Real World Survival Kit

DISCLAIMER This is one person's view. Your Mileage May Vary!

Networking

  • Everyone join LinkedIn right now while I wait
  • Everyone connect to me, at least
  • The personal network you start building now is more powerful than anything else I say

  • Pito’s patented networking technique
    • When you meet someone interesting, make effort to make a connection.
    • Get contact info.
    • Use spreadsheet (people, names, email, date of last convo, interest)
    • personal details as well - not just contact info, why and how you met them
    • Contact every 6 months.
    • Remind the person where they know you from.
    • Objective of conversation - have a purpose
    • Give them something of interest to them.
    • Assume that you have something interesting to say.
  • Linkedin
    • easier to get in touch with people in specific areas (Connect with friends of friends)
    • Put updated information on Linkedin, which has ability to export a resume like PDF

Resumes

  • Who looks at Resumes
  • How do they do it
  • When does a resume turn into an interview
  • Who does the next interview?

  • Resume content
    • No need for permanent address
    • Leadership and Activities is good, but try and have a special qualifications section, put that at very top! Why is that special?
    • competitive advantage/ What makes you special? (professionally)
    • How will you benefit the Company?
    • Put details about activities/accomplishments, not just a title
    • add more detail about more important sections of resume
    • Have dates
    • People read resumes in “two seconds”; think of yourself as a product.
    • Put skills etc. in priority order (what you know best goes first)
    • make sure skills good and important
    • One page resume rule
    • Older things generally less important
    • Personalize resume based on job/job type (within reason)
    • It is an ongoing process
    • Education section not necessary espec. high school
    • Color is OK!
    • make sure black and white version of your colored resume looks just as good
    • Show, don’t tell. Don’t try and spend a whole page writing out your personality. You won’t have any room for other things and it will be dificult to read
    • Career Objective
      • First sentence of resume state what you want from the job (Written in the frame of the reader)
      • Should be in cover letter as well
      • Make it consistent and relatively specific
  • Portfolio
    • Showcases particular pieces of work you are proud of. Pictures, schematics, essays, videos, etc.
    • Have a project that you released into the “real” world
    • Something you had a major role in (can say it is your work)

Interviews / Phone screens

  • Phone screens
    • Preparing
    • Doing well or not well during a screen
    • Skill Based
    • They might pick out parts of resume, more description and detail about what you did
    • Know background of the company
    • Gave a question or two ready about the company
    • Try to be positive about the company, even if you have doubts, at least until you get a job offer
    • Make sure they are relevant
    • Know everything on your resume; review older projects
  • Interviews
    • How to dress and behave
    • How to play up your strengths
      • when you have little to no technical experience in an internship you’re interested in.
    • How to sell yourself
      • What if you’re not confident in my past experiences.
      • When finding yourself out of your depth skill set wise, how can you emphasize your other strong qualities for a position?
  • Classic Interview Gambits
    • Difficult questions
    • What salary do you want?
    • When can you start?
  • Followups
    • Best way to follow up after a career fair or after a meeting: Follow up email
    • When to call to ask status
    • Short thank you - sneak in something about wanting to talk more
    • Send a link or potentially more information that came up in your conversation
    • If you don’t have the interviewer’s contact info, email it to the contact you have and ask them to forward it
    • Feel free to followup on your followup
    • After two emails, don’t continue
    • Don’t expect a response from just a resume or even a phone screen. There should be one from an interview

Jobs

  • Jobs
    • Companies: Big and small
    • Whats a lifestyle business?
    • Geographic considerations
    • Becoming a contractor or consultant
    • What does a consultant really do?
    • Taxes and benefits
  • Internships etc.
    • Some companies do internships
    • Some try to do internship to hire
  • Types of Companies
    • Large company
      • fewer interactions outside of department (less personal)
      • more formality takes longer to get things done
      • Laden with process/politics/paperwork etc.
      • Offers a ton of projects; Variety of passions/projects, more opportunities
      • can get laid off out of nowhere - less connection between you and your job security
      • Less scrutiny on each individual employee
      • Structure
    • Small companies
      • Get involved in a lot of projects very easily = more impact
      • No process, take initiative to get things done (fix your own problems)
      • very focused; Lives & breathes the one project - not good if you want to experience more than one type of thing
      • Earlier in your life, it is easier to take risk
      • No room/limited room for mistakes (Spotlight)
      • Easy access to higher-ups
      • Company depends more on you
      • A whole buncha fun, all of the time
      • Conversely, a whole buncha work, all of the time
      • “How funded are you guys?” or CrunchBase (http://www.crunchbase.com/)
    • Differences
      • Differences: more beaurocracy and processes in large companies, whereas small companies demand more self-reliance and are more focused
      • Don’t assume that any job will be secure/last forever
      • Can be a financial issue but also means that you aren’t stuck in a job for life
      • find out about the runway for startups
      • May be easier to get a job if willing to move to an area with fewer people with your skill set
  • What’s a “Lifestyle Business”
    • Doesn’t grow (not designed to grow exponentially)
    • Gives a decent, liveable salary–supports the lifestyle its employees want to maintain
    • The lack of prospective growth can hurt the attitude of employees (cause lack of motivation)
  • Contractor vs. Consultant
    • Mostly the same, self employed and not working directly as an employee; more of how you want to position yourself
    • Implication of contractor - do a lot of work quickly for the compnay
    • Consultant- more of an advising position
    • Consultant would work with the company, contractor for it.
  • Taxes and Benefits
    • Some companies withhold taxes automatically
    • 401K- deposits are not taxed
    • Some companies match a portion of salary
    • 5% match - they will match up to 5% of your income
  • Stock purchase plan
    • vesting - you can buy stock but you cannot get it unless you work at the company for x amount of time
    • Significance of each benefit depends on person