1. Andy Lester, LandTheTech JobYou Love
http://petdance.com/
andy@petdance.com
Resumes and
Interviewing
for Tech Jobs

2. Two key takeaways

3. #1

4. Your awesomeness
is not self-evident!

5. You have to
tell me
about your
awesomeness.
In detail.

6. #2

7. Follow principles,
not rules.

8. What it's like for me

9. I want to hire you.

10. You are a
unique & beautiful
snowflake.

11. ... but this is my desk.

12. My three questions
about you
• "Can she do the job?"
• "Do I want her working for me?"
• "Do I want her on the team?"

13. Don't expect the
hiring manager to
connect the dots.

14. Resumes

15. Common resume
questions
• Should I put skills first, or education?
• Does it have to be only one page?
• Should I list extra-curriculars?
• Should I leave off ...
• Should I tell about my ...

16. Why do you write
a resume?

17. To get them to call you
in for an interview.

18. Common resume
questions
• Should I put skills first, or education?
• Does it have to be only one page?
• Should I list extra-curriculars?
• Should I leave off ...
• Should I tell about my ...

19. Common resume
questions
• Should I put skills first, or education?
• Does it have to be only one page?
• Should I list extra-curriculars?
• Should I leave off ...
• Should I tell about my ...
Will it make the
reader want to
call you in for
an interview?

20. One page?
Two page?

21. "No good movie is too
long and no bad movie is
short enough."
-- Roger Ebert

22. If it's useful, put it in.
!
If it's not, take it out.
!
That may vary from
resume to resume.

23. There is no
Resume Police.

24. These clichés are
worse than meaningless
• Professional; business-oriented
• Industrious; hard worker; dedicated
• Good people person; team player
• Motivated; self-starter; makes things happen
• Strong communication skills

25. Provide evidence,
not self-assessments.
Let the reader decide.

26. How do I get my resume
to stand out?

27. None of these work
• Magic fonts
• Magic colors
• Magic layouts
• Magic "action words"

28. Nobody will read your entire
resume without a reason to
think it will be worth the time.

29. Start with a strong
summary.
This is the movie trailer
for your resume.

30. List the top 3-5 aspects
of your value.
21 years professional software development, most
recently in Perl and PHP
• Manager and senior engineer for e-commerce site
(3+ years)
• Develop object-oriented Perl and PHP, interfacing
with Oracle and MySQL (8 years)
• Create intranet database applications with
ColdFusion, Access & VBA (5 years)

31. Show me,
don't tell me.

35. Use numbers!
• Numbers draw the eye.
• Numbers give a sense of size.
• Numbers are the language of business.
• Numbers express dollars and time.

36. Boring & ambiguous
• Provide desktop support by phone or in
person as needed to minimize downtime
• Maintained hardware inventory and
software licensing for office computers.

37. Interesting & precise
• Provide desktop support by phone or in
person. Averaged 8.2 calls/day with 92% of
user problems solved in under 30 minutes.
• Maintained hardware inventory for 120
office computers and software licensing of
45 different applications across the
enterprise.

39. July 2010-present
Night Operations Technician, Bug-Be-Gone Corp.
!
* Maintained insect population by applying
insecticides with truck-mounted sprayer.
!
* Precisely tracked assigned paths through areas
served.
It came from my inbox

40. Principles, not rules!

41. NO! NO! NO!
• No lies
• No fudging
• No "objective" or "references available"
• No salary history
• Nothing illegal

42. Cover letters

43. Rule #1:
Write one.

44. Rule #2:
Write one for the
specific position.

45. Dear Prospective Employer,
!
Your Advertisement on jobs.perl.com for a
!
Sr. Prog. for library book wholesaler
!
caught my attention. I would like to apply. I am
confident that I can perform the job effectively. My
background and career goal, seem to match the job
requirements well.
It came from my inbox

46. I am much more than a programmer. In my long and
varied work history, I have performed such jobs as
knife salesman, manager of a hardware store,
extracting retinas from bovine eyes as a neurological
lab assistant, flower delivery driver and retirement
home activities director, all of which make me a well-
rounded candidate.
It came from my inbox

47. I am much more than a programmer. In my long and
varied work history, I have performed such jobs as
knife salesman, manager of a hardware store,
extracting retinas from bovine eyes
as a cow eye sucker, cow eye sucker and cow eye
sucker, all of which make me a well-rounded cow eye
sucker.
It came from my inbox

48. Your cover letter
• In plaintext in your email.
• Explains relationship with contact, if any.
• Explains what you're looking for, and what you
can bring to the company.
• Shows that you care enough to send a
personalized cover letter.
• Shows that you know about the company.

49. A good cover letter
Dear Mr. Lester,
!
My colleague Richard Dice referred me to the job
recently posted on jobs.perl.org. I believe that I can
help Elsinore Publishing with my skills, including:
• 4 years of database apps for MyCo, including....
• 3 years Perl experience, including two CPAN modules
(http://...) that extend DBI....
• A BS in CS from UIUC, with a 3.7 GPA.
• Experience in the book industry, and a natural love
of books.
!
I look forward for a chance to meet with you to discuss
your needs and how I can help you and Elsinore.

50. Interviews

51. Interviewer + candidate
want the same thing.

52. Hiring manager's task
• "Can this person do the job?"
• "Do I want this person working for me?"
• "Do I want this person on my team?"
• Convince candidate that yours is a
company to work for.

53. Candidate's task
• "Can I do the job?"
• Convince the HM you can do the job.
• Get a job offer, or move closer to it.

54. After the offer
• "Do I want to work for this guy?"
• "Do I want to work on this team?"

55. Conversation,
not interrogation.

56. Your interview is your
first day on the job.

57. Preparing
the day before

58. Preparing
the day before
• Clear your schedule.
• Prepare to get there.
• Prepare what you're going to take with you.
• Include a portfolio of work if you can.
• Prepare your own questions.

59. Questions you'll
have to answer

60. Tell me about yourself.

61. Tell me about yourself.
• Did she do any research?
• Is she prepared?
• How does she speak?
• Does she take pride in her work?
• What else should I ask about?

62. Where do you want to
be in five years?

63. Where do you want to
be in five years?
• Does he have any sort of plan?
• Does he work on self-improvement?
• Will I have a place for him?

64. What is your greatest
weakness?

65. Why do you want to
work for us?
- and -
What do you know
about our company?

66. Why do you want to
work for us?
• Has she done research?
• Is this just another job for her?
• What drives her?

67. Tell me about a project
that didn't go well.
- or -
Tell me about a
teammate you've had
trouble with.

69. Tell me about a project
that didn't go well.
• Is he a blamer/whiner?
• Can he learn from mistakes?
• How are his personal skills?

70. Candidate questions

71. What's a day like?

72. What sorts of projects
will I be working on?

73. What will the first day be
like? First month?

74. Is this a new position, or
are you replacing?
What happened?

75. Tell me about the team
I'll be joining.

76. Can I meet the team I'll
be joining?

77. These questions show
that you are actually
interested in the job.

78. Show you can
do the job.

80. Show you can do it.
• Diagnose a dead PC.
• Write some code.
• Assess design problems on a web page.
• Participate in a code review.
• Critique a network diagram.

81. Closing

82. Always ask for the job.

83. Debrief after.
• Thoughts
• Impressions
• Stories
• Follow-up

84. Key takeaways
• Your awesomeness is not self-evident.
• Give evidence, not self-assessments.
• Use numbers to give detail.
• Think like the hiring manager. You both
want the same thing.

85. andy@petdance.com
http://petdance.com

86. Bonus slides

87. 15 ways to
kill an interview
• Show up late
• Be unprepared
• Chew gum, bring a drink
• Have bad breath or body odor
• Smell like smoke

88. 15 ways to
kill an interview
• Come underdressed
• Speak ill of anyone, including especially
past employers
• Complain or discuss your problems
• Bring up your needs: Money, benefits
• Lie

89. 15 ways to
kill an interview
• Appear uninterested
• Appear overenthusiastic or desperate
• Fail to ask your own questions
• Leave your phone on
• Cut the interview short