Skip to main content

get-a-job

Elevator pitch​

  • audience: choose one job position to describe yourself as
    • example: not "investor, comedian, and software engineer," but just "software engineer"
  • credential: your credentials
  • experience: relevant experience and what you did
  • value: any valuable results or outcomes of your experience
  • personal: personal hobbies that showcase something unique about you
  • conclusion: what you want out of this conversation,
    • example: "I'm currently looking for jobs in software engineering"

Linkedln​

  1. Optimize your about profile, use 2000 words, tell your professional progression and story

Sending invites​

When sending invites, keep it short and sweet, don't reveal your nefarious intentions like trying to get a job.

What recruiters look for​

  • about profile: optimize the about profile telling your life story and progression so recreuiters understand you better.
  • personal info: recruiters love having a personal phone, personal email, etc.
  • recommendations: Ask people for recommendations, and if they're lazy, just write it up wtih AI and then tell them to submit.
    • Recruiters look for 5-10 recommendations
  • active commenting and liking: For your dream company like google, comment on the niche google developer posts and be a common face they recognize.
  • 500+ connections: Recruiters want you to have 500+ connections so it shows you're well connected.
  • make linkedln profile public

Getting an interview​

Should you even apply?​

Only apply if you have at least 80% of the required job skills, but not 100% since you want to go to a job where you can learn something.

And only apply if the company's values apply with your values, like remote work and work-life balance.

Interviews​

Before the interview​

  1. Research the company
  2. Research the company history
  3. Research the industry
  4. Based off the first three research tasks, make questions about the indistry and the specific company's business strategy.

"Hey netflix, I research your company and your competitors, so I'm wondering your strategy to go against paramount and disney+"

Answers to prepare​

For each of these categories, make 2-3 answers and prepare them beforehand

  • problem solving story
  • team or conflict story
  • leadership or initiative story

During the interview​

What interviewers look for​

  • are you a good person I would enjoy being with?: Interviewers will only hire you if they like you, meaning that you would be someone they enjoy working with.
  • are you a good communicator?: If you're rambling, then they don't trust you to convey ideas clearly and then will not hire you.

Tips​

  1. ask good questions: good questions 1) benefit you and 2) come from company research
  2. call them by their names: psychological tip that helps build familiarity and makes the interviewers feel like you care them.
  3. follow calm, confident, curious
    • confident: own your strengths and weaknesses
    • calm: It's ok to pause to think about a question, don't keep rambling. Don't use filler words, and think about a question and just ask, "can you give me a minute to think?"
    • curious: show genuine interest in the role and ask good questions, turns an interview into an interrogation to see if the job is the right fit for you

Asking questions​

During an interview, you must ask good questions. It is a red flag for interviewers if they don't hear you asking questions.

Do not just ask questions for the sake of asking questions. Good questions consist of two components:

  1. it benefits you: Dumb questions do not benefit you. Good questions do benefit you. Do not just ask questions for the sake of asking questions.
  2. comes from previous research: Good questions are based off researching the company beforehand.

You judge a person by their questions, not their answers - Voltaire

Managing nerves​

Nerves as normal. Reframe them as energy, focus, and readiness.

Mini tips:

  • deep breath
  • pause
  • speak slower

Good answers​

Here are good examples of good answers

  • motivation
    • strong: my experience in X aligns with your focus on Y
  • skills
    • strong: I demonstrated x by doing Y and achieving Z

STAR method​

"Facts tell, stories sell"

Nobody cares if you give them the facts. They want a story. They want to feel something.

  • Interviewers remember stories, not resume,
  • stories show how you think and act
  • stories prove impact

VibeResume example

  • situation: I entered the William&Mary hackathon to work with my friends and improve, I came up with an idea to win the best of Gemini API prize

Negotiating​

  1. Go to salary calculator to find the average salary for your occupation, job title, and location
  2. Always ask them is there any flexibility in the pay
  3. If they refuse to give money, just ask them for other things, like equity, stocks, or work-life balancing

Communications​

  • why smart people get overlooked: never overload people with technical jargon. Here are the red flags why smart people get overlooked
    • Too much jargon: keep in mind your audience
    • Rambling and over-explaining
    • No clear structure: Do not deliver information as a stream of consciousness. There should be a clear structure to communication.
  • clarity creates opportunity: one clear message that conveys your intentions beats ten scattered ideas
  • communicate with confidence: Always speak slowly, and pause for thought so you can clam your nerves

Communicating your value​

Here is the number one tip:

Before entering any professional conversation, ask yourself what is the one thing I want them to remember.

For example, do you want them to remember how you will change the trajectory of their company to make it better than their competitors?

There are three components of communicating your value to a recruiter:

  • responsibilities: what did you do?
  • results: what were the results of what you did?
  • business value: what value did your results give to the business?

Be a better listener​

The best conversations come from being an effective lsitener because people love to talk about themselves.

Good listening comes from following the conversation, not thinking of what to say next. It's about getting to the core of the conversation.

These are the levels of listeneing

  • Level 3:
  • Level 4: You are the best listener, you are listening for someone's pain point and business problem so you can talk with them to help them solve it.

Networking​

Finding networking events​

Go to meetup.com to find meetups in NOVA.

What to do at a networking event​

  • why are you going: are you going for profession reasons, education, or what?
  • who are you looking to meet: understand who you want to meet at the event.
    • connect with the speaker and organizers of the event before you go

Big tips

  1. Always meet with the speaker of an event and the event organizers: they know people, so meet with them, so this is how you turbocharge your networking.
  2. Make sure your linkedln is updated

Network on platforms​

  1. conferences and industry events: attend semniars and meetups relevant to your field.
  2. community involvement: do something in your community.
  3. online networking: reach out to people on linkedln with similar interests to you.

The best way to network is to volunteer on platforms like for conferences, blogs, organizations, so you can become a part of a broader community.

When joining these, find leverage points:

  • speakers: research the poresenters and speakers and then introduce yourself to the speakers
  • vendors/sponsors: network with booth and vendor folks

Icebreakers​

To start a conversation with someone, just ask them, "so what brought you here to this event today, or what is it that you do."

In reality, people are just waiting for someone to start talking to them, so be the first to initiate content.

Art of networking​

Here is the art of networking:

  1. Listening vs speaking (2:1 rule)
  2. Smile, be genuine and authentic
  3. Be open, get out of your comfort zone, don't be on your phone because you're not social.
  4. DO NOT BE ON YOUR PHONE. Make an effort to connect.
  5. To truly bond with someone, ask a lot of questions until you find out what they care about, and then talk about what's important to them.
  6. Have courage to make the firt move to talk to someone and initiate the convo. Having the courage to network gives you a competitive advantage.

Being an introvert is not an excuse to not network. You can be an introvert and still be good at networking.

Post networking strataegy and networking online​

Follow up with people on Linkedln within 24 hours, send them a message referencing the conversation you guys had so that they remember you.

If you want to network online, then always start the convo with helping them or asking them for insight instead of getting straight to the point.

Referrals​

  1. Ask someone on Linkedln who you want a referral from who you should talk to in order to get a job in software engineering, then when reaching out to a recruiter, say "Hey X told me that I should talk to you abotu a job in X"
  2. If a referral was successful, then thank the referral with a message, because they will be more inclined to send you more referrals.