Preparing for new tech job interviews in 2021

The tough times that made 2020 unpleasant for many around the world saw a split in career paths. Many people felt it prudent to stick to their current roles for fear of the unknown, while others were forced to seek new work as layoffs, furloughs and business collapses hit many industries.

Moving on, 2021 presents the opportunity for a fresh look at the career landscape, thinking about staking your claim for a better role as many firms look forward to recovery and accelerating their plans to capture new business. (our upcoming Webinar on searching for opportunities may be a good starting point).

For a job candidate, 2021 might look a little different to previous cycles. For a start, fresh graduates may worry about their results where scoring was different due to estimated grades, but hirers will be fair on those issues. In most careers, there are more jobs on offer, but also more people applying for each posting, should you focus on key companies or take a blanket approach?

Most career sites have a range of filters and search criteria to help people find the right level of role, with advice to help hit the right notes as a candidate. A growing number also deploy bots to help with finding roles or interviewing. Use all of these tools to find the right roles.

Accept automation as the future of hiring

Younger candidates are already happy using bots and will treat them as part of the recuitment process. They are also more likely to focus on a company’s mission or green credentials than just the salary and benefits, while remote working and work/life balance are higher up the agenda. Whatever the post, and your career ambitions, anyone hoping to claim it will need to have planned their application carefully.

• Read and understand the job posting. Tailor your application to it, while learning plenty about the company, not only from their website, but vertical or market publications, social media posts and local or regional news.
• Be prepared for more automated interactions due to the volume of applications, like the LeaddMe chatbot. Many firms now automate communications and even interviews by chatbots to highlight strong candidates. These tools are there to even the playing field and speed up the process, and should not be thought of as depersonalizing your efforts. If your responses and skills match what the hirer is looking for, they will be in touch. If not, you will know sooner and can move on.
• Therefore, use the automated approach to your advantage by planning answers to typical questions, and use those open questions such as “What do you expect from the company?” to demonstrate your insight and thinking, rather than dismissing them with generic answers.

For recruiters, they are likely to see many more applications (up to 4,000 for entry-level roles, and many 100s for specialist positions). They might find better success posting jobs on Twitter or vertical-focused websites, so you need to be on the lookout outside of traditional channels.

The key for candidates 2021 is the need to be flexible and prepared, from the basics like keeping a resume up to date. Also, highlighting the positive things you got from 2020 that demonstrate some effort and showing that you understand the businesses and markets you wish to work in.