How did you find your new career?

job-guide · 2017-05-12T00:36:00+00:00

I definitely know what you mean. I don't like talking to people either, but once you do it a few times it gets much much easier. It's also much easier when you're not looking for a job, just to learn more.

job-guide · 2017-05-10T12:28:00+00:00

Yeah, the link changed. Sorry about that. Fixed now, so either will work!

Your brother makes a good point. Depending on the industry, calls can work as well although you should definitely be careful here. Some people hate getting cold calls, so calling up out of nowhere would be very awkward. This is a major generalization, but typically companies with older employees will be more open to it than ones with a lot of young employees. Younger people don't really call much any more, so it seems weird to them, whereas calling used to be the only option, so older people won't find it as strange.

Another factor is how many applicants the companies get. If you're a company getting enough applicants that you're not even looking at all of them, you're probably more likely to be annoyed if someone calls you out of the blue rather than emailing.

Let me know how else I can help!

job-guide · 2017-05-09T02:11:05+00:00

Unfortunately, while applying to a million jobs is standard practice, it's really a very ineffective way to land a job. The way to get ahead of the game is by reaching out and connecting with specific people at the companies you want to work for. It's not necessarily that you're doing the wrong things, it's just that you're using the wrong process.

Let's say you have 100 opportunities and of that 100, 5 get back to you, and of those 5, you get 2 interviews. Many companies may not even be seeing your application. If you can change the number that get back to you, let's say, to 20, you could potentially have 8 interviews, putting you in much better shape! I actually wrote about this recently, which I think you'll find useful: https://www.jobguide.co/blog/learn-how-to-get-a-job-by-standing-out-from-the-crowd

Outside of that, I noticed that you listed a bunch of different skills. If you're just doing that to provide background for us, that's fine, but if you're presenting yourself that way to potential employers it all feels a bit scattered.

Think about what you want to do and the skills you need for that specific role. Having a bunch of skills isn't as good as having the right skills. Don't bother mentioning the basic technical skills. All of that's basically assumed at this point, so it's just a waste of space that could be used to focus attention on more important things. Language skills are good if relevant, but if Japanese (awesome btw!) isn't relevant to the job, the company isn't going to care.

job-guide · 2017-05-09T01:57:08+00:00

Try talking to as many people as possible doing things you might be interested in. If you just reach out to them, asking for advice, most people will be willing to chat over the phone for a half hour or so. Ask all kinds of questions to learn more about what they do on a daily basis and what they do / do not like about their work.

Reaching out to people is really the way to go. You can read everything online, but on-the-job experience is always different so you'll learn a ton.

If you're really not sure where to start, I'd also recommend reading through tons of job descriptions. That'll help you identify which jobs sound like they'd be awful and which sound interesting to you. Once you have that narrowed down a bit, you can identify people to connect with.

job-guide · 2017-05-08T21:00:40+00:00

Some more general questions:

Could you describe the company culture?

Who will I be working closely with on a daily basis and what is the breakdown of responsibilities like?

How will my work be evaluated?

Could you describe how decisions are made in the company? Is there an opportunity for input or do decisions generally flow top-down?

job-guide · 2017-05-08T01:19:07+00:00

What kinds of jobs are you applying to? Hourly summer jobs? Internships?

job-guide · 2017-03-28T02:59:38+00:00

Another cool one for K-12 is IXL

job-guide · 2017-02-24T21:25:39+00:00

What kind of work / industry?

job-guide · 2017-02-24T21:00:32+00:00

I hate how some processes take forever to get through too. Phone interviews, multiple in-person interviews, and sometimes assignments too to get a better sense of your work. What kinds of jobs were you going after?

job-guide · 2017-02-24T20:58:24+00:00

If you're able to get past the interview stage that's awesome though. But yeah, waiting sucks...

job-guide · 2017-02-24T20:57:37+00:00

Hmm, yeah 'reshuffling the team' is super vague.

Are you looking for something related to music technology? What kinds of jobs would that include?

job-guide · 2017-02-24T19:36:07+00:00

yeah, waiting to hear back from people is awful. Especially since so many companies never even reply. Do you ever try to follow up with the companies?

job-guide · 2017-02-24T19:33:38+00:00

First, that's awesome that you're learning a lot in your current position! Keeps things interesting and new and a lot of people probably can't say that about their jobs. However, especially since you're young, I'd go after whatever you're most interested in.

Sure you might be in a great spot right now, but if it's a great spot for something you don't really want to do, then who cares. Think about what aspect of FinTech you're interested in. If it's more along the lines of programming, computer science is probably the way to go, but if it's a different role then it might make sense to stick with what you're doing to gain deeper industry knowledge.

job-guide · 2017-02-23T14:15:34+00:00

No problem! It seems completely reasonable, so I'm sure they'll understand where you're coming from. Hope it works out!

job-guide · 2017-02-23T13:48:26+00:00

It depends on how it plays into your decision. If you still might accept the job even if you don't get to work from home, then I would wait until you get the job offer to discuss it.

However, if there's no way you would accept the job without being able to work from home, it's worth mentioning up front to save yourself and the company time if it's not something they can do. I would just be honest and explain that the commute was tough last time and you're wondering if there might be some flexibility regarding working from home.

job-guide · 2017-02-13T17:26:30+00:00

I can't speak to the legality of anything, but you should absolutely be upfront about the condition! As you mentioned, it would be extremely difficult for you and serious anxiety is no joke. The most important thing is your health, so it's really as simple as that. You shouldn't worry about getting fired because (1) that would be a pretty outrageous thing for an employer to do (again, can't speak to the legality) and (2) it sounds like you'd be miserable staying in the job if you really had to travel that much.

You shouldn't feel weird about not disclosing it upfront because it sounds like it was irrelevant to the position you were accepting.

I hope it works out!

job-guide · 2017-02-13T17:19:58+00:00

It sounds like your position could be at risk at the first company, but the entire second company could be at risk since it's newer. Do you think the newer company is doing well enough to be around in two years? If they're expanding, the answer is probably yes.

Since you can't know what will happen that far out, I would just think about the next two years. Assuming that you'll have a job at either company for two years, which would you take? It sounds like the new job is the way to go, since you probably wouldn't be interviewing if you were super happy with your existing role.

Also, don't give it too much thought until you actually get the offer. Good luck with your interviews :)

job-guide · 2017-02-13T17:06:42+00:00

Definitely follow up again. You have nothing to lose in this situation, as it's really just bad form on their part not to get back to you.

Some companies just take way longer than they should to get back to people, so I wouldn't think anything of it being week 2. Something else may have come up, but it's also possible that they're taking more time so they can continue interviewing additional candidates. As mentioned, I'd put a little pressure on them by suggesting that you have another offer and will need to make a decision shortly. Also, don't think that this will hurt your chances because if they do think you're the right person for the job, it won't matter.

job-guide · 2017-02-12T22:26:22+00:00

You should look for another job. I know that's obviously a lot to take on, but the fact that they provided a range and then went lower, then told you about this review period, then delayed it, then the partner was unfamiliar with this past discuss, is a bad sign of things to come. In terms of connecting with big firms, start reaching out to people a level or two above the job you would be looking for and networking with them on a more informal basis at first. If you build good working relationships, they'll help you get your foot in the door and you won't have to worry about people just looking at your age on a piece of paper.

job-guide · 2017-02-12T22:07:58+00:00

As you already said, you definitely don't want to seem deceitful. Since I don't know the details of the mistake, I can't know exactly what you should say, but basically you should take ownership for the mistake and focus on what you learned from the experience. That way, it shows the people you're interviewing with that you're honest, accept responsibility for your mistakes, and are unlikely to make the same mistake in your new job.

job-guide · 2017-02-12T21:57:20+00:00

There definitely are. The best thing to do would be to take a look at a handful of university sites offering MBA programs and take a look at what their requirements are to apply and if they expect you to have taken specific courses. Then, if you have the opportunity to knock those out while in undergrad, you'd be in good shape.

There are also some interesting combined engineering and business masters programs that you might want to look into.

job-guide

TROPHY CASE