A guide to the Summer of Tech 2015 recruitment process, and tips on making good career decisions.

1. Recruitment
SoT2015
John Clegg
September, 2015
1

2. This talk is about
Advice and tips on making CAREER
decisions…
and
Dealing with the recruitment process of
Summer of Tech 2015
overview
2

3. This talk is about
UNDERSTANDING the choices that you
need to make
Having people available you can ASK for
help
overview
3

4. agenda
M&G
SoT2015
Recruitment
Process
Making
career
decisions
Home
work
4

5. why are we here?
5

6. 6
For Students
1) Maximise number of internship
placements
2) Help you understand employment
choices
3) Help kick start your careers
4) Help employers get ready for interns
SoT goals

7. M+G
15/16 Sept
Interviews
22-24 Sept (SoT Speed)
& others if contacted
directly
Offers
7 October
Internship
~mid Nov- ~mid
Feb (as agreed)
7
SoT recruitment zone

8. meet & greet
8
it ALL starts here

9. 9
Employer perspective
• They want to get a feel for the quality of
students
• They are thinking about “fit” for roles
• They are focused on their needs
• They’re looking for people that can talk to and
work with
meet & greet

10. 10
Student perspective
• Be ready: research ALL the Employer profiles &
watch ALL the videos
• Know your top targets & what you’re gonna say!
#Protip: check out the smaller employers
• Talk Talk Talk - Jobs are CONNECTED to PEOPLE
• Have a strategy on who to talk to first
#Protip: big companies will have big queues
meet & greet

11. 11
The day after M&G…
Active recruitment starts
• Employers can start actively talking to students
• Student contact and reference information
becomes available to employers on the SoT
website
after meet & greet

12. 12
Employer Shortlists
• Employers shortlist students they want to
interview
• They may change or add internship roles based
on who they’ve met at Meet & Greet
• Employers start looking at profiles more indepth
and comparing candidates
after meet & greet

13. 13
Students
• Change your “Express Interest” to internships
that you like now you’ve met them & know
more
• Follow up with employers you met (if possible)
• Prepare for interviews (especially if you’re
shortlisted)
after meet & greet

14. 14
It ALL starts here
SoT speed interviews

15. 15
Wellington - 22 & 23 September
Auckland - 24 September
• They are during the day, the timing usually sucks
for students. Sorry about that.
• Please attend if you can, and send apologies via
us if you can’t.
• Note: you may not get another invitation to
interview, please attend if you can!
SoT speed interviews

16. 16
Optional for employers…
• Interviewers will be Team leads/Team members
(maybe HR people for the bigger companies)
• They are interested in your communication skills
and how you think…
• They will be looking for proof of your skills
• They’ll ask you questions that are important for
their roles
SoT speed interviews

17. 17
What’s important
• Attend as many interviews as possible
• ATTITUDE (almost) trumps SKILLS
• Have good questions
• Be INTERESTED in what they are doing and what
you can do for THEM
• Think about what you need to know to make a
decision about the job
• Update your “Expressions of Interest”
interviews

18. 18
Employer shortlists get shorter!
• Employers will be brutal about FIT (don’t take it
personally)
• They might create a new role for an individual
candidate (this is good!)
• They will follow up with their own HR process
–More Interviews
–Tests (technical, behavioural…)
–Reference checks
after interviews

19. 19
Students…
• Make yourself available for follow-ups
• Check your email / phone for contact follow ups
–Be prepared for companies to ask for
references (& prepare your referees!)
• Continue researching everyone you talked to
–Find out more about them
• Follow up with employers about your interest in
them if possible
after interviews

20. Recruitment Zone
20

21. Things are going
to happen
FAST
21
recruitment zone

22. 22
Before official Offers...
Employers...
• WILL tell you if they want you
• WILL ask you for an “answer”
• WILL apply pressure
• …they want CERTAINTY for their roles
recruitment zone

23. 23
Can be stressful...
Students…
• CAN say you’re interested in a role
• CAN say you’re waiting until 7 October
to make your final decision
• SHOULD contact the SoT team if you’re
feeling stressed or if someone’s applying
pressure (we are here to help!)
recruitment zone

24. 24
Not shortlisted? No interviews?
• It’s a learning opportunity, ask for
feedback
• Don’t take it personally, keep trying
• Come back to SoT next year if you’re still
studying
• Most students get interviews/offers
their 2nd year of participating in SoT
recruitment zone

25. Offers
25

26. SoT offers
26
Employers...
• Load offers on the SoT website
• There must be an internship role on the SoT
website for EVERY offer (more might appear)
• They will load up 2 or 3 additional “backup”
offers (in case their first choice candidate
declines)
• If you’re shortlisted at Offers stage that means
you are in their final shortlist 
All offers will be released at 10am on 7th October

27. SoT offers: 7 October
27
Students...
• You will be emailed to say you have an “offer”
• You have 6 hours to decide on an offer
–If you ACCEPT an offer then you are matched
with the company and removed from the
pool + all other offers are DECLINED
–If you DECLINE an offer with no additional
offers then you have to wait to see if another
offer comes
• If 6 (business) hours elapse and no decision, the
offer is withdrawn

28. waiting for the offers
28
The data
• Last year students waited 6-7 hours to make a
decision (Net result - about 5-8 roles were lost)
• Over 4 years of data:
ONLY 5% of candidates were successful in getting an
additional offer after initial offers
 first set of offers is usually your best shot
• How do you know if the role you want is open?
If it is unplaced then it is still VISIBLE on the site

29. 29
decisions...

30. 30
These are
important
CAREER decisions

31. 31
Some criteria
• Role
• Skills / training
• Employer
• Environment
• Tools
• Team / Mentor
• Short term outcomes
• Career goals
• Money
evaluating job offers

32. 32
What does
SUCCESS
look like?

33. 33
In 3 months time
what has this job
DONE for you?

34. what is the role?
34
What will you actually do?
• Is there clear business objective and owner for
the project?
• Will you have multiple roles / responsibilities
–work on multiple projects?
• Are there others working on the project?
• Will this role stretch you a little bit?
• Does this match what you want to be?

35. skills / training
35
What will you learn?
Will you be provided training or is it self directed?
• Self-directed is AWESOME if you have the right
support
• What internal / external training will be
provided?
Are these skills current (in demand by market)?
Does this match the skills you want?

36. employer
36
Who are they?
How stable is the Employer?
Govt or Private? Big or small?
What is their main business? Is it in a growth
segment?
What is the on-hire rate of the company with
previous SoT interns?
What are the prospects for career development?

37. environment
37
What’s the culture?
What’s the work space like?
What perks are there?
Are there social clubs?
Are there Friday drinks and other staff
functions?

38. tools
38
What tools will you be using?
What IDE ?
What dev stack? What design tools?
What core libraries?
What packages?
What build process?

39. team / mentor
39
Who will you work with?
What’s the make up of the team?
• PM, Design, BA, DEVs QA and Biz people
Who will be your mentor?
Who will you work with day to day?
Are these people you can REALLY learn from ?
Is the team active in local user groups?

40. short term outcomes
40
What do you want out of the job?
Opportunity to cut code or design something?
Chance to learn a language?
Deploy something in Production?
Contribute to Open Source?
Work on something fun / challenging?
Follow a passion?
Money?
Need a Part-time or Full-time job next year?

41. career goals
41
Does the role align with your career goals?
Is this a stepping stone to your long-term goals?
• Get some experience
• Learn your trade
• Embrace the journey
Sometimes the only way to find out about
something is TRY

42. money
42
How much money will you get?
We push for $20 an hour
Employer will pay more on experience, skills and
stage of study
The average rate last year was $22 ($20 - $27)
We have had students who accepted less than they
currently earn for the right role

43. money
43
Want more money?
• We have negotiated hard already to get you a
fair & reasonable internship hourly rate
• FYI: students who’ve tried to negotiate a higher
internship rate tend to not get offered or not get
retained past the summer internship

44. money
44
Want more money?
• The best time to negotiate for a pay rise is after
you’ve proven you’re adding value to the
organisation
• If you’re offered an extension of your contract or
a new contract at the end of your internship,
THAT’s a good time to talk about a raise

45. criteria
45
HANG ON A MINUTE!
these criteria can form the basis of
excellent questions for YOU to ask THEM
during an interview!
here they are again…

46. 46
• Role
• Skills / training
• Employer
• Environment
• Tools
• Team / Mentor
• Short term outcomes
• Career goals
• Money
evaluation criteria

47. evaluating multiple roles
47
Option 1)
• List Pros and Cons for each offer
• Write it down and talk it through with
someone

48. evaluating multiple roles
48
Option 2)
• Build a spreadsheet
• Rank the offers out of 10, based on your
criteria
e.g. Role, Skills, Team, Environment, Career,
Money…

49. making a decision
49
Remember, don’t base the decision
on the money …
(there are easier ways to earn money)

50. 50
Talk through your options with someone
you trust
Be open and honest about what is
important to you
making a decision

51. 51
Summer of Tech team are available to help
We are independent and neutral
We will NOT tell you what to do
We WILL help you walk through the choices
remember we’ve helped HUNDREDS of students
get GREAT jobs
Contact us via the ? box on the website or email
info@summeroftech.co.nz to set up a time to talk/ skype/
hangout/ meet
making a decision

52. 52
Don’t let someone’s well-meaning ADVICE
keep you from a great career
“SENSIBLE” advice can sometimes put you off risky or
unknown paths
Sometimes risky paths are the best!
An internship is a great way to try something out
What does your GUT say ?
making a decision

53. multiple offers
53
If you’re lucky enough to have
multiple offers, our advice is:
DON’T VERBALLY ACCEPT
UNOFFICIAL OFFER(S)
You can say you’re interested, but wait
until offers day to make your final decision

54. •Contact the SoT team if you’re feeling stressed or
under pressure during SoT recruitment
•We will talk (anonymously) to employers if they
are putting too much pressure on you
Summer of Tech is a safe, respectful & inclusive
environment, our code of conduct is clear on this,
PLEASE let us know if you feel inappropriate
pressure or bullying is occurring
under pressure?

55. multiple offers
55
If you are genuinely not interested in a
role then say no nicely (or DECLINE) as
early as possible
You don’t need to elaborate

56. single offer
56
Great! Go for it!
(unless something that you really
don’t want to do)
Accept it, KICK ASS and step up
to the next level, better
opportunities will follow!

57. saying no
57
If you have > 2 offers, and there
is one that you definitely don’t
want, DECLINE it ASAP

58. saying yes
58
If you have a choice, choose the job that ignites
your passion
What does your GUT say?
Which job is not going to seem like work, time will
just fly by because you’re LOVING it?

59. professionalism
59

60. professionalism
60
• Be polite
• Be prompt
• Check your email / phone regularly
• #Protip: make sure your voicemail message is a
professional one!
• Don’t be pushy with employers
• Understand that negotiation is a process
–it isn’t personal it’s business
• If you don’t know - get HELP
• It’s OK to ask for time
–if they want you they will wait

61. 61
gaming the system
Trust us, it doesn’t work out well.
They’re not hired because of a bad
ATTITUDE
Remember, New Zealand
IS A VERY SMALL
PLACE
Sometimes students try to “PLAY” employers off
against each other

62. summary
62
Get ready now for the SoT Recruitment Zone
Recruitment takes work
• M&G
• Interviews
• Employer interactions
• Offers

63. summary
63
Find extra time & effort for interviews, tests or
meetings.
Keep an eye on your email / phone
Keep your communication tone professional and
not too pushy

64. homework
64
Figure out what’s important to you in a job
and WRITE IT DOWN (this will help you when you
get offers)
Think about:
Role, Skills/Training, Employer, Environment, Tools,
Short term goals, Career goals + Money
Talk through your choices with others

65. homework
65
Have a look at ALL employer profiles and ALL the
internships.
Go to M&G and talk to your top picks PLUS some
outlier employers who do cool stuff that you are
potentially interested in
Think about the roles and write down your thinking
Talk it through with someone

66. questions?
66
•send us a DM from the website – log in and
find the ? button at the bottom right of your
screen
•email us info@summeroftech.co.nz

67. GOOD LUCK!
Learn heaps, embrace
opportunities, and enjoy the
ride!