[colug-432] job search

Fri May 13 21:49:27 EDT 2016

Rick,

My advice would be to consider your goals for your next job above and
beyond just what the job title and company on the top left of the pay stub
is.  Think about more than just getting your foot in to the door, through
the rounds of interviews, and to day one -- but look beyond, and to what
will this job mean to you in 3 years, 5 years, or better yet, for as long
as you anticipate this step in your career to last.  That thought can steer
you towards - but equally steer you away from certain companies, roles, and
offers.

Questions you might consider as you think through this:  Are you interested
in being the smartest guy on a group of junior admins? Do you want to be
the team lead? Maybe take a position as manager, or stay as an individual
contributor?  And what is important to you about the culture of the
company?  For example, I've seen companies that are dead set on being a
global operation, workforce anywhere, follow the sun, all that, but yet
they were butt-in-chairs.... a complete contradiction. Then, I've seen
companies that literally let you show up wearing shorts and flip flops, WFH
whenever you want. No right or wrong answers, but just food for thought.

As for résumés and other such administrivia, your goal is to get TO and
THROUGH HR to the hiring manager.  Research which companies are hiring,
look for their job postings on places like Indeed / Glassdoor / LinkedIn.
Use your network to see who you know, find a personal connection to get
in.  Once you crack the outer shell, be prepared with good supporting
document.  Times New Roman and the generic MSWord template is almost an
automatic delete for me.  I've seen so many resumes where the moron making
it doesn't even bother to change the placeholder for the ending date of an
assignment, and turns it in saying something like "Feb 2010 - Til Date" --
what the fxxx is a "Til Date"? "Oh -- it's a date on which I will be
deleting or trashing your résumé..."  Sorry -- Don't use a template and not
change the placeholders.

My suggestion here is to find some examples that look visually appealing to
YOU -- put yourself in the hiring manager's shoes, and ask yourself what
would be important to you.  If you have a degree, usually you'll list that
first. But if you've been at work for more than 10 years, maybe not,
because your recent topical related work experience is more relevant than
your degree from 10+ years ago.

I personally use a slight off-color (like light navy blue) accent color, in
case they print it out in color, but in b/w nothing gets lost.

Cover letters -- use if you want, again, find examples and go with it.

Angelo

On Fri, May 13, 2016 at 6:29 PM, Rick Hornsby <richardjhornsby at gmail.com>
wrote:

> OT: This is not a solicitation for job offers, but rather a solicitation
> for suggestions and thoughts on conducting a technical job search.
>
> When you decide it is time to move on from your current job, what are you
> doing these days in terms of searching for something new?  (For the sake of
> argument, there’s nowhere to go in your current company, it’s time to move
> on.)  Are job websites like Dice still something technical people use?  Are
> you guys who have been around the field for a while still using sites like
> Dice, or have you found that you’ve done enough networking Dice is the type
> of place you’ll leave to the entry-mid level career folks?  If not, are
> there sites besides Dice (that’s the most tech-centric one I know) that you
> might use?
>
> If you want to relocate to another specific city (or another state), how
> do you approach that in your correspondence?  On a related note, do you do
> anything to make your cover letter/resume stand out visually?  I know we’re
> not graphic designers, but a boring Times New Roman 12pt font is well,
> boring and looks just like every other resume out there.
>
> The more devops-minded I’ve gotten (i.e. the more code I’m writing as a
> Linux admin), the more difficult (and frustrating) it is to be forced to
> use Windows as a desktop+development platform.  It makes sense to me - but
> does it make sense to talk about this during the interview process?  That
> is, does it make sense to ask about EUC device choice?  Mac for desktop use
> is preferred (kind of best of both worlds thing), Linux second, but not
> Windows.  Is that an unreasonable criteria when considering a job these
> days?
>
> thanks!
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