If you’re thinking about a career change, the holidays are no time to set aside your search. A lot of hiring happens in January. To help you stay sharp, we dug through our past posts full of hiring tips and handpicked the best of the best. Read on for a refresher.
1. Salary negotiation
This can be a tough one, since many of us tend to start with a number we’d like to be making. But finding a number you and your employer are both comfortable with will be a lot easier if you approach it like a math problem.
Here are some key factors for managing expectations on both sides of the table:
- Your current compensation
- Your skills and experience
- How your skills and experience line up with the existing team
- How your skills line up with the overall market
- What other offers have you received? (More on this below.)
- What salary ranges do you see in listings for similar positions in the same city?
2. Connect with people at companies where you want to work
There are other ways into your future office than through the HR department. When we hosted a panel of recruiters during Startup Week in October, they suggested engaging the brands you want to work for through social media. It’s also not a bad idea to reach out to people at those companies who work in your field. Developers, product managers and sales and marketing teams are all reachable, and might have more time to talk with you than recruiters.
3. Get out there
Austin is full of fun tech events for learning new things and meeting new people. In fact, we post a roundup of recommendations every week hand picked from our events page. Christy Childers, Employer Branding at Dropbox, told us this summer you can make the most of networking if you show up prepared.
"Know the ‘why’ behind why you want to work in tech," she said in June. "Come prepared to speak to your interest in the company and its product. Otherwise, if you’re just looking for free food and shuffleboard, it’ll be difficult to convince a hiring manager you’re the best candidate for the job."
4. Trust your recruiter
In August, we hosted a recruiter panel where we heard an unusual tip: Like Vegas, it’s a commonly accepted rule that what happens during an interview, stays in an interview.
It’s normal to worry about your current employer finding out you’re interviewing for other jobs, but a recruiter’s goal is to hire someone—so they don’t want to jeopardize your situation, either. Your interests are generally aligned with the recruiter, so don’t be afraid to open up.
5. Chew gum before the interview, and spit it out before you go in
Seems obvious to go in with fresh breath, but we were surprised to learn this year that gum can lower the level of stress hormones in your body, at least according to this study. Another study found a correlation between gum chewing and improved memory and focus.
6. Diversify your options
OK, so it’s not easy to have multiple job offers at once. But if you keep up with your research and interview as often as possible, it’s not impossible and it will do wonders for you when it’s time to negotiate.
Andrea Fitzpatrick and Matt Howeth, director of people operations and senior recruiter at Civitas Learning, told us earlier this year to remember it’s just business.
“Company X is not going to take it personally that you have not accepted their first offer,” they said. “Two or more offers allows you to be selective, more confident in your negotiations, and more free to walk away, if need be.”
7. Another reason to just be yourself: Some interviewers will deliberately mess with you
This summer,
communications director Adam Greenspan told us he used to keep Zoobooks on the table in reception when he worked at
and was interviewing candidates. He’d leave them waiting long enough to pick up a book, then ask them in the interview why they chose it.
The new uShip headquarters sits in the middle of Travis Heights within walking distance of bustling South Congress with plenty of private parking.
“Sounds silly, but some people would get really creative without missing a beat,” he said.
Now he asks Everfest candidates to submit their favorite festival story.
“You get a sense of their passion for festivals,” he said. “Or sometimes they will divulge some questionable decisions—a great screening process.”
8. Sell what people are buying
One way to get a job is to develop the skills that are in highest demand. And we did the hard part for you: Analyzing nearly 300 developer and engineer positions on our job board and tallying up the most popular coding languages and engineering skills.
Here are a couple hints: Knowing how to build and administer a database will take you a long way. So will being able to build apps for iOS.
Have a tip for us or know of a company that deserves coverage? Email us via [email protected].
