I have over 10 years of experience as a full-cycle recruiter and career coach with a strong background working in the staffing, IT, BPO, and RPO industries. I specialize in resume optimization, offer negotiations, interview prep, and helping job seekers maximize their digital footprint in order to elicit more employer contacts. Whether you're considering a career in CS, a new grad, or looking for career advancement ask me anything!
Software Engineering Career
2h
1785
28 terrorist worshipping idiots just got themselves fired and I've never been prouder to work at Google.
WFH & RTO
6h
258
Is it okay to wear a T-shirt to the office?
Cars
Yesterday
1574
Seattle people, what cars do you have? 🙂
Tech Industry
17h
1340
TC progression. Estimated to hit $1M+ this year. AMA
Tech Industry
15h
4504
Goog Employees Arrested
Thanks for doing this AMA! Should I set my salary expectation first or try to get the company to say their salary band first?
Great question! I would set your salary expectation first. Do as much research as you can to find the fair market value for your location and also the avg salary for that role within their company (use Blind, Glassdoor, etc). Define your salary range (a range of about $10-15k) for when they ask you your salary expectation.
You only other suggestion for salary research besides Blind is Glassdoor. That says something 🤔
How long should I wait before applying to the same company again?
If it’s over a holiday period, let’s say you applied Dec 10th, and then Jan 10th it’s still there, I would apply again because a lot can be lost over the holidays. It’s not normally the best practice to continuously apply for the same position. If a different position is posted with similar qualifications, you can absolutely apply to this new position.
Should I disclose my current salary to a recruiter?
You do not have to disclose your current salary to a recruiter or anyone you are interviewing with. Instead, you can give them your salary expectations for the role you are interviewing for. In some states, it’s even illegal to ask about your current salary. https://baradainc.com/salary-history-bans/
How much insight do recruiters have into the salary bands at different companies within their industry, and where do they source this information?
It depends on the recruiter and how much research they want to do. Some companies have salary transparency, and it's simple to find the salary bands, so recruiters use that information easily.
Spoken like a recruiter 😂
My friend who’s just been laid off is having a difficult time talking about this in their interviews. Any advice?
For the question in an interview of “why did you leave your recent company?”, you always want to make it as positive as possible. Even if you were fired, laid-off, quit, whatever the reason, you can keep the answer very broad with something like “Unfortunately, the company had a different vision than where I saw my career going and they were no longer meeting my goals, so we decided to part ways, but I am very appreciative for learning (give examples) and grateful for the people I worked with, etc. I am looking forward to the opportunities your company has to offer.”
I’ve been laid off twice (reorg as a FTE, then budget constraints for a contract I worked). Being candid about it, but speaking with positivity as SeenCoach said, has always been received positively by recruiters/interviewers.
To get relevant recruiters to contact me, how important is LinkedIn profile text? Or is LI valuable only if you create and publish content there?
Posting frequently on LI will get you more traction and visibility, and the text in your profile can be very valuable, especially if it's matching with some keywords that they're looking for. It certainly doesn't hurt you!
What different types of things do tech companies start to focus on in interviewing as you "move up the ladder"? Thanks for this AMA by the way!
Moving up the ladder, they’ll want to know more about how you manage and lead, so some of the questions become a little more situational/hypothetical/case study focused. They’ll also want to see more of your impact (quantifiable if possible) and how you made these things happen.
Is it unethical to talk to coworkers about our salaries?
Is it unethical? No, it’s not, but you do need to follow the rules if it is stated in your company’s policy or in your contract not to discuss your salary with other employees. If it is not in the policy or contract, then you are able to talk openly about your salary because for some, it may be a good way to find out whether or not you are getting paid fairly and equally.
If your state has a law allowing discussion of your own compensation (like California) then you don't need to pay any attention to what your company's policy is or isn't.
I want to transition into tech from traditional engineering. I need help with a little guidance. Do you think you could help? Willing to pay for professional services.
I can definitely help! No need to pay for services, there are a lot of free resources out there. Have you decided what type of role within tech that you want to get in to? That way you can see what skills you have that match up and what skills you might need to acquire before jumping into your new role.
Thank you! I haven’t decided yet, but currently taking Computer Science and Python courses online. I do engineering project management and i am not sure what exactly I want, hence the need for guidance. Also, I’m in early to mid 30s. Do you mind if I DM?
Are you working in ICC?
Sorry for the delay - I'm not familiar with ICC. Can you explain?
I think he means IT Consulting Company. Here’s a list: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IT_consulting_firms