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Good Will Hrunting posted:Hiring folks: How long is the ideal cover letter to you? I feel like I'm way over-thinking some of these and pissing away my time when I could be doing something more valuable like working on my independent projects. Overall, 2-4 paragraphs is plenty. I've done a lot of hiring for a largish company. Here's my experience when posting a job Post a position. Check mail the next day. Have 250 messages, mostly from people completely unqualified that didn't even read the job description. So my job became to weed out as many as I could, as quickly as I could. During that process, the cover letter is the only thing looked at. Here's how to stay in the race in a situation like that: Put your cover letter in the body of the message and attached as a PDF. The body is for my quick-scan. The PDF is for printing out and handing to HR. In the subject line, make sure to reference the exact job title / reference number / whatever. In the first sentence, make sure to mention why you want to work for that company, and mention it by name. In the first paragraph state a skill or two that you have that was in the job description. In the past, HR did that initial screening for me, but they turned out to be pretty incompetent at it. I'm sure is't still done that way it is in other places. They essentially just do keyword searching. So make sure to put all of the "required skills" somewhere. Even if it's just "I've read about JXBTS and think I could pick it up quickly". Spell or abbreviate them exactly the way they are in the job description.
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Mar 13, 2013 18:25
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Che Delilas posted:It doesn't matter what they're expecting YOU to offer; force them to be the ones to make the first offer. It gives you an idea of what kind of value they put on the position. If it's insultingly low, that gives you information about how you will be regarded and treated if you were to accept the job (poorly and with no opportunity for a raise, most likely). Agreed. And whatever they offer, make a counter. They expect this. Don't make it an ultimatum. They offer X, you say "I was thinking more like Y". Worse case, they say "no", you tell them you'll think about it, and you take their offer the next day. Best case, you get a bit more. That advice is especially important for the women out there. For some reason, in my hiring experience, the guys almost always asked for more, but many times the women took the first offer. quote:Right, well, how do I get them to do that? Be honest. "I'd really feel more comfortable hearing an offer from you first." The hiring company making the first offer is pretty standard, even if a lot of them try not to.
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Mar 14, 2013 20:56
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quote:2) manager who doesn't give a gently caress, but has a range that he/she is authorized to offer for that position. Completely true. When I used to hire, it was a use it or loose it for salary. It was a public company. One of the big statistics that investors look at is the number of employees vs. your revenue. So the beancounters cared about headcount, not so much about individual salaries.
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Mar 15, 2013 14:10
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2banks1swap.avi posted:When offered a job, what is the best way to stall a few days while other expected offers come in? When do you start negotiating salary? I'm quickly approaching the position where I either have to get someone to wait a little, or I'd be leaving a job a few weeks in to work somewhere else if the deal was better. I'd rather not do the latter, but if it's significantly more, why not? Be honest. "I'm awaiting another offer and would like to compare the two before making a decision. Please give me 2 days." And tell the other company, "I've got another offer and would appreciate an answer within two days." If you do get multiple offers you want, pick the one you want to work at, and negotiate the hell out of it. If you don't come to an agreement, drop it and go for the other. Don't be tacky and play them against each other.
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Mar 16, 2013 18:24
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shrughes posted:People with short commutes are happier and have more energy. You can come up with a reason that living anywhere is more desirable. "People who live in the suburbs are less stressed and more stable." Make the negotiation about the value you offer, not the costs you incur.
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Mar 20, 2013 14:41
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Stobbit posted:"thanks, but I have now accepted an offer with another company" You already answered your question. Don't worry about it. It happens all the time and won't be unexpected.
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Mar 28, 2013 16:28
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quote:If I get a job with a bunch of CS dudes, will they all secretly despise me? Will having a master's degree make a huge difference in the kinds of positions I could potentially earn out the gate? In the real world, nobody cares what you majored in. They care that you can do the work and speak intelligently about it. Necronomicon posted:On a similar note, what's the best way to spend the summer before entry into the MIS program? I've been refreshing HTML / CSS fundamentals, and just started learning some basic Java. Should I keep that up? Build something interesting. Best way to learn, and the best resume item you'll have.
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Apr 4, 2013 13:46
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Otto Skorzeny posted:Plenty of people care what you majored at least for your first job, depending on which subsector of the industry you want to work in, as was mentioned in the OP. Different companies value credentials differently, and neither the old school "You must have a BSci in CS" nor the Bay Area "just throw poo poo on Github for six months and wait for the offers to roll in" advice is universally applicable. Usually credentials are most important in getting past an HR filter to land an interview. I guess I was answering just for "If I get a job with a bunch of CS dudes, will they all secretly despise me?" - I still maintain that nobody really cares what you majored in, in a post-hiring situation.
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Apr 5, 2013 16:43
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Calyn posted:Not sure if this is the right thread to ask this, sorry if not, but this has been bothering me for a while: Yeah, your boss would probably consider all of that to be "work for hire" which means the company owns the copyright. Without a written document saying otherwise, that would probably be the default position of a court. But that being said, if you offer to work for free on an open sourced version of a project that they could benefit from in the future, some companies might go for that. Now, for the job-interview thing... I wouldn't send the code to the recruiting company. But bring a laptop with it and let your interviewer see it, telling them you can't actually send it to them. I've had candidates interview with me do that all the time.
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Apr 11, 2013 19:11
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I wonder if anyone has ever A/B tested resumes. Set up a couple fake names/email addresses. Send out several versions to a couple hundred job listings, and see what sort of response rates you get.
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Apr 15, 2013 14:16
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unixbeard posted:Probably not quite what you meant Yeah, I was thinking of testing the reverse... testing different content in the body of the resume. But this is somewhat fascinating. I'm surprised that females have a better callback rate than males. Just some more random thinking, maybe setting up profiles on a job site like Dice or Monster would be a better way to test variations.
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Apr 15, 2013 20:50
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I can't really comment on the job landscape in Scotland, but I can about the US market... Build something interesting. The right specialization in school is nice, but if you've got one personal project that you can point to, and if that project is even mildly interesting, you don't have to worry. That, plus a degree, will be enough.
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Apr 29, 2013 19:01
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KNITS MY FEEDS posted:So I did an interview yesterday and was told to expect an e-mail today about the results. I ended up getting a phone call today instead to come in for a "meet and greet" tomorrow, please tell me this is a good sign. It does sound like a good sign. You're probably past the "is he qualified" stage and onto the "is he a good fit" stage. Sometimes, but not always, co-op jobs are actually non-negotiable based upon an agreement between the company and the school.
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May 1, 2013 21:40
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Sab669 posted:I was told that their head of software dev would call me X time yesterday, Y time today. Phone never rang, no voicemail or anything. Contacted the recruiter 30 minutes after the first time yesterday and she said she'd speak with him and find out what's up. Then she emailed me later yesterday to re-schedule for today, same thing. No call or anything. Doesn't sound like the kind of boss I'd want to work for.
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May 21, 2013 18:30
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DreadCthulhu posted:I like what Mark Suster says about this: Is it time to learn, or is it time to earn? Early on in one's career is the best time to invest as much as possible into one's growth and maximize the likelihood of great opportunities and connections coming one's way. I've done the "more money" route once and always regret that decision. At least for me personally there's nothing quite like the thrill of learning a lot every day and being thoroughly challenged, and it's not worth the extra 20 grand a year. Completely agree. Just one thing to add... do some research on what skills are actually wanted. It sucks when someone spend a couple years in a gig learning a stupid-complex skill, only to find out it's been on the decline the entire time and there are no jobs for it. I regrettably did that once. A good indicator is to look at conferences centered around the skill. Are they growing or shrinking year to year?
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May 27, 2013 15:38
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2banks1swap.avi posted:I've got an interview tomorrow that seems like it might give me that big first full-time opportunity, and I'm excited as hell. It's VB.NET (I'm a C# guy right now) so I'm pretty happy; I'm going to be using different syntax but who cares, same language. They like my code samples and such. So you're an independent contractor? Lots of employers abuse the 1099/contractor relationship and try to dictate when, where, and how you work. It's not allowed and they can get in big trouble. From the IRS website: quote:The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done.
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Jun 4, 2013 20:06
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Ithaqua posted:Accepting an offer and then backing out is much worse than saying you'll let them know. It's usually not a huge deal either, but as someone who's done hiring before, I'd much rather get a "I'll let you know next week!" than a "Yes!" followed by a "Nevermind!" a week later. When I was a hiring manager, it happened to me several times. I have a little black book of people I won't even give an interview to for that. Also learned an important lesson... the hiring job ain't done until a but is in a seat.
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Jun 7, 2013 02:03
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Sab669 posted:So I'm going in for interview #2 with a company today, the recruiting agency already sent me a benefits outline for the company and told me that if the company wanted to talk salary, I should tell them to discuss it with the staffing agency. Is that normal? Seems weird that I wouldn't be the one discussing it. Is it a recruiting agency or a staffing agency? IE... will you legally work for the staffing agency, or for the company itself?
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Jun 7, 2013 19:02
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Sab669 posted:Ah, the company itself. It's not unheard of, but remember that the staffing company might not have your best interest in heart. Especially if they're trying to place a bunch of people at that company. You certainly have the right to negotiate on your own.
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Jun 9, 2013 03:34
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Sab669 posted:Well, I know the company is placing 1 person immediately, and looking to expand quite rapidly over the next year or so. I was also asked by the recruiter what is a hard minimum I'd be willing to go. Told 'em 65k for Boston, which is still a ~60% increase from where I am now. You just described the situation you don't want to be in. The recruiter sees that as a volume-game and wants to place a bunch of cheap people there. Also, in the boston area, I rarely see any junior developers. People are often hired as Software Engineer right out of school. Junior is for co-ops, no formal education, etc.
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Jun 9, 2013 15:21
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Careful Drums posted:Congrats! And yes your advice on having alternatives is very smart. One funny way I got screwed into this was by a contract-to-hire position. I worked for three months at a new job and when it came time to hire me, they offered $2k less than what I was contracting for. I didn't have a leg to stand on, so I didn't negotiate. Always negotiate. But if you were 1099 going to a w2 with benefits, a reduced base pay is completely normal. Some companies cheat, and call a temporary w2+benefits employee a contractor (the IRS would disagree), if that was the case it would seem odd if there was nothing else added.
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Aug 3, 2014 15:26
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tetracontakaidigon posted:Any advice about writing cover letters for tech companies? Checked the OP and didn't see any relevant links. The Googles and Facebooks, no idea. When writing to lesser known companies, make sure to write about why you want to work there. Do 5 minutes of research on their products and mention one. I hired a lot of people in a tech-ed company. Anyone half qualified who mentioned they like the idea of working to help kids or an interest in teaching got at least a phone interview from me.
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Aug 3, 2014 19:56
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Careful Drums posted:The implication was that my salary wouldn't change, but tbh I don't remember the details but I did get two separate w2s, one from the agency and one from my company after they hired me. So I duno. Point stands though, always negotiate. If you were going through an agency the company was probably paying a ton more to them then they are to you now. They offered you the position to save some cash. But to hire you outright from the agency, the company probably paid a finders fee, so they may not see that savings for quite some time. Just some made up numbers.. Say you were making $100/hour. Tack on taxes, benefits, overhead, that might have actually cost the agency $170/hour. They want a profit, so they bill you at $200/hour. Your company comes along and hires you for say, $90/hour. They probably have better benefits, so you total package is better. With those benefits, taxes, etc, they're now paying $170/hour. But they gave $20000 to the agency for a finders fee. Look on the bright side, they invested in you for the long term so they must think you are valuable. Enjoy the job, wait a year, do something great, ask for a raise.
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Aug 4, 2014 15:54
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EB Nulshit posted:Building on this, is it common for people going from to contact to full-time after 6-12 months to be better off than they would have been had they gone from contract to quitting for a full time position at an entirely different company after the same amount of time? Completely depends on the companies. Some companies give the best raises to entice you to stay when you tell them you're leaving. Some companies avoid that BS and make sure to always pay you what your worth. Some companies prefer contractors because they don't count in their "headcount" numbers that outside investors look at and will pay more for them because of that.
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Aug 5, 2014 13:10
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Sab669 posted:I have to conduct an interview, this week! And this pretty much sums up how I feel Have a plan. A list of questions, a topic of discussion, whatever. Just have a concrete plan. I prefer the type of interview where you provide a scenario and offer to work through the problem with the candidate, actually pretend your working on it together. It lets you see how knowledgeable they are and how well you can work with them. Usually, it helps to weed out people who have only studied the "top X interview questions" answers. It's ok to stop the interview as soon as you have a yes or no answer. Don't drag it out just to fill a time slot.
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Aug 11, 2014 14:39
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I've found the years-of-experience is often times bullshit that the HR department mandates instead of what the interviewers are actually looking for.
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Aug 12, 2014 18:25
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Good Will Hrunting posted:Is office culture and a generally bad environment for getting things done a reason that other employers will frown upon if I start looking for a new job? It's seriously hindering my performance. My company is foreign so they don't really understand American culture. It's louder than headphones can mask, abrasive, nobody gives you elbow room or space, poor hygenie, etc I imagine it depends... If you're interviewing at a place that likes to brag about it's culture, it's a definite positive. If you've left a series of jobs all for the same reason, maybe you were the actual problem and it's best not to mention that. Most of the time, it'll just be an acceptable answer to a standard interview question.
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Aug 14, 2014 17:40
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Careful Drums posted:Problem is: we want to move back to Detroit in about a year or so. So if I take a fourth job now, I may be looking at a situation where I want to find a new job in a new city and I'll have had four jobs with an average of one year per job. I'm pretty sure that will make my search near-impossible with having a 'job-hopper' label. It would be better to negotiate your raise on your value to the company, not on a threat to leave.
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Aug 22, 2014 18:37
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"I'd be happy to discuss this later" should be good enough.
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Aug 27, 2014 15:39
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Skuto posted:Is this common? Never had a candidate offer a code sample and was never asked for one myself either. I *did* certainly see people freeze up at the whiteboard. I had plenty of candidates volunteer code samples when I didn't even ask for them. When it was code from their current employer... it always made me slightly question their attitude toward data security.
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Aug 27, 2014 18:18
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return0 posted:Facebook, Google, and... ? Apple/MS/Amazon? Clearly HP
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Dec 11, 2014 16:03
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Tezzeract posted:Wait, are software engineers really paid 100k on average? Is that average bundling in the 8 year experienced people who make 300k? What's the worth of a more entry level/2 years style position? Seems low to me. At my last day-job, we were hiring fresh out of college for $60k-$80k and we weren't the best-paying on the block. * Boston Area Most people getting $250k+ are probably contractors, so maybe they're not counted.
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Dec 11, 2014 16:21
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Acer Pilot posted:I'm having lunch with my old boss soon and he's probably going to talk about job opportunities. What should I order? It's a sit down restaurant in a nice area of downtown and serves sandwiches, pasta, and pizza. Double scotch. Show him who's in control here.
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Jan 5, 2015 15:24
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As long as you know something, you're probably fine. Can you name a couple of their products? Is there a reason you want to work in that industry? (I've done a lot of educational software, so that was always an easy answer for me)
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Jan 5, 2015 19:53
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JawKnee posted:how many interviews actually end in tears? The last coop I did my boss told me they had a real problem with students bursting into tears at the questions they were asking. I did one interview that ended in tears. Poor guy was desperate for the job, but completely unqualified, I could tell just a couple questions in. I ended the interview early without calling in the next person. He broke down. Grabbed him a glass of water, told him to take his time, and I left. Awkward as gently caress.
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Jun 6, 2015 15:23
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pr0zac posted:It sounds like you handled this pretty badly. When interviewing you should be trying to leave every candidate with a good experience even if they didn't do well. Even ignoring basic human decency, that bad programmer that you embarrassed then left alone in a room crying is not telling his good programmer friends nice things about your company. Clearly I should have kept going with the interview for another hour, and had the other people interview him for another hour. Then left him with a sense that he had a chance and we'd get back to him. Oh wait, no, what I did was far more professional and humane. So failing that, at the end, maybe I should have sat there watching him cry? Maybe I should have given him a hug? This was a guy I had just met in a professional setting not acting professional. Giving him some privacy and time to get his poo poo together was the nicest thing I could do. I'm sure I thanked him for coming in and wished him luck or something, but who knows exactly what I said at a time like that.
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Jun 6, 2015 20:18
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Go for it. Only downside for you is the time you take. Worse-case... you accidentally find a job you want.
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Aug 7, 2015 15:32
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Necc0 posted:Only thing I can add to this: Force yourself to get out of the house on a regular basis where you can hang out with other people. Join some sort of social club or sport or ANYTHING. It's very very easy to fall into a rut where you have zero human contact for weeks or even months at a time and you suddenly find yourself with a crazy case of cabin fever. Very important, or your car battery dies. Definitely not speaking from experience.
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Aug 25, 2015 15:44
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:What do you say when a company asks you (approximately) how many lines of code you've written in a language? I don't really have an intuition for how much code I wrote each day when I was working (I'm doing a PhD at the moment and applying for summer internships), and I'm not able to go back and check. Make up an overly precise, very large, number. 6,405,307
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Feb 19, 2016 20:57
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Build something interesting. Post it. Doesn't really matter what.
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Mar 7, 2016 16:05
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