It's been 1 month of searching for my next data adventure. The outpouring of support and encouragement has been incredible; so many have helped in so many ways. (You know who you are. 💖 )
I've been thinking about how I can pay it ⬅️ back, ➡️ forward, and ↘️ sideways.
I was consolidating, organizing, and digitizing my interview "questions to ask them" file*. *By file I mean screenshots on my phone, notes scribbled in notebooks, and resources bookmarked online that I have accumulated over the last 15 years of my career... it was giving Charlie Day Red String Meme energy #iykyk It occurred to me that I hadn’t come across an inclusive resource of alllll the potential questions YOU could ask THEM. I'd seen and saved some resources with a handful of questions in each, but I found myself shuffling through it all to find, for example, which culture question I liked the best.
One of the biggest mistakes (yes, plural) in my career was not ensuring a company was a good fit for ME, both in the short and long term. You never know what the job duties, company culture, or team vibe are until you're working in that role every day, but you can get some good clues by asking lots and lots of targeted questions and trusting your gut. I'm all about a perfect reciprocal fit. The interview should go both ways.
So, I made my file pretty.
And I added some advice.
One of my pet peeves is the inaccessibility of job-seeking resources. Sessions that cost money... guides that require email signup and then you're spammed by salesy emails... only sending resources if you like and subscribe or direct message.
❌ No cost
❌ No subscription
❌ No anything is required to view and use the resource. You should absolutely know your value and be compensated for your time, expertise, and services, but I wish helpers in the job-seeking space considered their customers -- job seekers -- more. Unemployed, underemployed, students, pivoters, career breakers... all these things could lead to accessibility challenges around cost, time, bandwidth, technology access, and more. My favorite career coaches offer a balance of free content with various price points of resources and services. Tip: If you're considering hiring a career coach, seeing that would be a green flag!
Me? I'm just organizing my own job-seeking tools. I've already paid that sunk cost. It costs me nothing to share my tools, resources, and ideas and I have EVERYTHING to gain by helping others and connecting with cool data people!!! A no-brainer. I even learned some new design-related features of Google Docs by making this guide!
All I ask in return is that you consider following me on LinkedIn as a thank you aaand because I have plans to share more of my job search resources in the coming weeks. (Teaser: my all-in-1 job search tracker, networking organizer, and progress dashboard Google Sheet)
That's enough context; here's the link:
🔗 Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oNbyd0gdcrNtFEWGxq4T-1q_fCTzcW7dRpn4wsqxTlU/edit?usp=sharing
Please share widely with job seekers in your network!
Let me know if you have any questions to add, and I'll add 'em!
