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Colin Kleine APAC Tech RecruiterFollowColin Kleine APAC Tech

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8 Pointers to Get Hired by Top

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Classification: Internal Use

 Published on March 29, 2016

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Colin Kleine APAC Tech RecruiterFollowColin Kleine APAC Tech

Recruiter
APAC Recruitment Specialist And Career Coach

By Colin Kleine

Director of ZACK Group an IT Vendor recruitment agency

www.zackgroup.com.au
Securing the job of your dreams is no doubt a tricky task. How is it possible to stand out
from a sea of applicants who are all qualified, motivated and hardworking? Hint: it’s all
about finding the balance! For instance, recruiters have shown to want employees capable
of being confident with their current skillsets but also be humble enough to admit what
they lack knowledge in. Acquiring this sort of balance can be a tough row to hoe but fret
not, I’ve narrowed it down to 8 pointers to help you get there.

Leave No Room for Doubt but be Flexible When

Necessary
Regardless of the position you apply for, you’re expected to immediately jump on the
wagon and start performing upon hiring. Therefore, recruiters look for individuals who
can demonstrate confidence in doing what’s in the job description. Tailor your CV to
show that you’ve tackled similar jobs before and can fulfil all the responsibilities they
require. If you’re unsure about your capabilities, don’t be. You can always learn along the
way, but be sure to highlight what you can bring to the table as well as your readiness to
Classification: Internal Use

learn. If you train yourself to be driven by producing successful end-results, you can
achieve anything you want.

Now here comes the contradicting bit; recruiters want employees who are confident but
not necessarily set in their ways. Flexibility is important because change is constant and
they want to know that when the time comes, you can change what’s needed. You can
easily demonstrate this in your interview by describing situations where you’ve
successfully done things differently to suit the situation at hand. Use a scenario and
enlighten the interviewer with your way of doing it before asking them about the
company’s process when undertaking the same task.

Emphasize on Your Cross-Functional Skill Sets – It’s

a Great Asset, Really
For 2016, it’s been determined that engineering is the most in-demand technical skill. But
whichever your technical skill is, just be sure to highlight it in your CV and state how you
can use those skills to bring the company to greater heights. List out certifications and
trainings you have done but also tell them about your reliability, goal-driven personality
and innovativeness so they know you’re an all-rounder that can produce results.

At the same time, a company needs more than just technical folks. Projects these days
usually consist of employees from various departments coming together to make one big
thing happen. This is where your cross-functionality comes into play. Traits like
adaptability, solid communication skills and being able to put yourself in other people’s
shoes are what’s in demand. Polish up your knowledge on other fields whether it is
marketing, resource management, customer behaviour and so forth. Communicate in your
CV how you’re able to work peacefully with different characters and you’re looking to
explore other fields apart from your own. Recruiters will be over the moon to hear that!

Knowing the Company in a Not-So-Creepy Way

Anybody can want ANY job. But you have to tell recruiters what makes you want THAT
job. What is it about the role that fits with your goals and what is the company doing
that’s attracting you to them? You don’t have to portray your enthusiasm by going on and
on about the plus side of their products or retweet everything that’s posted on the
company account. Instead, do it in a more subtle way. Tell them about your experience
with their product, both good and bad. Throw in some solutions for the bad. This shows
recruiters that you’ve got something to offer and you’ve done your homework too.

Knowledge that’s industry-based is also a requirement. For instance, if you’re applying

for a film-making company, you’d have to know about the film-making industry. If you
don’t know much about the industry you’re applying for, start right now! Talk about it in
day-to-day conversations with people who share the same passion, keep updated with
Classification: Internal Use

industry experts on social media, read about the industry happenings and get to know
what competitors are up to. It’ll give you leverage when applying and your recruiter will
know that you’re coming in with an understanding that’s not from a one-day read.

Responsible Solo Rider but also a Team Player

The tech industry – start-ups and large organizations – is embracing entrepreneurial traits.
If you’d like to succeed, you’d have to show that you’re a person who can uptake any
project and handle it with minimal babysitting. We’re talking individuals who can
innovate and design systems while leading change on their own and still deliver success.
How do you communicate this to recruiters? Share with them on how you’re a self-
starter, your capabilities for innovative, creative thinking and how you’re able to
multitask in a fast-moving environment. Share with them a past experience on how you
had identified a problem, thought of a creative solution and executed it while having
other things on your plate.

Working independently is a great asset, but you hit homerun if you can also engage in
teamwork. Some of the best solutions are said to come out from teamwork. So elaborate
on past occasions where you’ve been a team player and succeeded. Highlight also on
failures and how you were able to handle the feedback gracefully. One direct tactic of
showing you’re a team player is by initiating a warm gesture – a smile, a friendly nod, a
greeting – to everyone you meet along the way to your interview. This act of friendliness
speaks for itself on how you will treat people, whether working in a team or not.

Demonstrate Equally Burning Passion for your

Professional and Personal Life
If you’re in the tech industry, chances are you love what you do with a geeky passion.
Don’t be shy to demonstrate that excitement whenever possible. If you’ve done more
with your passion outside of a work environment, tell your recruiters. Even better, create
your own website that showcases some of your achievements from side projects. It could
be creating an application, published articles you have written, volunteering work you’ve
done such as teaching HTML at the local community centre, YouTube videos of you
offering solutions to the public and so forth.

Hiring folks also love to know how passionate you are about your own life outside the
working world. Share some of your hobbies that are not technical, but more human if you
will. Do you have a personal record when it comes to hiking? Are you a dog walker over
the weekend because you love these fuzzy bundles of joy? Is marathon running your
thing? Share some of your good stories so recruiters can remember you better from other
applicants. When you’re done, steer the conversation back by talking about how these
personal experiences helped you develop certain skill sets applicable at the workplace.
Classification: Internal Use

Explicitly Talk about your Wins and Losses

You’re pretty much marketing yourself here so sharing impressive success stories is a
must, and don’t leave out the nitty-gritty! Tell them about how you were assigned a
project managing job for the first time and decided that you not only wanted to
successfully launch the product but also get at least 20 bookings before the launch itself.
Bring numbers to the table and show them proof if you can; the more you solidify your
achievement with hard evidence, the higher your chances of standing out.

It’s normal to encounter questions about failure or your negative traits in interview
sessions and when the time comes, don’t deny them because it’s another opportunity for
you to shine. Talk about how you’ve learned from your mistakes and avoided making a
similar decision after that. Pick out a failure story or two and break it down from the very
beginning to recruiters. Share on how you managed to use the learning lessons from these
situations to manifest successes. Remember, having failed at something before is not the
end of the world. By demonstrating your ability to learn and move on from it, you show
that you’re a practical and positive learner.

The Right Amount of Confidence

Confidence is vital, but bragging is an inch too far. You’d want to just state out what
you’re good at and what your achievements are without any extra spinning. Most
importantly, don’t put other people down when talking about yourself. Think about your
achievements as facts and simply present them as that. Some pre-interview practicing
may help you establish ways of structuring your sentences so you don’t sound like a
gloating goat.

How do you know if you’ve crossed the fine line? It’s when you start playing the know-
it-all card. Interviewers can spot when a person tries to fake knowing something when
they don’t. You’d do better admitting what you don’t know and politely ask the recruiter
to help you understand. It’s more important to show that you’re willing to learn what you
don’t know; that’s a valued quality recruiters would love to have in the workplace.

Focus on Performing Well Today and for the Future

too
When looking for new employees, companies want someone who’s going to help them
with today’s tasks but also has an action plan for the future. Primarily, it’s about how you
can add value to the company but at the same time, share on how the job coincide with
your long-term goals. That way, you can help them grow and they can do the same for
you too. Questions like “What is your five-year plan?” or “Tell us more about yourself”
opens up opportunities to talk about these things.
Classification: Internal Use

If you’ve jumped through different types of jobs, fret not! Recruiters are also fond of
hiring individuals with an all-over-the-place work experience. It speaks of your character
as someone who’s ever-ready to explore the unfamiliar and learn along the way. Identify
how working in different job scopes improved your cross-functionality and versatility.
Provide examples on how you’ve picked up knowledge in one job and applied it to
another.

It’s getting to be a competitive market out there and trying to get noticed is tough. From
my experience, it’s no longer about graduating first in your class. Instead, it’s how well
you can paint a picture of your qualities as a person and the values you can bring to a
company. Equipping yourself with as many of the characteristics stated above will
provide you with some serious leverage and have you being wanted by more than just
one company. Ultimately, you may just get the job you’ve always wanted!

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Colin Kleine APAC Tech Recruiter

APAC Recruitment Specialist And Career Coach
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