The Sections

Cut to the chase, this will be a very long post because of the amount of information the people presenting gave us! So much! Anyhoo, the 1.5-hour Zoom meeting was a bunch of representatives from mostly tech companies giving out advice for CVs/Resumes, practical career advice, interviews, and technical interviews. Though this is targeted towards tech people, anything can find the information given to be somewhat helpful!

The Sections

CV/Resume Advice focused

Preparing for first round Interview

How to Stand Out on LinkedIn

Technical Interviews and how to stand out to the Tech Hiring Manager

Career and CV/Resume tips for Tech Graduates

Warning Signs from An Interview

Section 1 - CV / Resume Advice 💻📑

Employers only read your CV in 30 seconds - make the information they are going to read count. 

Make it personal to you AND relevant to the role you are applying for

Make sure the content on your CV is concise - don't ramble on forever

The layout should be easy on the eye - not all stuck together in terms of text but not too colorful and in your face

Formatting - The most important and relevant information at the top. 

Create a punchy Bio summary at the top - Three-four sentences about who you are and what you do - what you are passionate about

It’s okay to have a 2-page CV/Resume IF the information is all relevant. If not, keep it to 1 page.

Skills - Technical skills and soft skills listed

Your experience ✨

Fact-based. 

Don’t copy the job descriptive

Talk about YOUR achievements

Don’t use too much “I did this… I am this…”

Your education 🏫

Include everything relevant like bootcamps, apprenticeships in the area you are applying for 

Keep high school information minimal if not relevant

Hobbies and Interests 🎮🎲

Share hobbies that show a skill

Think about what the company does e.g. A gaming company and you're a gamer

Share you’re creative - an eye for colour, design, and creative thinking

Know how to destress - you like yoga and mindfulness

Don’t include hobbies that are more lifestyle e.g. shopping and eating out

Include awards you have gotten that would be relevant to the job you are applying to.

Section 2 - Preparing for first round Interview 👩‍💻

❌ Don't ❌

Do not speak negatively of your previous company/employees - it has a bad look on you and might jeopardize your employment stage if you get the job when they talk to your previous manager

Do not appear to be disengaged/uninterested when interviewed - body language can be assessed also

Do not give false information - about your skill set, don't lie saying you know a language when you don't, and be transparent

✅ Do ✅

 Do ask for clarification if you are unsure about anything. Could be about the job description, or want them to expand on things, do ask questions 💯

Do active listening and respond 👂 - ensure that you are present in the moment

Do ensure you sell your strength/have a positive attitude - sell yourself so that they can pick you

What is the typical interview process? 🎬

Phone/Video Screening with the hiring manager/someone from the company

1st interview -  Face-to-Face / Remote with the hiring manager/member of the team via Teams / Zoom etc

2nd Interview

Stakeholder/Hiring Manager

Might do a presentation or a task (technical interview if for a tech role)

Give yourself enough time to complete the task

Key Tips to succeed in the interview 🔑

Preparation - ensure you look up who the attendees are for the interview (e.g. via Linkedin)

Research - Look up the company information/Statistics/Glassdoor reviews/Social media content. See how they are online, what the company’s culture is like, pros and cons

Questions - Do not be afraid to have a list of questions for your potential employer / take a notepad with you, to prompt this / take responses down.

Review - Study the job descriptions to identify the pros and cons of the job.

Structure your answers - STAR approach - Situation, Task, Action, Approach

Time management - If you have multiple interviews to prepare for, schedule allocated time in your day to prepare for each process

Rest - Ensure to have a good night's rest prior to the day. Allow yourself no distractions in the last 15 mins leading up to your interview!

Section 3 - How to Stand Out on LinkedIn 🙌

Going through each section of your LinkedIn profile and tips on how to improve it!

Banner

Having a banner is best, don’t leave it empty.

Make it related to your desired role - a techy image for tech people, the image of the city’s business sector for business people

Profile picture

Have a profile picture to have an idea of who you are

Have the “Looking for work” banner on 

Sub-section

The headline: Be passionate about who you are. Have key elements of who you are.

Have your name and pronouns

It's okay to use emojis in your profile - shows personality

Featured Section

Use the featured section to show off who you are

Show pieces of work you’ve done

Have certificates? Show them here

You can have up to 5 pieces in the featured section so choose wisely

It shows the employer how active you are in the community for tech people

Activity

Write posts every so often

Use hashtags (only 4-5 at most) to make your post reach more

Use hashtags that have a lot of followers (search in on LinkedIn to find out how many followers the hashtag has)

If you have recently been let go, make a post about it, with the hashtag, and people will repost or comment to help you

About

Another part where you can talk about yourself

Make it really personal

Be specific - not just a long paragraph about yourself

Key skills - programming languages, even things you are currently working to learn

Talk about your strong areas

Add a GitHub, Replit, GitLab, etc

Recommendation

If you have worked somewhere else, have an ex-coworker make a recommendation for you - employers love to see how other people who have interacted with you have to say about you

Talking to Hiring people - Not a section but a to-do

It can be scary but it’s okay to message the hiring individual to say “Hey I have recently applied, is it okay to look out for my application” and go on more about why you would be a good candidate.

The hiring managers have to look at so many applications and CVs/Reumes and they find it difficult to see people’s values and personalities so giving them a message will prompt them to search for your application and read through it.

Section 4 - Technical Interviews and Standing out to the Hiring manager in one 🚀🤘

Each company is different and will be doing it in a different way - e.g. one company tests your C# skills and another might test your PHP skills

Prepare by asking questions about what it would involve - most employers tell you what languages will be involved, if they don’t, ASK!

Coding exercises and Take-Home challenges are the most common

Understand what platform and what format will it be in e.g. what programming language you will use

Ask questions if you don’t understand something! - You don’t understand one part of the coding exercise, ask. It’s not weak to ask questions, you don’t want to do the exercise completely wrong.

Use Google - It's okay to Google to refresh your knowledge you've forgotten a bit. Googling is a skill in itself.

Use the STAR technique

Be honest and be yourself - don’t lie, be honest if you completely don’t understand something

Be confident in what you CAN do

How to Impress a Tech employer 👀

Ask questions 🤔

The relevant question to the job role

Ask about the team, company, culture, responsibilities, and career path, and even ask the Hiring Manger why they like their job also!

Don’t wing it

Highlight additional learning

Coding bootcamps, open source contributions, online free learning

Showcase your previous work

GitHub, GitLab, Projects, Presentations, etc.

Section 6 - Warning Signs from An Interview 😰❌

Not every company knows how to hire and interview well - making the whole process even worse. Here are some things to watch out for...

Structure ❌

No structure to the interview

No intro to set expectations

Not being able to articulate what the company does not get you excited about the work they do

Or it’s like they asked to do an interview with 10 minutes notice…

The Interviews 😨

Whenever you ask how long the interview process / how many rounds there will be and they don’t give you a concrete answer… start to worry…

Rule of 4 interviews - having so many rounds wastes your time and the company’s time. 4 interview rounds at most!

Quality ❌

It might be structured but they might be asking shit questions that have no relevance to the job role at all

E.g. “How many golf balls can you fit in a mini car?” Why are you asking me that when I’m applying for a C# Developer role?

Power to the people!!! 🤘💯

Leave reviews on Google, Glassdoor, or anywhere else if the interview process was terrible.

Let other people know what the company is really like!

Call them out and make them improve their interviewing process.

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Well, that's all! I hope some or all of the information I collected help you! If you think any of the information is incorrect or false, take it to the companies because I just copied what they presented on their slideshows 😋

Have a nice day/night and happy programming 👍🏾💗

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