I have learned that connections are everything in the hiring process. A large company won’t even read most resumes submitted unless they’re escalated by a connection between the person and the company. It is who you know that defines what opportunities you’ll be closer to. I personally knew that I was not going into technical interviews for General Electric Transportation nor Deloitte, so to prepare myself, I just networked, made connections, and researched parts of the company and tried to find a spot where I fit in. Then with the interviewers, I made it feel like I already belonged because I explained to them where I could help in their business. Make yourself an asset and never apply blindly to a quantity of places when you can zone in on a select few quality jobs. Resources like ND job search or other job search websites are useless in my opinion, while the ND directories, LinkedIn and conferences are the best way to start. ND directories are searchable by location and occupation, so you can find alumni to cold-call that work at your dream company! I think this and reaching out on LinkedIn to recruiters is what gets your foot in the door at a job. On the other side, attending conferences shows you a whole new array of job opportunities and can lend great connections to those. Also, I had an amazing career coach at ND, Ray, who inspired me to chase the opportunities presented to me while connecting me to more of my dreams by introducing me to resources such as the Alumni Directory. Furthermore, professors have taught me amazing technical skills for potential technical interviews.
I feel honored to be a part of the Notre Dame community as it connects me to many hard workers with great connections to a liberal array of opportunities. Although I am blessed, I believe the hiring process could be more ethical, because people of lesser income may not have access to interviews they could qualify for or a network that will get them closer to the great job they need. I see that big companies strive for diversity and inclusion, but sometimes it seems that they are just trying to make the mark and have a certain amount of X type of people. I believe that every person who wants a job should be taught how to access the opportunities for them, then they can take control of their lives.
Finally, I do not agree that the overall hiring process is effective in tech consulting (my industry) because often one is not asked to demonstrate technical skills. Even the interviewers a lot of the time are executives that do not have low level coding skills, so they are not able to properly evaluate the technical skills of an interviewee. Therefore, when it comes time for on-the-job work, a new worker may have a lot to catch up and would cost the company money as they must take extra time to train which also creates a lack of efficiency as a company may need to hire two people for what could be one job.
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