From the course: Tech Career Skills: Searching, Interviewing, and Landing a Job

How I got my first job

From the course: Tech Career Skills: Searching, Interviewing, and Landing a Job

Start my 1-month free trial

How I got my first job

“

- October 16, 2001 will always remain a special day for me. It was my first career fair as an undergraduate student. However, I was a sophomore pursuing a computer science major at a small school right after 9/11 amid the post bubble tech recession. Things were so bad that engineers had a better chance of getting a date than getting work. My fellow engineers had decided that attending the career fair was a waste of time. I believed that if I could just get some face time with recruiters there was a shot that something could happen. I was confident that anyone with an opening was just one five minute conversation away from falling in professional love with me and would hire me. Plus I didn't want to spend a summer in a college town earning just $5.15 an hour. So partly cocky and partly desperate I cleaned up my resume and myself and showed up to the career fair. At one of the booths I spotted a position titled financial billing analyst with very little other information. I sneakily glanced at the pile of resumes on the table. It looked like no one from the computer science department had applied for this role, and that made sense. The title made it seem like the position had nothing to do with software. Still, I asked the recruiter for some details. She told me that the financial billing team was looking for someone with experience in C+, SQL, and Visual Basic. This was an engineering role mislabeled as a financial role. I told the recruiter with a smile that lit up that Missouri morning, I have the experience in the areas you want and would love to apply, but just so you know the title seems a bit odd for the skill set you need. The recruiter agreed. She said that she had come up with the title in a rush. The group hiring for this role was under the finance cost center. Hence, she put the word finance in the title. And then she told me, I love that you showed the initiative to come talk to me. She said that the hiring manager was available to chat later that morning and asked if I'd like to talk. Just like that I got my first job interview at my first career fair, just for walking up to the employer confidently and inquisitively. Later that day I chatted with the hiring manager, we worked out a fuller job description. I came up with a better title. The manager was impressed that I didn't let the job title discourage me. There was also a decent skill set match. I walked out with a job offer. At a career fair that allegedly would have no opportunities for me I walked out with a same day interview and a job offer for a position with description and title I co-wrote. Instead of spending summer in a small town in the middle of nowhere making $5.15 per hour I would go on to spend it in Kansas City making $14.50 per hour at one of America's leading telecommunication companies. This is how I got my first internship at Sprint, then one of America's leading telecom companies. Having that brand on my resume and the skills I picked up at Sprint gave my career a great start. In the years since I've changed jobs, reinvented my career a few times, and taking on leadership roles at some of America's largest companies and most influential ones at that. But the lessons I learned from that experience have stayed with me. Besides building your hard skills there are several critical soft skills that matter greatly to your career. This is especially true when you apply for a new role. Since your future employer likely does not know you very well the soft skills you demonstrate greatly influence how others perceive you.

Contents