You only have to look as far as global businesses such as iTunes, Netflix, Tesla, Airbnb and Deliveroo, to see how business models are radically evolving, adapting and challenging traditional customer expectations.
Hiring a new recruit is always a risk, no matter how sure you are about your decision. After all, there’s only so much you can realistically gauge about a person during the interview process and sadly, in the long run, you may well find that the candidate isn’t delivering or simply doesn’t click with the team.
Continue reading Eight red flags to look out for when interviewing
Congratulations! You’ve been asked back for a second interview. Your first interview obviously went well, as a result, the company are seriously considering you for the job, and you are one step closer to securing it. However, you may be feeling unsure as to how this interview will differ from the first one, and how best to prepare.
In this blog, I’d like to provide some clarity on this, by outlining the differences between the first and second interview, the purpose of the second interview, and what you can do to seal the deal.
Who will you be meeting in your second interview?
During your first interview, you will probably have met with someone from HR, as well as your would-be boss. At the second interview stage, you will most likely be meeting someone more senior within the business, the person who will ultimately have the final say on the hiring decision.
Prior to your interview, confirm with your recruiter who will be conducting the second interview. This will allow you to research this person beforehand online, be it on LinkedIn or via the company website. In doing this, you may discover that you have shared interests or backgrounds; you will feel more at ease in the interview room, and overall, increase the likelihood of building up a rapport with your interviewer.
What will the format of the interview be?
Don’t assume the format of your second interview will be the same as the first. You may be prepared for a one-on-one interview, only to be faced with a panel of stakeholders on the day. Check with your recruiter how many people are interviewing you and how the interview will be formatted.
If you find out that you will be interviewed by a panel, then prepare accordingly. If the prospect of selling yourself to a group of stakeholders fills you with dread, then brush up on some tips for communicating confidence and presenting to a number of people. Practice in front of a group of friends or family beforehand so the real thing doesn’t feel as daunting.
On the day of the interview, remember to interact with everyone in the room and not just those who are asking you the most questions. When answering these questions, make eye contact with everyone in the room. Remember everyone’s name and address them as such. I know impressing a panel of interviewers can seem daunting, but if you can tackle this skill now, it will serve you well as you progress further in your career, not to mention heighten your chances of securing the opportunity in front of you.
What is the interviewer trying to assess?
The main differences between your first and second interviews lie in the objectives of the interviewer. Think objectively about what the interviewer is trying to find out here, and how you can provide them with what they are looking for. I’ve detailed below the key information the interviewer is most likely looking to attain during the second interview.
1. Your level of interest in the role and organisation
One thing the interviewer is looking to determine from your second interview is whether you are still as interested in this opportunity having met with the company and learnt a bit more about the role. Your level of enthusiasm is directly correlated with how well you would perform if offered the role, and how long you stay with the business, so if you are still keen, make sure this comes across.
Be ready to say what you enjoyed learning about the organisation upon meeting with them in your first interview. Also, use this opportunity to voice any questions that have cropped up in your mind since you last met with the company.
2. Do you have the skills required?
During your first interview, the interviewer will ask questions about your career highlights, key skills and attributes, in order to check that they align with the key requirements for this vacancy. During this second interview, the hiring manager will be looking for more detailed evidence of these competencies, whether it’s through assessments or competency based questions like “describe a time when you showcased your x skills” or “how would you approach x situation”.
Prepare for competency based interview questions by revisiting the core requirements of the role, plus some examples of times you have showcased these skills. Now think about how you plan to implement these skills if successful in this role. You should also double check with your recruiter to see if you are required to bring physical examples of your work or prepare any presentations.
3. Are you the right “fit”?
A large part of the second interview is to establish whether you’re a good fit for the company in terms of culture and personality. Therefore, you may be given a tour of the office at this stage to be introduced to potential colleagues. You could also be asked questions surrounding your hobbies and interests, how your friends would describe you, and what type of culture you prefer to work in.
As you answer these questions, it is important that you remain authentic and honest, after all, the second interview is your chance to critically assess how good a “fit” this organisation is for you too. With this in mind, perhaps prepare some of your own questions for the end of the interview, which could help provide insight into what life at this organisation is like and how much you would enjoy working there. These questions may include “how would you describe the team?” or “what’s your favourite aspect of working at this organisation?”
4. Addressing and resolving any reservations or doubts
The interviewer may be looking to use the second interview to overcome some of their reservations from the first interview. So how can you determine what these reservations may be?
Try and recall any recurring questions that they asked multiple times but phrased in different ways. This may be reflective of a concern that they were trying to clear up. Was there anything that you struggled to answer? You can also ask the recruiter for feedback surrounding this.
What about any skills gaps or areas of the job which you aren’t fully equipped to do? Consider whether you could teach yourself this skill in advance, or commit to learning it in the near future, even if it’s in your own time. You should also outline that you are a fast learner and keen to develop yourself, and give examples of times when you have quickly upskilled yourself in the past.
Once you have an inkling of what the interviewer’s doubts may be, you can prepare to counter them in the second interview.
5. Your availability and salary
Lastly, the second interview can often be the stage during which the interviewer is looking to know your notice period and salary expectations. Have this information ready. If you are unsure of how to negotiate your salary, check out our salary guides and advice surrounding this topic.
What are the next steps?
At the end of your second interview, the interviewer should confirm the next steps but if not, you can politely ask. Remember to thank them for their time, and send a follow-up email to either the interviewer or the recruiter to pass on (depending on who you have been in direct contact with during this process) to reiterate that you enjoyed meeting with them and are still interested in the position. I go into more detail on best practices following an interview in a previous blog, which you can read here.
In understanding the purpose of the second interview, you can improve your preparation strategy, provide the hiring manager with the information they need to know about you, and ultimately, tell them exactly why they should hire you above everyone else.
If you found this article helpful, you may also enjoy the below:
Do you have an interview coming up? Read our interview tips to ensure it’s a success:
- Eight tricky interview questions – and how to answer them
- 6 ways to show your interviewer that you really want the job
- The do’s and don’ts of networking to find a job
- Why storytelling could be your key to interview success
- 14 things to do before your job interview
- 8 warning signs to look out for during your interview
Share this blog
The next 12 months in emerging technology promise to be exciting. Why? Because the technology that has previously been conceptual or specific to certain sectors is about to proliferate and become mainstream. So, what jobs will arise from this, and where might they exist?
1. Virtual Reality (VR) Developer
Until recently, VR was a technology typically associated with gaming. Yet we are now beginning to see the application of VR in other commercial and social pursuits.
Construction companies are now hiring VR Developers to give their clients a walk through a building before it has been built, the elderly are using headsets as a relaxation tool and Higher Education institutes are considering the application of VR to create virtual classrooms. With this boom in the use of VR in day to day life, comes an increase in the amount or Virtual Reality Developer jobs.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Developer
AI is about to become the new UI. With the rise of virtual assistants in the home such as Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant, we will begin to engage with technology in a whole new way. Will this be the beginning of the end of screens? Probably not immediately. However, it will make technology a lot more accessible to a new demographic and offer up a different way to engage existing users.
3. Internet of Things Developer
With the smart home becoming a reality and smart cities firmly on government agendas, there will be a significant opportunity to create new applications for this emerging and exponentially growing market.
4. Internet of Things Engineer
Not only will we need to create the applications, we also need to develop the hardware that will provide the data for the IoT. These will range from smart cars to smart street lamps to smart bins and smart fridges and a whole world beyond.
5. Data Scientist
With the explosion of the IoT and sensors becoming part of everyday life, we will be creating data at an even faster rate. However, data without insight is of no value, so you can expect to see greater demand and maturity in the world of Data Science and Advanced Analytics.
6. Data Analyst
Whilst there is currently a high demand for these skills, this will exponentially grow as technology such as AI assistants will not understand every spoken word of every user, this data needs to be tagged and processed in order to facilitate effective machine learning, bringing about the need for more data analysts.
7. Cyber Security Engineer
Data is everywhere and with this comes the risk of a breach. For example, wearable health tech provides huge opportunities in preventative healthcare. However, can you imagine the consequence of a data breach with someone’s personal medical information?
More personal sensitive data being captured, along with new legislation in the form of the General Data Protection Regulation, means that organisations are investing heavily to secure this data for the fear of reputational and financial consequences.
8. Augmented Reality Developer
I am on the fence with this one. 2016 saw the breakthrough year in AR gaming with the launch and success of Pokémon Go. However, Google glasses didn’t capture the public’s imagination and I suspect that VR might overtake AR as the preferred platform, but I may be wrong!
Hopefully you found this blog interesting. Here are some other IT articles which you also might enjoy:
- Fewer women means less tech talent: Help tackle the gender imbalance in IT
- Top 10 emerging coding trends you need to know about
- Six questions to ask yourself before making the jump into IT contracting
- The long-held promise of mobile payments
- The future of mobile marketing: is it location, location, location?
If you’re an IT contractor, you’re essentially running your own business. And, your CV is your most important piece of marketing collateral. It is a key tool to help you market, promote and showcase your unique skills and experience to recruiters and hiring managers.
The amount of time and effort you spend crafting a focused and clear CV will have a huge bearing on whether your career as an IT contractor will be a success in the long-term. So, here are a few tips to help you:
To tailor or not to tailor?
1. Your tailored CV
If you are applying for a specific role or project, you will be required to tailor your CV. Think about it – as an IT contractor, you will be hired to assist with a specific project or solve a certain problem; therefore your CV needs to be specific to the requirements laid out in the job description. It needs to assure the reader that you have the skills and experience to take on this project, hit the ground running and deliver from the outset.
So, when applying for a specific role – put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager or recruiter when updating your CV. What specific skills are really important from their point of view? What are they looking for? What do they need to know about you? This type of thinking can help when crafting your personal statement, which will form the first impression a recruiter or hiring manager will have of you. Therefore, make sure that it succinctly summarises you and your career journey in an engaging way that really speaks to the reader.
Highlight your specific areas of skills and expertise in relation to the role and ensure these messages are consistently present throughout the rest of the CV. For more advice on how you can tailor your CV to a specific role, please read this blog.
2. Your generic CV
However, more often than not, as an IT contractor, you will likely be directly approached by your recruiter regarding specific roles, rather than applying directly. I therefore, can’t stress enough how vitally important it is that you have a strong generic version of your CV to hand at all times.
This version needs to highlight all the skills which relate to the types of jobs you are willing to consider, whilst reiterating clearly where your skills and expertise lie. In doing this, you will broaden your chances of being approached directly for a variety of suitable roles.
Regardless of whether you are tailoring your CV for a specific role, or you’re updating your generic version, below are a number of overriding principles you should follow when writing or updating your CV:
Know what you can offer to the market
Firstly, and most importantly, in today’s competitive IT contracting market, it’s so important for you to know exactly what you can offer the market, where your specific expertise lies and how, essentially, you can bring something different to the table. Once you have a clear understanding of what it is you want to represent, ensure this message is clear in each part of your CV.
Keep your CV succinct
You might have been contracting for 20 years, but you don’t need to list every single job you’ve ever had on your CV. The bias should always be on your most recent roles and projects. As you will well know, things move fast in IT, and technology (and skills) can go out of date so quickly that even what you did five years ago, might be irrelevant now.
I therefore recommend you simply include the basic details of roles you had during the early stages of your career (e.g. dates, role and company is sufficient). After all, you can include more information on your LinkedIn profile or personal website. Remember, your CV also needs to be structured in chronological order – starting with your most recent role.
Provide detail on your CV where it matters
You know your work history. You know exactly what you did at each job and on each project, but you can’t assume that the recruiter reading your CV can deduce all those great skills you’ve developed from a couple of lines on your CV. So, if you are looking for software development roles, for example, the recruiter will want to know specifically about the programming languages, tools and frameworks you have experience with, whilst this level of detail might not be relevant for project managers, for example.
Regularly update your CV
Get into the habit of updating your CV regularly. It’s best to do your updating towards the end of your current project so you’re perfectly positioned with an up-to-date CV to start applying for the next one. This will also ensure all the details are fresh in your mind and you don’t miss any vital information. If you are on a longer term contract, then update your CV every three to six months.
If you found this blog useful, you may also find some of our other Viewpoint blogs useful:
- 3 questions I’m always asked about IT contracting
- Q&A with an IT contractor
- 3 necessary steps to becoming an IT contractor
- 5 ways to ensure the success of your IT contract
- 3 tips for finding your next IT contract
- Six questions to ask yourself before making the jump into IT contracting
Many of our clients around the world regularly employ temporary or contract staff, whether that’s on an ongoing basis or for special projects and workloads. This flexible and on-demand portion of a workforce helps organisations more effectively budget for projects, overcome workload spikes and, crucially, keep permanent employees focused on their core duties.
These are just some of the many factors behind the increasing utilisation of temporary and contract workers – and they’re not just for the big end of town.
So, if you’ve never employed a temporary or contract worker before, here’s a few tips from us.
1. Determine your need
Start by determining which specific skills, capabilities and experience you require and how long you expect to need someone.
While the length of the assignment is flexible and you can quickly release a temporary or contractor – or conversely, ask them to stay longer – an indication of the length of the assignment will help all parties plan effectively.
2. Decide on what support you need in finding the right person
A recruiting expert will of course allow you to access suitable candidates who meet your specific needs. Our temporary and contract candidates are tried and tested and fully referenced. When required we also undertake any necessary pre-employment medicals and checks.
3. Consider legislative matters
You must also consider legislative matters when hiring temporary or contracting staff. This is another situation in which engaging with a recruiting expert can really help; you’ll pay only for the hours worked, with all on costs taken care of. We also take on all legislative matters, including superannuation, payroll tax and workers compensation liabilities.
4. Prepare to welcome your new starter
It may sound obvious, but make sure you allocate an appropriate workspace, provide the necessary logins, resources, contacts and equipment, and give a short induction so they can get to work and add value as quickly as possible.
5. Set expectations from the outset
It’s also important to make clear your expectations regarding the quantity and quality of work required. This ensures both you and your temporary or contractor understand exactly what must be delivered and are on the same page.
6. Be flexible
Finally, while most temporary assignments have a finish date, this can be extended if required. In some cases, an employer may also offer their temporary or contractor a permanent role. Flexibility is, of course, the key.
In short, there’s plenty to be gained from hiring one of the many skilled temp workers out there. Just be sure to plan accordingly using the above tips in order to make the most of this ever growing trend.
I hope you found this blog useful. If so, you may also enjoy the below:
- Six of the best risks you can take when hiring new talent
- Interviewers – how can you find the best person for the job?
- Seven ways to get the most from freelancers
- Employers beware: is your online reputation discouraging jobseekers?
- Three common mistakes to avoid when writing a job advert
- How to ensure your candidate enjoys their interview
- Seven ways to keep your team motivated when times get tough
