Aurelia Butler

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  • 138 Shares179 Views

    in Employer

    Building an Effective EVP: The Journey of a Bangalore Tech Company

    India’s startup ecosystem has been experiencing a rapid growth rate, with the country emerging as the third-largest startup hub globally, posting record revenue of $227 billion in 2022, according to Mint. This growth has led to a highly competitive market for talent, making it essential for companies to have strong employer branding and an attractive Employer Value Proposition (EVP) to remain competitive.
    To gain insights into creating an effective EVP in such a fast-paced environment, we caught up with Malliga Rajkumar, the Senior Director of HR and Talent Branding Lead at Flipkart, one of the largest e-commerce platforms in India based in Bangalore, which began as a startup 15 years ago with a team of 200 people.
    As a 30,000-strong organization serving 150 million customers across all of India, Flipkart is known as the “startup of startups,” with alums going on to found their successful tech enterprises. Despite its size, the startup ethos of risk and innovation remains near and dear to Flipkart’s heart.
    However, with the tech sector’s growth came fierce competition for key talent, prompting Rajkumar and her team to build and implement an employer branding strategy to ensure Flipkart could compete. Rajkumar’s approach was to ask two simple questions: “What is it about our culture that we want to absolutely retain and rebuild where it may have atrophied? And what are the elements that we want to add on?”
    Developing EVP
    The journey to Flipkart’s EVP was months of extensive primary and secondary research. Rajkumar and her team interviewed people at all levels within the organization, spoke to headhunters, and did market benchmarking with accredited organizations like the Great Place to Work Institute and Mercer.
    In the end, they had a list of all the things Flipkart wanted to be known for and a list of the things talent cares about. The challenge was to find a balance between the two to stake out an EVP that encapsulated what Flipkart stands for while appealing to the talent they wanted to attract.
    They settled on a simple EVP that stitched together all of the concepts they wanted to include in one phrase:
    “Together, We Dare to Maximize.”
    Together spoke to everything they hope to foster in terms of community and collaboration. Dare represents their startup heart by celebrating audacity and breaking boundaries. And maximize represents their ambition to be the best they possibly can be and continuously improve.
    Activating EVP
    Articulating an EVP is only half the battle; Rajkumar and her team still needed to activate it for both employees and candidates. “Together we dare to maximize” is displayed in every Flipkart office. More importantly, that concept and the four pillars that support it are woven into all internal communications, awards, employee forums, and events throughout the year.
    They also measure its resonance each year in their annual employee engagement survey. A team of over 250 employee advocates helps get the word out and shares an honest look at what life at Flipkart is like.
    Aspirational EVP
    Flipkart sees its EVP as aspirational, and they want to ensure that they live up to its promise. Therefore, they used their mission statement to build a 3-year maturity model that articulates every process’s intent, design, experience, and measurement. The goal is to look at everything they do and take the time to align it with their EVP incrementally.
    As always, it is crucial to measure the impact of employer branding to demonstrate its value to key organizational stakeholders. At Flipkart, they compare their engagement statistics to a benchmark list of other companies to assess their performance and identify areas for improvement. Additionally, they have specific metrics for individual campaigns and regularly conduct internal surveys to assess the level of awareness within the organization regarding employer brand themes.
    According to Rajkumar, “Employer brand is not about who you are today; it’s about who you aspire to be.” A good EVP should reflect the organization’s current state and set higher standards for what it can become. Good employer branding presents an opportunity for an organization to improve and live its values, which in turn attracts top talent.

    To follow Malliga Rajkumar’s work in employer brand, connect with her on LinkedIn. For help identifying the values and culture you want to create in your company, get in touch.
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  • 138 Shares99 Views

    in Career Hacks

    Industry Experts Reveal 5 Keys to Success In Your First Job

    It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for your whole life. In addition to weddings, having kids, and graduating, your first job is one of the biggest life milestones. With so much pressure on that first job, or “first grown-up job” as some people call it, there are a lot of things to keep in mind.

    You want to impress your boss and co-workers, you want to learn and grow, you want to get along with everyone, and you want to put your best foot forward. With so much to consider it can be helpful to have a list of tips to keep handy for your very first day.

    To find out what early career professionals can do to crush their first job, we hosted a Job Searching 101 event with 5 experts from top-quality organizations across the globe such as Jerome Warfield, Senior Recruiter, University Relations at Lumen Technology, Oscar Cid del Prado, Senior Consulting Campus Recruiter with RSM US, Jamilla Smith, Diversity Recruiter at Bloomberg, and Annie Roden, Lead Recruiter, University Relations & Talent Acquisition at Lumen. In our conversations, they highlighted tips for crushing your first job that include everything from how to dress for your big debut to setting goals.

    [embedded content]

    Dress to Impress

    College is now over and unfortunately, sweatpants and hoodies will no longer fly as your daily attire. Depending on the company you work for and the industry you’re a part of, the dress code may vary. The best things you can do is one, ask your hiring manager what the dress code is, and two, observe your fellow coworkers and try to wear something that is in a similar class.

    What you wear and how you present yourself will shed light on how much you value your job, position at the company, and yourself. Coming in with messy hair, a stained shirt, or otherwise unpresentable makes people think you don’t really care about putting in the effort, even if you do. A safe choice is always a pair of chinos/dress/pants and a casual collared or button-down shirt for guys, and a dress, black pants, and a nice top for girls.

    Be Yourself

    You’ve heard it time and time again – be yourself. This is a rule that needs to be followed right from the interview and going into the job. Yes, you want to present yourself professionally and as a serious candidate but that doesn’t mean you need to be a robot with no personality!

    During the interview, if the timing is appropriate or your interviewer asks you, don’t be afraid to talk about yourself outside the scope of professional work. Who knows if you might even have something in common with the person you’re interviewing that might push your name to the top of the pile! 

    When you actually start your first job, it is important to carry the same attitude and personality you had into your work life. Most people can tell when someone isn’t being authentic and just saying what they think people want to hear. Don’t be a yes person, don’t try to suck up, and don’t be someone you’re not! You’re going to be working with these people every single day, so why wouldn’t you want to bring your true authentic self while also having fun and enjoying every day at the office?

    Learn how to Converse Professionally

    One thing that a lot of people fail to do when transitioning from college to the professional world is learning how to converse professionally. Chances are you’ve spent enough time around friends and family that you’ve developed a relaxed and more carefree style of dialect. While there is nothing wrong with that, you need to know how to switch it on and off when speaking with someone professionally.

    That means no slang, doing away with calling people “dude” or “man,” developing an advanced vocabulary but not an excessive one, and working on your body language! For example, slouching, pacing, and fidgeting are all things that will make you seem less professional in a conversation.

    Confidence is Key

    Right from day one, you need to exude as much confidence as you can carry. First jobs can be scary given that they are new environments with work that might be a little unfamiliar. What you need to do when things are looking a little uncertain is remind yourself that there is a reason why you got the job you did! Your employer saw your potential and now you need to also.

    If you aren’t confident your work may suffer, your manager or senior leader might not consider you for other opportunities, and you won’t feel satisfied with what you’re doing. Imposter syndrome isn’t rare, especially for first jobs, so if you’re ever not feeling confident in yourself it’s important to identify the reasons why and either reach out to your peers or mentor for advice and try to grow your skills!

    Additionally, it is important not to get too overconfident. While it’s important to be sure of what you’re saying, you need to stay humble and portray a mentality that is willing to learn.

    Set Goals for Yourself

    Last but not least, one of the most important things you need to do in your first job is set goals for yourself. This is the beginning of your career! When you set goals for yourself over a 6-month, 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year timeframe you allow yourself to be challenged and motivated to grow. 

    Maybe you want to land a spot on that project you’ve been eyeing. Maybe you want to get to 6 figures by the time you turn 30. Or maybe you even want to become your boss’ boss! As you observe your goals over time, you will become better enabled to identify the necessary steps to accomplish them. With no goals, you won’t have any way to measure how well you’re doing. So if performance is important to you, objectives must be made!

    A few ways to set objectives for yourself include making connections and asking people how they got to where they are. When you identify what people to do to get where they are you become better enabled to get there yourself.

    Your first job is an incredibly exciting and momentous occasion. What you need to do going into that experience is take all the happiness and excitement from securing employment and using it as momentum to crush your job! Chances are other people have experienced the same hurdles and hesitations that you’re going through – like us! Another thing that might happen is you realize that a job is not right for you. And that’s ok! More often than not, your first job won’t be your last. So don’t be afraid to hold your wants and needs to a high degree!

    Using the tips in this guide will ensure that you are making the best impression possible and doing all you can to grow yourself professionally and personally. So when that first job arrives, and it will, make sure you are prepared to do your very best!

    Stay tuned to the WayUp community page to stay on top of all career advice and job searching tips. More

  • 163 Shares199 Views

    in Career Hacks

    The IoT Adventures of One T-Mobile Engineer – From Intern to Product Manager

    From LEGO® and iPads to some of the most complex engineering products in the world, Hari Annamraju has always been interested in the way things are built. For someone like Hari, it was never enough to stand on the sidelines as a student or an impassioned fan. He wanted to live the engineering life and every aspect of it.

    Luckily for Hari, fortune found its way to introduce him to T-Mobile and the company’s revolutionary aspirations in developing and emerging technology. Although he started his career with T-Mobile as an intern, he is now working as an IoT Product Manager Intern spearheading some of the bravest innovations in engineering.

    Given Hari’s incredible three years with T-Mobile, we were eager to chat with him about why he chose to pursue the internship, what he’s learned since being there, and what he hopes to do with his experiences.

    From chasing what he’s passionate about and getting second-to-none exposure to growing as a leader and making lifelong friends, this is Hari’s story as a T-Mobile intern.

    Pursuing a Meaningful Passion

    One thing Hari reiterated during our interview is that passion is one of the most important things someone can have. It was clear that he was brimming with plenty himself.

    The year was 2020 and the gloom of quarantine was just beginning to break the horizon. But in these dark times, something became illuminated to Hari. He noticed that this was a time when everyone wanted to be connected and people were craving human interaction more than ever. 

    When he finally came across T-Mobile, a light went off in his head. What better time to join a company connecting people across the country than now?

    With his ambitions in engineering coming to a head with a new-found pursuit of preserving human connection, Hari dove headfirst into T-Mobile’s emerging technologies internship.

    Second-to-none Experiences

    In the three years that Hari interned at T-Mobile, he got the opportunity to work on projects that directly impacted his fellow employees as well as innovators and developers across the world.

    The first project Hari worked on was a development called Employee Connect. The question for the project was posed; how can we transform the way all 75,000 employees at T-Mobile work on a day-to-day basis?

    The answer was fearless: create software that helps employees align with corporate goals, mature in their careers, and align with one another to create seamless execution on projects and help employees see direct results that make them feel valued for their work.

    From leading scrums to flexing programming muscles that he never knew existed, Hari’s first project as a T-Mobile intern was eye-opening. It dunked him into the deep end of the pool and gave him an experience that welcomed him to the engineering industry with a splash.

    Although I was already impressed hearing about the two summers that Hari spent working on Employee Connect, it was when he started talking about a platform that would change the way developers build products that made me sit up in my chair.

    Offering both a software development toolkit and a hardware development board, DevEdge empowers developers to create the next generation of IoT products while using the Power of T-Mobile’s network. Whether you’d like to control a fleet of drones or you’re creating a mobile Bike-theft defense system, DevEdge helps designers get it done. And Hari was there to make sure that happened.

    But hands-on practical experience wasn’t all that Hari would gain during his time as a T-Mobile intern.

    What Does It Mean to Be a Leader?

    Another alluring feature of T-Mobile’s internships is that they aren’t just building future engineers, they’re building future leaders. For Hari, not a single summer went by where he didn’t find himself growing as a leader and sharpening his abilities to inspire direction.

    His first taste of leadership with T-Mobile was as a scrum master and in his contributions to the Employee Connect project. Some of this work even included him advising his senior colleagues and offering suggestions on workload management.

    It was clear that in the three years he spent at T-Mobile, Hari turned himself into someone people could really follow and take note of. In describing what it means to be a leader, Hari said that it’s not necessarily about directing people, but more so influencing their decisions. 

    The key phrasing here, to “influence someone’s decision” rather than telling them what to do, is what separates Hari apart from other young leaders. Staying humbled enough to win his peers’ respect but intelligent and adept enough to grab the reins when needed.

    While his leadership position may have been chiseled during his time in the UofMagenta program, it was when he worked as an IoT Engineering Intern in Washington state this past summer that his ability to lead really came to life. 

    Sitting in a boardroom with four of his fellow interns, looking over a view of the Seattle cityscape, Hari and his team were charged with creating a new product using their DevEdge platform. Their own “startup” as Hari referred to it with a chuckle and a grin.

    Who would be there to lead that team, none other than Hari Annamraju?

    Friendships, Networking, and an Uplifting Community

    When Hari spoke about the friendships he forged during his time at T-Mobile, it was hard not to see the company as a thriving social community as much as it was a national powerhouse in communication and tech.

    He reflected upon one of the first colleagues he befriended, someone he would chat with often on topics ranging from highly complex engineering concepts like remote controlling full-sized vehicles and fighting wildfires with 5G to banter about the Oscars.

    What was also touching about Hari’s first year at T-Mobile was the farewell he got at the end of the summer. After writing a goodbye/thank you message on the company’s messaging app, Hari was delighted to receive several reactions, comments, and responses from fellow colleagues letting him know that the feeling was very much mutual.

    It’s clear that the culture at T-Mobile is all-for-one and one-for-all, if not through Hari’s early experiences than through his recent exploits as well.

    This idea was underscored, emphasized, and by all means, punctuated by Hari’s recent interaction with a Director at the 5G Hub at T-Mobile – a division looked at as the company’s Excalibur in the world of interconnectivity.

    The conversation seemed like two friends swapping ideas in their neighborhood garage. In reality, they were discussing potentially life-changing consumer IoT applications but it carried on as a very amicable and passion-flavored exchange that two casual acquaintances would have. 

    It was then that I realized the kind of prosperous and collaborative environment that T-Mobile has created. An environment in which wins are better celebrated when stacked on top of each other.

    It didn’t matter that Hari was an intern or that he was interacting with a Director, the culture at T-Mobile purports the idea that no matter who you are or what your position is, you can work, learn, and grow with whoever you want.

    What Hari and T-Mobile also seem to purport time and time again is that anyone can do it, you just need to be passionate enough to take the chance.

    So what are you waiting for? Start browsing open roles inside and outside of T-Mobiles thriving engineering space today and take yourself from entry to executive. More

  • 125 Shares99 Views

    in Employer

    Developing and Activating a New EVP for an Old Company

    The concept of employer brand is still fairly new to the world of business. Articulating an EVP (Employer Value Proposition) is typically on the agenda of management teams; however, not every organization knows how to go about it.
    Hence I was pleased to chat with Kayla Branham, Marketing Manager of Talent Acquisition at security giant ADT. Most of us will be familiar with this company and brand that has been around for over a century. But what is it like to work there?
    Branham points out that every company has an employer brand or employer reputation. The question is how you manage this and how you can highlight what makes your company stand out as an employer. In this case, Branham adapted Allison Kruise’s 3-step model for brand activation to develop a new EVP at ADT.
    Landing on an EVP
    Step one was to investigate what the current employer brand was for ADT. The research undertaken zoomed in on a number of areas, such as:

    How are we perceived as an employer?
    What is on offer to our candidates and employees?
    What makes working at ADT different from other companies?

    The purpose of asking questions to people around the business was to understand perspectives from all talent groups. The research outcome painted a picture of what it’s like to work at ADT.
    On top of speaking to current employees, the team also carried out external research to determine employer brand perception in the public sphere.
    Establishing the EVP
    One word kept popping up in focus groups: Trust. This particular word happens to be essential to the ethos of ADT and it was a natural place to lay the foundations of the EVP around trust. The governing thought was determined:
    “At ADT, you’re entrusted with tomorrow.”
    Next up, Branham and team identified four pillars of the employer value proposition:

    Take ownership
    Work with a great purpose
    Shape the future
    Win together

    “There’s a give-and-get element to each of them. It’s what team members offer to an employer and what the team member is receiving in exchange,” Branham notes.
    Time to activate
    The EVP was launched at the back end of 2022, and before this, it was communicated internally to various stakeholders and teams. The idea was to stoke interest in the upcoming external rollout.
    Branham and team developed a number of content pieces designed to inspire employees and to create engagement. Videos, LinkedIn banners, and social sharing contests were all part of the plan.
    Looking to the future, Branham will be partnering closely with Talent Management to focus on continuing internal activation and adoption. “We want to ensure that our EVP is a lived experience for our team members,” she says. They know that scaling the employer brand internally is the most important thing for growing external awareness.
    The next stop on the journey is to partner with Talent Management to embed the EVP with the employee lifecycle. By scaling internally, the EVP will manifest itself in the public domain in an organic fashion.

    To follow Kayla Branham’s work in employer brand, connect with her on LinkedIn. For help with your own EVP, get in touch. We help you identify the values and culture you want to create in your company.
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  • 125 Shares189 Views

    in Employer

    Re-engineering Your 2023 Tech Hiring Strategy (Watch VIDEO on Demand)

    If you are in the market to hire qualified software engineers, you need to modify your 2023 hiring strategy. But how exactly do your recruitment and hiring strategies need to evolve? Watch this on-demand webinar to hear experts discuss key findings and data from Hired’s 2023 State of Software Engineers report. They share advice for re-engineering your strategy and getting top tech positions filled quickly with skilled, high-value talent. 

    Moderated by Founder of Marketing by Maya, Maya Avitan, hear from:

    CTO, Hired, Dave Walters

    VP of Engineering, Greenhouse, Andy Lister

    CEO & Co-Founder, SheTO, Nidhi Gupta

    Read an excerpt of the conversation and access the full webinar video on demand. 

    Maya Avitan, Founder, Marketing by Maya

    Though Hired’s culture is remote-first, there are still major companies placing a heavy focus on bringing talent back into physical locations. However, based on the findings of the report there is a higher demand for remote work options from talent in all major cities including New York, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. 

    There is a disconnect between organizations that are searching for location-specific top tech talent that is seeking remote-first roles.

    What do you think about this disconnect and how are companies managing this demand from a hiring perspective?

    Dave Walters, CTO, Hired

    We are seeing a growing percentage of employers pushing for return to office, although the demand for remote engineering talent still remains very high. Remote roles command higher salaries than local roles especially in smaller markets. Enterprise companies are shifting fast in their demand for in-office employees, although a majority of the total positions do remain open to remote. 

    Meanwhile, we’ve continued to see the proportion of jobseekers only seeking remote roles versus in-person or hybrid grow. This shouldn’t be surprising as this demand for remote work started well before the pandemic and the pandemic only further fueled that in recent years. As a tech leader, I know the challenge we’ve all been facing in finding top talent with the right skill sets in past years. That challenge isn’t going to go away anytime soon. 

    Ultimately, despite the high-profile layoffs we’ve heard about in the news, unemployment for tech talent remains low. You have to cast a wider net in your search to be as competitive as possible and an opportune way to do that is by remaining flexible for remote talent around the country. 

    The bottom line is that remote work and flexibility continue to be some of the highest priorities for jobseekers. Promoting remote policies or benefits that allow for flexibility are going to be key strategies for attracting qualified, top tech talent.

    Watch the full collaborative panel discussion to discover: 

    More on how companies are managing the demand for remote-first work 

    Why talent leaders should take candidates from non-traditional educational backgrounds seriously

    The most in-demand software engineering skills are and how they’ve impacted the job market More

  • 88 Shares149 Views

    in Career Hacks

    The Perfect Resume Guide From Expert Recruiters

    As job-hunting experts, we’ve heard every kind of resume advice you can imagine. We’ve partnered with companies in various industries looking to find candidates for thousands of roles and through this work, we’ve identified the golden standard for resume writing.

    In our recent Job Searching 101 event, we spoke with leaders from L’Oréal, KPMG, and VISA to hear their words about what an ideal resume looks like. In our conversations, these industry leaders emphasized 5 key factors you should always consider and pay special attention to when writing your resume.

    What’s The Best Resume Layout?

    First and foremost, when it comes to the layout of your resume, you need to make sure it is one page only. Unless you’re an industry veteran and there really is no way to fit 10 years of experience on one sheet, one page is all you will need.

    Additionally, candidates should make sure their resume layout looks simple and clean. Yes, that means no funny fonts or images! Unless you are applying to a position that requires a headshot (like acting or modeling), an image will only distract from the content you are presenting. Always stick to Ariel or Times New Roman in either 11 or 12 sizes. Lastly, make sure you’re writing in the proper tense and starting each bullet point with a verb.

    Here are the correct and incorrect ways to talk about a past experience as a marketing intern:

    Incorrect – In my job as a marketing intern, I assist in social media strategy, SEO research, and web development.

    Correct – Assisted in social media strategy, SEO research, and web development that resulted in a 10% increase in organic site traffic. 

    Use the Job Description

    A resume should never be a copy-and-paste situation when it comes to applying to multiple jobs. This being the case, every resume should be written with the job in mind. The easiest way to do this is to use the job description to guide your resume.

    Without copying it, pull some keywords from the description to customize your resume for the job you’re applying to. If a job description requires you to do something like “categorize, organize, and file data in a neat way,” it would be beneficial to describe some of your past experiences using the same verbiage.

    Not all the jobs you’re interested in require the same exact skill set, so it’s important to evaluate what each description is looking for and align your past experiences in a similar way.

    Contact Information

    A lot of candidates might not think this is a priority, but the contact information on resumes is a section that needs to be dialed and 100% accurate and reliable. Starting with your email, you need to make sure you have a professional name and it’s going to an inbox you regularly check. That means you’re going to have to do away with your childhood email (skaterdude1999 and soccerrulez nameplates are no-go’s) and make sure you are staying on top of incoming messages. A great email address to use professionally can be: Firstname.LastName@____, First initialLastName@____, you get the point!

    Recruiters have shared stories in the past of candidates who didn’t hear about interviews or sometimes even job offers because they left emails unresponded. Don’t let this be you! Furthermore, if you are graduating soon, don’t rely on your school email to communicate about jobs because your university could shut it off any day. 

    If you’re going to include a phone number on your resume, make sure it’s an active line and the voicemail is set up and professional. While it’s not as common, recruiters and employers have used phone numbers to reach candidates who are sometimes unresponsive to emails.

    If they can’t reach you, how are they supposed to hire you?

    Leveraging Job Experience

    For early career candidates and people just starting their professional careers, you may not have a lot of legitimate experience to portray your skills. If this sounds like you, your best option is to hone in on volunteer projects, early leadership roles, or any other extracurriculars you might have been involved in (clubs, sports, and organizations).

    Next, we would direct you to the tip we mentioned earlier about using the job description to guide the way you explain your past experiences. Maybe you volunteered at a homeless shelter and you’re applying for a finance role – two things that don’t really line up together. Your job is to find the connection there. For example, maybe you realized the necessity for financial regulation and resources after seeing poverty up close. Or, you learned how to foster meaningful relationships and make contributions to an organization or place.

    9 times out of 10 there will be some sort of way to draw a connection from past experiences to the job you’re applying for. What you don’t want to do is write down job experiences on your resume that are flat and have nothing to do with the industry, career, or job that you’re submitting the application to.

    The Review Stage

    Last but not least in the resume writing process is the review stage. When it comes to getting your resume reviewed, try to get as many eyes on it as possible. Show it to your friends, show it to your mom, bring it to the career center, share it with a professor, and if you’re feeling bold enough, reach out to someone from the company you’re applying to and ask them what they think about it. This shows eagerness and can make you stand out in the crowd.

    Candidates spend hours and sometimes even days or weeks trying to perfect their resumes. Getting a fresh set of eyes on it will help you spot some things you might have missed.

    The most important aspect of the reviewal stage is that it never ends. After every time someone reviews, after every job application, find ways to adjust and improve your resume. 

    If you follow these tips, then you are one more step closer to securing the job you’ve been waiting for. A job that loves you as much as you love it. Keep up with more job advice, resume tips, and career news at the WayUp community hub. More

  • 88 Shares99 Views

    in Career Hacks

    Job Searching 101: Where Do You Start?

    Whether you’re a current student, an early career professional, or just someone looking for their next job opportunity, a question you might be asking yourself is, “Where do I start the job-hunting process?”.

    With so many different avenues and ways to learn about new jobs (there are more than you think), the job-hunting process can be overwhelming. A lot of time is spent looking for jobs, applying, interviewing, and waiting for job offers, so it’s important that you use your time wisely. Two ways to do that are by making sure you’re looking in the right places and doing everything possible to accelerate and amplify your job-hunting process.

    But where are the right places to look and how do you amplify your job-hunting process? In our recent Job Searching 101 virtual event, we invited Manny Contomanoli the Director at the Office of Career Services at Harvard University, Norma Gaier, the Executive Director for Texas Career Engagement at the University of Texas, John Pearson the North American Early Careers Manager at Unilever, and Cindi Love, the CEO of Out For Undergrad to fill us in on these job-hunting secrets.

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    Respond to Uncertainty With Curiosity

    One of the most important things to remember when starting the job search is not to stress out if you aren’t sure what you want to do. On the contrary, you should take this as a fun and exciting opportunity to explore different things.

    Curiosity is going to be your biggest weapon at this stage that is best used in as many places as possible. The more things you expose yourself to the quicker you will find what you’re passionate about and what you want to spend your life doing!

    Set Your Standards and Don’t Lower Them

    Once you do know what you want to do, it’s important that you set certain standards and metrics for yourself and try not to change them. When you know what you want and exude confidence about it, you are able to express passion for an opportunity when you finally come across it. 

    Organic, natural passion is something that recruiters love to see. Don’t be the person who fires off a bunch of random applications just because a company is hiring. If you don’t care enough about a position to look into it, it’s probably not something you want to spend a good chunk of your time doing.

    Don’t waste your time or the recruiters! The only time when standards might be ok to be changed, and you’re going to hate us for saying this, is when it comes to the paycheck. Never choose a job just because of what you get paid. Look to the other standards you set to lead the way. 

    Think more about things like the work you get to do and who you get to do it with! Having a flexible schedule or the perfect location might take precedence over a higher salary. Additionally, culture, mission, growth, products, and projects should also weigh in on your decisions!

    Use The Resources at Your Disposal

    One thing that frustrates employers and recruiters is people who don’t use the job-hunting resources they have at their disposal! College campuses, for example,  are full of them. Specifically, Career Centers on college campuses tend to be the most obvious resource for those looking for jobs. 

    Whether it’s resume advice, cover letter tutoring, job fairs, or connections to employers who are actively hiring, career centers are a gold mine when it comes to finding jobs.

    But college campuses aren’t the only place where opportunity awaits. In our completely unbiased opinion, WayUp is one of the best places for students and young professionals to find a job. Our platform is easy to use and matches you with job openings with the intention of finding you your perfect fit. Whether it’s through our virtual events where you get to meet employers, our blog content full of career tips and advice, or our job matching platform, we are the stepping stone you need. Also, don’t forget social media! The WayUp Instagram is full of great job-searching ideas and tips! 

    Besides that, there are tons of other networking platforms like job fairs and LinkedIn that are handy resources to meet people. However, you just need to make sure you’re reaching out to the right people.

    Reach Out to The Right People

    While networking is one of the most important tools when it comes to job hunting, you have to know how to do it properly. Early career candidates and even people with industry experience repeatedly make the same networking mistakes and waste their time and opportunities establishing connections that are either unauthentic or not really valuable.

    One of the most important things to consider when it comes to networking is knowing where to aim. In our Job Searching 101 event, John Pearson of Unilever explained the benefits of reaching out to someone on the team you want to apply to instead of just a recruiter for a company.

    “Many companies out there have multiple recruiters so they might not necessarily be recruiting for the role you’re interested in. Instead, reach out to someone that’s actually on the team. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten emails from a director or a manager that was with a department and said, ‘Hey, I spoke to a great candidate on Linkedin. I think he or she would be a great fit for the role. Please set him up for an interview, or include them in the next Discovery center.’ I would strongly recommend that because then it’s a direct pipeline to the personal recruiter who’s recruiting for that role.”
    John Pearson, North America Early Careers Manager, Unilever

    As John made clear, the internet is your friend! You just have to learn how to use it right. That means doing your due diligence and research to find out who the key decision-makers are and how you can reach them in an authentic way.

    At the end of the day, no matter where you are in your professional career or job-hunting cycle, the most important thing you do is take the first step. Whether that first step is touching up your resume, creating an email template, or doing any of the suggestions on this list, the most important thing you do is start!

    For more career advice and tips on how to find a job, keep up with the WayUp community guide and look out for new Job Searching 101 virtual events! More

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    in Employer

    Why a Sustainable Talent Acquisition Strategy is Critical for Employers Now

    In recent years, the labor market has been increasingly candidate driven and focused on skill-based hiring. But with rising inflation, HR and talent leaders are under pressure to reduce hiring costs while maintaining efficiency. 

    There’s no doubt it’s a complicated space to be in – candidates are demanding higher wages, re-hire costs are significant, and upskilling investments are inevitable. So, how can you survive the transition without losing touch with your candidates? By adopting a sustainable approach to talent acquisition. 

    While organizations are moving toward more sustainable talent strategies during the economic slowdown, they can often confuse talent acquisition with recruitment. This lack of knowledge can hamper your process and disrupt progress. 

    Related: Hired Releases 2023 State of Software Engineers Report

    Recruitment vs. Talent Acquisition 

    Talent acquisition (TA) is an ongoing process to identify suitable candidates aligned with the company’s values, mission, and business goals. It is an ever-evolving process with a focus on current market trends, workforce makeup, and recruitment predictions. 

    Developing and maintaining a talent acquisition strategy allows you to stay ahead of the competition, empower your bottom line, and acquire top talent. 

    While talent acquisition and recruitment are often used interchangeably, they are two distinct processes. Although both deal with talent, recruiting is the process of sourcing, assessing, and hiring candidates in the short term. Recruitment often happens when there are open positions in the organization. 

    So, it includes the process of attracting quality job applicants, analyzing their qualities and skills, and hiring them for vacant roles. The recruitment process is time-bound, pre-defined, and standard compared to talent acquisition. 

    On the other hand, talent acquisition is a more insightful process based on long-term business and talent goals. The purpose of a TA strategy is to seek candidates who are the right fit and have the potential to contribute meaningfully to the future of the organization. TA experts and specialists are more concerned with laying the appropriate groundwork to hire the best talent long-term.

    What is a “sustainable TA strategy”?

    Talent sustainability is defined as an organization’s ability to continuously attract, develop, and retain candidates with the skills and qualities required for current or future roles. In a swiftly changing labor market, organizational needs and goals also change respectively. A one-time recruitment plan would be inept at meeting the evolving demands of the company.

    A sustainable talent acquisition strategy also encourages you to maintain a balance between acquiring external and promoting internal talent. Lack of career advancement opportunities is one of the main reasons people quit their jobs. 

    Although hiring new talent is important, doing so at the cost of current employees is detrimental to organizational growth. Moreover, if you are delegating all resources and money towards recruitment, there’s none left to invest in your existing employees.

    Hence, a sustainable strategy is a win for all – companies can divide time and resources between current employees and new hiring with proper planning and implementation. 

    Getting started

    While recruiting is essential for gaining employees, it can become a time-intensive and expensive endeavor without a proper TA strategy. Amidst a dynamic labor market, many organizations are exploring talent acquisition avenues to prepare for hiring surges and talent management. 

    If you are one of those companies looking to foray into the TA field, ask yourself the following questions before jumping to strategy:

    What are your long-term vision and goals for your organization?

    What type of talent do you need to achieve the company’s vision and goals? 

    How can you integrate your organizational values into the talent acquisition process? 

    How do you create a program framework to support your talent acquisition strategy? 

    How will you assess the progress of your talent acquisition strategy? 

    Your answers will help you define and align your business goals to the talent strategy. 

    Why you need it

    Finding the right talent in the tech industry is a struggle for organizations worldwide. This year, a long-standing skills gap and a lack of professionals in the market have put things in perspective. 

    In simple terms, a talent acquisition strategy saves time and money, boosts productivity, and prepares you for the market’s dips and surges. Time-specific recruitment periods force you to hire and onboard candidates quickly. It’s an expensive affair, and can also cause disruptions in workflow and productivity.

    As some organizations prepare for the possibility of a recession, many are also reducing their hiring budgets and rolling back their hiring plans. However, not having a comprehensive long-term strategy will make organizations vulnerable when they do need to start hiring again. 

    Moving away from the mindset of recruiting being a one-and-done deal, and creating a more sustainable hiring framework is crucial.

    Sustainability is key

    Hiring new candidates is often time-consuming and costly, especially if done repeatedly. This is where sustainable talent acquisition comes in. 

    A solid talent acquisition strategy allows you to future-proof your organization by investing in nurturing, hiring, upskilling, and retaining highly qualified tech talent. 

    Amidst some new (and old) challenges, one thing remains constant – data-driven and long-term talent acquisition and management frameworks are here to stay. More