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All the best advice we could find on how to get a job

80000hours.org

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Re: All the best advice we could find on how to get a job

#31

Post by vonmoltke »

derekp7 wrote: post #27
oppositelock wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's illegal to work for free today, unless you're a Congressional intern, since they exempted themselves from the law. Lots of "my grandfather..." stories are illegal in today's US, land of freedom and such.

In this case, you could still work for free, as a volunteer at a charity. Or attend user group meetings and give presentations. That is one way to increase your network.

> Or attend user group meetings and give presentations.

You realize the article specifically highlighted that as one of the bad pieces of advice proffered on the Internet.

Re: All the best advice we could find on how to get a job

#32

Post by Dylan16807 »

strasser wrote: post #26
oppositelock wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's illegal to work for free today, unless you're a Congressional intern, since they exempted themselves from the law. Lots of "my grandfather..." stories are illegal in today's US, land of freedom and such.

> It's illegal to work for free today Really? What law is this?

https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.pdf

It's a basic consequence of having minimum wage laws. Unless you're being picky and want to hear that it's illegal to have someone work for you for free.

Re: All the best advice we could find on how to get a job

#33

Post by gregw134 »

oppositelock wrote: post #22
merpnderp wrote: post #15

One thing in this article that really caught my eye was "Do free work". When I was a young kid I remember my grandfather, who was about to retire from a long career at the power utility having been head of the union, and much beloved by all his coworkers and managers, told me about how he got that job. He had been laid off at a grain mill, and was getting by as a butcher. But a friend of his got him in the door to se…

It's illegal to work for free today, unless you're a Congressional intern, since they exempted themselves from the law. Lots of "my grandfather..." stories are illegal in today's US, land of freedom and such.

What about free internships?

Re: All the best advice we could find on how to get a job

#35

Post by random_rr »

sqeaky wrote: post #28

> since people need to engage over several months to get value out of the advice This is false. > I find popups annoying too I do not believe you, if you did you would know that often the first response to popup annoyance is to close the window. What do your analytics actually say happens when that popup shows? It will show that I was reading your article up until that appeared, then I entered garbage for an email an…

calm down. Newsletters drive Internet business. If you don't know this... Don't walk outside, it's an even scarier place out there.

Don't like pop ups? Close tab, move on.

Or... Throw a childish hissy fit on HN over free content. You know, whichever sounds better to you.

Re: All the best advice we could find on how to get a job

#36

Post by linkregister »

p4wnc6 wrote: post #25
linkregister wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was going to say that this seems like an overly cynical reaction to the parent poster's anecdote. But then I read your story in another comment that described your 14-month unemployment. I have had good experiences with recruiters from LinkedIn, leading all the way to reasonable offers. To be fair, I have the halo effect of being currently employed. I acknowledge that the software industry has a highly irrational a…

I'm definitely willing to relocate, but cannot do so unless the company provides relocation. If I can move for a definite job, that's one thing, and I can make arrangement here in the family situation to handle that. But I can't put the family stuff on hold just to move on a whim and maybe find a job. Even when I was already living in Boston, I didn't have much luck there and especially found the start-up working con…

I have been in a similar situation before. At that time I took whatever I could get and downplayed my qualifications which were orthogonal to the work. It was literally a short-term, moderately dangerous laborer job so enthusiasm and talk about my exercise regimen helped me the most when applying. At the time I didn't have to support a family so I was more flexible with income.

I'm sharing my anecdote to illustrate that maybe it's worthwhile to accept some red flags for stable employment for a year or two. I don't know your situation in detail so there are likely many factors I haven't considered. I wish the best of luck to you.

Re: All the best advice we could find on how to get a job

#37

Post by thenobsta »

sshykes wrote: post #4
BenjaminTodd wrote: post #2

Hi everyone, I'm the author of the piece. If you know any other good resources or statistics we should incorporate, I'm keen to hear about them. If you disagree with something, feedback is very welcome.

Please get rid of the annoying "this will only take a second" popup, I was reading but closed the window immediately when that shit started.

I understand the pop up.

However, the sign-up should not take me away from the article. I mean, putting in my email took me to another page in the same tab (not a new one). Also, The landing page post-giving-you-my-email gave me another sign-up pop up. Both these things are super annoying.

Content is good though.

Re: All the best advice we could find on how to get a job

#38

Post by tbirdz »

BenjaminTodd wrote: post #14
sshykes wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please get rid of the annoying "this will only take a second" popup, I was reading but closed the window immediately when that shit started.

Sorry about that. I find popups annoying too. Unfortunately we just find we get a way higher conversion to the newsletter when we use popups, and since people need to engage over several months to get value out of the advice, getting people onto the newsletter is really important.

Why don't you offer the content all at once instead of dividing it into 9 weeks of 15-minute chunks once a week? I'd rather spend the 2 hours to read all of it at once, instead of having to wait 9 weeks to read it.

Re: All the best advice we could find on how to get a job

#39

Post by robertwiblin »

sqeaky wrote: post #28

> since people need to engage over several months to get value out of the advice This is false. > I find popups annoying too I do not believe you, if you did you would know that often the first response to popup annoyance is to close the window. What do your analytics actually say happens when that popup shows? It will show that I was reading your article up until that appeared, then I entered garbage for an email an…

"Will my email GoF##k@yourself.com be counted as a success or failure for your popup?"

I did see that one come through. I guess we just aren't right for one another.

I do hope you find another website that will treat you the way you deserve some day. ;)

Re: All the best advice we could find on how to get a job

#40

Post by linkregister »

I really liked this link that was mentioned deep in this post: http://cultivatedculture.com/how-to-get-a-job-anywhere-no-co...

I find that most new grads' biggest problem is not getting the first phone screen.

I could have really used this guide when relocating cross-country. Surprise, the interviews and subsequent offers I got were from direct referrals from my personal network.

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