Any Kind of Job Will Give You an Advantage

Ida Lindgren, HR manager at IT Minds, a company with 150 employees, that focuses on recruiting IT students, while they are still in school as well as after graduation.

What do you look for, when you are hiring engineer students or a recently graduated engineer?
It’s a mixture of different factors. We also look at personalities, since, when we recruit consultants, they have an advantage if they are outgoing and good at communicating with clients. Furthermore, we take as our starting point our set of specific core values, when we evaluate if the person is a good fit for our company. We also look at their programming skills, and we have a test, which we use after the actual job interview. It’s a code test in, for example, Java, C#, or some other kind of technology.

Will good grades lead to a steady job?
Regarding specific courses, we do take a closer look at the grade. We look at the courses that are relevant for the position we are filling. If you got an 02 (low grade, but a pass) in a non-relevant course, it will not affect your chances of getting the job. We do want to see your grades in your application, but, of course, if you have been good at programming since you were 10 years old, we will also take that into consideration when doing our assessment.

Do you value specific things in the résumé?
We’re quite open about the résumé, since our company is known for hiring young IT-talents, so we do help you get something on your résumé. Therefore, we understand if an intern doesn’t have much on their résumé yet. Of course, all types of jobs give you an advantage, even your stint at the kiosk during your years in high school, because it shows that you know what it means to have a job. However, to us, it’s more important that you know how to program and that you have the right attitude, personality, drive, and passion for programming.

Is it important to finish your studies on time?
No, not really, but we do ask about it. So, if you have a good reason – because you took some time off to work or someone in your family was ill – it does not matter too much. Taking a break to work between your bachelor’s and your master’s study program might almost prove an advantage. Our concept is to offer part-time jobs, for instance during your master’s, and therefore you might be a good profile for us.

Although it isn’t mandatory, is doing an internship advantageous?
We think it’s important to do what’s right for you, as an individual, so it’ really hard to generalize. Our concept consists of offering work experience in the form of a student job. Yet, for some students, juggling a job and their studies at the same time may be hard, and an internship may make it easier to enter the job market. We employ a lot of bachelors of engineering, for whom internships are a mandatory part of their program. We think internships offer unique possibilities for both parties to get to know each other.

How do you view stays abroad?
It doesn’t matter too much, but having impressions of and experiences with the world outside Denmark may prove an advantage. Of course, many IT consultants will be working with outsourcing partners, and therefore it may be useful to know about other cultures and different ways of collaborating.

How do you conduct job interviews?
That depends on the position; if we need to fill the position quickly, because of a new client or a new project, the interview may be conducted with only the daily manager present. If we have placed an ad, there’ll often be two employees present during the interview. For instance, an IT developer, the lead developer responsible for the group, a person from HR, or the daily manager in either Aarhus or Copenhagen.

Do you check out the applicants on social media?
We don’t check what the applicants write on Facebook or Google them as such. If they have a LinkedIn profile, we might take a look at it. Sometimes, there’ll be relevant information.