Tag Archives: IT staffing companies

2 Reasons You Didn’t Get Called For That IT Job Interview

Sometimes during the search for IT jobs, it can be surprising when your IT recruiters and IT staffing companies say you weren’t called in for an interview.  You and your technical recruiters and IT staffing agencies may have thought you were a perfect fit.  Here are two things that could have gone wrong:

  1. Your resume didn’t show you were a good fit quickly enough.  While your IT recruiting firms will usually help you update your resume, some of this is your responsibility, too.  The resumes that IT staffing firms find most successful are the ones that have a strong professional summary and list of technical proficiencies.  Time is of the essence for busy interviewers and hiring managers.  If you can get these two top sections polished and tailored to the role, you make it more likely a busy hiring manager asks your IT recruiting agencies to get you in for an interview.
  2. You list duties, not achievements for your jobs.  Again, while your IT recruiting companies will help you edit your resume a bit, some of this is your responsibility—especially since you are the expert on your own career.  When you are writing your resume, make sure you make it easy for hiring managers to see how you’ve been impactful at your previous jobs.  Don’t just list what you did, list the impact of what you did.  Giving them a picture of your achievements will make it easier for them to picture you achieving more at their company!

 

Think About This Before Your Next IT Job Search!

When you’re searching for new IT jobs, there are decisions you need to make.  There are plenty of things your technical recruiters and IT staffing companies will want to know: what kind of IT jobs do you prefer?  Do you like client/end-user interaction? What kind of corporate culture do you do best in?  But something your IT recruiters and IT staffing firms may not ask you about (but is still very important) is what kind of boss you think you can succeed with.

This might seem like a pretty straightforward question, but the more thought you put into it, the more likely you can make sure your IT recruiting companies and IT staffing agencies place you in a job you can be happy in.  Start by thinking about your previous bosses.  What qualities were great for your work style and what qualities weren’t?  What qualities made you happy or unhappy?  Make a list and share it with your IT recruiting agencies.  During interviews, ask the kinds of questions that can (without putting your interviewer on the defensive) help you see if your potential boss has these qualities.  While it’s not the most important part of a job, a boss will make a big impact on how much you enjoy it.

 

2 Easy IT Job Interview Mistakes to Avoid

There are a lot of mistakes you can make as you interview for IT jobs.  Most are hard to avoid, even if you have the support of IT recruiters and IT staffing companies.  Maybe you’ve spent a lot of time prepping both with your technical recruiters and IT recruiting agencies and on your own, but you forget some crucial info.  Maybe you wind up being late, despite extensive preparation and leaving early.  There are just some mistakes that are hard to avoid.  However, here are two mistakes you can very easily avoid (and make it more likely your interviewer gives you IT recruiting firms some good feedback).

  1. Leave any anger, bitterness, or sadness at the door.  Even if your previous boss was terrible to you, you can’t bring your feelings about that into your interview.  Interviewers will be overwhelmed and uncomfortable if you bring any emotion into the interview besides some moderate enthusiasm.  Keep things light and your IT staffing firms are more likely to hear good things about you.
  2. Don’t overemphasize it if you’re looking for work-life balance.  You may have been overworked in your previous jobs, but this is a topic for your IT recruiting companies and IT staffing agencies.  If work-life balance is important to you, there are subtle questions you can ask that will reveal whether a position offers it.  Check out this blog post on the topic.

Try This For Your Next IT Phone Interview

Technical recruiters and IT staffing agencies see candidates approach phone interviews for IT jobs too casually all the time.  The truth that IT recruiters and IT staffing firms wish all their candidates knew: phone interviews are just as important, if not more so than in person interviews.  These interviews are the gate to getting further in the process.  So for your next interview, here’s a tip to really knock it out of the park and impress your interviewer and IT recruiting companies: take notes before and during.

What does this mean exactly? Start by taking notes for your interview when you prep with your IT recruiting firms and IT staffing companies.  Keep these on hand for your interview so you have a plan for what you want to emphasize to your interviewer.   Use them to guide yourself during the interview so you stay focused, concise and articulate.

Why and how should you take notes during the interview?  Firstly the why.  Take notes so you’re prepared if you get a second interview.  Especially if your IT recruiting agencies are sending you on multiple interviews, it can be hard to remember details from a phone interview.  Now the how.  Take notes in a way that doesn’t interrupt the conversation.  Keep the flow of it. But take important notes when you can.  If you can’t at all, take them immediately after.  Your interviewer at the next interview will be impressed, but you should make it look effortless!

 

2 Reasons IT Professionals Fail Phone Interviews

IT recruiters set IT professionals up for phone interviews for IT jobs a lot. IT staffing companies also spend plenty of time trying to prep people for these phone interviews. Here are two of the top reasons technical recruiters and IT staffing firms find that people flub phone interviews.

1.    You weren’t enthusiastic enough.  IT recruiting agencies hear this a lot.  Candidates don’t advance beyond the phone interview because they sounded flat and uninterested in the job.  This is so easy to avoid. Bring a little more energy to your phone interviews because the interviewer only gets to hear your voice.  While in person your facial expressions and posture can give more of an impression, you don’t have that on the phone. Compensate by being just a little bit more energetic and enthused and your IT staffing agencies will probably hear some good news for you.

2.    Your communication skills were bad.  Especially in client-facing roles or roles where you communicate often with your team or end users, this is really important.  Your IT recruiting firms won’t hear positive feedback if you can’t establish rapport with your phone interviewer—no matter how good your technical proficiencies are!

 

How Honest Should You Be in IT Job Interviews?

Interviews for IT jobs can be intimidating, even if you’ve prepped with your IT recruiters and IT staffing companies ahead of time. One of the things that can be very confusing to IT professionals is where to find the balance between saying something that will reflect well on them and their IT staffing companies and technical recruiters and saying something that is honest.  Here are some tips that IT recruiting firms would recommend so you are more likely to land the job.

Firstly, know what your deal-breakers are.  Do you hate customer service roles?  Do you despise being locked away to code by yourself for hours?  You need to be honest about these things so your IT staffing agencies don’t wind up getting you hired in a job that makes you miserable.  If the job won’t be a good fit, definitely be honest.

Second, try asking some clarifying questions to see if you know what the interviewer wants to hear.  Don’t just assume off the bat you know what kind of qualities are needed to succeed in the role.  A clarifying question helps you tailor your responses so they’re both honest and get your IT recruiting companies some excellent feedback on you!

Lastly, keep things positive.  If you’re going to be honest about some negative experiences you’ve had, times you made mistakes, dislikes, etc, always look for the positive way to spin it.  Your IT recruiting agencies want you to be honest, but they don’t want you to be a sourpuss who’s difficult to work with.  Mistakes can be learning opportunities.  Bad experiences may have taught you new coping skills.  These are the things that make you seem like a competent, capable human.  And that’s what your interviewer really wants!

 

Go Beyond Just Polishing your IT Resume for your IT Job Hunt

When you’re searching for new IT jobs, you already know to do the basics: polish your resume, update your LinkedIn profile, and get back in touch with your technical recruiters and IT staffing agencies.  There are a few more steps your IT recruiters and IT staffing companies would recommend you do, though.  The most important is to clean up your social media accounts.

Why do IT recruiting companies recommend you clean up your social media trail?  While it’s still important not to do things like bashing your boss, team, or employers on your Facebook account or Twitter, this all becomes magnified when you’re working with IT recruiting firms to get a new job.  You want to sanitize any social media accounts you have so they are free from excessive party and alcohol-centered pictures, jokes in poor taste, and anything that indicates extreme religious or political beliefs.

The last one might seem less intuitive, but it’s basically meant to protect you from the chance that you could inadvertently offend a potential employer or hiring manager.  While IT recruiting agencies might know that you are more than your political or religious beliefs, your potential employers don’t know much about you at all.  They’re forced to draw quick conclusions from anything they learn about you.  So play it very safe until you land an IT job: delete any posts that could offend on your social media accounts.

 

1 Easy Way to Make Your IT Resume More Effective

There is plenty of advice out there on how to polish your resume to attract IT recruiters and IT staffing companies.  While some advice is mediocre, here is one tip that will definitely get you a lot more attention from technical recruiters and IT staffing agencies: Break up and cut down any big blocks of text in your IT resumes.

Why will this make a difference to IT recruiting companies?  It’s all about making it easier for IT staffing firms to see that you’re a great fit for a job.  When IT recruiting firms are trying to find the best IT professional for a job, they’re looking at hundreds of resumes. It really slows readers down when your resume is full of dense blocks of text—and time is of the essence for IT recruiters.  So make it more likely that IT recruiting agencies will be able to quickly scan your resume and see how accomplished and experienced you are.  Use bullet points that are concise and cut out extra info that’s too technical or unnecessary.  It might just help you win your next IT jobs!

Do This at Your Next IT Job Interviews

IT professionals who are working with technical recruiters and IT staffing companies are probably well-versed in making sure hiring managers can see they’re a fit for IT jobs.  Most IT recruiters and IT staffing firms help their candidates prepare to show they fit the basic needs for a role.  What can really impress your interviewers (and in turn your IT recruiting agencies) is if you can make it obvious that you’re a unique fit for this role.

What does this mean exactly? Sometimes it’s obvious: you’ve got 4 years of experience using a technology when they only ask for 2.  Sometimes you need to be a bit more creative.  Perhaps you have some background in a tangentially-related subject.  (For example, you majored in Biology and you’re interviewing at a Biotech company.)  Maybe you’ve created a kind of database or program that this company doesn’t currently use, but could be useful to them.

The point isn’t to reach–  this will just come across as desperate, disingenuous, and a waste of time.  If you think your IT staffing agencies can help, run some ideas by them.  If you can find some way to show that you’re not just a fit, but an especially good fit for this job, then you’re all the more likely to land it.

Answering “Why Are You Interested in this IT Role?”

Most IT recruiters and IT staffing agencies will prepare you to answer a few basic questions in interviews.  One of the most common ones that your technical recruiters and IT recruiting companies will tell you to be ready to answer is “What interests you about this role?” Here are a few tips to make sure you give the kind of answer that will make your IT recruiting firms and IT staffing companies proud to represent you.

1.    Don’t talk about why you need to leave your current job or field.  You’ll be wasting time you could be strengthening your candidacy if you vent.  You’ll also create a negative image of yourself.

2.    Make sure you talk about what excites you about this role and company.  Give some concrete specifics to make your answer stronger.  Help your interviewers picture you succeeding on their team.

3.    Keep your answer organized and focused.  This answer will be important, so don’t go off on any tangents, repeat yourself, or ramble.  Try to think about the main points you want to make, then stick to them.  This is the kind of interview behavior that lands IT jobs.