of the workplace culture on glassdoor or other similar websites that terrify you, try to confirm or disprove these for yourself when you go on the interview.  You might also consider checking around with professional contacts in your field.  Word can travel fast, particularly when a work environment is toxic.  Better to know before you take a job if you’d like the workplace culture there or not.

 

Deal-breakers in IT

All IT contractors have their deal-breakers for IT jobs.  Whether it’s poor management or abusive behavior from IT managers, options for telecommuting or flexible scheduling, or particular kinds of commutes or distances for commutes, there are just some reasons IT consultants will turn down a job IT staffing agencies recommend.

Deal-breakers are certainly acceptable, especially in a field like information technology, where the jobs are pretty plentiful.  In fact, they can also be very helpful if stated within reason to IT headhunters. IT recruiters want to know what IT professionals’ deal-breakers are so they avoid placing them in jobs that are not good fits for them long term.  If an IT professional keeps a deal-breaker under wraps, and then winds up in a job that has it, they won’t stay long.  This will potentially burn bridges for them, their IT recruiting agencies they work with, the hiring managers, and others.  Having a copious list of deal-breakers that make most jobs impossible is not going to do you any good.  However, being aware of your (reasonable) deal-breakers and making sure your technical recruiters are also aware of them will make your placements much more likely to be successful—for everyone involved.

 

Taking Risks in Your IT Career

Information technology demands certain certifications and education as entry tickets, but experience counts just as much for IT professionals when it comes to promotions and expanding their careers.  IT headhunters would advise IT contractors to be wary of taking IT jobs they aren’t prepared for, but the IT consultant who takes a job or project that sounds slightly unappealing or a little more challenging will be deeply rewarded.

Challenging experiences at work can really pay off later in the form of better offers of IT jobs from IT staffing agencies, better pay, and better confidence.  Technical recruiters can certainly vouch for the fact that taking some risks or making some sacrifices at work will pay off in the long run.  In such a hot market, no new IT skill will go unrewarded and getting great references or earning the respect of IT managers and IT headhunters will quickly pay off. So the next time you’re offered or come across a job or project outside your usual skill-set, seriously consider diving in anyways.  It might just propel your career to the next level.

 

Making Job Interviews Two-Sided in IT

IT consultants and their IT staffing agencies often focus on how to approach interviewers so that IT managers are impressed.  While this strategy makes sense, it’s important for IT contractors to be sure that they are also impressed by the company, job description, and the managerial style they will be managed with.

IT staffing agencies and the candidates they work with will be well-served if they make sure that any interviews serve as a chance for contractors to figure out if they actually want the IT jobs in question.  The first benefit of really conducting a truly two-way interview is that IT recruiting companies and the IT professionals they’re working with make positive, long-lasting matches.  If a candidate winds up in a job they don’t like, or worse, can’t do, nobody really wins.  The second benefit is that positive business contacts are fostered all around.  IT headhunters make great relationships with hiring managers, the candidates they’re working with make good relationships with hiring managers and technical recruiters, and everyone walks away with their network expanded a bit.

Ensuring the job interview process is two-sided, not one-sided, might be intimidating at first.  However, with a robust Information Technology sector, IT professionals shouldn’t be concerned.  This is the perfect market to be picky in, and it’s better to land in a job that fits you well in the long run, anyways.

 

How to Give a Great Reference in IT

When IT professionals are looking at new IT jobs, references might not seem quite as relevant as in other fields.  After all, information technology tends to require very specific skill sets and certifications on resumes. However, technical recruiters love to work with IT contractors who are prepared with stellar references.  IT staffing agencies particularly love to work with IT consultants whose references know how to give a stellar reference.  There are a few nuances to this.

Firstly, being informed about the position or types of positions somebody is applying to is key.  If you know what skills and strengths to highlight, you can make a person look like the best fit for a job.

Secondly, it’s best to provide an honest, but carefully edited reference.  Playing up skills that are unique and really make a candidate stand out will do wonders. Leaving out personal qualities that could be controversial will also do just as much.  Providing too much personal detail or too bland a reference, or something that is just a bold-faced lie, won’t do the candidate any good.  In fact, it could harm them.  If not in the job process, perhaps they land in a job that they are a terrible fit for and get fired down the road.

 

How to Handle Being Fired in IT

IT professionals, like most other professionals, are just as likely to experience being fired at least once over the course of their working lives.  Technical recruiters certainly don’t prefer finding a firing (or two) on their IT consultants’ resumes, but they are not the end of the world.  IT headhunters are not thrown if IT contractors handle firings in a professional, graceful manner both in behavior and on their resume.   What are the steps to take to make sure a firing doesn’t dent your career?

Firstly, if your IT managers fire you, maintain a calm demeanor publicly.  This especially extends to your social media and online presence.  Giving anything less than a calm response could burn bridges, hurt your dignity, or result in legal action at the very worst case scenario.

Secondly, take time to be upset privately, but don’t let it hinder you from moving  forward quickly.  Start contacting IT staffing agencies and formulating a contingency plan.  Looking at new IT jobs and working hard to get yourself into a new one, rather than wallowing, will be key in making sure your resume doesn’t really reflect this hiccup in your career.

Lastly, when you finally do land a new job, enter it as though you were not just fired.  Don’t allow that event to dent your confidence in learning your new job, taking on new responsibilities, and interacting with your new coworkers.  This firing may not actually say much about your competence as any employee, anyways.  Even if it does point to a weakness, learn from it and move on.  Focusing on past failures will be one of the surest ways to repeat it again in the future.

Using or Avoiding Your Phone in IT

Information technology has gone through a customer-service oriented change in the last 10 years.  IT consultants are not attractive to IT recruiters if they only have pristine resumes.  IT staffing agencies are now seeking IT contractors who are socially adept and will be great a communicating with their IT managers or co-workers.  This means that IT professionals have a bit of a quandary on their hands when it comes to answering their office phones. 

While text messages have brought about a general distaste for the phone, it has only compounded the fact that many people at the office tend to want to avoid their office line.  But is this ok when they are expected to be great communicators?  There is, of course, no straight answer to this.  Office policies, official and unofficial, are the best guides here.  The quickest way to get a good idea of how IT professionals should act towards phone calls is to check out how people in other departments do.  If people in departments with heavy emphasis on communication always pick up their phones, it’s better to follow suit.  Even if IT is different, communication skills are key.  Displaying a lack of them, even if it doesn’t affect your work, is a terrible idea.

When to Stay in Your IT Job…and When to Leave

IT consultants must ask themselves a tough question from time to time: Should I start looking to leave my current job?  IT professionals who are considering polishing their resumes should consider a few major factors before trying to move on to new IT jobs.

The first major fact is the state of the economy and the information technology.  Currently, IT contractors will find that the economy is not in the best shape.  However, the IT field is booming.  Making a move wouldn’t be prohibitively risky at the moment.

The next factor to consider is motivation.  IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies tend to shy away from people who only want to leave their jobs for more money, because they’re bored, or because they’re overworked.  A combination of factors is acceptable, but on their own, each of these factors can be addressed and probably improved at least somewhat.

The last factor to consider is time.  If you’ve only been with your current employer for less than a year (and it’s not a contract), it’s best to try to wait it out.  Technical recruiters do have more tolerance for what might be called ‘job hopping’ in other fields, but if you can avoid having less than a year at any location, you should wait.