The Job Search Standup is a programme at General Assembly designed to help our full-time students as they prepare for a new career in web development. The Job Standup is a tailored to GA web development and UX courses, during which the students participate in job readiness trainings, share their experiences in the job market, and offer support and strategies to each other. This session covers pitching, CVs, Github, Networks, Portfolio, Blogging, Cover Letter

1. JOB STANDUP
JOB STANDUP
SESSION PT1

2. JOB STANDUP
AGENDA
About the Job Search Standup
• Getting job search tools ready:
1 Business of Moving.
2. CV
3. Github
4. Networks
5. Portfolio
6. Blogging
7. Cover Letter
• Practice presenting yourselves:
introductions, elevator pitch,
CVwalk through

3. JOB STANDUP
JONAS ALTMAN
@
SFAGENCY
MANAGING PARTNER, SOCIAL FABRIC
@JONAS THESOCIALFABRIC.COM

4. JOB STANDUP
@
• Personalized career facilitation (resume, cover letter,
portfolio, salary negotiation tips, etc.), providing guidance
• Where you escalate career-related issues or concerns
• A forum to practice your interview skills – behavioral and technical
• Interview resources from past interviews
• Practice for speed interviews (e.g. meet & greet, job fairs, etc)
• Where you share your job search experiences and interview insights
THE SCOPE OF JOB STANDUP IS..
THE SCOPE OF JOB STANDUP IS NOT..
• A technology lesson. We assume that you will find the right answers
our role is to guide you on the questions and how you present your skills

5. JOB STANDUP
SELL
INPUTS AND OUTPUTS
At start of Standup, you will...
• Have hands-on web development training
• Be looking for a career as a web developer, possibly transit
When Standup wraps up, you will...
• Be able to articulate your skills
• Perhaps transition successfully to a job utilizing
you new web development skills

6. JOB STANDUP
1. WHO?
2. WHAT?
3. WHY?
4. INVITE..
INGREDIENTS
4

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WHO?
.
.
1
WHAT’S YOUR NAME
WHAT DO YOU DO THAT’S SPECIAL

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WHAT?
.
.
2
WHAT’S YOUR DISTINGUISHING FACTOR?
WHAT UNMET EMPLOYER NEED WILL YOU SERVER?

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WHY?
.
.
3
WHY ARE YOU VALUABLE?
EXPLAIN HOW YOU WILL SERVE AN UNMET NEED
& WHY YOU ARE THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB

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INVITE...
.
.
4
ARTICULATE YOUR PLANS FOR FUTURE
CLEARLY SAY WHAT YOU WANT

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Who are you? (Something unique and interesting - past career?)
What are your professional + educational accomplishments?
Where are you going?
• Full stack/ front-end/ back-end/ product manager/ project manager
• Interest in GA Apprenticeship
• Starting business/ not looking/ going back to school/ freelance/ full time job

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PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
• Speak from your heart - put some thought into your story!
• Maintain eye contact + use gestures naturally
PUBLIC SPEAKING GOOD PRACTICE
1. Tell them what you’re going to tell them
2. Then tell them
3. Finally tell them what you told them
RESEARCH
• Research interviewer aka CREEP
• Highlight relevant skills and accomplishments
• Mention any personal event if relevant in context

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START WITH THE END.

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YOU
YOU
KNOWTHINK

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SELL

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SELLMOVE

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1. LOGIC
2. CHARACTER
3. EMOTION

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THIS IS FUNCTIONAL YET SAFE
I AM THE HUMBLE INVENTOR
WOW, CAN YOU SEE THE POSSIBILITIES!
LOGIC
CHARACTER
EMOTION

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EMPLOYER ME
YOUR TALENT + SKILLS
+ PASSION
WE
TRACK
RECORD

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ATTRACTION AUTHENTICITY
RESEARCH RELEVANCE
PASSION
PURPOSE
THE
RIGHT
STUFF

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CONVERSATIONS>
RELATIONSHIPS>
TRANSACTIONS.

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THERE WAS NEMO THE ONLY SON OF A PROTECTIVE WIDOW
DAD WARNS NEMO OF THE DANGERS OF THE OPEN SEA
NEMO IGNORES HIS DAD AND SWIMS INTO THE OPEN OCEAN
HE’S CAPTURED BY A DIVER & ENDS UP IN A FISH TANK OF A DENTIST IN SYDNEY
DAD SETS OFF WITH OTHER SEA CREATURES TO SAVE NEMO
DAD AND SON FIND EACH OTHER, & REUNITE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
ONCE UPON A TIME
EVERY DAY
ONE DAY
BECAUSE OF THAT
BECAUSE OF THAT
UNTIL FINALLY

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THE
TWIT
PITCH

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UBER
connecting you and a driver with the tap of a button
HAILO
like UBER but just for cabs
LYFT
like UBER but drivers aren’t professional
SIDECAR
like UBER but fares are dontations and drivers
aren’t professionals - aka car sharing
SWIFTO
company pitch: “Uber for dog walking”

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EYE CONTACT
CALMNESS
HAND GESTURES
SMILE
PACING
POWER POSEAMY CUDY TED TALK

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SELLMOVE
MAKE PEOPLE
WANT THINGS
MAKE THINGS
PEOPLE WANT
VS.

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OLD SCHOOL SELLING
NEW SCHOOL SELLING
VS

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OLD SCHOOL SELLING NEW SCHOOL SELLING

36. JOB STANDUP
CV

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PRIORITIZED CHECKLIST
1. CV complete
2. Github ready
3. Networking tools prepared:
List of potential connections and companies that you want to work for
LinkedIn profile complete
AngelList profile complete
4. Portfolio complete
5. Blogging what you know > become an authority
6. Cover Letters while you apply

38. JOB STANDUP
General Format
• Contact (+Social Media), Experience, Education, Skills [can be moved up if you like]
• Do you need an objective / profile section?
• WDI project under experience, not education
• Categorized list of skills
• Both soft and technical skills (a must!)
• Sample categories: Programming Language, Framework, OS, Data
Version Control, Project Management, etc.

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MORE TIPS
NO TYPOS!
Be concise.
Tell a story.
Share your work – don’t just talk about it.
Avoid generic objective statements.
Highlight career progression.
Only highlight technologies you’d be comfortable using in an interview.
Be prepared to answer questions about anything you mention on your CV.
Seriously, no typos! :)

41. JOB STANDUP
& MORE TIPS
REFERRALS are #1 source of tech hires in most tech companies
Review your network (LinkedIn, FB, Twitter, Github, etc.)
for introductions, recommendations and
exploratory conversations
Update your LinkedIn profile
Create your own website, or help your friends/family create websites
Be active on social networks and in tech communities like Twitter and Hacker News
Contribute to an Open Source project
Answer questions on Stack Overflow and Quora
Participate in coding competitions like TopCoder

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YA GO ON
YOURSELF.

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Do your homework
Culture, technology, executives, recent releases, growth numbers, competitors, etc.
LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Crunchbase, Built With, Angel List Quora, news searches
What do you love about the product? What could be better? If asked, what feedback would you say?
Practice reciting your personal pitch and answering the following kinds of questions

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CONTEXT
AVERAGE 30 YEAR OLD HAS HAD 9 JOBS (USA)
PAST 5 YEARS DEMAND FOR UX DESIGNERS UP x 22
ALL THE BIG BOYS ARE ALL IN UK OR IRELAND
NEARLY 5K TECH STARTUP VACANCIES IN UK
SALARIES OF £30K+ > SOME EXCEEDING
WHAT ELSE???

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GITHUB

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TIPS AND TRICKS
• The interviewer looks for:
• Recent meaningful commits
• Good documentation and high quality code
• Account depth and width
• Forking consistency
• The interviewee must:
• Make sure you can talk about each commit
• Identify your proud commits
• Identify what (and how) you could refactor

55. JOB STANDUP
HOW TO PREPARE
Practice talking about your code on git
• Familiarize yourself to all your commits
• You will be asked to speak about them – practice
Be confident that you could refactor old code, if asked to
• Is there anything you could refactor? If yes, think how
• Leave some “refactorable” code in
• Make sure you know how to – pick a favourite

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NETWORKS

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Smart Searching
• We want to work with those we know and like
• Job ads draw too many applicants
• Many jobs are filled before advertising
Challenges to Networking tactics
• Might seem too pushy, selfish
• Fear of rejection
• Intimidating

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Understand your networking landscape
• List companies that you would like to work at
• List who’s already on your network – friends and acquaintances
• Look to your 2nd degree connections
• Be visible
• Attend Meetups, Google+ circles for Rails engineers
(for newbies andgeneral ones, Hacker hours)
• Diversify, socialize in other circles
• Stay in touch

62. JOB STANDUP
Like any relationship, network is built on trust
3 keys to building and keeping it:
• Visibility: They know who you are and what you do
• Credibility: They know that you’re good at it
• Profitability: They can trust you enough to do business with you
Also:
• Peers: If they know someone that knows you in a professional
capacity - this can make the diffeence
• Connect: On another or deeper level – find common interests

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PORTFOLIO

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TIPS AND TRICKS
• Use brief, unique (USP), and clear tagline
• Show off your projects
• Include Likes + shares, client testimonials
• Mention Products and Services you offer
• Make the reader bond with you in About tab
• Storyboard navigation
• Blog tutorials, problem solving techniques, your journey
• Link resume, social media, open source

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COMPONENTS
• About
• Projects
• Client testimonials/ recommendations
• Products and Services
• Blog
• Github, resume and social media

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*Blog + CV could be added

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*Design + density
could be improved

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BLOGGING

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TIPS AND TRICKS
• Blog often - as long as you have something to say
• Chronicle your journey - turn info into knowledge
• Try offering a tech tutorial / troubleshooting tips
• Get inspired by top 50 Ruby-ist blogs
• Stay up to date with blogs like http://www.rubyinside.com
• Add link to your blog on portfolio

72. JOB STANDUP
COVER
LETTER

73. JOB STANDUP
STEPS TO A COVER LETTER
• Research company and Research some more
• Analyze job listing to assess tone and culture
• Note and reference the requirements
– responsibilities and skills
• Map your strengths to points noted

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THE EMAIL COVER LETTER
One to two sentences per section.
• Who are you?
• Why you are interested in this role?
• Why you?
• What next?

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WALK ME THROUGH
YOUR CV..

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IT’S TIME TO TEST YOUR..
• Presentation skills
• How you organize information
• Logical flow
• Art of story-telling
• Speaking from the heart
• Ability to separate relevant from irrelevant information
• Confidence in your journey

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DO:
• Prepare and practice your response
• Contain response within 2 minutes
• Analyze listing
• Note interviewer body language
• Tailored top-down review:
> Summarize professional background and education
> Review each relevant experience
> Highlight notable points

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DON’T:
• Bog down into too much details
• Digress from the thread of your story
• Mention irrelevant points
• Read from your resume
• Ramble

81. JOB STANDUP
BRAND WHO?
1. Have your Brand You‘Script’ ready - max 30 seconds
2. Stretch, Breathe, and Smile
3. 1 by 1 in front of the class pitch yourself.
yes really.

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FEEDBACK TIME
Practice Appreciative Inquiry
aka
Emphasise the Good.

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WRAP UP

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“YOU HAVE TO
LEARN THE RULES
OF THE GAME..
AND THEN YOU
HAVE TO PLAY
BETTER THAN
ANYONE ELSE.”
-ALBERT EINSTEIN

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WHAT EMPLOYERS
ARE LOOKING FOR
.
.
TALENT > BOTH HARD + SOFT SKILLS
T-SHAPER
.CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVER
. INDISPENSABILITY

87. JOB STANDUP
JUST
SOME
TIPS
IT’S ABOUT THEM NOT YOU
CLARITY WINS
BE CONSCIOUS OF BODY LANGUAGE
DON’T FORGET TO MAKE THE ASK
PRACTICE
BE YOURSELF

88. JOB STANDUP
ASK QUESTIONS
ENGAGE BY LISTENING
CHARM
PRACTICE

89. JOB STANDUP
teasers for next week BEHAVIOUR QUESTIONS
What you should expect to talk about with your
recruiter or the CEO/hiring manager:
What’s important to you (type of work, culture, team size, company mission,
colleague caliber, technologies, benefits, learning opportunities, etc.)
What technologies you most love using, and what your strengths as a
developer are.
Why this particular company is compelling to you, and what you hope to
contribute.
Why you left your last job. And jobs before that.
Your previous work and coding projects.
Your professional goals and motivations.
Anything that is on your CV, particularly things that could be construed
as red flags, like gaps in employment.

90. JOB STANDUP
more BEHAVIOUR QUESTIONS
Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure.
How do you handle a challenge? Provide an example.
Give an example of a goal you’ve reached and how you did it.
Have you ever disagreed with a company policy? How did you handle it?
How do you partner with non-technical members of your company
on creating new products?
When you find something wrong with your product or approach, what do you do?
Have you ever found a project you were working on slipping from it's timeline?
How did you deal with the situation?
What do you do if you disagree with your boss?
Share an example of when you’ve motivated your teammates.
Did you ever work on a group project? Describe your role.
What makes you excited to go to work?

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92. JOB STANDUP
THANK YOU.
@SFAGENCY
JONAS@THESOCIALFABRIC.COM