Job Search Guide
Week 1 of Your Job Search:
[ ] Ensure that Your Student Profile is complete with
[ ] Update your technical skills, preferred roles and location preferences.
[ ] Update links to your resume, Github, and LinkedIn
[ ] Indicate interest in Fellows and Public Profiles - do this by answering the questions under "Job Preferences". More details on Public Profiles here.
[ ] Take the Codesignal GCA if you don't have a score of 650+
[ ] Enroll in the Job Search Onboarding Canvas Course. This video-based course will guide you through resume, job search and outreach best practices. If you can't access the course through the Self-Enroll link above, you can view the same content here using Codex.
In your first month:
[ ] Complete the Job Search Onboarding Canvas Course. This course will teach you everything from how to apply, do outreach, prep for an interview and much more! (Link to course)
[ ] Apply to 10 jobs every week and log it using Job Tracker
[ ] Reach out to 10 people every week and log it using Job Tracker
[ ] Achieve a 650+ on the CodeSignal GCA, if you haven't already (link to test)
[ ] Green Github 15+ days of the month or complete 10+ code challenges
[ ] Secure 1 interview in your first 30 days of job searching. Graduates with 1 interview in the first 30 days are 3x more likely to get a job in 90 days. This interview doesn't have to be at your dream company, in fact, it is better if it isn't. If you only work toward one goal, let it be this!
Outcomes Programs
Lambda School offers two programs to help you get your foot in the door. Find out what is needed from you and how to qualify for these to increase your chances of landing a job:
Career Tools
These tools will help you find jobs, keep track of your job search and facilitate a faster job search. We highly recommend using Job Tracker to keep track of all applications, outreach and interviews.
Lambda Careers Site - The place to do your job search. This site helps you track your 10/10/10 goals and offers you jobs to apply to + people to reach out to.
Your Job Tracker - A tool that helps you keep track of all the jobs you're interested in, applied for, reached out to, and interviewing for.
Lambda Chrome Extension - A Chrome extension that helps you save jobs from around the internet to your Job Tracker.
**Job Finder** - Find junior roles that fit your profile information.
Public Profiles - Share your information with hiring partners on our Public Profiles site.
Job Search Slack Channels to Join
#job_search_support - A place for you to post questions + get help from career staff
#job_search - Read only channel where the careers team posts office hours, technical challenges and announcements. If you haven't been added to this group, message @Rachel Cohen.
#job_search_month - Your graduating class job search onboarding group to get you started in the job search. Example name: #job_search_april
#job_search_product_support - Report bugs or issues with career tools (Job Tracker, Profile, etc)
#job_board - Where alumni, our team and the community posts jobs!
#job_board_DS - Where alumni, our team and the community posts Data Science specific jobs!
Important Resources
Here are some of our most popular resources to help you with your job search. We recommend reviewing these to get the most out of your job search.
Doing Outreach:
Sourcing jobs:
List of developer Slack groups (great for finding jobs to apply to)
#job_board in Lambda School's Slack
Interviewing:
Data Science specific resources:
Lambda Job Search Important Docs:
The Custom Outreach Message Generator helps expedite the process of reaching out to any company by using our help finding the right person's contact information and creating a customized outreach message plan for you!
What should you do first?
Please fill out the **Job Search Custom Outreach Onboarding Form** once to gain access to the Custom Outreach Message Generator
Review the following before you begin:
[ ] How to Submit an Outreach Request - Tutorial that will walk you through how to bet utilize the Custom Outreach Message Generator.
[ ] Lambda Careers Site - The place to do your job search. This site helps you track your 10/10/10 goals and offers you jobs to apply to + people to reach out to.
[ ] Your Job Tracker - A tool that helps you keep track of all the jobs you're interested in, applied for, reached out to, and interviewing for.
[ ] Lambda Chrome Extension - A Chrome extension that helps you save jobs from around the internet to your Job Tracker. This tool can be very helpful for quickly filling in Custom Outreach Request forms.
FAQs:
How many Custom Outreach Message Requests can I make a week?
Each graduate is limited to 10 Custom Outreach Message Requests per week. If a graduate submits more than 10 requests in a week they will be postponed to the following week.
How long does it typically take to get a custom outreach message sent back to a graduate?
On average it takes between 24-48 business hours to send a custom outreach message back to a graduate.
Where will I be sent my completed outreach messages?
You will receive a message directly through Slack from someone from our Career Outcomes team with a link to your completed outreach message(s).
Can I edit the outreach message after it is sent to me?
Yes! The message is completely yours to edit and rework to your liking.
Why should I use the Custom Outreach Message Generator?
So you can focus on the other job search elements such as finding great job opportunities, networking, and working on projects.
The email address I was provided bounced. What now?
Send a message directly to Beto on Slack with the following: "Hi @Beto Garza! My custom outreach email for the {Insert Job Title} position at {Insert Company} bounced. Please send me a valid email address."
Do I need to fill out every field in the Custom Outreach Message request form?
Some fields are not "required" but we strongly recommend graduates to fill out each field as best they can because the more context our team has, the better the message we can write.
Self Introduction
Interviewers want to work with candidates they like. Leave a good/deep impression and it will increase your chances of success. Most of us are not strangers to self introductions as we meet new people now and then and have to introduce ourselves every once in a while. However, self introductions in interviews are slightly different from real life - you need to tweak it to your advantage - tailor the self introduction to the role and company you are applying for! Your self introduction evolves as you grow and are at a different stage of your career.
When being asked to introduce yourself, you can rephrase the question into:
"Tell me about your journey into tech. How did you get interested in coding, and why was web development (or replace with other job-specific skills) a good fit for you? How is that applicable to our role or company goals?"
It is probably not a good idea to spend valuable time talking about things which aren't relevant to the job!
The elevator pitch
An "elevator pitch" originates from a journalist trying to pitch an idea to an editor. The only time to catch the editor was in the elevator and she had only around 30 seconds to do so. The key elements of elevator pitches include:
Short - You have limited time!
Direct - As you only have limited time, you should get to the point
Attention-grabbing - Present your most attractive ideas
Whether you're at a job fair with hundreds of other candidates and you have limited time or you are simply explaining who you are to a potential connection or client, it is important to be able to clearly and accurately describe your knowledge and skills quickly and succinctly. Your self introduction is an elevator pitch for yourself!
Here are some tips to develop a good elevator pitch for yourself:
Short basic background information
Include who you are, who you work for (or school and major), and what you do.
For internships, you should mention the following: name, school and major, focus areas, past internships and/or noteworthy projects
For full-time roles, you should mention the following: name, past companies, noteworthy projects (best if it's a public consumer product that they might have heard of)
Does this look familiar? It should be, because it is similar to your resume! Your resume is a condensed version of your knowledge and experiences and your self introduction is essentially a condensed version of your resume. As you grow older, professional experience becomes more important and school background becomes less important. Hence your self introduction changes as you become more senior.
KISS (Keep It Simple and Sweet)
Tell them some highlights from your favorite/most impressive projects and including some numbers if they're impressive or challenges that you've overcome. Do not delve into the depths of how you reverse engineered a game and decrypted a packet to predict when to use your DKP on a drop. Tell them the executive summary: "I reverse engineered X game by decrypting Y packet to predict Z." If this catches their interest, they might ask further questions on their own.
Why do they want you?
Tell the interviewer why you would make a good hire. Is your experience relevant to the company? Have you used a similar tech stack as the company or built relevant products? What unique talent(s) do you have that may give them confidence about your ability to contribute to the company?
Practice!
Lastly, you must practice your pitch! Having a great, succinct summary of your skills only helps if you can actually deliver it rapidly! You should practice keeping a quick but easy-to-follow pace that won't overwhelm them but won't bore them. It's a precarious balance, but can be ironed out with practice.
After coming up with your self introduction, keep it somewhere where you can refer/tweak in future. Memorize them and in future you can just use it when you need to But don't sound like you're recalling it from your memory when you're actually saying it out. Sound natural!
Having an elevator pitch on hand is a great way to create a network and chance upon new job opportunities. There will often be times when you can't prepare for an interview or meeting and it is incredibly handy to have a practiced pitch.
Format
Prepare a self introduction that follows the following outline (inspired by "Cracking the Coding Interview" by Gayle McDowell):
A sentence about your current or most recent role.
A few sentences about your (academic) background. What did you focus on?
Some sentences about your professional experience after school/university. Where did you work? What projects did you deal with? What were the typical challenges and tasks? Which technologies did you use?
Finish with a statement saying why you are seeking a new job opportunity and why you are interested in the role you applied for.
Examples
Example 1: Front End Engineer at Facebook
Self introduction
"Hi I'm Yangshun and I graduated from National University of Singapore in 2015 with a degree in Computer Science. My interests are in Front End Engineering and I love to create beautiful and performant products with delightful user experiences.
Back in school, I designed and built a web application, NUSMods which solves a huge problem of class and timetable planning every semester. It receives over a million pageviews a month and is used by over 40,000 NUS students and even some professors. It is built using a modern web technology stack - React, Redux, Jest, Babel, Flow, webpack and is mobile-responsive."
I'm interested in the Front End Engineer role at Facebook because I have been using Facebook Open Source Front End technologies for a while now and am inspired by Facebook's mission and Open Source culture.
Breakdown
"I love to create beautiful and performant products with delightful user experiences."
Qualities that a Front End engineer should possess
"It receives over a million pageviews a month and is used by over 30,000 NUS undergraduates and even some professors."
Mention something about the project which stands out
"It is built using a modern web technology stack - React, Redux, Jest, Babel, Flow, webpack and is mobile-responsive."
Facebook tech stack! Also hints that you keep yourself updated with modern web technologies
Example 2: Front End Engineer at Lyft
Self introduction
"Hi I'm Yangshun and I graduated from National University of Singapore in 2015 with a degree in Computer Science. My interests are in Front End Engineering and I love to create beautiful performant products with delightful user experiences.
I previously worked at Grab where I led the Grab for Work project. Grab for Work was a service for companies to make corporate transportation expenses convenient. Companies can create employee groups, set ride policies and share corporate payment methods with their employees. I built the project with another engineer over the period of 3 months on a React/Redux and Golang stack."
I'm interested in the Front End Engineer role at Lyft because I like working in this ridesharing space and creating products to improve the lives of users.
Breakdown
"I love to create beautiful and performant products with delightful user experiences."
Same as above, qualities that a Front End engineer should possess.
"I previously worked at Grab where I led the Grab for Work project."
Lyft was Grab's sister company! In fact they even had a partnership in the past. Most Lyft engineers would have heard of Grab before and mentioning this catches their attention.
"I built the project with another engineer over the period of 4 months on a React/Redux and Golang stack."
Acknowledge that you work with others. Building a non-trivial system with just 2 people in 3 months is quite good for a non-trivial system. Lyft also uses Golang for their high performance systems.
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