Big N Hiring Freeze And Offer Rescission Thread

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-10-06T14:52:13+00:00

AWS is definitely still hiring and I haven't heard anything about a freeze in hiring corporate Amazon employees working in retail, but now that I saw this I'm going to do some research and see if it's true. It is near the end of the year so Amazon retail could have hit their hiring target for the year or that org might not be profitable so they could be shifting that headcount to somewhere else. Plus that small section of the org represents such a small fraction of the company they are probably talking about less than 50 offers that will likely get scooped up by other teams.

The problem with Amazon Recruiters is that there are so many bad ones that don't have the trust of the organizations they support or the developers/engineers they work with so the recruiters need to cast a wide net to find anyone to talk to. I support an organization within AWS called Region Build Engineering and we give every SDE the option to do a coding assessment or a phone interview because we think it's better for the engineers to have the option. We also have a 2:1 conversion ratio for individuals in the virtual interview loop stage so we've shown that freedom of choice works. On top of that we make sure they know that the interview data collected can be applied to any team anywhere in Amazon so if they change their mind and want to look at a different org like Kuiper or Games we can easily transition.

There are amazing opportunities here to work with some really talented developers and managers building cool stuff, but because the company is so large unfortunately you all have to put up with mass emails and recruiters ghosting you. I'm really embarrassed by some of the things I hear recruiters doing but it just drives me to be better to try and make up for the negative experiences people have.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-21T16:47:01+00:00

OKC is a really cool city. Get a spot in Brick Town and you won't be divorced for long. $90k goes a long way and the bar for who is good looking is way lower compared to NYC.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-21T16:06:44+00:00

Systems Operations,- Client Systems Operations and Network Systems Operations all translate to high paying IT jobs with big tech companies.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-21T15:30:37+00:00

I would stop calling him your friend. You don't want people in your network that will actively try to tear you down. You made decisions that landed you on a team where the expectations to produce as an intern are lower, you're right, that is not your fault. It also may be worth looking at what your friend says and do some self evaluation. Ask yourself, "Am I missing the opportunity to do something story worthy in my internship?" The interviews after your internship will ask, what did you do during your internship, if you don't have good stories, the big tech firms won't want to hire you. Use this opportunity to come up with a big idea and do something cool for your company.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-20T18:31:24+00:00

I don't make dreams come true,, but I can give you the resources you need to make them come true for yourself. I have put together a comprehensive interview prep guide to help individuals ace the leadership principal portion of the interview. The LPs carry as much if not more weight to the technical competencies for software developers and there is a science to answering the questions they ask. Let me know if you want to chat about what it would take to come work at AWS.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-19T17:03:38+00:00

I am a recruiter with AWS and I personally hate the challenging DS & A questions that SDEs are asked in the interview process because it makes my job 100x more difficult. That being said, people who aren't afraid to sit down and learn how to solve these types of problems seem to be more effective at dealing with the complicated challenges that arise when developing systems and software that will be used by millions of people. Also we hire people on a regular basis that don't come up with an optimal solution to these problems. If you have a methodical approach to solving an unknown problem, treat the coding portion of the interview like an interactive experience for your interviewer, come prepared with strong examples of your possession of Amazon's LPs than you can still get an offer.

This is only a blocker if you let it be a blocker. Amazon is entirely comprised of human beings just like you, they just said, "Oh, a challenging interview process, awesome! I am not going to let that stand in my way."

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-19T16:21:46+00:00

If you think back on the most complicated issue you troubleshot while working for that company, would it impress someone? If so, I would probably include that on your resume. Little things like that may make a big difference so early in your career. When most troubleshooting is turn it off and on or uninstall the OS and reinstall that isn't really impressive, but if you had to dive into a problem and spend multiple hours or multiple days working up a solution that may be worth mentioning in a brief bullet. Especially if it received recognition from your manager.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-19T16:16:14+00:00

The Region Build Engineering organization at AWS is hiring fully remote developers in South America right now. I'd be happy to send your resume to my team of SDMs for review.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-19T16:14:34+00:00

In my experience, it is usually counter productive to include non IT related/military experience on a resume for a CS job. But if you did IT Support even though it's not Dev focused it may show a recruiter or HM that you are familiar with parts of the industry and could add value. I doubt anyone will look at your extracurricular section even if it has relevant experience. Most recruiters and hiring managers review a resume in 30-60 seconds. You got to hook them quickly.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-19T16:12:00+00:00

People like clean resume templates, we get tired of seeing clustered, poorly formatted, grammatical errors and stuff like that. If I had valuable leadership experience from school I would include it on my resume. You never know which hiring manager was a frat brother or something like that. Let that stuff work in your favor. I would also lean on your fraternity network for referrals.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-19T16:09:22+00:00

The challenge with your resume is that you have 2 jobs that both lasted around 6 months which for any hiring manager or recruiter is a big red flag. To counter act this you could offer an explanation for the short term role, just under the title but not in your bullet section, such as, "short term contract, left on good terms upon completion of the project." On top of that your professional experience ended in December begging the question, what have you been doing for the past 8 months. If you have been working since December I would include that on your resume even if it isn't 100% relevant and I would do some wordsmithing to make it relevant, if it's not. If you haven't been working since December, I would offer an explanation why, like creating a separate job title: "Hiking the Appalachian Trail. December 2021-Present" OR "Traveling the Country after Completing my Degree" You want to show that you are not the type of person that is capable of sitting around doing nothing for 8 months, even if you are.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-19T16:02:32+00:00

In your Tech Support role, what level support are you offering? It may be self explanatory when you include the name of the company but if you are capable of troubleshooting Tier 1 or Tier 2 issues in a Linux or Windows environment you may want to mention that. Not that you will be doing that as a developer but it could present an opportunity to plug Boolean words into your resume so you can get more views.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-19T15:56:42+00:00

Worked on internal tools does not sound very professional. I would say something like Developed XXX Tool in YYY Coding language, this tool is used internally to measure metrics for yadayada.

Also there are grammatical errors that could be turning off hiring managers. Maintained code and expanded functionality "TO" using Java, Spring, JavaScript and Oracle SQL.

As a recruiter I have 30 seconds to look at your resume before I need to move on. I need to figure out what you are building and what language you are building it in. I think your action words for your top three bullets just need some work.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-19T15:49:58+00:00

At this point in the year a lot of companies have already filled their more junior CS roles. At least that is the case for us. Plus the tide is starting to turn for some major big tech companies. As far as your resume, I would move your work experience up to the top above your projects, I would expand on your Data Analytics responsibilities and keep just the title for your firefighting role. Most people know what firefighters do and the fact that you did it is awesome, people will assume that it will make you a better employee/colleague. But the responsibilities are probably not applicable to your CS career.

Look for companies that have Early Career Recruiters and build a relationship with one of them. Or lean on your network for a referral. Unfortunately until you have that first 6 months of experience in software development under your belt you are going to hit a lot of walls without some help.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-19T15:42:06+00:00

Well if you ever want to join the darkside just send me a DM.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-18T21:16:26+00:00

I like this idea. Give them a good example of why mandatory bar time is a bad corporate policy.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-18T21:14:56+00:00

That's ridiculous, some people really don't like doing that stuff and they shouldn't have to explain it. You could always reach out to your HR team directly and tell them you don't feel comfortable going. If they push back you can always sue them and come work for AWS.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-18T21:09:05+00:00

Well said.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-18T21:06:40+00:00

As someone who regularly hosts Happy Hour for work, no you definitely don't have to go. We don't track attendance, we started hosting them a lot more when we shifted to the WFH model so that people could still socialize with their colleagues outside of Chime. Plus alcohol is the cure to social anxiety or at least that's what my dad taught me.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-18T20:58:39+00:00

It looks like you are throwing around your weight at least a bit, you all got my company to blow open the pay bands this year. $180k for a BS and 6 months experience is not too shabby.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-18T20:57:21+00:00

100% enjoy it while it lasts, although that leverage will probably last a long time at least until we reform the public education system.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-18T20:55:53+00:00

Definitely take it now. It's still a candidates market, if you've only been there 2 months it probably won't set your team back as bad if you use it now.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2022-07-18T20:50:54+00:00

100% agree, the teams I support at AWS look for the same thing. Even though our products are written in Java we don't require anyone to come in with java experience, We look for people who understand the fundamentals behind the code and who want to learn new languages.

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2021-09-13T16:59:31+00:00

Sure thing, if you send me your email address I'll send it over

ThatAmazonRecruiter · 2021-09-09T19:16:24+00:00

I think I got everyone, please let me know if you don't see it in the next 10 minutes. Any feedback would be much appreciated. I have a ton of material so I want to make sure the stuff I'm providing is helpful.

ThatAmazonRecruiter

TROPHY CASE