Working online
Define your career in what you want from a profession by searching online. There are many technical jobs in the sectors by selecting the next stop in your career path.
After studying specific skills to develop this job, then explore the new jobs and industries with constant curiosity
First, do a search on LinkedIn, and you can see the results when you click on the link. To search for "developer" jobs worldwide on LinkedIn. Click the link and see the search results. Change your search terms and apply filters to change region and functionality. For example, just search for "web developer jobs in Yemen" or "android developer jobs in any other country
While browsing on LinkedIn, select 2-3 sites you want to work in and find three companies that employ these sites. The information you collect should reflect the reason for your interest in the company, what makes it suitable for you, and any basic information you must know as an applicant.
With the company’s knowledge, you can search for conversations, blog posts, or articles about them. This will give you an insight into their interests, company goals and information that can be talking points when discussing or interviewing
Now, after selecting companies, you should record notes as a diary on your search for each company. You can copy and paste this information into a new document to build on later!
For example, imagine you are interested in companies in Mountain View and decide to do more research on Udacity. The notes you take should look something like this:
Primary Product(s)
- Nanodegree programs
- Free, single courses
- Udacity Connect
- Corporate training
History of the company or organization
- Founded in 2011 by David Stavens, Mike Sokolsky, Sebastian Thrun
- Udacity originally focused on offering university-style courses, but in 2015, Udacity started the Nanodegree program, a paid credential program which is its main product today.
Company Mission
- Democratize education by offering world-class higher education opportunities that are accessible, flexible, and economical.
- "Virtually anyone on the planet with an internet connection and a commitment to self-empowerment through learning can come to Udacity, master a suite of job-ready skills, and pursue rewarding employment."
Leadership
- CEO: Vish Makhijani
- President: Sebastian Thrun
- VP, Careers: Kathleen Mullaney (I'm interested in working on career development)
- Knowing the company's leadership, you can search for talks, blog posts, or articles about them. This will give you insight on their interests, goals for Udacity, and background information that can be talking points when you discuss Udacity.
Why do you want to work here?
- The mission aligns with my own belief that lifelong learning is important.
- I see many jobs are remote-friendly and I like that flexibility.
- I'm interested in gaining experience in the online learning space.
What then?
In the future, the information you gathered in the previous exercise will be important for any cover letters you send or interviews you attend. For the time being, you should be able to get a good idea of how some companies perceive your intended business. If anything sounds too good to be true to your curiosity, write it down. You can search a bit at sites like Glassdoor, which allow employees and interviews to anonymously post information about their experiences.
Learn about the company's product
I took a snapshot of three companies. If one or more of you are more interested in you, then your next step is to better understand their products.
We cannot stress enough how important it is to understand a company's product when deciding to apply for a job. If the product is free to acquire (for example, an app you can download and test), use it for a few days and take notes about what the user experience looks like. If you cannot pay for the product, or the product is not available to you, search for reviews online and see what people have used it. Here are some things to pay attention to that will help you understand the role of the product in the current market:
How many users does it currently have? Where do you rank against its competitors?
Have any major publications (New York Times, Bloomberg Business, Wired, etc.) covered the growth or development of the product or company?
Are there any major bugs, errors or other technical defects that have been reported and not resolved?
In your opinion, what are the best characteristics of the product? What are the things that should be fixed or improved?
By knowing the latest information about a company's product, you will be able to speak more eloquently in an interview or contact a company, to showcase your in-depth knowledge of the company.
Turns can occur!
The next step in career exploration - media interviews
Professional and industrial research will also include access to new connections in order to find out more accurate information about a specific position in the company. If you do not have a specific idea of the jobs you are interested in, then media interviews are more helpful in giving you a valuable and insightful insight. Next, we'll go over how to reach people, how to conduct informational interviews, and how to get the most out of these conversations.
Request an interview
One of the most common ways to request an interview is for an initial email or a longlink. Consider the following when crafting your message:
Your accent should be non-silver; You should not assume that they are obligated to give you their time or attention
Make sure your email is brief and specific. For example, if you were hoping for a 20-minute phone call, you could say: “If you have time for a 20-minute phone call, I would be grateful for the opportunity to learn more about the company.”
Sometimes, you will not get an immediate response. The person may be on vacation or immersed in messages.
Make sure you have sufficient time (up to two weeks) to respond. If they do not respond within a week, you can send another inquiry.
If you are unable to schedule a live conversation, the contact may still be ready to answer some questions via email or link.
Ways to communicate
Now you know how to reach out to someone for an informational interview! The two most likely ways to communicate with someone are via email (you get their business card, or one of them applies to you) or via LinkedIn. Although email and LinkedIn are two different platforms, the structure of how to access and start a conversation is the same. See examples below.
Sample Email Template
Hi [Contact Name],
1st Paragraph - Self introduction including the following information:
- Your career interests
- Reason for reaching out
- How contact’s position/background connects the first 2 pieces of information
- Your connection to the person you’re writing to, if there is any
2nd Paragraph - Details on where, when, and how you would like to carry out the informational interview
Sincerely,
[Name]
[LinkedIn profile URL -- make sure to set your privacy settings to public!]
Example of a LinkedIn conversation
Sometimes, you may not be able to send an email to someone. Platforms like LinkedIn make it easy for people to find and communicate with each other. When calling someone, be sure to write a note on the request. You only have 300 characters in order to make a great first impression. Here is an example of how the conversation will flow.
An example says Roy's invitation: "Hello, you see it, my name is Roy, a computer science professor interested in switching to course development in the e-learning industry. I'd like to hear more about your exciting work at Udacity. Can you call for a quick chat? Thanks for your time! Best, Roy. "
Once your invitation is accepted, you can proceed to send your meeting request for an interview.
An example says Trin reply: “Hi Roy, thanks for contacting us and telling me a little about yourself. I am happy to chat. What do you want to know about Udacity? ”
Don't forget: people love to communicate with you! There is no reason to view your media interview request as an inconvenience to the other person. Like you, other people care about improvement professionally, which can be about sharing their experiences and their own knowledge or discussing current topics of interest in the industry.
Over time, you will become deeply familiar with conducting media interviews. You may feel stress or uncertainty at first, but with frequent practice and interactions of networks, you will soon become a network professional.
We now hope you feel equipped with the knowledge and confidence to successfully conduct a media interview from start to finish.
Good luck, God bless you!
Prepare interview questions
After you have prepared an informational interview, prepare yourself to ensure that you make the most of your learning opportunity. We recommend doing a preliminary research on both the company and the individual, drafting a sample of questions, and practicing in advance.
Here are some guidelines:
- Come prepared with smart and relevant questions. If you can find * an answer to your question on a person’s LinkedIn profile, on Google Search, or on the company’s website, you can be absolutely * certain that it won’t be the best question you can ask.
- Choose open questions with possible answers.
- Before the interview, create a sample question list.
- During the interview, take notes on the information you learn and be careful with your goals.
- Ask clarifying questions as needed.
Objectives
Be goal-oriented throughout the interview. Think about some of the results you want to achieve at the end of the interview. For example, your goal might be to build your network, find more contacts, or access internal information about the company and culture.
We also recommend approaching the interview as an opportunity to get recommendations on the resources (blogs, books, etc.) related to your industry.
Finally, make your goal make a positive impression. Even if the new contact is not able to help you directly in the search for a job right now, you never know when they might think of you in a future opportunity.
Don't ask: It's natural to be curious about such a topic, especially as you will have your own expectations about the job salary you are interested in. However, this can be a particularly inappropriate question, especially the first time you meet.
The question that should be asked instead: If you want to collect information on this topic, try asking a more general question to measure the industry's expected salary range for a position. Moreover, don't forget to do some research on websites like Paysa, which provide market salary data, to see if you can find a reliable answer on your own.
Can i add you on facebook
Why not ask: You may find yourself developing a great relationship with the interviewee, but remember that you must maintain the professionalism of the stock exchange. Moreover, they may be reluctant to communicate on a social platform with a person who has contacted them to inquire about their professional experience and career advice.
What to ask instead: If you want to keep friendly but professional contact with them, politely ask if you can add them on LinkedIn (if you haven't already done so).
What other roles have you worked in?
Why not ask: This sounds like a good question, but it should actually be avoided because you should already know the answer! As part of preparing for the interview, you will definitely search for information about the work history of the person interviewed via their LinkedIn profile. Remember that you want to spend your valuable time in this interview to find answers to questions that you will not be able to find online.
How to keep the conversation going
Now that you've made a personal connection, keep going! Send a thank you message within 24 hours; Email is ok! If anything especially memorable happens during your conversation, you may want to mention it in order to reinforce that you have been actively listening and interacting.
When you send your thank-you email, send your CV so they can introduce you to others and remember who you are. Over time, keep in touch with holiday greetings, share information on topics of interest to you, and keep them informed of the progress of your job search. People love to help others and listen to their positive impact!
The most common questions about media interviews stem from entering a new industry and uncertainty about how to make new connections.
To address these concerns, remember:
People generally want help! It is an opportunity to return the favor, communicate and share the excitement and information about the job. You will likely be surprised by the willingness of people to participate.
Start building relationships as soon as possible; These are long term relationships that require some care.
Take advantage of your Udacity community. Classmates, teachers, and support personnel are part of your network.
Get out of your comfort zone and learn to be proactive in the question. The worst that can happen is that someone refuses or does not respond to your request. But there will be people who will not refuse and will respond!
Be optimistic and resourceful. Informational interviews are great educational experiences and practices for future job interviews.
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