Everyone finds themselves in the hot seat. Fighting to survive to the next round of interviews and ultimately landing the job. I have had the pleasure of being in a leadership position and enjoying the fruits of working with a great team. As a hiring manager myself, I want to help you to not be afraid to put your name in the hat for an IT or technical position and LAND THAT JOB! Let’s talk about how you could make it to the top of my list of potential for hire.
First off selecting the right team member is never easy nor does the hiring manager always get it right. Remember they are people also and make mistakes. If you get skipped over the first time a position is open don’t fret. You shouldn’t close the door on that opportunity. Persistence is key, so be vigilant as the position may come open again much sooner than you think. When it does, jump back in the ring.
For this article I will be your proverbial hiring manager and take you through FIVE foundational pieces to the puzzle that I look for in a candidate. Let’s dig in.
RESUME
Number one is naturally going to be an outstanding resume. This maybe obvious and I know you have heard it a thousand times, but one more won’t hurt so hear me out. This document you present is a reflection of you. I haven’t seen your picture, followed you on social media, or likely had any type of acquaintance in relation. So this is the first impression I will get of what it means to be you. A resume shows me many underlying characteristics such as your organizational and adaptability skills. What do I mean by that?
For example let’s say you are applying for a helpdesk position at the company. Naturally your resume should be easy to read. I don’t have to hunt through a lot of weird formatting to find your experience, skills, and references. From top to bottom it should flow like a short story to keep me engaged. Having a flowing resume shows your organizational skills. When it is organized it is reasonable to assume you do so in all other factors of work. Next you need to adapt your resume to highlight the needs of the particular position you are applying for. Take out all the fluff that is irrelevant. This shows the higher manager you are paying attention to what you are applying for and not shot gunning out resumes to Indeed.
First start off with contact information at the top, a small summary about you to follow, then a targeted roster of applicable skills. For example in the helpdesk position you are applying for I will look for skills such as: hardware troubleshooting, operating system installation, Microsoft Office experience, basic IP networking… you get the picture. If it is a relevant skill that can directly tie to the position you are applying for, have it listed. Just don’t go too overboard. 10 to 15 skills is plenty. You don’t want a full page of nothing but skills. Remember the hiring process is a small part of my day and I may have 100 of these to look through. Having this information at the top of your document makes it easy to reference during an interview and provides me with a quick way to highlight the skills that I might ask you to expand upon. So keep it clean and organized.
Once you have your overview of what you have to offer, then go into your job history and references. Again get me interested in what you have to offer, then I’ll gladly read the rest.
One last thing to mention is that if your job history is full of contract type positions, be sure to make that obvious in the title of the position. Having tenure at a position is ideal as it shows you invest in the company you work for, but it is also understandable that contract positions maybe obtained while growing your skills or just finding something to pay the bills. It’s not a mark against you if you are up front and transparent.
ATTITUDE
Number two has nothing to do with your technical ability. There is a book called The Ideal Team Player by Patrick M. Lencioni (sorry if I clobber your name Pat, I’m Texan and I use words like Y’all and Ain’t). His book covers three main principles of a great team player that resonated with me. They are some of the base factors I have always looked for but didn’t really articulate well enough until I read this book.
This is going to be your ATTITUDE. Pat calls this being humble. Meaning you don’t have to put on a fake smile the entire interview process, but come in the door with some excitement to be there. Also show your interest in the position. Do some research on the company you are going to interview for. Highlight those items you read about the company that seemed really interesting and give the manager the opportunity to expand on them for you. Producing conversation lightens the room and can make both of you more comfortable when breaking the ice. In something like the helpdesk position, your customers are going to be anyone from the custodian to the CEO. While there are obvious priorities you need to show your willingness to help anyone in need. Provide examples of how you have helped different departments at your recent position. Stay humble that everyone is a person in need when they are reaching out to you.
RESOURCEFULNESS
Number three is being HUNGRY. Bringing tacos to the interview may not be a bad idea.. but I’m talking about a hunger for knowledge and your ability to be resourceful. A lot of times you are going to hesitate to apply for a position because you don’t have all the skills listed. I’m here to tell you that is ok, apply anyway. Even if the they are stated as “required” there is still some wiggle room. Some of the best employees I’ve ever worked with didn’t come from a technical school or have 20 certificates under their belt. What they initially lacked in hard skills they made up in their resourcefulness. They weren’t afraid to ask questions, take virtual classes, and generally absorb all the knowledge they can. Before you know it they have become the subject matter expert. So provide examples during the interview of how you were able to overcome not having the answer to an issue. How did you find the information you needed? Did you document the solution for future employees? These days most everything is on YouTube or with a simple web search. But being specific about how you read through the subreddits, Microsoft TechNet forums, or engaged your mentor who works at company Z, will show how you utilize the resources at hand and didn’t just ask AI for the best interview answer. You are hungry for answers and know how to get them. I would take that over a fancy certificate any day.
LAZY
Number four is being LAZY. No I don’t mean laying on your couch when you are “working” from home. What I mean is some of the best IT employees are those that put the machines to work for them. Pat call this being SMART. For example if you let’s say your job is installing new PCs at a contract job. You have 200 PCs to install that are all the same model and specs, but need Windows and Office installed. You can throw everything on a USB stick and go to town, but do you really want to install Windows 200 times? You want the machines to do the tedious work for you. How can you work smarter to save time and even make a process for future employees to use? In this case you could utilize something like Clonezilla to clone a fully functional PC to another or PXE boot to download an image from a central server. As a hiring manager I want to see that you are thinking smarter. There are times to just be the workhorse and get the job done, but always work for automation and improvement. Talk about how you have taken a process that you were able make more efficient. Perhaps setting up a PC from scratch used to take 4 hours, but you got it down to 30 minutes to be ready for deployment. Again the best IT worker, is a lazy IT worker.
FOLLOW-UP
Number five is FOLLOW-UP. At the end of the interview ask about the timeframe for selection. That evening or the next day, send a follow up thanking the manager and company for their time and consideration. After the timeframe for selection has passed, send a follow up to see if the selection has been made and remind the manager you are ready and eager to know the response. If you aren’t selected, don’t be afraid to ask why. What could you improve upon that would sway the manager for the next time. If they have time most managers are happy to reflect for you to better your odds. They will also keep you higher on the list if the initial selection doesn’t work out. Knowing that you acknowledge your shortcomings, they may also be willing to set that aside if a plan can be put into place to bolster you as needed.
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