IA Summit 11: Career Workshop

During the afternoon of the second day of workshops at the IA Summit 11, I decided to stop in to check out the free workshop provided by Russ Unger and Amanda Schonfeld. It was a great workshop with tips on keeping your resume up to date, and when you do decide to go job hunting the things important to keep in mind. Additionally they covered a lot of great information about keeping your online portfolio up to date.

My Notes

• Tip: Copy and Paste the first line of a job description from a recruiting site into Google, to find the actual company job req.
  • Apply directly and negotiate a higher salary because they didn’t have to pay the 20% recruiting fee.
• Resources:
  • IA Institute Job Board
  • Authentic Jobs
  • 37 Signals Job Board
  • (See slides for long list)
• If you find a job that looks good, do a lot of research on the company.
  • Send the company recruiter an email with your resume, then follow up with a phone call.
  • Use appropriate keywords from the job req. in your resume.
• When updating linked in, your information goes to the top of recruiter searches. Do this often to keep yourself fresh in the list.
• When applying, write a cover letter. This can be in the form of the email you are applying through.
  • Explain why you will benefit the company
  • Use words from job req.
  • Match the tone of the company
  • State why you want the job
  • WATCH FOR TYPOS and GRAMMER!
  • Address the letter to the specific recipient
    • Get contact info from Google, Linked in, front desk.
  • Target specific position in first paragraph
  • Use examples, and cite skills and qualifications
  • Request or state next actions or follow up
• It’s the personality more than the resume that will get you the job.
• Google yourself, make sure Facebook photos are appropriate if appearing.
• Resume should be 10pt font – not too designed or decorated.
  • 2 to 3 points describing responsibilities
  • accomplishments (a couple points)
  • size of your audiences (number of people seeing your designs)
  • size of the team
  • size of clients – their revenue, Fortune 500 co’s with 20B Rev, etc.
  • activities that increased value
• Multiple resumes targeted to different roles
• Specialization over generalization
• Focus
• Don’t rewrite description in job req. – write skills
• How did you move up the ladder?
• Mention work in multidisciplinary teams
• Size of projects

Portfolio

• Relevant content is a must
• If possible show finished products
• Update often and consistently
• ALL links MUST work
• Outline projects like a case study
  • Problem, opportunity, workflow, solution
  • Less is more
  • Keep it simple
  • A few sentences
  • And image or two
  • For documents, show one or two different pages in doc.
  • Show process
    • (sketching, wordlist before sketch)
  • For stuff you cant show, put teaser, then send to password protected area with your contact info.

Interview

• Confirm time and place
• Confirm dress code
  • Okay to tell them that it would set red flags at your company if your were suited up, so if you can come dressed down
• Ask who you will be meeting with, their title, and expected length of meetings. How do these people fit into the team.
• Ask recruiter if there is a format for the interview
• Have notes of questions or comments for the company
• Explain your understanding of the job to ensure clear
• Bring examples of accomplishments
• Thank you note after!
• Come up with two good stories for each position you’ve held
• Concrete examples ready to go
• Thank You Notes
  • Get proper name, title and email of the interviewers to send the note too
  • Handwritten are great
  • Order from etsy

• Thank you note for speaking at conferences, and being invited to present is also great way to get invited back
• If turned down, politely ask the reason you were not chosen, but do NOT argue or push. Ask for a quick conversation to understand any improvements you could make going forward.
• If you haven’t heard back by expected date, send friendly follow up – show empathy for their busy schedules, and the fact they may not have gotten an answer yet.
• Resource: “Questions you absolutely must ask your interviewer” by Steve James
• Take copies of resumes

Slides: