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Since recruiters spend only about 6 seconds (on average!) looking at your resume, the type of sections and order matters because you want to make sure they can scan it as fast and efficiently as possible. Below are how the sections should be ordered an what they should include:
Email address (should be short, professional, and easy to type)
Phone
LinkedIn (should be formatted as Linkedin: Username and hyperlinked)
Github (should be formatted as Github: Username and hyperlinked)
Grad date ( month and year, don’t include starting date)
GPA
Major and Minor
Relevant Coursework
Technical Skills
Languages
Tools & Frameworks
Certifications
Should include internships, research experience, TA experience, Tutoring experience, and any other paid experience
Bullet points should be formatted using Question model explained below
Should include class, personal, or open source projects
Bullet points should be general overview of project and include technologies utilized
No more than 3 one line bullet points should be used, preferably use 2
Should include organizations. awards, scholarships, and any other extracurricular activities
If you run out of space, you can create 2 columns
What a resume is and how to build one
What sections to include on your resume
How to craft impactful bullet points
Best resume templates to use
A resume is the FIRST interaction a company has with you
A resume is you when you’re not in the room
A resume will follow you during the interview process
A resume is only ONE of the components of the job search process, try to look at other areas of your job search, too, to figure out if anything else is holding you back
Verbs to use
The verbs you use in your resume matter because they showcase leadership qualities, confidence, and show more impact. Use active verbs vs. passive verbs in all your bulletpoints, examples of active vs. passive verbs are below:
Bullet points are one of the most important parts of your resume because they showcase you impact and can help recruiters gauge your value-add to the company. Bulletpoints should be formatted in the following format:
This model should be used in each bullet point. It shows impact by answering 3 questions to showcase context , skills, and impact through answering the following questions:
Explains what you did, what you built, what you contributed
Should say what project you built
Explains how you built it, what skills you developed
Should list all technologies used and learned
Explains why it mattered, what impact you had on the company
Should list number of people impacted, money generated, or efficiency increased
Developed a website extension (what) using HTML, Node JS, and CSS (how) resulting in an increase in website traffic of 20% (why)
Created a database (what) using Python, React, and C# (how) in order to help the college make strategic decisions for 10K students(why)
Assisted 150 students in a CS course(what) in learning C++ (how) resulting in an average class average of a B+(why)
The verbs you use in your resume matter because they showcase leadership qualities, confidence, and show more impact. Use active verbs vs. passive verbs in all your bullet points, examples of active vs. passive verbs are below:
| Do | Don't |
|---|
Make it one page | Lie about experience |
Create a master resume listing everything | Get in the weeds with your bullet points |
Keep it simple and easy to read | Add an objective statement |
Utilize a Resume Template | Get too creative with fonts/colors |
Use a different version for each type of role | Include pictures |
Create bullet points answering What, How,Why? | Downplay your accomplishments |
Brag about yourself and what you’ve done | Use long bullet points or too many words |
Save and Send as a PDF with your name (ex. “Last Name First Name” Resume 2022) | Re-edit too much |
What an interview is
How to Prepare
The different parts of an interview
How to use the STARR method
Technical Interview Overview
An interview is just a conversation
An interview is about how you fit with the company
Interviewing is a skill that requires practice
You are better than you think!
An interview is an opportunity for both the company and you to get to know each other to see if you are a fit. The interview will cover anything from values, projects, future plans, failures, and ideas you may have for the company which is why it’s very important for you to prepare before the interview so it’s not the first time you think or talk about it.
An important reminder is that each interview answer should aim to show the company why you are the best candidate for the job so you should always end each answer with a sentence on why it would benefit the company to hire you. This way they know upfront and don’t have to connect the dots as to why you are a great fit!
The first and most important part of the interview is the preparation that you put into it. If you are new to interviewing, you should aim to practice behavioral interviews at least 30-min a day and do at least one technical problem. The following are some resources that you can start with
Dream Job Exercise
Communication Styles for different types of folks in corporate
Do’s and Dont’s of communication
Effective Communication Strategies in the workplace
In Tech, there is a variety of different types of folks that you will encounter during your career journey. Since a lot of us are new to the Corporate and Tech world, we may not always know what or how to share ourselves in that space.
The first step to having great Corporate Communication, is to know WHO you are talking to. The following is a list of the people you may encounter in your Tech Journey:
Recruiters are the ones that you will have most communication with so it is important that you follow up, be friendly, and express gratitude for the ways they provide support in this journey.
You can speak to recruiters in a relaxed, chill, and informal tone since they are speaking to students most of the time. Your communication style should be polite, direct, friendly and you should give them time to respond.
You can expect a response from a recruiter anywhere from 3-5 days
Managers usually are tenured in their career and have a more developed leadership style which makes them a little more formal to communicate with than a recruiter (although some managers are very relaxed.) With managers, you want to see how they give and receive conversation and energy and decide your communication style from there. This can be tricky so you can always open up that conversation during a 1:1 or ask a colleague if that has worked with them before
If someone is on your team, that usually means that they are your peer and you can address them in a more informal way even if they are more senior than you. These can be great connections to build into peer mentorship or to have some to ask when you get stuck on a problem
Company Leaders are usually pretty open and informal, but just like managers, you want to see what style of communication they have and try to match it
In the workplace, it might be difficult to receive feedback because you may perceive that you are doing something wrong when instead it may be an opportunity for you to examine an area of professional growth. When receiving feedback for the first time, you should try to come at it from a place of curiosity and see how it could be true. If you think that the feedback is not fair or may have discriminatory undertones, you can schedule a 1:1 coaching session to discuss further.
If you ever need to cancel a meeting in the workplace or with anyone in general, please give at least 24hr notice and a reason as to why you’re not able to attend. Although it may be difficult and uncomfortable to let someone down, being a no-show can damage your professional image and can lead to not being trusted in the workplace.
What was your journey to [Company Name]?
What has surprised you since joining [Company Name]?
Can you share a story of when you or another employee exemplified one of your company values?
What role do company values play in hiring and performance reviews?
What metrics or goals will the company use to evaluate my job performance?
How often are performance reviews completed?
When and how do people like to give and receive feedback?
What are some of the ways the company celebrates success?
Describe the ideal candidate for this role. Use this as an opportunity to highlight how you meet the criteria if you haven't done so already
What are some non-technical skills you find yourself using everyday?
How have you been able to connect with coworkers outside of work?
What is a recent challenge you’ve experienced while working on a product?
What do you think is one particular skill that would make an intern/the person in this role successful at the company?
What is one of the biggest takeaways you’ve gotten from working here?
Thinking back to your college experience, what is some advice you’d give yourself now?
How did your college experience/studies prepare you for the role that you have now?
Do you have any passions that sparked after joining your company?
Are there any tasks that this person would be expected to do that aren’t included in the job description?
How would you describe your management style?
What is the first problem the person you hire for this role must attend to?
How would you define ‘success’ for the person in this role?
What do you feel is the company's greatest competitive advantage?
What are some differences between good employees and great employees in this company?
What goals would you like to see accomplished during the first three months (few weeks if it's an internship) in this position?
Are there any questions I'm not asking that I should be?
How to change your mindset to help your job search successful
How to manage your time better to help you make your job search more successful
When thinking about changing your mindset about job searching, you have to first figure out where your mindset is currently and then create a game plan from there.
To figure out where your mindset on job searching is currently, start by asking the following questions:
When thinking about job searching, how ready do I feel to start?
How motivated do I feel to start the job search?
How confident do I feel that I could get a job?
If you’re not feeling confident, what could help you feel more confident?
After answering those questions, ask yourself are you satisfied with the answers? If not, how would you like your mindset to change in regards to your mindset?
If you want to change your mindset, you can ask yourself the following questions:
What would I like my mindset about my job search to be?
What would I need to change in my routine to change my mindset?
What resources do I have to help me change my mindset?
Who could I ask for help to help me change my mindset?
If you want to explore more about changing your mindset, you can also schedule a 1:1 coaching session
When thinking about time management, we tend to take on more than we think we can and sometimes end up not having enough time to do everything we set out to do. If you are in this situation, you can ask yourself the following questions to see how you can make time work better for you.
When thinking about how to make more time for yourself, ask yourself the following questions:
How much free time do I have in a week (excluding classes, work, and homework time)?
How much time do you spend on your job search now?
How much time would you like to spend?
What can you change about your schedule to prioritize job searching?
Who can help keep you accountable to this change?
How can you keep yourself accountable?
If you need more help or support coming up with a schedule, you can schedule a 1:1 coaching session.
Below we are going to break down the parts of a behavioral interview so you can understand the process a bit more and be able to ace your next interview.
The most important thing to remember about answering any interview questions is “what do they want to hear?” and structure your interview answer around that. The reason that this is effective is because it will help you keep the focus on the company and their goals and how you can help meet them which will make you stand out as a candidate.
The introduction portion of an interview consists of the interviewer getting to know you, your interests, your goals, and how that all matches with the company’s overall mission and culture.
Tell me about yourself.
Why do you want to work for this company?
What could you bring to the company?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What values do you most admire about this company?
Research the company, its values, it’s mission and any news updates they have posted. Doing this will help you better understand how you can make them meet their goals. If the company’s goals don’t align with you at all, you may want to ask yourself if you really want to interview with this company after all or use it as practice for a company that you do really like
Start with how much you admire the company and why what they do inspires and motivates you
Talk about how your values align with theirs
This is your moment to brag so talk about how many projects, internships, and other cool things you have done and how those showcase your values
Make sure that you end by tying everything together and letting them know how excited you are to be interviewing there!
Why do you want to work for this company?
“ I am so excited to be interviewing for XXX company, I love how you are revolutionizing XXXX industry and would love to be part of that mission. What I admire most about XXX company is their value of XXXX because of XXXX. In addition to being alined with your mission and values, I also love to learn and have had XXX internships/ projects that taught me about XXXX languages. Thanks again for the opportunity and I am looking forward to learning more during our interview.”
This part of the interview focuses on getting to know more about your experience and how that lines up with the goals of the company. This part looks at collaboration skills, technical skills, coding strategy, and project work. The questions in this part are usually called Situational Questions.
Tell me about a time you failed
Tell me about a time you succeeded
How would you handle a situation when you don’t know what to do?
Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a coworker/group mate
How do you usually start a new project?
Tell me about a time you led a project
Start with a general answer of the question outlining how you did what is being asked
Continue with the STAR method (more information here)
Make sure you redirect back to the company so they know how your example is tied to helping the company and shows them how you can be a value-add to the team
Tell me about a time you succeeded
“A time that I succeeded was when I was a part of a team at XXX company (or XXX group project) where I ended up creating a project using XXX technologies that impacted XXX people/ run time/ efficiency.
The project came together in a team of XXX to solve XXX problem(Situation)
We were tasked with redesigning a process in order to XXXX (Task)
In order to make sure we met the goal, I used( XXX language) to build XXX because it was more efficient (Action)
Due to what we built, we were able to increase efficiency/ change the process/ find a creative solution (Result)
Since I was able to build that solution and got experience with XXX technology, I think I would be a great value add to the team (Redirect)
This part of the interview focuses on wrapping up the interview and reiterating any final points to the interviewer that you want to showcase about your experience. This also is where you can ask the interviewer about themselves or their experience at the company. Most interviewers expect you to ask at least one question to find out more about the role, company, or them.
Do you have any questions for me?
Is there anything else that I could answer for you about the company?
Are you curious about anything?
To prepare for this part of the interview, you want to have researched your interviewer on LinkedIn, researched the company, and made a list of questions that you want to ask.
To end the interview, you want to thank the interviewer for their time and ask if you can stay in touch through LinkedIn or for their email (this is great info for later on in the process.) Once you’ve said goodbye, try to send a thank you note to them via LinkedIn or Email.
How to Prepare for Negotiation
Negotiation Basics
Negotiation Templates
A negotiation is just a conversation
A negotiation is a win-win situation
They want you just as much as you want them
Negotiating will not cause your offer to be rescinded
Practicing talking about money can help with negotiation
The key to a successful negotiation is to have all the information and know what you want! That way you know exactly what to ask for and why.
The steps to preparing for a negotiation are as follows:
Research your Salary and Establish a Salary Range
Make a list of negotiable items
Identify what fears you have about negotiation
Review Negotiation Templates
Hit Send!
Researching Salary is the best way to guarantee that you will get a salary that is in line with your expectations. The best websites to use are below:
You’ll want to search for the role and the city to see what the average salary range is and use that as a baseline for creating your salary range.
Once you have your average salary range from your research, you’ll want to use the rule of 20% to establish a salary range. You take the median salary range and subtract 20% to get the lowest end of your salary range and then add 20% to get the highest end of the salary range.
If you are not satisfied with the low end of the range, you can always add back a bit to a number you feel more comfortable with.
If your median salary is $120,000, then 20% of that is $24,000.
If we subtract 20%, the low end of the salary range is $96,000.
If we add 20%, the high end of the salary range is $144,000.
Then your salary range would be $96,000 - $144,000.
Sometimes we get a salary that we are happy with (you should still negotiate!) or the company can’t budge on our monetary compensation, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t negotiate other things in your offer.
Some other negotiable items are:
Equity
Vacation
WFH
401K
Health Care
Commuter Benefits
L&D
Relocation
Sick Leave
Meals
If you decide to negotiate these items, you can include them in the negotiation email you send over to the recruiter.
Many times we have a few subconscious fears of negotiation that keep us from actually negotiating due to the money mindsets that we have developed. The first step to changing our money mindsets and overcoming our fears is to identify them.
Below are some common negotiation fears:
Fear of not getting the job
Feeling guilty for asking for more
Feeling nervous talking about money
Not knowing what to say
Not wanting to be a burden
Feeling grateful to just be there
I am a big believer in negotiating always for practice, however there need to be good reasons for you to ask for more money or benefits so you can build more of a case.
Some common why’s include:
Performing very well in the interview
Having prior experience that could help you ramp up faster in the role
Having a competing offer
Finding an offer median that is higher than the salary given
Unsure if it is a good offer
Negotiation Templates
Hi (Recruiter Name),
Thank you for taking the time to share the offer details with me and for all the support you’ve provided for me throughout this process! I also wanted to let you know that I am very excited to potentially join your team and think that (Company Name) would be a great place for me to continue growing my career.
Before moving forward in the process, I wanted to let you know (or remind you if you’ve chatted with them before about it) that I am in final stages with a few other companies and would really appreciate a 2-week extension on my offer, if at all possible. I am happy to jump on a call to chat through different possibilities if that is easier for you.
Please let me know if that would be possible and what any next steps would be.
(Warm signoff),
Your Name
Hi (Recruiter Name),
Thank you for taking the time to share the offer details with me and for all the support you’ve provided for me throughout this process! I also wanted to let you know that I am very excited to potentially join your team and think that (Company Name) would be a great place for me to continue growing my career.
Before moving forward in the process, I wanted to discuss some items in the offer that I’d love to start a negotiation conversation around. Please see items below:
The offer details that were given fall below the national median for the role by X%. My prior experience at (Company Name) with (X technology) has helped me develop the skills necessary to ramp up very quickly in a new environment and contribute on day one. Would it be possible to get closer to (High End of your Salary Range)
The signing bonus was not included in this offer, but when doing research on salaries, that was standard for offer. I’m very about pay parity and would love to confirm if there is any way to include the sign-on bonus with this offer to be on par with industry standard
The vacation standard of 2 weeks sounds great to me, but I already had a trip planned for after my start date for 1 week. Would it be possible to block out that time or start after that date?
If there can be some flexibility around the items mentioned above, I can get the offer signed to you by the end of the week.
Please let me know if you need anything else on my end and I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you again!
(Warrm signoff),
Your name
Hi (Recruiter Name),
Thank you for taking the time to share the offer details with me and for all the support you’ve provided for me throughout this process! I also wanted to let you know that I am very excited to potentially join your team and think that (Company Name) would be a great place for me to continue growing my career.
Before moving forward in the process, I wanted to discuss some items in the offer that I’d love to start a negotiation conversation around. Please see items below:
I currently have received one other offer that is higher than your offer by XX%. I’d love to accept your offer, but as it stands, financial stability is a big deciding factor in my situation currently. Would there be any possibility of matching that offer?
If there is a possibility to match the offer, I can have the updated offer signed by end of week. Please let me know if that would be possible and any next steps required on my end.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
(Warrm signoff),
Your name
Tell me about yourself example
To prepare for these interviews, you want to create a list of all your interview examples so that you can easily memorize them for your interview. You can use the Interview Examples worksheet to get started. Once you’ve filled out the form, it’s important you practice using the STAR method. You can get more familiar with the STAR method below or check out more information
Once you have identified your negotiation fears, you will want to research some strategies to changing your money mindset and if you want to chat through your fears, you can .
Describe the most challenging project you worked on. What made it challenging and how did you overcome? How did it ultimately turn out?
What is one area of growth that you believe this role would support you in improving in?
Describe a time you received difficult feedback. What was the feedback and how did you react?
Describe a time you had to collaborate with someone who was difficult to work with. How were you able to make it work?
Describe a time you had a conflict with a team member (in a class/previous internship). How did you resolve it?
Tell me about a time when a job or company felt like a bad fit for you and why.
If you have previous work experience] What are 3 things you really liked about your previous employer and 3 things you disliked/would change about it?
How do you prioritize/stay organized? What tools/and or resources do you use?
Tell me about a time your original plan for something fell through. How did you pivot? What was the outcome?
What personal or professional mistakes have you learned the most from?
What personal or professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership/took initiative.
How do you think your previous managers/coworkers would describe working with you?
How would your best friend describe you?
How would you pitch this company to a friend?
Who do you see as our top three competitors, or industry threats?
What inspires you to want to work in this industry?
How do you think our product, website, customer service, etc. can be improved?
What has been your biggest challenge with X technology and how did you resolve it?
The STAR method is a framework used to answer interview questions (especially situational ones) It is widely used because of its simplicity and because it helps candidates articulate their thoughts better in an interview.
The STAR Method is comprised of 4 parts: Situation, Task, Action, Result, and it’s aim is to help create structure for an interview answer. Below are some general guidelines when using the STAR method:
Should be 1-2 sentences
Focus on size of team
Focus on scale of company
Answer what caused the task to arise
Should be 1-2 sentences
Focus on the problem
Focus on scope of work
Mention tactics and technologies used
Should be 2-3 sentences
Talk about process
Focus on the solution
Focus on collaboration
Should be 2-3 sentences
Talk about impact
People
Business Operations
Sales