Although the memory may be a little hazy, most people can remember their first job interview. After a few painstaking weeks of filling out applications, the phone began to ring and eventually you landed the perfect minimum wage gig to occupy an otherwise restless summer. Since then, this first interview experience, we all learn a great deal about the professional world – including everything from business etiquette to how to give a proper handshake. Unfortunately, for most people, interviewing never seems to get any easier.
As an IT Recruiting agency, we know that every company has their own unique interviewing style, but we also know that a positive attitude and a genuine personality will take you far. To assist you in your job search, we’ve compiled a few of the best interviewing tips:
Wear a Smile. Like Little Orphan Annie sang several decades ago, remember that you’re never fully dressed without a smile. Be sure to greet each and every person you meet over the course of the interview with a warm smile and a firm handshake. However, be sure to drop the grin when answering the more in-depth questions – otherwise your interviewer may assume you’re taking things seriously.
Practice, practice, practice. Although interviews vary from company to company, there are some questions that seem to remain a constant – such as “Why did you leave your last position?” or “What is your greatest weakness?” By formulating answers to these questions beforehand, you will avoid being caught off guard and will thus sound more eloquent and confident.
Mirror the Interviewer. Before you crack a joke or comment on the office decor, take some time to get a feel for your interviewer’s personality. If they’re the more buttoned-up , no-nonsense type, it may not behoove you to engage in small talk.
Accentuate the Positive. Don’t speak ill of your former bosses, co-workers or companies at which you’ve worked. Instead, highlight the more positive aspects of your professional experiences. If you’re asked to critique a company where you once worked, mention challenges and setbacks and avoid blatant negativity.
Overall, the best interviewing advice is to be respectful, calm and, most importantly, be yourself. Remember that while an interviewer may be assessing your skills and potential fit within the company, you should also take time to consider whether the company’s culture and mission is in line with your own personal goals.
Although the economy is on the upswing, many professionals across the Southwest are still having a difficult time locating a job that suits their skills, needs and interests. However, one such area in which there are many opportunities available is in the field of Information Technology.
However, just because there are several openings in your job searching results does not mean the competition is lacking. Professionals looking for a career due to a contract end, lay off or those who currently feel they have reached their zenith at their current company may have sour feelings towards their current or former employer. However, it is important to always keep a positive and professional attitude regardless of the current situation. There are a few key points that can help job seekers stay on track.
1. Professionals should never “bad mouth” a current or former employer. Besides the fact that employers in the IT field are a close-knit community and may know each other personally, it also makes candidates look unprofessional and rude. These qualities are never acceptable in any workplace.
2. Job seekers, regardless of their circumstance, should never let on that they are desperate. If a candidate seems desperate the employer may question their motives – this may cause them to wonder whether the candidate is truly eager to work for their company or simply looking for the first thing to come along.
3. Appearance is important – both in the way job interviewee dresses, presents themselves online and the way in which they talk. If candidates are asked a question that could inspire a negative response, they should form their words carefully. For example, if an employer asks what they didn’t like about their previous job, an interviewee should never respond with something personal, such as “My boss was a real jerk” or “I was never paid on time” – even if those statements are true.
Job seekers should remember that employers are always watching. This can happen even in unexpected scenarios, such as on social media profiles and in restaurants or bars. Those looking for a new job should remember to maintain a positive and professional attitude at all times and they will always have a leg up on the competition.
New versions of both Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android are available today. Both apps bring back high-demand features, including the swipe shortcut, and they also introduce new design and functionality improvements. Here’s a rundown.
Both apps
- Swipe shortcut: Swipe a Tweet in your home timeline to reply to, retweet, favorite or share it, or view the Twitter user’s profile, without leaving your timeline.
- “Find friends”: They’ve added a confirmation alert when you select “Find friends”. This notification more clearly and explicitly messages the fact that when you upload your contacts’ email addresses and phone numbers, you can quickly find which of your friends are on Twitter (that is, if they’ve chosen to be discoverable by email or phone number).
Twitter for iPhone
- Copy and paste: They’ve returned the ability to copy and paste the text of Tweets and user profiles. Just press and hold to copy.
- Link love: The “share” feature used to just give you the option to copy or email a link to a Tweet. Now, if there’s a link within a Tweet, you’ll see the option to tweet, copy or mail that link, or you can choose to read it later. (Select a “Read Later Service” under Settings > Advanced.)
- Pressing and holding links provides similar options, along with the ability to open the link in Safari.
- Direct messages: We updated the design for Direct Messages and returned the ability to mark all DMs as read. Simply tap the check mark in the lower right corner.
- Font size settings: Change the font size under Settings > Advanced.
Twitter for Android
- New devices: Twitter for Android is now optimized to run on Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich, as well as on the Kindle Fire (available today through the Amazon Appstore) and the Barnes & Noble NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet (available February 23 though the Barnes & Noble NOOK Store).
You can download Twitter for iPhone today from the App Store and Twitter for Android from Android Market.
Even though the weather is in the 60's here in Las Vegas, spring is well upon us and you know what that means: spring cleaning. I'm dedicating my weekend to cleaning out my closet, reorganizing my kitchen and actually vacuuming my entire place. But thanks to advances in cloud computing, I don't have a need to clean up around the Phoenix Staff Las Vegas office. I don't have dozens of filing cabinets that need to be emptied or reorganized. I don't have a Rolodex that needs to be updated. I don't have hundreds of business cards cluttering my work space. Everything is either online or stored in my CPU.
Take 30 minutes out of your each of your days this week to freshen up your workspace.
Day 1: Clean out your inbox. Do you ever feel overwhelmed with the sheer amount of emails that you get everyday? Sometimes it's not about simply getting those emails out of your inbox, it's organizing them in a way so that they are not so overwhelming. Set up an archive, mark important emails, and categorize emails into respective folders.
Day 2: Clear your browsing history: Saving your browsing history for the past five years takes up valuable space on your hard drive. Instead, clear out history older than six months. If it's older than six months, do you really need it?
Day 3: Delete out old contacts and voicemails: Do you have oodles of old voicemails sitting in your inbox? Get them out! Take 30 minutes of your day to answer your messages - you'll feel so much better afterwords.Your phone is a valuable piece of technology that is vital to your success. Get rid of those old contacts that you haven't spoken to in years.
Day 4: Update your resume. Chances are, things have changed in your life in the past year. These changes should be reflected on your resume. Have you moved? Did you get a new phone number? At Phoenix Staff we love to say "Life happens", and this is true for us as recruiters as well.
Day 5: Clean up your desktop. Does your desktop ever look like this? 
This gives me anxiety just looking at it! Delete old files that you don't use anymore and group files that belong together in folders. Create a miscellaneous folder for icons that don't really belong anywhere else. Also, a calming background such as a still ocean or scenic mountains will help to ease tension and increase productivity.
In the next year, we can probably expect tablets to become one of the most useful business tools for businesses. Desktop computers will still hold their ground, but tablets are quickly replacing laptops in 2012 The iPad may still be the King of the Tablets, but when deciding on which tablet to invest in, here are a few specs to think about:
- Function: Think about the main tasks that the tablet will be used for. If you are going to be using it as more of a presentation tool, you may want to get a bigger screen. If you're using it out in the field, you may want something durable and light.
- Size: Remember that the point of a tablet is portability. You may want it to be able to fit in your briefcase or purse. But, you don't want it to be a bigger version of your smart phone, you want it to be a more compact version of a laptop.
- Accessories: Just like an outfit may not be complete without the right accessories, a tablet can be utilized to the fullest of its potential with the correct accessories. If you are using the tablet to type out emails, blogs or code, you may want to invest in a keyboard.
- Internal apps: Here at Phoenix Staff we have several small internal applications that we use to do quick calculations and
- Ports: Speaking of battery life, the way you can charge your tablet is of utter importance when selecting a tablet to use as a business tool. Remember that not only you will need to charge your tablet while at home or at work, but you also may need to charge it on the go. Do you have a car charger for your phone already? Think about getting a tablet that has that same charging port.
If you can't find a tablet on the market right now that you don't like, hang tight. In the next couple of months you can expect there to be an overwhelming amount of tablets to choose from.