guidance counselor 2.0 · episode 79
job search thoughts
key takeaways
- research the company and people before interviews, write down relevant accomplishments, and ask questions during the conversation
- avoid quick apply buttons; instead connect with engineering managers, directors and vps on linkedin to start conversations
- when discussing salary, do market research, know your minimum acceptable number, and mention you can accept today if the offer meets your needs
- ask hiring managers about culture, why the position is open, and issues they've faced to understand what you're walking into
- most hiring managers lack frameworks for interviews, so come prepared with your own questions to assess company fit
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about this episode
how to approach job search, interviewing, salary negotiation, and networking with hiring managers
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full transcript
auto-generated from the audio, so expect a few typos. the audio is the source of truth.
So today I just want, I'm here for y'all, right? I'm here for y'all. I want to know what questions you have on the job search. I definitely have some questions, or some questions. I have some thoughts on the job search. And I want to start rambling. So a few things. One, I want to talk about interviewing. I think people as a whole are not really good at interviewing. Alex, what's going on, man? So people really are not good at interviewing. And so here's just some tips with interview. One, research company, two. Have your resume in front of you, three. Research the people. Research the people you are interviewing because you probably have similar connections.
So do that. My thing is, is write down your accomplishments. Like, know what you're interviewing for. So if you go into a job, and this applies to anything, like not tech. Like if you go into interview for a job, know the job you're interviewing for, and write down some things in your past that you want to talk about as related to the job. For example, let's say I am a Angular React engineer, or nope, an Angular node. I need more coffee this morning, an Angular node engineer. And I'm interviewing for more of an Angular UI role. What I would want to do is I would want to write down some accomplishments that had some things that I have done within the Angular side of things specifically to talk about during the interview.
Because what happens is, what happens is a lot of times, people just, people black out. I don't understand. People just black out in interviews. Actually, and speaking of blacking out, this is one thing. So I have a candidate going through the interview process right now, and we're like really deep in it, right? Really deep in it, and the candidate was like, hey, I have all of these questions. And he's not my candidate. It's a can working with somebody on my team. And I'm like, why, why didn't you ask those questions or any interview process? Like, I don't understand people that interview and are like, yeah, yeah, everything's going well.
Everything's going well. And then like, and then they're like, oh, I got all these questions. It's like, well, that's what the interview's for. Like, that's exactly what the interview's for. So I will tell you, I would encourage you to ask questions during the interview. If you have questions, ask them. The interview should be a dialogue. It should not be speaking at you. You should not like, like the hiring managers and companies should not be speaking at you. the entire time, right? You have to figure out if it's as good enough company to be at long term as the client and the company does as well.
So I'm so sick and tired of these, these individuals coming in and interviewing, nice and questions. Ask questions. It's okay. And honestly, it'll show that you're more engaged or in the interview process. All right. So that's my random interview. Any comments, questions, concerns on interview? I'm going to go into, we're going to job postings. I'm going to go into job postings. What's the worst question to ask at an interview? There's a lot. Alex, thank you for being difficult. But yes, there actually, Alex, what's the weirdest question? I'm going to turn it back on you. What's the weirdest question you've got in an interview? For me, listen, I would just stay away from like personal stuff.
Right. You know, I always talk about being authentic, being yourself. But again, it's like your first date self, right? Like I went through a politics. I went and talked about personal matters in the interview process. But I would also just be yourself, right? You know, I posted this in the interview. I posted this on Twitter about like being yourself and people were kind of like, well, you know, I get, you know, sometimes I'm being, I'm myself. And I'm like, you know, I get told to not be myself. I get that. I understand that. But again, I think you need to be first date material. Some people's first dates are a little different.
You can ask my wife that. I don't know. I've mentioned that countless times. But you need to be respectful during the interview process. Yes. If I was a zero, what, what, what type would I be? I'd be sending toast crunch because it's my favorite zero. So it's about job posting. So job postings in kind of networking. I'm talking to you. And we'll talk about this with William today. But, but essentially, you need to not apply to job postings. You just don't hold on real quick. Pia, Pia with the question. How do you respond when you are asked about your current salary and your salary expectations?
So yeah. So there's this meme out there in the internet that I like. It's like two people shooting at each other. And it was like, what's your salary expectations? And then the job seekers like, well, what's the salary range for this role? You know, I would do market research. But I would also just say it like it is. Right. So for example, let's say you're at 60 K. Let's say I have 60 K in your current job. And you and to really make a move to really make, because so you have to remember, if you could ask this question, if you could ask this question, and interview, you're at the end.
You should be at least. You should be at least. And so you already get a feel for the company, what you're doing, hopefully, because again, you should be asking questions or interview process to know what you're walking into. But for me, I would do research as in no kind of what a next level would be. So let's say you've done your research in your field, and let's say you want to be at 75. Right. But let's say you're really vibing with the company. And you are open to taking your, in the back of your own open to taking your, in the back of your mind, you're open to taking a lateral move.
What I would do is I would just be straight forth. I'm like, hey, listen, like, to really get me excited about this role in a no brainer and I'll accept today. Because here's the deal. Companies want you to accept ASAP, because they don't want to start the day process over again. So you have the leverage. So if you go, hey, I will accept right here right now at 75 K. Now you better. If you say that, you need to do it. But then I would say, hey, well, I would say my minimum, though, would probably be 70. Right. Now you have to remember, $5,000 difference is only like $2 an hour, $2.50 an hour raise.
And when you get taxes into it, it's not that much. Right. So again, like make sure it is, it is a worthwhile jump. Now if you hate your job and you just want to get out and you're cool with, you know, a small bump, that's totally fine. But again, just put it in your perspective, a $10,000 raise is only $5 an hour. And then you put taxes on that. And it's not that much. Right. So again, you need to be aware of that. But I would just tell the company, hey, listen, no brainer for me is this right. You're my absolute minimum that I would need to think about.
And evaluate benefits and stuff would be this. That is how I would navigate that question. Branding good morning. So let's talk about job postings real quick. There's a lot of job posts out there. Right. So if you want to see the jobs I'm working on, tailedessome.com, go check that out. It's my virtual 100% remote job postings. But with job postings, you have to try to stay away from applying. Right. Because the whole thing is is what you need to do is you need to go to that company and then start connecting with those people on LinkedIn and start having conversations. So for example, I had somebody reach out to me and do like, hey, am I able to find the hiring manager on a job posting on a website, on the job posting for the website.
And I said, probably not. They don't list hiring managers on on company websites because they don't want you bombarding. So what I would do is if you see asking me which company has a job posting that you like, I would search, ask me which company on LinkedIn. And what I would do is I would start connecting with engineers again, I'm coming out from a tech background, but this could be for accountants, whatever. And I would just start connecting with leadership, hiring managers, engineering managers, directors, VPs. Right. I probably wouldn't connect with C Suite because they probably don't have a ton of say, right. So engineering managers, directors and VPs.
And what I would do is I would just message them and be like, hey, again, you don't ask about a job. Right. That's the thing you don't ask about a job in the DM. What you want to do is say, hey, Mr. So-and-so, so-and-so. I've been, again, admiration. I respect your company what they're doing. I've been following y'all for a bit. Y'all have won a bunch of awards. Can I have four minutes of your time? I would love to know. I would love to know what makes, like, what makes that place so special. Again, ask about the other person. Get that person on a phone call.
Get that person on a Zoom call. Ideally face to face Zoom call FaceTime. If they don't want to do that, phone call is fine. Ask them for four minutes. And if they don't want to do that, they're going to be like, hey, listen, Mr. Miss Manager, I've always wanted to work your company. Is there-do you think there are any open roles for me? Don't corner them. Don't corner them and ask them about a specific role. Because what happens is this. One, they're going to think that you just spoke with them for the role. If you list a specific role. Right. If you just say, hey, listen, I've always wanted to work at your company.
Would love to, you know, I don't know if you had any open roles. That is a okay question. Right. But if you're like, hey, I saw on your website, you have this role open. Like, is this you? Like, that just comes off as sleazy. Right. So don't do that. Another thing what I would do as well. Again, when you get off a conversation with a higher manager that come and be like, hey, do you have another- like, I love to talk with as many people as possible at your company. Can you introduce me to somebody else at your organization? Right. That's another thing you need to ask.
LA goes, you share the 10 questions to ask for a recruiter. But how would you adapt the 10 questions to ask a technical interviewer and our final stage of the individual? Well, Elliot, funny, you asked. I have a new template. I don't know if you checked on my website recently. It is questions. It is questions that. It is question. So my wife just commented to make me laugh. My wife goes, what if I want to be a little sleazy. Jackie, come on now. Come on. I love it though. So, Elliot, go check out my website. I have questions to actually ask hiring managers during the final stages of the interview.
I actually got this template from somebody on Twitter. James Hollingsworth or something like that. I gave him credit. I gave him credit on the PDF, but go check that out. But those are questions to ask hiring managers about culture, issues they have had, why is that position open, etc. So again, Elliot, I definitely go check that out. So listen, that is all I got today. So I want to talk about, listen, again, super short. I want to talk about if you have any questions, please ask me comment me again or if you are my wife, you are going to be difficult, which I love. Ask me questions.
Any questions I will be on here for another few seconds. Few other thoughts. Again, job postings. Don't do quick apply. Don't do easy apply. I know from a UI UX side of things they make it big and bold and you want to click it. Don't do it. Go connect with people on LinkedIn. It takes more time, but it will benefit you so much more. So do that. Also, again, when it comes to interviewing, please be prepared. Please ask questions. Right. There are so many times the individuals just go in and just are blind and don't ask questions and then they hate their jobs six months into it or get fired because they don't know what they're walking into.
Be ask questions. Please. Elliott goes also do interviewers typically have a list of 10 things they need to be answered by us as the interviewee from your experience. So this is a whole other conversation. Most hiring managers don't have a clue what they're doing. They don't. I tweeted this. I said as soon as hiring managers and job seekers can both be honest and say need one of them and have any idea what they're doing, it will just be so much better to healthier conversation. So yeah, Elliott, no, they don't. They don't know what they're doing. So what I would tell you is again, come prepared, ask questions.
But most of the time, companies do not have a framework in place on what to interview what to ask. That's just it is what it is. Amy goes, I'm going to be sharing this episode of my developers and training. I love it. Yeah. Again, Fridays, I just want to hang time. I don't really have much of a agenda on Fridays. I just want to be able to be a resource for y'all here. So I always kind of just ramble my thoughts. And so I'm glad you got some out of it. That means a lot. Amy, I appreciate it. Again, just remind your Taylor Dessen.com. All of my resources are there.
My job boards, hiring managers, you have you can sneak peak with my candidates. There's going to be more rolled out from that perspective as well. All my free resources, resume templates, all that. Text me 615-235-5650. What I did is I created a text messaging community where I share my 10 years of experience. I've met over 8,000 people and I've met over 4,000 software engineers. If you want that experience on your phone every day, text me. That's what it's there for. So do that, Piquita, what's going on. It's good to see you. It's good to see you. Hope you're having a wonderful Friday. Well, y'all have a good one.
That's it for me today and this week. Very excited to be with y'all next week. A few things that are happening. One, I don't know if y'all followed Joe Carlson. He is a developer advocate at MongoDB. I found him on TikTok. TikTok is wild. So I found him on TikTok ID, I'm Tim. He is coming on to my episode on Monday. Monday is going to be great. Very excited to have Joe Carlson check him out on Wednesday. On Wednesday, I am having the man Jerome Hardaway with that two code. We are going to talk about, we are going to talk about. Why you as a company to stay remote?
So that's going to be good. Jerome has been bringing the heat on Twitter. So we're going to talk about that. So I have great guest Monday, Wednesday, next week. Again, shout to my guest this week. Jason Langenstorf VP of a developer experience at Netlify. Go check out that episode on my YouTube. Really, really, really good stuff from him. I'm going to be sharing content here soon. And then I had Alex, Eric Yeager, Eric Yeager on Wednesday of this week. We talked about how to get in the fang. And then how to break into tech as a junior dev. So that was really good as well.
So again, a lot of great guests more guys coming up. If you have a hiring manager or something like that, would definitely love to talk with them as well. So feel free to introduce me. If you have a hiring manager who just gets hiring all that stuff, let me know. And again, enough with me, Ramble. And y'all have a great Friday. I appreciate y'all tonne. Peace.