Khadijah D Smith

Real Stories from Help Desk Professionals: How Tech Jobs Got Ugly! If you are like me and are #OPENTOWORK or need a new job. You've probably have been seeing the dreaded emails where you weren't selected for the job. #Jobs are like roaches and the second there is light they seem to flee to the darkness. I've seen this in every job search boards around, after a while you hear crickets or it's very sparse. It's not you, it has to be something going on with the Job market. * It's gotten really ugly, everyone is trying to get the same jobs even if they are over experienced or over qualified. * Certain Jobs are not currently hiring but are looking like that are hiring. * #AI has changed the way you apply for a job is different than several years ago. * #Recruiters are overworked and under paid, most of these recruiters probably never had to worry about this but they are really tired. They probably have had several people getting laid off and now they have to work even harder due to that. * #HelpDesk support people are being under appreciated. * #ServiceDesk people are really busy with taking Phone calls. * #Remote Work seems to be harder to come by and everyone is also trying to apply for the same jobs as you. * #Unemployment in the US has gone up to 4% and I wouldn't be surprised to go even higher. What have you done to try to get a job? Has it been working for you?

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To probably no one’s surprise, health insurance is one of the key points brought up in the pushback on this post about considering contract roles. Contracting has been a great option for me in the past. My overall stress levels are lower when contracting, but there is that big question lurking overhead of what happens next. Your ability to negotiate (ie, get a rate that covers your risk too or say no) is key to a good outcome. I’ve been able to navigate the health care mess by choosing W2 “contracting”, and running COBRA to its end and using that as my buffer until I got an FT role. Again, negotiation is key and you need to know all your costs. Lawyers and accountants are your friends ( especially lawyers. Don’t undercut yourself by trying to fly without a lawyer. Your friends are also your friends - ask questions!

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Luckily, for my sanity, I haven’t kept track of how many posts I have had to write like the one I’m going to write again. My prayers for getting interviews and job offers today are being put on hold again as my pipeline just decreased after making it to the final interview (8th time I’ve been told someone else was getting the offer because that person has been doing that particular job for years). However, I still have lots of skills and assets even if I have a unique background and if you can see my diamond like shiny skills, please reach out to me. I’ve taken many successful risks over the years so that enables me to offer: -I have lots of education and more room to learn - I enjoy being challenged -I have underwriting knowledge, I have claims knowledge, I have agency knowledge, I have carrier knowledge, I have sales knowledge, I have training knowledge, I can see how insurance connects in each department (17 years…..I know I’ve been in the business for a long time) -If I can smile and win happiness awards at a PT job that I’m not a fan of, think about how I will be with a team that I love? I am the light in the room -I am the person that goes above and beyond for customer service and I know how to relate to almost anyone -I love to problem solve and I don’t react to stress except to fix what I can control -I am an excellent communicator -I passed the #Wonderlic test with an above average score -I earn people’s trust internally and externally which helps create unity and break down barriers -Let’s interview if you want to hear my sales numbers and employee achievement awards I am a rockstar, even if not at the pro level, and if you don’t see it through all my posts and LinkedIn profile, that’s okay, someone will. I’ve been selling myself for months and months, staying positive. I keep going everyday with a smile, and we all deserve to find a professional place to call home. Please help me connect to anyone who can see my assets and can help me shine brighter. I’m not even halfway through my career so I’m ready to make huge advancements for the team I’m playing with.

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Recruiters, stop putting so much emphasis on college degrees, especially when it comes to coding 👏 👏 👏 As a former hiring manager myself, I'm telling you: You're missing out on 100s of talented applicants who have learned to code using free learning platforms, online tutorials, and certification courses. Look, I'm not discounting the value of academic learning (I have two masters myself, and I gained invaluable experience), but these days, there are so many paths to learning. Practical experience is what will actually serve you and your team. If you want to confirm that a candidate has technical knowledge, ask for their GitHub or links to some sites/apps they've built, but don't make their bachelor's degree a screening question.

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Day 56 of being laid off....I'm thoroughly convinced that the 95% of the job postings on LinkedIn aren't real 🫠 Luckily I've found some other job boards and I'm trying my luck and skills there. Remaining hopeful. Here are 3 I've used this week 👇🏽 1. www.builtin.com 2. www.ycombinator.com 3. www.otta.com Open to any other suggested job boards as well 🤗 #opentowork #readytojoinyourteam #hireme #dataanalyst #tech #customersuccess #finance

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Will share something that will frustrate a lot of senior tech professionals who can’t land interviews at this moment. Recruiters are reaching out to me every week and I’m not even applying for jobs, not even trying. If you are a senior tech professional in the USA or Canada frustrated because you can’t land interviews, check out how much profile looks. The contents within my profile have been ported directly from my resume, they need to be relevant and match 100% for the job you are interested in. Today, I hosted an audio event and explained how to craft your resume so that it’s compatible with EVERY hiring software; there are hundreds of them. Remember that to get through the hiring software we must use SCIENCE and stop hoping, wishing, guessing and praying with every job application. I actually created a free guide and shared it with everyone who attended the event. If you’d like the guide, just write RESUME below and I will get you the guide and also the resume template my clients use. Literally, the exact same template. Free. You’re welcome. If you are an employed senior tech professional earning $150k+ and SERIOUS about switching jobs, give me a shout and I’ll tell you how we can switch jobs in 30 days or less with the job conditions you desire. Oh, and that thing on my nose is not a booger but a piece of skin; I got sunburnt the other day while on the Seadoo. Don’t want to do the video again. 😅 Actually, if you also comment BOOGER (or something funny), I will give you a recording of today’s audio event.

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As a hiring manager, one of the most important things you can offer to a laid-off employee is support in their job search. One way to do this is by helping with interview prep. Former employees can bring you mock interview questions based on the roles they are applying for, and you can give honest feedback on how to improve their responses. This is a gift that can be hard to come by, as family and friends may be biased and do not have the same understanding of the business. As a hiring manager, you have a better understanding of what your peers at other companies may be looking for in a response. While it does take time and is a sacrifice, it's a small yet significant gift you can give to those who sacrificed for your success as a manager.

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This is for companies hiring Talent Acquisition/Recruitment professionals. I would like you to consider interviewing candidates outside of your industry. Just be open. Most recruiters will have no problem understanding the nuances of a new industry. Heck, I have learned new industries. DoD, SaaS, FinTech, Access Control, Digital Advertising. My degree is in History. Zero experience in tech, but somehow I was able to hire people in almost every single discipline. Healthcare companies, I am talking to you, in particular. Do you think we cannot apply our principles and skills to new positions? That is a huge component of what we do, we read resume's and screen candidates by asking questions and doing research on what they do. Think about this, you might hire someone coming in with fresh ideas, methods, and techniques that you might otherwise not see intra-industry. Now a field expert is an expert, I cannot and will not count that out. It's cool to have a specialization. However, diversity in history and experience might be the flavor you need in your TA team. Grow your team with aptitude, capabilities, skills, drive, energy, and experience rather than growing inside your industry from your competitors. We TA professionals are the most versatile human's on Earth. We meet strangers with completely different skillsets all day long and learn about them. Recruiters, agree or disagree?

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Job Market update I have had more interviews in the last 45 days than I had in the previous 15 months. They have ranged from Director level roles to entry level recruiter contract positions. Here are some things I am noticing with the job market. 👉🏼Data Centers seem to be very on trend. I've seen a ton of openings for people to both work at Data Centers and yes, recruiters to hire people to fill data center roles. Amazon alone is hiring thousands of individuals for these positions. More on that later 👉🏼Recruiter roles are opening...but mostly short term contract. I got reached out to yesterday for a company looking to fill 200 recruiter roles on 4 month contracts with little opportunity for extension and almost zero opportunity to be brought on full time. I interviewed with another company looking to bring on multiple recruiters the week before. Is HR back in Demand? I wouldn't be so sure 👉🏼Layoffs are continuing and it doesn't appear that will stop anytime soon 👉🏼Companies will need to adjust to seeing people have more short term positions and not look at it as job hopping as opposed to doing what is needed to pay the bills. Before you get too excited about the openings let me be very honest. I strongly believe this is a small surge as opposed to something sustainable. I see very very few roles opening that are full time and while the goal is to go in and make yourself indispensable, I am not sure it will matter as companies are using these hires for very specific purposes but not looking at them as serving the company long term. I would also be wary of anyone seeing the data center trend and thinking that is the next big thing that they need to switch careers to get into. The last 5 years have proven a cautionary tale of what happens when we fully shift priorities based on a trend. What comes around goes around and while there will be sustainable with data centers due to country regulations, the amount of people hired now vs the number that will eventually settle in to these roles permanently are two vastly different things. It is for these reasons that Job seekers are going to be forced to take multiple short term roles to support themselves until they find something permanent which may not be for a while. Companies need to understand that they are causing this shift and look at resumes a bit differently. Speaking of resumes...not a single interview I have had is a result of submitting a resume. 100% networking. I urge all of you out there to be intentional in creating your networks. It allows for a lot cleaner outreach. There must be reciprocal value in connections. I hope this helps.

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Adam Broda has a great communication template that highlights something I feel is often overlooked, especially on resumes. The goal of a resume isn't to get you a job, its to get you an interview. The interview is where what skills and knowledge you have attained are demonstrated to the employeer. Tying key metrics into your resume shows important information on how you will help a business grow. The first is that you have a growth mindset. You don't generate quantifiable metrics unless you are concerned about growrh. You are results oriented. You can say it, but it is much better to be able to show it. In business, customer satisfaction is a key driver of retention. Positive results create customer satisfaction. They can also highlight your ability to drive improvement. An employer has lots of choices about whom to hire. Do you want to be the employee who seeks to grow the business or just the one who simply exists?

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Job hunting is hard and can be emotionally draining. If you’re like me and have been on the hunt, please remember these things: 1. 🫥 You are not worth less because you do not have a job… you are inherently invaluable and worthy. You deserve the job and you deserve the peace. 2. 💆🏽‍♀️ It’s okay to step away from the rapid fire of applying to every job you see and focus on you. You need you. Your family and friends need you. You’re allowed to pause and relax without guilt. 3. 📨 Do not take non-response or rejection personally. You know you are good at what you do and that any company would be lucky to have you, so wait for the company that will value that. Every “no” is a stepping stone to a “yes.” You will get the job. You will survive. You will thrive. Just keep going, but not so fast you don’t take care of you.

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Hello, W2 requirement Position: UX Researcher on W2 (Onsite) Location: The Woodlands, TX, 77381 Client: Exxon Mobile Job Responsibilities • Develop research strategies that will not only answer known questions but may reveal previously unidentified factors that should be considered. • Design and conduct generative and evaluative research. • Collect, store, and steward qualitative and quantitative data. • Communicate, influence, and collaborate with stakeholders and project teams. • Adapt and flex to dynamic project needs and priorities. • Scope problems and objectives that may not be clear to stakeholders and project teams. • Advocate and evangelize to teams who are not yet familiar with UX design and research. Qualifications • BS, MS, or PhD in Anthropology, Psychology, Human Factors, Information Science, or similar field • Experience leading substantial qualitative and mixed methods research projects. • Understanding of, and interest in, various UX research methodologies including user interviews, work shadows, focus groups, usability tests and more. • Have work samples which demonstrates your research process and methods as well as your ability to clearly convey your findings • Be able to work onsite at our campus in Spring, TX almost all of the time Our company forges new paths, embraces energy efficiency, and advances technology to deliver energy to the world. Our campus, on the north side of Houston, is nestled among 385 wooded acres and is designed for collaboration, wellness, and sustainability. Our office is LEED Gold certified with ample natural light and many amenities. **Onsite position The Upstream division of ExxonMobil makes multi-million dollar decisions every day to locate and produce energy products that will power and enable communities around the world. Forming and communicating these decisions requires a team of the most talented scientists, engineers, and operators to collect and analyze large, highly-technical data . As if that's not hard enough, we find that these super-brains are frequently saddled with manual, inefficient tools and processes. As part of our UX research team, you'll drive business strategy by conducting generative and evaluative research to build a baseline understanding of the users' current state and to identify opportunities - sometimes obvious, other times requiring strong insight capabilities. You will also work with project teams to define the value potential of an opportunity and develop potential solutions. In return, you'll have opportunities to work with users across the globe to return crucial insights and gain a deep understanding of the unique, scientific challenges of the Oil & Gas industry. You’ll also be part of a highly-collaborative team of some of the most talented UX designers and researchers in the business making marked improvements on how our users/customers work. #W2 #UXRESEARCHER Thanks & Regards, Padma US IT Recruiter Veritis Group, Inc. Email Id- padma.b@veritis.com

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I once had a recruiter tell me... that if you meet 40% or more the requirements apply to the job. Just because you don't meet all the requirements doesn't mean don't apply. No need to second guess yourself since that 40% is up to you to decide. This is how anyone looking for a new job should approach them. Let's get these jobs. At FYJUMP we are launching a membership program that shows how to get tech jobs in any hiring climate and gives access to tech professionals who have done it. Many at Amazon, Google + more. 🚀 Join the waitlist: https://lnkd.in/gFtGCctE #Intel #AWS #Amazon #google #job #hiring #softwareengineer #newgrad #entrylevel #techcareers #jobs #OpenToWork

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Hello LinkedIn, Reaching out to all of you and anybody you may know for help. I’m coming up on one year of job hunting and I’m getting beyond desperate. Every post I see on here tells me that I need to remain patient, positive, proud, and strong in the face of adversity, but we are well beyond that. Most of these posts are coming from those who are employed, and tell me “what they would be doing”. I’m desperate, scared and second guessing every professional decision I’ve ever made. And now that I’ve typed that sentence, I guess “vulnerable” fits as well. I’ve been told I’m too experienced, not experienced enough, not the right fit, the perfect fit, salary expectations are too high, salary expectations were too low- so this translated to not experienced enough. All of these were before I had a chance to interview. I’ve had soft offers pulled after weeks of interviewing. I’ve been through interviewing processes that have lasted nearly 3 months and have included 6 rounds of interviews, including spending hours on research and development of mock presentations only to get canned rejection emails. On the other hand, I’ve also had opportunities where companies make their decision and offer another candidate after one round. I have been ghosted 100s of times, making me feel I am nothing but a commodity. I know I’m not the only one in this boat. There are more layoffs everyday, it seems. Now that all of the above is out of the way, if you know of any marketing, branding, strategy, account/client service, or product roles- Please, Please keep me in mind. At this point, I’m open to anything, even way below my experience level. I’ll grow my way up to where I was. I’m just looking for an opportunity. I just want to be able to do work- grunt work included, and provide for my family. That’s it. Thank you for your time. Hopefully, I’ll be back to full sarcasm and snark next week.

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Hiring for the below role:: Job Title: Content writer/ Rater Location: Austin, TX. (onsite)   Job Description: ·        Raters compare two responses and highlight areas to improve AI generated responses, adhering to the following safety categories: o   Offensive query premise o   Polarizing politics o   Mentions or descriptions of violent crime o   Queries/inputs heavily focused on real life weapons, like guns. o   However, in some cases the query type lends itself to descriptions of weapons, and unless the description is particularly violent or gory, it's okay in that context (e.g. video game queries often mention different types of weapons). See more about this below. o   Profanity o   Sexual content or descriptions o   Health-related content that may be considered graphic or highly private/personal o   Queries/inputs heavily focused on drugs or alcohol (e.g. cocktail recipes) ·        Topics that may be triggering based on personal experiences or sensitivity (e.g. death) ·        Able to compare different responses, identify errors or guideline deviations, and provide recommendations to rectify such errors or deviations ·        Able to use the specific guidelines for factuality, style, and formatting. ·        Synthesizing information to perform the task and to incorporate editorial review when applicable ·        Ensure adherence to QA framework and participate in the QA process when applicable. Please share your resume with govind.s@e-solutionsinc.com.

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Job Seekers & Job Posters The things candidates care about... 1. Location (on-site or remote) - Hybrid = onsite, stop it. 2. Salary Range 3. Boss 4. Hiring Manger If this information isn't front and center on the job posting/description, this company does not understand it's candidates, employees, or customers. Or, worse, they understand the candidate pool and are purposefully not being transparent. Beware. It always reminds me of this XKCD. I once looked up 15K universities around the world on the web, one at a time, to record demographic information. Sometimes XKCD feels like it knows me way too well.

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