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Many thanks and I look forward to bringing you lots of new articles in the near future regarding effective career management practices and my latest thoughts on the changing job search scene!

Many of these fledgling sites, of course, don’t quite live up to their own self-generated hype or ever gain enough market traction to deliver on their promise of being the “next big thing” in the job market.  This being said, however, there definitely are a few new contenders I’ve got my eye on that seem to provide useful value to professionals in transition and that add some innovative twists to the job hunting process.

Here’s a short list of some of the more intriguing tools I’ve come across:

JobCase: While I continue to recommend Indeed.com as the most effective job site overall, one of my clients turned me on to this new offering that purports to compile all of the published job leads from Indeed — as well as additional opportunities from a number of other places around the web.  At first glance, I love the aesthetics of this tool, especially the way it rolls up all the search results into a company-by-company view that seems highly intuitive and that many job seekers may find easier to navigate than that of other sites.  On the flip side, the site doesn’t have many filtering options quite yet, doesn’t allow you to easily see the date each job was posted, and after numerous tests, I’m not yet convinced it’s truly finding ALL the jobs from Indeed — which sort of defeats the purpose if one was going to consider using this site as a replacement.  Still, these folks are definitely on the right track and I’m eager to see how the site evolves in the months ahead, especially given some of the interesting social and community-based career features they’ve built into it, which you’ll discover if you poke around.

PayScale’s “Best Jobs for You” Tool: Drawing upon years of cutting-edge employer research and salary data, Payscale.com recently announced the launch of a free new tool to help people explore new career options for themselves.  While admittedly the tool only considers a meager eight factors in determining it’s “ideal career choices” for a given person, the results are well-presented and the job database the application is built upon seems very up-to-date.  So all in all, while this little application is certainly no replacement for more serious methods of researching career alternatives, it only takes a few seconds to try and can provide at least a quick snapshot of some intriguing career possibilities.  If you use it, make sure to note that you can scroll through multiple “suggested jobs” using the slider on the top right of the results screen — and that you can also access Payscale’s Career Research and Career Path Explorer tools, if desired, to do some deeper research on various occupational categories.

Life Reimagined: Launched by AARP, this fascinating portal provides access to a wealth of online tools and local/virtual classes where people of all ages (although retirees seem to be the main target) can engage in thought-provoking personal development work and explore new potential applications for their skills, strengths, and talents.  They’ve enlisted some top content experts from around the country (e.g. Dick Bolles, Pepper Schwartz, Rich Feller, Richard Leider) to help develop some of their courses — and all of their courses are either free or offered at fairly low cost.  And while this site covers a wide range of life enrichment topics ranging from finding a soulmate to managing stress to staying positive, if you click on the top left menu icon and select the “work” category, you can review the courses currently offered that relate directly to job- and career-related topics.

Brewster: This simple tool does one thing, but seems to do it very well.  After receiving a handful of automated e-mails from acquaintances of mine who use this application, I decided to check it out, and found that it essentially just compiles (and updates) the phone numbers and contact information for all of the people you know — making sure this information is correct on all of your social media accounts and mobile devices.  So if you’re struggling to keep track of the contact information for everybody in your network, this simple app might be a quick fix!

Pymetrics: This last one, I’ll confess, is the new offering I find most intriguing of all.  It’s kind of a hard concept to explain, but involves using the concept of “gamification” to help people explore new occupational options.  You start by setting up a free profile and taking a series of quick, interactive online tests (some of which are downright bizarre) that are apparently designed to reveal your core personality traits.  Once these assessments are completed, the site then suggests some potential careers that might be a good match for how you’re wired, in addition to matching you up with companies (theoretically) that have expressed interest in people with certain personality profiles.  As I mentioned to one group of clients, this site could either turn out to be one of the scariest things ever invented (in a “Brave New World” sort of way) or a breakthrough channel for helping people match themselves up with suitable roles and organizations.  It’s a thought-provoking concept, at the very least, and I’d encourage you to check it out if you don’t mind investing some time completing the required exercises.

That completes the round-up of the sites that have captured my attention in recent memory — anybody else have any other tools, sites, or applications to recommend that you’re finding pretty useful from a career standpoint?

I bring this up because there’s a wrinkle in job hunting that doesn’t apply to everyone out there, but is a significant challenge a number of my clients are facing that I’ve rarely seen addressed.  It’s the process of “finding work when you’re working” and the question of whether one should quit an unsatisfying job in order to free up the time necessary to explore, research, and pursue a more fulfilling opportunity.

Now I know, many folks who are unemployed right now might not have a lot of sympathy for cases like these. But again, there are more people than you might suspect out there who are working full-time in a job that doesn’t suit them — and feel trapped, stressed out, and frustrated in their efforts to improve things, given that they’re so burnt out at the end of each day they have no time or energy left in the tank to improve their situation.

So what should one advise people in these situations?  Should we tell them to think positively, damn the torpedoes, and ditch that soul-sucking job so they can focus on finding a better one?  Or should we advise them to be practical, suck it up, and hold on to their paycheck at all costs and just hope something changes for the better?

Personally, I don’t think there’s a universal answer to this question.  I think it depends heavily on an individual’s specific situation, emotional state, financial resources, and risk tolerance.  For example, in working with somebody yesterday who has been stuck in a job he hates for three years — and can’t seem to break out — we analyzed the following factors and decided that yes, in his case, it probably made sense to tender his resignation.

• Is there a less drastic option you may have overlooked?  (in this person’s case, I asked whether he could set better boundaries at work or convince his boss to let him shift to a 3- or 4-day-per week schedule; he said this wasn’t an option)

• Could you just be in a temporary funk?  (having dealt with this issue for three years, as a constant burden, this person clearly wasn’t just “having a bad week” or overreacting to some temporary work problem)

• Do you have a decent amount of savings and/or other sources of income?  (this individual had 6-12 months of comfortable reserves, but didn’t have a working spouse or any other income sources, such as rental properties)

• If you quit, will you truly use the time freed up to address the challenge at hand?  (when suddenly faced with unstructured days of no job, nice weather, and endless distractions, will a person dive into the career exploration process with gusto or procrastinate and stray from the mission at hand?)

• What’s your fallback position, if nothing better comes along?  (this one is huge; if a person isn’t able to find something more satisfying or fulfilling within a reasonable period of time, they need to consider how easy or hard it would be to go back to their “old” career path and restore some sort of income stream)

On this final note, my recent client said that there were always jobs available in his current field and that he was confident he could land one quickly if push came to shove — should his economic needs once again have to take priority.  And it was this “assurance” that tipped the equation in favor of quitting his current job, given that it would mitigate the risk to a significant degree.  Not everyone, however, has the luxury of the plug-and-play skills this individual appears to have, coming from the financial services field.  Many people (myself included) would have to think hard about what type of “survival job” they could potentially snag — be it waiting tables, substitute teaching, selling cars, or working as a temp — if again, the point was reached where cash flow needs again became critical.

At any rate, I thought it was an interesting discussion and one to which certain people out there might be able to relate.  While it’s no picnic looking for a job without a paycheck, it’s also not necessarily a walk in the park trying to do this while you’re fully engaged in a high-stress job, either.  Food for thought, and as always, I’d welcome your input!

P.S.  And back to the “everybody’s busy as heck” comment earlier, this whole topic reminds me of a fascinating book I read back in 2000 called Faster by James Gleick — predicting that society would start facing severe consequences based on what he dubbed the “time famine” resulting from technology and other factors.  Might be time to re-read…

Here’s what they have coming down the pike, in June…

WORKSHOP #1: BUILD YOUR STRENGTHS-BASED LIFE (SATURDAY, JUNE 6)
Facilitator: Alise Cortez  |  Cost: $99

Of all the various personality tests and personal development instruments out there, I’ll be honest, my favorite one is the StrengthsFinder tool offered by the Gallup Organization.  As opposed to many assessments that hide behind mountains of complex terminology or suggest that only certain types of people can succeed at certain types of jobs, based on their personality makeup, Gallup’s tool is refreshingly simple — and champions the idea that the inherent strengths and talents we all possess can be put to good use in almost any personal or professional situation.

On that note, I’m delighted to promote an upcoming class that a long-time acquaintance of mine, Alise Cortez, will be teaching in Seattle on Saturday, June 6th.  Alise is a top recruiter, leadership coach, and college faculty member who has specialized in the StrengthsFinder tool for many years.  And while she relocated from Seattle to Dallas a number of years back, she’s making a return trip to the area in early June, and has decided to offer one of her signature StrengthsFinder classes to folks while she’s in town.

So for anybody interested in deepening their understanding of their core strengths, and learning about how to take full  advantage of the StrengthsFinder tool, I’d highly encourage you to contact Alise here or e-mail me for a more detailed flyer describing the seminar.  The $99 fee includes access to the online test, which participants will be asked to complete several days in advance of attending the workshop.

WORKSHOP #2: RETIREPRENEURSHIP (TUESDAY, JUNE 9)
Facilitator: Brian Jaeger  |  Cost: $95

The second offering I’d encourage you all to consider, if you’re located in the Seattle area, is the thought-provoking discussion series that Brian Jaeger of InsideWorks will be kicking off in early June focused on the changing nature of retirement — and how professionals today should be thinking about and planning for it.

Taught over four 90-minute evening classes, starting June 9th, these sessions are NOT about effective financial planning, investment strategies, or the usual seminar fare that so often relates to the retirement subject.  Instead, Brian will be sharing some deep research and insights he’s collected about how the very nature of retirement has changed in this country — and how individuals, especially those later in life, should be thinking about how to approach the “third chapter” of their lives.

Having witnessed a sneak preview of his workshop earlier today, I found it very engaging and inspiring, packed with insights about a topic that is becoming more and more relevant to so many folks out in corporate America.  So if you’re interested in learning more, or registering for the class, feel free to visit the link here for further details!

In particular, there are certain types of candidates that generally have to fight through an extra layer of difficulty when it comes to landing interviews and job offers. Older workers and executives, for example, frequently experience longer-than-average transition times due to “overqualified” concerns and other factors.  The same can be said for military veterans transitioning to the private sector.  Or people with disabilities.  Or folks who have been unemployed for long periods of time, voluntarily and involuntarily, including parents returning to the workforce after taking a number of years off to focus on their family.

For many of these people, the job market today DOESN’T feel like a robust, friendly, or equal-opportunity place at all — no matter what the high-level statistics might suggest.  While there are no fewer than 65,000 jobs being advertised in Washington State as we speak, according to just a single search on Indeed.com, many employers seem steadfastly insistent on not filling some of these needs unless a candidate almost perfectly fits the desired “mold” of skills, qualifications, and experience.

Luckily, not everybody is throwing their hands up in surrender around these realities.  It’s been great to see a growing number of organizations and community leaders starting to proactively combat some of the closed-minded thinking out there that’s short-circuiting a lot of potential hiring activity we could be celebrating as a region.

My latest inspiration on this front is a local individual named Mike Kelly, to whom I was recently introduced.  While I’ve only chatted with Mike briefly on the phone, to date, I came away with tremendous respect for the mission he’s pursuing through his non-profit organization StepNW.  Having had a front-row seat to some of the recent layoff rounds at Microsoft, and at the same time having networked with numerous local startups complaining about a lack of available talent to hire, he got to wondering why these early-stage companies weren’t actively seeking to recruit many of the former Microsofties, as well as other employees being displaced from larger tech enterprises.

His discovery?  He noted that many founders and executives within the startup community were assuming, erroneously, that candidates who had worked at bigger companies wouldn’t a) be interested in working for small, entrepreneurial firms; b) didn’t have the flexibility, mindset, or disposition needed to succeed in a fast-paced startup; and/or 3) were looking for salary packages that smaller firms could simply never afford — so why bother even considering the possibility?  With a leg in both camps, however, Mike felt these assumptions were largely out of touch with reality and he therefore decided to form an organization dedicated exclusively to getting these two communities talking together, with the goal of catalyzing some win/win outcomes and net job growth.

To date, it sounds like his venture, StepNW, is gaining tremendous traction.  Here’s a quick description of what the organization is all about:

“StepNW is made up of members from the startup and tech community who decided to help unite the Pacific Northwest tech community and it’s talented workforce. We learned that while experienced people can have a hard time finding work, there are lots of solid startups who are having a hard time finding the right expertise. But there was nothing to link these two groups effectively. We want to help people caught in layoffs find jobs and we want the startup community to thrive.”

It’s really a cool concept — and if you’re wondering how this model actually works or whether there’s some “catch” to it,  you’ll find these questions answered, and more, in the FAQ section of the StepNW website, which I’ve linked here.  The site also explains how interested parties on both sides of the equation (tech workers, startup executives, etc.) can get more involved in the organization’s activities, if interested.

Long story short,  I salute the commitment Mike and his partners are making to break down some of the job-killing stereotypes they’ve encountered in this one specific segment of the economy.  Let’s hope we see some more fresh thinking and leadership sprout up along these lines, in the years to come, supporting some other niche candidate populations out there.  Again, definitely check out StepNW, if interested!

While these new forms of bias aren’t practiced by every company and hiring manager out there, I don’t believe, there’s no question that they DO exist in some circles — and represent an ugly development in terms of the modern job scene, as well as an extremely frustrating hurdle for those professionals in transition who encounter them.

But given that my previous article, linked above, already discussed this issue at length — let me throw a new twist into the discussion.  The question I’ve been finding myself asking recently is “do unemployed people themselves discriminate against other unemployed people, to some extent?”

I raise this issue because I’m surprised at how often I’ll be counseling people who are out of work, and upon suggesting that they perhaps join forces and collaborate with other folks out there who are “on the hunt” for work — or that they perhaps get involved in a job search networking group of some kind — I’ll frequently hear responses like:

•  “How can that person possibly help me?  Aren’t they also unemployed, themselves?”
•  “Why would I want to sit around with a bunch of other job seekers, feeling sorry for myself?  I don’t see the point.”
•  “Yeah, I might talk to some of these people down the road, but right now I’m hoping to connect with actual hiring managers.”
•  “I’m really looking for a professional opinion on my situation, and career prospects, not just feedback from random strangers.”
•  “That person doesn’t appear to have any background in my field, so I don’t see the relevance or what I’d gain from talking with them.”

And even if the sentiments above aren’t vocalized overtly, you’ll see quite a bit of passive evidence suggesting that thoughts similar to these are running through peoples’ minds.  For example, so many individuals I meet seem to be seeking feedback on how to improve their resume, interview more effectively, enhance their networking skills, combat age discrimination, and the like — and apparently fail to acknowledge that a great many out-of-work people these days have recently been bona fide hiring managers, themselves, and might have some very valuable insights to share.  Or, if nothing else, such people might supply the critical qualities of objectivity and empathy, lending a degree of moral support and  accountability to one’s search, as well as perhaps identifying some key points of differentiation/improvement that the job hunter, themselves, has overlooked.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to work myself out of a job here and suggest that professional career help isn’t a great investment, on occasion.  And in fairness, I’m also not suggesting that every out-of-work professional out there possesses this bias or discredits the notion of obtaining assistance from the fellow job hunters around them.  But at the same time, I’ve felt for years that this is an untapped resource that many professionals in transition fail to fully capitalize on.  Consciously or unconsciously, many people still act as if other people can’t add value to their efforts if they, themselves, aren’t currently drawing a paycheck.  Or they fail to see the value of “banding together” with their fellow travelers in creative ways to obtain support, guidance, and camaraderie through what can be a very confusing, emotionally-challenging process.  Who knows?  By taking a step in this direction, you might even make a few new friends, not to mention the benefit of having a few other smart, experienced professionals review your case, discuss your goals, and tap into their networks and experience to see if they can help.

So that’s my thought for the day.  It’s just something I’ve been pondering for a while and thought I’d share, for any of you out there who might admit to underestimating the value other displaced professionals might contribute to your journey.  As one successful former client said to me a year or two ago, after landing himself a new opportunity:

“You know, Matt, when I started this process I thought it would be a slam-dunk and my reputation alone would get me a new job almost immediately, as it had in years past.  I was a successful executive.  I didn’t need help.  I was going to soldier bravely through the process as I’d always done before.  But as the months went on, I started to realize that job hunting really is a team sport, in some respects, and I started to take meetings and coffee appointments with almost everyone who asked — regardless of whether they were currently working or had lost their job several years ago and were struggling to find something, themselves.  And you know what?  It was amazing.  I gained something valuable and learned something new from every single person I met with.  Every.  Single.  One.”

Just like with my older audiences, I can assure you that the twentysomethings I’ve been working with manifest a very diverse range of attitudes, motivations, and perceptions about their careers and how to go about the job hunting process.  Some of them are incredibly enthusiastic and gung-ho, taking every coaching suggestion offered and executing it to the nth degree.  Others, however, are clearly wrestling with some emotional barriers that are inhibiting their success rate, whether this involves a lackadaisical attitude toward finding work based on a sense of entitlement or the fear, paralysis, and confusion that simply comes from the complexity of the modern market and how to approach it.

To better understand some of the issues that these younger professionals are dealing with, I recently picked up a copy of Dr. Meg Jay’s book The Defining Decade, subtitled “Why your twenties matter and how to make the most of them.”  Having read some similar publications in the past, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting anything all that new and/or profound in this book and was merely seeking a gentle reminder around how folks from the younger generations tend to view things.  Page after page, however, I was extremely impressed by the solid insights that Dr. Jay had to offer — based on her years of experience counseling twentysomething clients — and actually feel that this book could be a great read for older professionals, as well, who might benefit from exploring how their foundational career years ended up later impacting and shaping their lives,  careers, and overall happiness quotient.

One of the highlights of The Defining Decade, at least to me, was the analysis of how social media sites like Facebook have impacted the lives and career expectations of the individuals who have grown up with these tools.  Dr. Jay points out, example, that so many young adults struggle with pangs of uncertainty based on the fact that so many of their friends on Facebook seem to be living these marvelous lives and posting constant updates about their successes in work, love, and life — forgetting that many of these claims and postings may be exaggerated and not 100% grounded in reality.  Additionally, she talks about the importance of building “identity capital” in your early career years, in terms of accumulating some useful and interesting experiences that will interest potential future employers.  While a hard concept to explain, she discusses this strategy in contrast to just “going on random adventures” or just taking any old job to get by or pay the bills.

Most importantly, I loved the constant emphasis the author placed on the idea that professionals of all ages today need to take 100% responsibility for their career destinies. In one passage that particularly stood out to me, she writes:

“There is a certain terror that goes along with saying ‘my life is up to me.’  It is scary to realize there’s no magic, you can’t just wait around, no one can really rescue you, and you have to do something.  Not knowing what you want to do with your life — or not at least having some ideas about what to do next — is a defense against that terror.  It is a resistance to admitting that the possibilities are not endless.  It is a way of pretending that now doesn’t matter.  Being confused about choices is nothing more than hoping that maybe there is a way to get through life without taking charge.”

So in closing, I’d highly recommend this book as one of the best works of its kind for its intended target audience, namely twentysomethings and their parents.  At the same time, however, I also think that there will be many older readers like myself who also can get great mileage out of this publication and would benefit from picking up a copy.  It truly provides some provocative insights about the overall arcs that our lives and careers are built around — helping us make sense of the decisions that all of us made, earlier in our lives, and the consequences that resulted.  Really, really good stuff.  And again, a very pleasant surprise from the more narrowly-focused book I HAD been expecting!

Given that the company is largely staffed by union personnel, however, Boeing continues to be a polarizing entity whose decisions are subject to much greater scrutiny than the average organization.  In searching for articles related to the company and what it’s like to work there, in fact, it was hard to find much being discussed at the “ground” level.  Instead, the headlines were dominated by intensive analyses of labor relations issues, as well as the numerous ongoing disputes taking place about Boeing’s strategy for allocating work across its various manufacturing sites.

And yet, while the storms continue to rage at the macro level between Boeing executives, union leaders, and government officials, let’s not overlook the fact that many workers are chugging along, underneath these raging storm clouds, making a pretty good living.  So while the company may have lost a step with the HQ relocation to Chicago in 2001, Boeing still remains a viable option to consider for many Puget Sound job hunters, and provides a package of stability, work-life balance, and comp/benefits (in most groups) that rivals that of many employers around town.

GETTING HIRED AT BOEING: USEFUL LINKS & ARTICLES

•  Boeing Jobs Portal
•  Glassdoor.com Boeing Reviews Page
•  Glassdoor.com Boeing Interviews Page
•  Indeed.com Reviews on Boeing
•  Indeed.com Forum Articles Related to Boeing
•  College Confidential Thread on Working at Boeing
•  How to Land a Job at Boeing
•  Boeing Interview Questions & Answers
•  Why Boeing is Going to War With Its Employees
•  How to Get a Job at Boeing (Discussion Thread)
•  Boeing & Its Older Workers: The Brewing Confrontation
•  Boeing Seeks Big Savings, Other See Big Risks in Job Transfers
•  Gay Boeing Employees Fighting for Better Benefits

GETTING HIRED (& WORKING) AT BOEING: INTERESTING THINGS I’VE HEARD

•  Boeing is famous for relying almost entirely on resume keyword-matching to screen applicants, likely due to their government/defense relationship and various governmental compliance rules designed to ensure a very stringent, egalitarian hiring process.
•  As a result of the above factor, networking and internal referrals don’t seem to help quite as much at Boeing as they do at other companies; if your resume doesn’t score in the top rankings of the  keyword scan, based on the requirements of the job at hand, a personal relationship isn’t going to help much
•  And yet, despite the importance of resume keywords, there is apparently a limit to how many you should have; recruiters at Boeing have said that their applicant tracking system kicks out resumes they feel match TOO closely to a stated job’s requirements where a candidate might be gaming the system
•  Boeing relies heavily on “behavioral” interviewing where they will ask candidates to provide multiple examples of the skills and strengths described in the job description; they typically want these presented in a structured P.A.R. (Problem, Action, Results) format so they can gain a full picture of the results a candidate has achieved
•  Boeing’s application website provides candidates with ongoing feedback about where they stand in the process; in the case of one individual I worked with, one of two finalists for a job, he said he was told to simply “check his status code” on the website to see if he ended up ultimately being selected for the role or not
•  Boeing conducts rigorous background screening for many positions, again, likely due to the close relationship of their technology with military and government applications
•  While Boeing used to provide lavish benefits such as full tuition reimbursement for employees, they’ve apparently reduced some of these benefits in recent years, even though their current package may still be well beyond that offered by most organizations
•  The average tenure at Boeing is significantly longer than at most companies and the pace of business, at least in many groups, is fairly relaxed; according to many, this contributes to a healthy amount of bureaucracy in the company and quite a few people who are seen as “coasting” toward retirement
•  According to one Boeing Manager, the company has recently implemented a new hiring system that utilizes a “lifecycle recruiting approach” that will enable recruiters to more actively develop/maintain relationships with candidates 

So that’s what I’ve come across on my radar, in terms of the hiring process and prospects over at Boeing.  Anybody out there have any additional input to contribute?  Do some of you have personal experience working at the company — or friends or family members who have shared some perspectives on the changing nature of working at Boeing over the years?  As always, I’d love other readers to be able to benefit from your feedback, so please feel free to share a comment — even if anonymously!

From what I’ve witnessed, Amazon wrested away the “smart, innovative company people like to work for” title from Microsoft a number of years back — fairly or unfairly — and as a result, Amazon is now taking a lot more flack around their working conditions and has attracted a fair amount of negative press from the media.  Simply given their size and astronomical growth, they are now the “big kid on the block” that people like to pick on, just as Boeing and Microsoft were for decades prior.  And yet, they continue to be one of the top three employers, by far, that people tell me they’re targeting.

And yet, interestingly, I don’t get many clients coming to me from Amazon looking to make a job or career change.  So whether this suggests the company actually is a pretty good place to work, or Amazon employees simply have far less difficulty making a job switch given their pedigree, I’m not sure.  It’s telling, though, that I rarely hear people who work at Amazon complaining about the company.  Most of the criticism seems to come from outside sources and circles.

At any rate, here’s a handy collection of curated links regarding the realities of pursuing/building a career at Amazon, followed by a series of comments I’ve heard directly from people who have interviewed there.  As with my Microsoft article, previously, I ask everybody to take all of this information with a grain of salt, since it’s primarily anecdotal in nature.  But still, when these data points are considered as a whole, they should paint a pretty useful picture of some of the key themes and memes taking place within this e-commerce industry giant.

GETTING HIRED AT AMAZON: USEFUL LINKS & ARTICLES

•  Amazon.com Jobs Portal
•  Glassdoor.com Amazon Reviews Page
•  Glassdoor.com Amazon Interviews Page
•  Indeed.com Reviews on Amazon
•  Indeed.com Forum Articles Related to Amazon
•  Amazon’s Current Employees Raise the Bar for New Hires
•  What is Life Like for an Amazon Worker?
•  Interview Insider: How to Get Hired by Amazon
•  How Amazon Hires: No Mistakes Allowed
•  Working at Amazon is a Soul-Crushing Experience
•  What Are the Pros & Cons of Working at Amazon?
•  3 Questions Amazon’s CEO Asks Before Hiring Anyone
•  A Contract Worker’s Take on Amazon
•  Amazon & Microsoft Employees Party Differently
•  Why Amazon Pays Employees $5,000 to Quit

GETTING HIRED (& WORKING) AT AMAZON: INTERESTING THINGS I’VE HEARD

•  Amazon has 14 key leadership principles (listed here) that they follow closely; interview candidates at all levels should have examples ready that demonstrate these attributes
•  The company historically has placed a great value on formal educational credentials; in the early days, even their warehouse workers were expected to have a college degree
•  Amazon was one of the first companies — or possibly the pioneer — of asking a veteran employee (called the bar-raiser) to evaluate candidates solely on cultural fit, not just skills
•  The company is so obsessed with serving customers that almost all of their resources are channeled into customer-facing departments; other support functions lag way behind
•  There is rumored to be little work/life balance at Amazon; the company expects people to be extremely devoted to their jobs and willing to work more hours than at other firms
•  Amazon tracks the interview process very carefully; phone screeners take detailed notes on a person’s initial responses and pass this information forward to hiring managers
•  Amazon interviewers are trained not to give any direct feedback or clues as to how a candidate is faring; you’ll rarely know how you’re doing during the interview process
•  Given that the Amazon culture is (theoretically) very focused on getting the right person in the right role, recruiters will often suggest other positions that might be a better fit than the one to which a person initially applied
•  Amazon values critical thinking and will ask several questions, minimum, designed to see how you approach problems; these usually aren’t “stumper” questions, however
•  Apparently, Amazon doesn’t encourage candidates to follow up aggressively after interviews and will be hesitate to give out e-mail addresses or contact info; don’t ask for it
•  You will be asked up front, in the phone screen, how much salary you’re looking for and they will insist on a specific answer, so don’t dance around this issue

So there you have it — that’s the skinny on what I’ve heard about Amazon.  Anybody out there have any additional perspectives or insights to contribute?  Any tips on how to succeed in the interview process?  Any information that contradicts some of the information that I’ve passed along above?  If so, please feel free to contribute a comment after this article, even anonymously if that’s your preference!

This being said, however, let’s not pretend that the largest employers around town (Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing, Starbucks, etc.) don’t account for a major chunk of the local economic pie, as well as tens of thousands of quality positions and paychecks.  So here’s my thought.  Given that I suspect a number of my readers out there have worked for these companies, or at least interviewed at them, I thought it might be an interesting exercise if we all “pooled our collective wisdom” about these high-profile organizations, how best to get hired by them, and what they might really be like to work for.

So for the remainder of the month, my plan is to write articles focusing on the career scene at each of these big companies, one at a time, providing a number of links where people can gather further information — along with a few rumors, insights, and observations that have been shared with me about each company by clients over the years.  I’m hoping that many of you will choose to chime in with “comments” at the end of these articles, as well, sharing your own experience with these various organizations.

While admittedly, a fair amount of the material compiled will be subjective in nature, and shouldn’t necessarily be taken at 100% face value, let’s give this idea a try — starting with Microsoft — and see what we can learn by comparing notes!

GETTING HIRED AT MICROSOFT: USEFUL LINKS & ARTICLES

•  Microsoft JobsBlog | Life at Microsoft
•  Glassdoor.com Microsoft Reviews Page
•  Glassdoor.com Microsoft Interview Questions Page
•  Indeed.com Reviews on Microsoft
•  Indeed.com Forum Articles Related to Microsoft
•  JobCrowd Reviews on Microsoft
•  Forbes Article: What is the Worst Thing About Working at Microsoft?
•  Working at Microsoft (YouTube Videos)
•  Here’s What You Can Earn Working at Microsoft
•  Behind the Curtain at Microsoft: 3 Things You Should Know
•  Why Should I Start My Career at Microsoft vs. a Startup?
•  Cosmopolitan Article: How to Get Hired at Microsoft
•  The Fearful Stack Ranking System at Microsoft (11/14 Update)
•  Microsoft to Cut Off All External Staff After 18 Months
•  7 Tips That Will Help You Get a Job at Microsoft

GETTING HIRED (& WORKING) AT MICROSOFT: INTERESTING THINGS I’VE HEARD

•  The company is full of bright, assertive people and really respects confident people who can strongly “advocate a position” even if English isn’t their native language
•  Executives at Microsoft typically maintain an updated PowerPoint file (called a “walking deck”) outlining their key contributions and accomplishments
•  If you’ve interviewed at Microsoft three times, without success, you will no longer be considered for future positions (although I’ve had a recruiter deny this, too)
•  Microsoft has a separate internal referral system that’s different than their main job board; if a current employee recommends you on this system, your odds go way up
•  Working at Microsoft tends to be much more complicated than other companies, given the massive number of departments, buzzwords, and proprietary internal tools utilized
•  Given the above reality, Microsoft prefers to hire existing vendors and partners for roles, versus outsiders, since these folks know the tools and can hit the ground running
•  Most Microsoft interviews follow a “loop” format involving 4-6 meetings in a single day; if you don’t do well in the first few rounds, the process is cancelled mid-stream
•  While Microsoft is historically famous for its “why is a manhole cover round?” interview puzzle questions, such questions are now discouraged and not used very often
•  If you’re a contractor at Microsoft (there are two types: A-dash or V-dash) you’re often treated as a second-class citizen; in fact, the internal slang for contractors is “dash trash”
•  Many people who leave Microsoft later want to come back, due to the scope of opportunities within the company and the great benefits provided
•  Offices and workspaces are assigned to employees based on tenure, not rank; i.e. an assistant could have a much nicer office than their actual boss
•  Microsoft experience can work against a job hunter, especially when applying to startups who worry that Microsoft alums aren’t used to working with limited resources
•  Microsoft employees are incredibly generous, donating significantly more time and money to philanthropy/charity than the average professional

Again, these are just a few random things I’ve heard in passing from folks who have worked at Microsoft at some point — I can’t vouch for their accuracy or whether they apply equally to all job roles, across all departments.

Now it’s your turn: what can YOU share about working or getting hired at Microsoft, if you’ve had some experience with the organization?