

Shortcuts To Landing Your First Job - ceekay
http://www.collegefeed.com/blog/use-shortcuts-land-first-job-infographic/

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mcphilip
One thing I'd add is don't be afraid to list non-technical work experience on
your resume when you're looking for your first job. We all assume each entry
level candidate with a CS degree has done the standard coursework and projects
which can be evaluated in a technical interview. However, experience in
unrelated fields, like waiting tables, is a differentiator in my mind since it
tells me the candidate has already had a taste of the time and commitment
responsibilities one has to take on when entering the working world.

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ceekay
great point!

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ceekay
Would add that students should "open source" showcase their work - especially
CS students - host your code on github, participate in open source projects,
participate in stackoverflow... so you can showcase your real working code to
employers rather than writing code on whiteboards during interviews.

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zheng
I think this is huge for CS grads, and I would add to not overlook a blog/SO
as it can really showcase your ability to discuss and explain technical
topics. I can never write a blog post because every time I try I end up with
an outline for a 9-part series explaining everything I've ever learned
tangentially related to <topic>, but SO gave me the focus needed to showcase
some of my communication abilities. I know that helped me at least get noticed
by companies.

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ceekay
Great idea, plus with beautiful, idiot simple tools like medium.com its so
easy to write a blog today.

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paolomaffei
What's that 14.7% of 'Information Systems' unemployed graduates?

People that degree in IT but can't actually code/sysadmin/whatever is the
technical skill they're supposed to have?

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netcan
Probably.

There's a non trivial number of these around. Politicians, students, parents,
etc. are keen to _build relevant skills_ is high demand areas. On paper that's
great. In reality creating programs overnight and admitting students without
the vocation because the funding and students are available is a recipe for
problems. There are a lot of "IT Specialists," graphic designers and other
(genuinely needed) "professionals" around that can't do anything useful.

Some didn't like it, so never got good. Some are just unsuitable talent-wise
(I don't think I could have ever been more than a barely competent designer).
For some it's a combination of things. Below average suitability. No
motivation. Bottom rung course.

Thinking of Tertiary Schools as factories for turning people into
professionals at something is problematic analogy. Often its a case of we need
to do something, lets do this. The result is weird numbers. High unemployment
in high vacancy professions.

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blakeshall
I seriously don't agree with working for free for "exposure and experience".
Didn't HN just have a couple of posts recently about the serious negatives of
unpaid internships?

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zheng
This is pretty tech-specific. In many other fields, unpaid internships are
seen as a good deal, mostly because their are so few of them and so many
applicants. A friend of mine who recently converted an (unpaid) internship to
a job in DC worked really hard just to land the internship. At the same time,
he was learning the job but in no way provided the same benefit to his
employer as a tech intern does.

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zonum
Sort of adding on to that, an unpaid opportunity doesn't have to be an unpaid
internship. An unpaid opportunity could be a CS student in college working on
the website for an on-campus club, for example, or a public relations student
serving on the executive board as the PR chair of an on-campus organization.

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amankhanna1976
Interesting information. College students often tend to ignore the "Explore"
phase. It is very important to be strategic about your job search and spend
enough time thinking about what direction one wants to go into. This make the
job search (including the networking much more effective). Unfortunately too
many of do not spend enough time thinking through our goals. It has to to be
SMARTer than 'I want to work at Google'

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nmayalais
As a college students, I find it the hardest to "explore." The best advice so
far has been from parents and friends that refer something. On campus, it
seems like the only resource is the career fair...and that only has big known
companies. I wish there was a way to find startup opportunities.

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jasonswett
This stuff is mostly consistent with what I've found to be effective. I would
also really emphasize the effectiveness of learning about your prospective
employer, not just the company but the actual individuals in it. Demonstrating
that you're genuinely interested in the people you're talking with and the
company they work for can really pave the way for you. The book How to Win
Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie has a lot of good examples of
how to get what you're after (in an honest, non-manipulative way) by focusing
on the other person's interests before your own.

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shinav
As a college student who is trying to find a job, I believe that most people
my age skip over many steps and therefore, are unable to land their dream job.
More specifically, students major in anything they find "easy" in college and
expect to be able to find a job after college. As much as we would like this
to be true, it is not. The steps outlined by Collegefeed in this infographic
highlight that the first important step is to "Explore". You must find a job
that you are actually interested and that is the field where you will flourish
in the future.

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avneet
Networking is key and a lot of times students forget to leverage off of their
current networks. Networking doesn't necessarily have to be connecting with
new people but getting referrals from friends and family can be huge. I've
noticed in my experiences that a lot of times students don't know how to ask
someone to help them find a job.

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jlebron2
These really don't seem like "shortcuts" per se. More like general tips to
position yourself for getting hired. Maintaining an online presence, preparing
for interviews (especially technical) and networking all take a ton of work
and must be done consistently to have some impact.

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jasonswett
That's actually a pretty good point. Networking is a more effective way to get
work than just scanning craigslist, although I can see why you might call
these tips "shortcuts" since from the perspective of a naive job seeker you're
going of "going in through the side door" and circumventing the "traditional"
job seeking process (even though most jobs are not filled through the
"traditional" process).

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jpadkins
I think the point is most college students don't know that most jobs are not
filled through the 'traditional process'. This article helps explain that.

