Here's How to Land a Job in Tech — and What Can Blow Your Interview

By Dorothy Cucci

A former Google recruiter says layoffs may be trendy, but tech workers are always needed. Here's how to land a job at a major tech company.  

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jeff Sipe, a private tech career coach and former Google recruiter. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Big Tech layoffs were always going to receive backlash — that said, I don't think any of them have been handled perfectly, and many of them could have been avoided. Yes, companies needed to cut down on costs, but more than that, I think layoffs have become trendy.

After layoffs, the company's stock price usually goes up, and the board of directors and shareholders (most of whom don't work there) are happy. It starts becoming more and more acceptable to conduct them; Twitter did it, so Google can do it, so Microsoft can do it, and so on.

But there are other ways to cope with a recession. A Stanford business professor says that layoffs often don't cut costs and suggests companies could implement other strategies like a 10% wage cut across the board.

That said, I don't think anyone who's been laid off or wants to break into the industry should be discouraged — it's always a good time to get into tech. Tech workers will always be needed. So if working at Google or Amazon has always been a dream, I always advise people to go for it.

1) Use LinkedIn to work smarter, not harder

Whether you've been laid off or are hoping to break into tech for the first time, the first thing that you should do is clean up your LinkedIn profile. You could be sleeping, working, or going to the gym, and your profile will do the work for you. Every aspect of your profile, from your picture, to your headline, to your name, to your about, to your experience, that should be buttoned up.

I rarely see true red flags on LinkedIn, but I think it's unappealing when candidates don't include their photo. Your headshot should be shoulders and above; I see a lot of people use a photo of themselves with sunglasses on or a photo with their families, and it's just not professional. I recommend just taking a selfie or having somebody take a picture of you against a clean background.

You should also be using the platform to reach out to recruiters at target companies — with a giving approach, rather than just asking for a job right out of the gate. A message like this will go a long way: "Hey Sue, I came across this really cool article about machine learning, I thought I'd share it with you."

Take a look at what's trending in your space and devote time to sending notes like this, as well as commenting on other people's posts. It will make you much more noticeable to hiring teams on LinkedIn.

I also like when people keep track of what we've spoken about in the past. Let's say you send another message to Sue a month or two later. Keep track of your connections in a spreadsheet so that it's easier to follow up. Trust me: continue with that giving approach, and eventually Sue will ask how she can help you out — it will come full circle.

2) Be open about your layoff

If you're coming out of a big tech company, chances are you've built up a great network. You should be announcing to the world that you're looking for work. Make a LinkedIn post saying, "Hey, I got laid off. Here are the types of roles I'm looking for."

I've noticed that many employees who have been laid off add the "Open to Work" feature to their LinkedIn, but don't necessarily make it clear that they've been laid off.

I recommend creating a banner to set as your profile's background photo. Anyone can create one for free, using Canva for example, that says, "Impacted by Google Layoffs." I'd also include the types of roles you're interested in, as well as your contact and locations.

From a recruiter's point of view, I'd see this and immediately understand your status — I know you've worked in a tough environment, and I know how to contact you. I haven't seen laid off candidates do this yet, but I think it would definitely help them jump up the list.

Read more tips and the complete Entrepreneur article

10 Résumé Hacks That Are Proven To Work And 7 That'll Probably Just Send Your Application To The "No" Pile

It's about to be a new year, which means it's the best time of year to be dusting off those résumés and getting ready to take a leap in 2023 with your career. According to Business News Daily, January and February are the best months to look for a job. So, let's avoid getting dumped into the "Thank u, Next" pile and get hired right away!

Peacock

Résumés seem so simple, but some hacks will actually help you advance to round two in the job application process. If you're tired of applying and feel like you are hitting a dead end, check out some of these hacks that will guarantee you receive a callback.

 

3.Achievements

ABC Network / Via giphy.com

A lot of articles recommend tailoring your language when describing your work experience. Resume Worded says your résumé should be "achievement-based," not responsibility-oriented. Instead of stating your job duties, mention what made you stand out in that role.

 

4.Meaningful File Name

Deedle Dee Productions / Via giphy.com

Stop turning in résumés labeled "Résumé." It's that simple. At least add your last name or the job position you are applying to.

Indeed's employment site recommends candidates keep the file name under 24 characters. A perfect example of a file name for a résumé would be Brenda-Murphy-Resume.docx or AustinStaadt-Resume.pdf. 

 

7.PROOFREAD

Peacock / Via giphy.com

No matter what, before you hit that submit button, make sure to proofread and proofread. Reading out loud will really force you to hear how you sound and can save a job application in a heartbeat.

CNBC Make It reports grammatical and spelling errors are one of the top five mistakes candidates make on their applications.

And here are some things that will definitely not move you on to the next round of the job process.

 

12.Photo

BabyWay Productions / Via giphy.com

Photos are a complete "NO" because a photo isn't needed if it's not a modeling or acting career. If you feel a photo is important, then a great workaround would be to include your LinkedIn page in a hyperlink.

LinkedIn says, "Résumé standards have changed, but photos on résumés are still rare." Unless it's necessary, photos shouldn't be on résumés.

 

13.Personal Information

Bravo / Via giphy.com

Maybe adding your address was useful back in the day, but employers don't need to know where you live. A city and state will suffice. Also, never include your age; recruiters shouldn't ask your age. Though there isn't a law advising against it, it could be viewed as evidence of bias.

They'll do the math from your birth year if they really want to know.

 

Read the full BuzzFeed Via Yahoo article for all the Hacks!

 

 

 

 

Who Gets the Last Word on Steve Jobs? He Might.

By Tripp Mickle

“One of the things that excites me about archives is the warts and all,” said Courtney Chartier, an archivist at Columbia University who has worked on Martin Luther King Jr.’s archive and the papers of Tony Kushner, the playwright. “People are complicated, and that’s something we shouldn’t shy away from.”

The Steve Jobs Archive deviates from the repositories of other famous business leaders who largely left their material to corporate or library archives. About half of Harvard Business School’s 25 greatest business leaders of the 20th century left behind personal archives that are open to the public in libraries or museums, including Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Asa Candler, who built Coca-Cola.
Other iconic business founders such as Walt Disney, Sam Walton and Ray Kroc entrusted their papers to the companies they built, allowing those collections to become the cornerstone of corporate archives.

Much of that corporate archive material is closed to the public, but some companies, such as the Walt Disney Company, make personal correspondence, notes, speeches and other items available to authors for research.

“We don’t censor,” said Becky Cline, director of the Walt Disney archives. “We just vet.”

The new Jobs archive debuted with a minimalist website containing eight pieces of video, audio and writing that express what the archive calls Mr. Jobs’s “driving motivations in his own words.” The items, three-quarters of which were already public, can be accessed by clicking through maxims made famous by Mr. Jobs, including “make something wonderful and put it out there” and “pursue different paths.”

The next steps for the archive are shrouded in the kind of mystery associated with the way Mr. Jobs ran Apple. About all that’s been publicly disclosed is that Ms. Powell Jobs hired a documentary filmmaker to gather hundreds of oral histories about Mr. Jobs from former colleagues. Where that material will be stored and who will have access to it has not been revealed.


Read the full NYTimes article“One of the things that excites me about archives is the warts and all,” said Courtney Chartier, an archivist at Columbia University who has worked on Martin Luther King Jr.’s archive and the papers of Tony Kushner, the playwright. “People are complicated, and that’s something we shouldn’t shy away from.”

The Steve Jobs Archive deviates from the repositories of other famous business leaders who largely left their material to corporate or library archives. About half of Harvard Business School’s 25 greatest business leaders of the 20th century left behind personal archives that are open to the public in libraries or museums, including Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Asa Candler, who built Coca-Cola.
Other iconic business founders such as Walt Disney, Sam Walton and Ray Kroc entrusted their papers to the companies they built, allowing those collections to become the cornerstone of corporate archives.

Much of that corporate archive material is closed to the public, but some companies, such as the Walt Disney Company, make personal correspondence, notes, speeches and other items available to authors for research.

“We don’t censor,” said Becky Cline, director of the Walt Disney archives. “We just vet.”

The new Jobs archive debuted with a minimalist website containing eight pieces of video, audio and writing that express what the archive calls Mr. Jobs’s “driving motivations in his own words.” The items, three-quarters of which were already public, can be accessed by clicking through maxims made famous by Mr. Jobs, including “make something wonderful and put it out there” and “pursue different paths.”

The next steps for the archive are shrouded in the kind of mystery associated with the way Mr. Jobs ran Apple. About all that’s been publicly disclosed is that Ms. Powell Jobs hired a documentary filmmaker to gather hundreds of oral histories about Mr. Jobs from former colleagues. Where that material will be stored and who will have access to it has not been revealed.


Read the full NYTimes article for the complete article

How Steve Jobs Hired and Retained His Top Employees - A-players are worth their weight in gold. Here's how to treat them.

BY TOMMY MELLO

All it takes is one great employee to change the whole business. 

Just ask Steve Jobs. 

Here's what he said in a 1998 interview:

"I noticed that the dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to 1. Given that, you're well advised to go after the cream of the cream ... A small team of A-players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players." 

It's not just Steve Jobs. After interviewing more than 20 billionaires and 300 CEOs for his book, Geoff Smart emphasized the value of A-players:

"We define an A-player this way: a candidate who has at least a 90 percent chance of achieving a set of outcomes that only the top 10 percent of possible candidates could achieve."

That's been true in my experience, too -- 20 percent of your people will generate 80 percent of your results. My A-players get more five-star reviews, close more jobs, and charge more because they believe in the product and company. 

A-players are especially important when most industries are getting disrupted. Even in my industry, home service, there are vultures all over. Google and Amazon are coming in big time. If you don't have a team of A-players -- and you don't move fast -- you're screwed sooner or later. 

So how can you find and hire your best employees? Here's what I recommend: 

Create an "A-player avatar"

Hiring the wrong employees can cost you a fortune.​​ A study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) shows that an employee is worth six to nine months of their salary. If your employee has a $5,000 per month salary, you lose up to $45,000 when you let them go. 

So make sure you understand what the perfect employee is. Don't hire until you figure this out! Ask yourself the following questions to define your "A-player avatar":

• What are they like? Where do they hang out? (This helps you run ads to target them.)
• What are they motivated by? (Everyone's different: Some people might want PTO. Some people might want to go out of town regularly. Make a list of common motivations.)
• And, most important, what makes them great? Who's the perfect employee for your business?  

Recruit, don't hire

There were times when we were forced to hire people I didn't get along with. And I thought, "Man, there just aren't good people out there." Then I realized that recruiting -- finding great people -- is not putting an ad up and waiting for them to come to you! Recruiting is going out there and getting them. 

Think about this: Can you build a baseball team or a football team by just having people show up to the scrimmage? Or should you go out and get 'em? What's going to work better? 

The best employees are the ones who are recruited. The majority of your hires -- over half of your employees -- should be amazing people you recruit away from other companies! 

So, how do you do that? Call customers up and ask them if they know anybody who might fit a certain role. And, more important, ask your best employees.

Turn your A-players into recruiters - Read the rest of the Inc. article

 

Mark Cuban Says the Worst Career Advice is 'Follow Your Passion.' What Should You Do Instead?

By Jeff Haden

Ask just about any motivational speaker or career expert. Or ask Steve Jobs:  As the Apple co-founder once said, "You've got to find what you love. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking."  

Most people believe passion comes first.

But not Mark Cuban. When Adam Grant asked him if there was a "worst piece of career advice you've gotten," Cuban said:

Follow your passion? No.

Follow your effort. No one quits anything they're good at.

While passion can spark effort, the reverse is more often true. Effort, and the improvement that results, creates passion. Do something poorly? You probably dread doing it. Do something well? You enjoy it -- and the better you get, the more you like doing it.

Science agrees, especially where starting a business is concerned. According to a study published in Academy of Management Journal, the more effort entrepreneurs put into their startups or side hustles, the more enthusiastic they get about their businesses. 

As startup founders gain skill, expertise, and experience, their enthusiasm grows -- with or without early financial success. Effort, and resulting improvement, creates passion.

Not the other way around. 

'Follow Your Passion' Can Be Disastrous - Find out why and the rest of the Inc. article

 

7 updates your résumé needs now

Without a refresh, your résumé can quickly look dated. Here are seven ways to give it a quick update.

BY GWEN MORAN 

Résumé-writing typically comes with a list of best practices. Tailor your résumé to the job. Focus on the impact you made instead of the tasks you performed. And, most of all, be sure it’s accurate and free of typos. A recent analysis by job search platform Adzuna found that meaning almost roughly two-thirds of résumés contained at least one mistake. More than 13% of the résumés analyzed contained five or more errors.

But, beyond that, there are a few more nuanced details that can make your résumé look modern—or dated, says career coach and résumé consultant Marjorie Sherlock. “The résumé has evolved as a marketing tool, driven by what the market is telling us,” she says. And much of what was expected even 10 years ago is “completely dead.”

The risk of submitting a résumé that looks a little behind the times is what it says about you: Perhaps you’re not up on trends or how industries evolve, Sherlock explains. So, if it’s been a few years since you’ve updated your professional calling card, give it a look with these tips in mind.

4) GET THE FORMAT RIGHT

While applicant tracking systems have come a long way, it’s still a good idea to avoid heavy graphics or tables to present information in your résumé, Sherlock says. And use one space after a period rather than two. (Word processing programs automatically adjust spacing—typewriters didn’t—so, there’s no need for the extra space.)

** I have looked at a lot of resume that would have looked nice if they were printed out but the parsing function doesn't like all of the columns and graphics so it cuts down on your odds of being found through keyword searches.

5) BE SUCCINCT

Résumé consultant Donna Svei limits clients’ résumés to 700 to 800 words. “Very few recruiters and hiring managers want to read more than that,” she says.

Similarly, she advises avoiding large blocks of text, which are hard to read, especially on mobile devices. People start losing interest after about four lines, she says. “Technology shifted résumés from paper to screens, and job seekers who haven’t adapted to the change with shorter paragraphs that are easier to read on screens look dated,” she says.

AVOID TRIPS DOWN MEMORY LANE

Periodically, it’s a good idea to cull the information you include on your résumé to keep it more focused on today. Since 2007, the pandemic and Great Recession have changed so much about work and the way things get done. Unless the experience is “stunningly relevant” to your goals, consider dropping it in favor of more recent and relevant experience. Awards, speeches, and publications older than about four years may be past their expiration date, she adds.

Read the full Fast Company for all 7 updates article

Networking on Slack Is a New Way to Find a Job, but It Takes Work

By Lindsay Ellis

Networking forums on Slack have become fertile ground for finding new jobs fast. Getting into the right professional group and navigating its dynamics can take some effort.

A popular workplace communication tool, Slack is becoming a growing force in professional networking and recruiting. Many industry and professional groups have formed on the platform in recent years, allowing those in marketing, cybersecurity and other fields to exchange career advice and job leads. Members of these invite-only communities often connect each other with hiring managers at their companies, putting them on the fast track for openings. 

But job seekers first have to gain access. And some Slack networking groups can be like awkward parties, members say: A few people occasionally show up, and no one has much to say.

To make the most of these private forums in your job search, it is important to know how to find the people with connections to open the right career doors and how to navigate each group’s social norms, veteran Slack networkers say. Just as in traditional meet-and-greets, for instance, it’s wise to introduce yourself and show collegiality before asking for favors. 

As Alexis Scott looks to make a career transition, the 39-year-old says she is honing her Slack networking approach. She wrangled invitations to join several online communities for professional women. Some she discovered by finding Slack offshoots of other professional forums—such as Ladies Get Paid, a career-networking and professional development site for women.  

In each of the 10 groups she has joined, she has figured out how to quickly gauge how engaged members are and whether they are posting worthwhile job openings. She says she looks for groups where users respond to one another’s questions. “If someone posts, are people replying, or is it sitting in dead air?” she notes.  

If things seem quiet, Mrs. Scott says she won’t hang out there, aside from occasional check-ins.

Here are more tips she and other Slack networkers offer:

Find the right community

Once you find a Slack group of professional peers, getting in isn’t tough, many group members and founders say. But finding the right group can take legwork. Slack Technologies, which is owned by Salesforce.com Inc. , says it doesn’t know how many networking groups exist on its platform. 

“It does seem to be kind of an insider club,” says Jimmy Daly, who co-founded Superpath, a Slack group for content marketers. “For the most part, people let you in on the secret as they discover it.”

Mr. Daly, 36, recommends asking professional networking organizations about relevant Slack groups, and googling “Slack community” and your career field—for instance, “engineer.” Some of Superpath’s roughly 8,500 members discovered the group, he says, by coming across a tweet or blog post listing relevant Slack forums. Others did so by word-of-mouth.

Some more recently established Slack groups do direct outreach via social media. When the Cybersecurity Marketing Society set up on Slack in 2020, its founders sent LinkedIn messages to people in the field, urging them to join, says Gianna Whitver, one of the group’s creators. 

Not all Slack groups are equally useful

Read the full WSJ article for more tips and info