The Hunt: Job Search 101 During the Pandemic

新冠肺炎期间的求职101

2020-06-24 08:50 techwhirl

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“I’ve learned quickly in this job search that I don’t know anything” Sadly, COVID-19 is pushing many, including technical communicators, into the stress of the job market at an already stressful time. The good news is that we are not alone and we can learn from others’ experiences. The following is from a conversation I had with one of my previous students about her adventure with job hunting during the pandemic. We will call her Roxy, but that is not her real name. Roxy started job hunting a few months before the pandemic broke out. Erika:  Roxy, why did you decide to look for a new job? Roxy: I can thank my desire to expand my education on that one. Little back story:  I finished my BA at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in May 2017 and “wandered” around thinking about whether I wanted to work towards my master’s. NAU has a pretty darn great English Department and it offers up options for English master’s degrees, one of them being Professional Writing. Well, I took the bait and they were nice enough to let me in, ha!  So, I had an epiphany one day while performing some “other duties as assigned” at my, then, current job. I stopped and asked myself if everything I’m working for in getting my second degree is going to be used in my current position. All of the time, out of pocket money, and hard work wasn’t going to get “used.” There wasn’t any growth in the environment I was in either, so that by itself was a huge factor. I had a long talk with my husband and he simply told me that we would go wherever I wanted and do whatever I wanted. I will tell you without a doubt that having a good support system is a big plus when looking at your situation.    Erika: What is your background? Roxy: My job title has been “Technical Writer” for about three years. However, I’ve been writing for the government and contractors for over ten years. I am predominantly a Department of Defense writer, so I know military standards, proper formatting, and what is expected. I know that a document header is set at this specific font size, margins must be this way, and a plethora of other things. I learned to communicate with recruiters that even though my title was not always “technical writer,” my job duties were what tech writers do. Erika:  Tell us about what it was like to start a job search for a job as a tech writer—not for your first job as a tech writer, but for something different Roxy: I started by searching on LinkedIn and Glassdoor using the term “Technical Writer.” What I found was that there are a lot of jobs either with staffing companies like The Job Network or with businesses with fancy and cool-sounding names like Prescient Edge, or Defense in Depth Solutions. You’ll start to notice the use of the word “Solutions” or you will see acronyms for super long names that, under normal circumstances, you would not associate with the field you are looking to break into. Clever really, those acronyms. I work with them all the time in my dealings with the DoD. All of these companies speak in acronyms, even the hiring companies, and if an interview happens, do the research and learn those acronyms if you can. Many of the staffing companies offer assignments that might become permanent. Many of these jobs are in far-away places. That would be great if I were single, but since I have kids, and I have a husband who just lost his job, the words “Could lead to possible full-time offer” were not comforting. I really wanted a permanent position if I had to uproot my family. Erika:  How did you feel when you saw the requirements for these jobs? Roxy: Pigeon-holed. Meaning that the requirements that one organization might list are not worded exactly like what people in equivalent jobs do in other organizations. The words they use in these requirements are obviously the “key” words that their automated resume search program will search for, and if you can’t figure out a way to incorporate them into your resume or cover letter, you may as well not apply at all. I was actually told that by a wonderful recruiter who saw my resume and called me specifically to walk through my resume and give me pointers. That was a blessing really because it turned everything around. She gave me pointers specific to contractors or to those of us who may remain with a company for many years and get promoted within. Speaking of the cover letter, make sure that if you are cutting and pasting addresses or anything else, read over the letter to make sure that it is going to make sense to the company you are applying to! I can’t tell you how many times I forgot to remove or edit something and wasn’t able to get it back. Erika:  What advice do you have for tech writers who want to find a new job in this environment? Roxy: If you are working as a writer and don’t know Agile, HTML, and the latest software tools for technical writers, you better learn quick. Some job descriptions read like the company is looking for an engineer and not a writer, so dust off the college cram sessions and educate yourself. The worst thing in an interview is being asked about something you only have a vague, at best, knowledge of. My suggestion is to check out YouTube for tutorials on things in the job requirements you need to get a better understanding of. LinkedIn is also good for this:  they offer what I would call classes on things like understanding HTML, sections of Office 365, or Adobe products. Erika:  Right! And because you are an online student at NAU, you have free access to the LinkedIn Learning tutorials—this used to be called Lynda.com. Roxy: Thanks! True story:  I interviewed with Amazon in Seattle during the first part of my job hunt, before the pandemic. When you get an interview with Amazon, you are literally given homework to assist in getting past the first phone interview. I studied like my life depended on it, and for over $120,000 a year, this job was life or death in terms of future planning and being able to help my son through college with as little debt as possible. My homework turned into a week of taking notes and printing out everything possible on the “Amazon way” of interviewing and how to answer questions using the STAR method. I had no idea what the STAR method even was, so I had to begin a whole ‘nother level of studying. Erika:  Can you tell us more about the STAR method? Roxy:  The STAR method is simply Situation, Task, Action, Result – STAR. When an interviewer asks you a question, the STAR method helps you to answer in a focused way. Erika:  Oh, you mean answering those behavioral questions that ask you something like, “Tell us about a time when you made a mistake.” Roxy:  Right!  Actually, there is a P before STAR, which you can do before the interview:  P is for “Prepare.”  Before your interview, make a list of the job requirements and “desired qualifications.”  Things like “works well on a team” and “is able to multi-task.”  Bring those with you to the interview and bring some notes about stories you can tell to answer behavioral questions about “works well on a team” and “ability to multi-task,” for example. OK, so STAR. Situation: you think of a situation where you did something great or not so great. Remember that they want to know about you, how you work, and what you’ve done. When you tell your story, you start with the situation or context of your story. Something like, “I was working for a defense contractor.” Task: For this part of your story you can say what your responsibility was. Something like, “My boss asked me to create a presentation for him to give at a meeting. I provided an excellent overview and presentation for my boss. However, when I was watching him present it, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t defined some terms correctly.” Action:  Then you explain how you fixed the problem, “Instead of saying that my boss should have previewed the presentation, I made this a learning experience for myself and saved my boss from embarrassment. I immediately spoke up and took complete responsibility for the mistakes, and explained that I was learning how to make presentations and that from then on I would have someone proof our presentations.”—that’s your action. Result: You can say, “Because I took responsibility for my mistake, my boss was able to trust me and delegate more work to me. He also knew that I am confident to admit I’m not perfect and that I’m more than prepared to fix problems rather than blaming others. He knows I care about our team and about him as a leader.” The result can become a positive for you no matter what, so don’t worry if what happened during the situation wasn’t so great. Talk about how you grew, how you helped customers, and how you helped your organization to become better or to make more money. It’s a simple example, but it shows them the task, your actions, and how you took control and fixed it. Also, if you use the STAR method you are able to keep control of the question, and I found that it keeps me focused. I have a strong tendency to fall off into a tangent, or chase the pretty squirrel, if you will.   Erika:  So, what happened during your interview? Roxy: During the interview, I froze and got confused (more on that) when they asked about me and what I do, how I work, and what I’ve done that I’m proud of that made the customer feel “number one.”  Amazon focuses everything around the customer and making them happy. At Amazon, the customers are truly “Job One.”  You have to understand Amazon’s customer focus to get through the first interview because that first interview is an assessment of who you are as a person and not just what is your best or worst experience. They operate in the exact opposite way compared to other companies I have interviewed with. Erika:  You promised to tell us more about what confused you during the first Amazon interview… Roxy: The confusion… every company has their own lingo. For example, when I would simply say that I edited or wrote a test plan, created test incident reports, and verified and validated a flow chart, a hiring manager says, “Do you have any experience writing, “Interface Control Documents,” or ICDs? ICDs are a record of all interface information, so it’s literally everything that I just mentioned above rolled into one document. Sadly, I learned that lingo in  that interview, but I must have been strong enough in other elements because I got an interview with the Amazon hiring manager. That next interview didn’t lead to them offering me a job, but this experience helped me with the interview I had for the job that I eventually did get. Erika:  So, how are you feeling right now?  This must have been a very trying time for you and your family. Roxy: The toll job hunting takes on you:  I was stressed, elated, depressed, and numb all at once. I had knots in my shoulders that felt like sharp daggers aiming for my spine. I put my family through the roller coaster of emotions with me:  after having a great first phone call I’m on cloud 9. And then nothing happens and I don’t get a second interview, I am depressed. My husband tried to help and encourage me, but sometimes if I allowed myself to get encouraged, when the rejection notice came, the depression hit even harder. Erika:  So, if you get a second interview, does the roller coaster end? Roxy:  No way!  Then there is the excitement of getting through a second interview and hearing the hiring manager say that this person liked your resume, or this person is very interested in you. I start to think, “They love me!” So I now start looking at apartments in the area (because I’m searching outside of my home state) and plan and plot ways to get to work if we live in this neighborhood versus that one. But then …wait for it… depression hits after I don’t hear from them for over a week. It isn’t out of the ordinary for a company to take their time and the hiring process can take a while, but when you are on the other end of the phone call, waiting a week seems like an eternity. I actually waited to hear back from one interview for over a month, and then the pandemic added more time. Finally, I heard back from the company I now work for. It was worth the wait, though; my new company and I are a terrific fit. Erika:  What did you do while you waited to hear back from companies you applied to? Roxy:  I spent hours looking on job sites, perfecting my resume one sentence at a time to match what a company wants. I meticulously rearranged my terms to match theirs. And I spent energy getting nervous about the few pieces I have in my portfolio:  my previous job was sensitive, and I can’t show anyone the result of my hard work. I wrote for a military entity and my stuff is all FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY! Erika:  Is there a way to beef up your portfolio without using classified material? Roxy:  Wow, um… I think that is a decision that the writer should look into. If they have a good relationship with their current employer, they might be able to include some simple SOPs (standard operating procedures) they’ve edited or written. If you can use redacted work that’s great!  I would take a good look at the document(s) you want to use because you could end up showing them a title and date with nothing more after that except conjunctions and “Lt” or “Appendix A.” I decided that since I was a contract worker and I was applying for jobs with other contractors, they should understand that I don’t have examples outside of college work or at best a few things I might have done for friends. For example, I edit and proof a lot of term papers and projects for my son, his friends, and family who are also in school. Ultimately, I think it’s a conversation NOT to have with the recruiter. They are only there to get the information that is asked for on the job description and what the hiring manager may have told them in a meeting. Save any conversation about a portfolio for that second interview with someone like the hiring manager or, if you’re lucky, a person who you’d be working under or with. That’s the best thing you could ask for, honestly. I interviewed for my new job with a recruiter first, then with the hiring manager, a lead and the person who would become my supervisor, and then finally I had an interview with just the supervisor. By then, the last interview was pretty much “When you start, you’ll be here, doing this, come down to our office…”   I ended up getting the job with that company that took months to get back to me. My family packed up and moved 3,000 miles with the cat. It was in the beginning of the pandemic. Now I’m working at a new job, in my new town…from home!  Going through orientation remotely has been interesting and could be the topic for another conversation soon. Erika: Thank you for sharing about your job hunt, Roxy. Keep us posted and best wishes in your new job. You give us all hope!
“在此次求职过程中,我很快明白原来自己什么都不懂。” 可悲的是,新冠肺炎正把许多人推入本已压力重重的就业市场的压力之下,包括技术传播者。 但庆幸的是,我们并不孤单,我们还可以从别人的经验中学习。 以下是我和我以前的一个学生的对话,内容是她在新冠肺炎期间找工作的经历。 我们暂且称呼她为罗克西,但那不是她的真名。 罗克西在肺炎爆发前几个月就开始了漫漫求职路。 艾丽卡:罗克西,你为什么决定找一份新工作? 罗克西:我想升学历。我先介绍一下我的教育背景。2017年5月,我在北亚利桑那大学(NAU)读完了文学学士学位,那时我在“徘徊”着是否要向硕士方向努力。 北亚利桑那的英语系很棒,还提供英语硕士学位,其中之一就是专业写作。 好吧,我心动了,他们也非常欢迎我的加入,哈! 有一天,我在当时的工作岗位上执行一些“分派下来的其他任务”时,我顿悟了。 我停下来问自己,我为获得第二个学位而努力的一切,是否会用在我现在的职位上。我不会为了这个职位付出我所有的时间,不会为了它花掉我所有的零花钱,也不会为了这份工作而努力。我在这个环境也没有得到任何成长,这一点也是影响我做出决定的最大因素。 我和我丈夫进行了一次长谈,他简单地告诉我,我想去哪里我们就去哪里,想做什么就做什么。 我会毫不犹豫地告诉你,在这种情况下,有人在背后支持你会好很多。 艾丽卡:你是做什么工作的? 罗克西:我是一名“技术作家”,我从事这份工作已有三年了。 不过,我为政府和承包商写了十多年了。 我主要为国防部协作,所以我知道什么是军事标准、恰当的格式、以及预期内容。 我知道一个文档标题的特定字号多少,页边距的格式是什么,以及很多其他要求。 我学会了如何与招聘人员沟通,即使我不总是一名“技术作家”,但我做的是技术作家的工作。 艾丽卡:找一份像科技作家这样的工作是什么感觉呢?不是因为你的第一份工作是科技作家,而是为了一些不同的东西。 罗克西:我一开始在LinkedIn和Glassdoor上搜索“技术作家”这个词,我发现有很多工作机会,要么是求职网这样的人力资源公司,要么是Prescient Edge或Defense in Depth Solutions这样听起来很不错的公司。 你会开始注意到单词“solutions”的使用,或者看到超长名称的首字母缩写,在正常情况下,这些名称与你想挖掘的领域无关。 那些缩略语挺有趣的。 我在国防部工作的时候一直和它们打交道。 所有这些公司都用缩略语说话,甚至连招聘公司也是如此。如果你需要面试的话,可以的话去做做调查,学习一下这些缩略语。 许多人力资源公司的任务可能是长期性的。 很多时候,这些工作都在很远的地方。 如果我是单身,那就太好了,但因为我有孩子,而且我的丈夫刚失业,“可能会有全职工作”这句话并不让人感到宽慰。 如果我不得不背井离乡的话,我真的想要一个稳定的工作。 艾丽卡:当你看到这些工作的要求时,你感觉如何? 罗克西:五花八门。 一个组织可能列出的要求与其他组织中从事同等工作的人所做的不完全一样。 显然,他们在这些要求中使用的词汇是他们的自动简历搜索程序会搜索的“关键”词汇。如果你想不出如何将它们融入到简历或求职信中,你不妨干脆不申请。 其实,这些是一位经验丰富的招聘人员告诉我的,她看到了我的简历,专门打电话给我让我浏览自己的简历,并给我提了建议。 这真是一件幸事,多亏了这些建议,事情得到了好转。 她给了我一些专门针对承包商或者那些可能在某家公司工作多年且升了职的人的建议。 说到求职信,如果你是在剪切和粘贴地址或其他任何信息,请仔细阅读这封信,以确保它对你申请的公司是有意义的! 我不知道有多少次我忘记删除或编辑了一些信息,却无法挽回。 艾丽卡:对于那些想在这种环境下找新工作的科技作家,你有什么建议? 罗克西:如果你是一个作家,却不知道Agile,HTML和最新技术写作软件工具,你最好快点学。 有些职位介绍读起来像是公司在招聘工程师而不是作家,不要去上大学补习课,好好自学。 面试中最糟糕的事情就是被问及一些你最多也只是模糊了解的事情。 我的建议是,去YouTube上看看工作要求方面的教程,这些你必须要弄清楚。 LinkedIn在这方面也很不错,它提供了上文所说的课程,比如了解HTML,Office365的部分产品,或者Adobe产品。 艾丽卡:对! 因为你是北亚利桑那大学的在线学生,你可以免费访问LinkedIn的学习教程,LinkedIn的前称是Lynda.com。 罗克西:谢谢! 说真的,在找工作的第一阶段,新冠肺炎爆发前,我参加了西雅图的亚马逊公司面试。 亚马逊公司的面试机会就相当于是一次家庭作业,作业的内容是帮助自己通过第一次电话面试。 我学的很拼命,这份工作每年超过12万美元,考虑到未来规划,还得帮助我儿子完成大学学业的同时又尽可能少欠下债务,这份工作对我来说是生死攸关的事。 我的家庭作业变成了用一星期记笔记并且打印出所有与“亚马逊式”面试可能有关的信息,以及如何用星星法回答问题。 我甚至不知道什么是星法,所以我必须开始另一个完整的更高层次的学习。 艾丽卡:你能给我们再多介绍一下星星法吗? 罗克西:简而言之,星星法包括:情境、任务、行动、结果,这就是星星法。 当面试官问你一个问题时,星星法帮助你以一种专注的方式回答。 艾丽卡:哦,你的意思是回答那些向你提出的行为问题,比如“说说你什么时候犯了错。” 罗克西:对! 实际上,星星法之前有一个P阶段,你可以在面试之前做:P代表“准备”。在面试之前,列出一份工作要求和“期望的资格”。比如“在团队中表现良好”和“能够同时完成多项任务”。带上这些东西来面试,并准备一些你可以讲述的故事来回答那些行为问题,例如与“在团队中很好地工作”和“能够同时完成多项任务”有关的问题。 好吧,聊聊星星法。 情境:你在这个情境做了一件伟大的事,或者不是那么伟大。 记住,他们想了解你,想知道你的工作方式,你做了什么。 讲述故事时,先从你的故事的情境或上下文开始。 比如,“我为一个国防承包商工作。” 任务:在讲述你的故事这一部分,你可以说出你的责任是什么。 比如,“我的老板让我为他在一次会议上做一个演示文稿。 我为我的老板提供了一个很好的概述和介绍。 但是,当我看着他展示的时候,我突然意识到我没有正确地定义一些术语。“ 行动:然后你再阐述你是如何解决这个问题的,“我没有说我的老板应该预览演示文稿,而是让这件事情成为我自己的一次学习经历,让我的老板免于尴尬。 我立刻说出来,承担这次错误的全部责任,并解释说我正在学习如何做展示。从那时起,我会找人检查我们的展示。”这就是你的行动。 结果:你可以说,“因为我为自己的错误承担了责任,我的老板才能够信任我,并把更多的工作委派给我。 他也知道我有信心承认自己并不完美,比起责怪别人,我更愿意解决问题。 他知道我关心我们的团队,关心他这个领导。“ 无论怎样,结果对你来说都是积极的,所以不要担心在这种情况下发生的事情不是很好。 谈谈你是如何成长的,你是如何帮助客户的,你是如何帮助你的组织变得更好或者获得更多利润的。 这是一个简单的例子,但这个例子向他们展示了任务、行动、以及你是如何控制和解决问题的。 另外,如果你用星星法,你就能控制问题,我发现它能让我集中注意力。 我很容易突然转变话题,或者走神,如果你愿意的话。 艾丽卡:那么,你面试的时候发生了什么? 罗克西:在面试过程中,当他们问起我,我是做什么的,我如何工作的,以及我做了哪些让客户感到“顾客至上”的事时,我愣住了,更多的是感到困惑。亚马逊把一切都集中在客户身上,让他们开心。 在亚马逊,客户是真正的“第一项工作”。你必须了解亚马逊的客户重点,才能通过第一次面试,因为第一次面试是对你作为一个人的评估,而不仅仅是对你最好或最差的工作经历的评估。 与我面试过的其他公司相比,他们的运作方式完全相反。 艾丽卡:你说过要告诉我们更多关于在第一次亚马逊采访时让你困惑的事情…… 罗克西:困惑……每个公司都有自己的行话。 例如,当我只是简单地说我编辑或编写了一个测试计划,创建了测试事件报告,并验证和验证了一个流程图时,一个招聘经理会说:“你有编写“接口控制文档”或ICDS的经验吗? ICDs是所有接口信息的记录,它实际上是我上面提到的所有内容都收录到了一个文档中。 不幸的是,我在那次面试中学会了那个行话,但我肯定在其他方面上做的足够好了,因为我得到了亚马逊招聘经理的面试机会。 下一次面试没能让他们录用我,但这次经历帮助我完成了面试,最终我得到了那份工作。 艾丽卡:那么,你现在感觉怎么样? 对你和你的家人来说,这段时间一定很难熬吧。 罗克西:找工作对你来说是一件费钱的事:我感到压力大,同时又非常兴奋,沮丧和麻木。 我肩上的负担很重,感觉就像锋利的匕首瞄准了我的脊椎。 我让我的家人和我一起经历了情绪的过山车:在打了一个不错的第一个面试电话后,我的心就飘上云霄了。 然后什么事也没有发生,我也得不到第二次面试,我很沮丧。 我的丈夫试图帮助和鼓励我,但有时如果我允许自己得到鼓励,当拒绝通知来时,我会更加沮丧。 艾丽卡:那么,如果你得到了复试,过山车就结束了吗? 罗克西:不可能! 然后是通过复试,听到招聘经理说这个人喜欢你的简历,或者这个人对你很感兴趣。 我开始想,“他们喜欢我!”所以我现在开始找这个地区的公寓(因为我正在寻找家乡以外的地方),计划和规划如果我们住在这个社区还是那个社区的话,我们要怎么上班。 但是……等了……在我一个多星期没有他们的消息之后,我就开始沮丧了。 对于一家公司来说,从容不迫并不是不寻常的事情,招聘过程可能需要一段时间,但当你在电话的另一端时,等一周就像是等了大半年。 事实上,我等了一个多月才从一次面试中得到回音,然后新冠肺炎又耽误了一些时间。 最后,我收到了我现在工作的公司的回信。 不过,等待是值得的;我和我的新公司非常合得来。 艾丽卡:你在等待应聘公司的回复时都做了些什么? 罗克西:为了符合公司要求,我花了好几个小时浏览求职网站,一句一句地完善我的简历。 我一丝不苟地重新整理了我的措辞,使之与他们的措辞相匹配。 而且我花了很多精力去担心我的作品集仅有的几件作品:我以前的工作很敏感,我不能向任何人展示我辛勤工作的成果。 我是为一个军事实体写的,我的东西都是官方用的! 艾丽卡:有没有一种方法可以在不使用机密资料的情况下优化你的作品集? 罗克西:哇,嗯……我认为这是一个作家应该考虑的决定。 如果他们和现在的雇主关系良好,他们可能会把自己编辑或编写的一些简单的SOP(标准操作程序)包括在内。 如果你能使用编辑的作品,那就太棒了! 我会仔细查看你想要使用的文档,因为你可能会向它们显示一个标题和日期,之后除了连词和“lt”或“附录a”之外再无其他内容。 我决定,既然我是一名合同工,而且我正在申请其他合同工的工作,他们应该明白,除了大学的工作,或者充其量我可能为朋友做过的一些事情,我没有其他的例子。 例如,我为我的儿子、他的朋友和在学校的家人编辑和校对了很多学期论文和项目。 归根结底,我认为这是一个不应该和招聘人员进行的谈话。 他们去那里只是为了获得职位描述中要求的信息,以及招聘经理在会议上可能告诉他们的信息。 把任何关于作品集的谈话留到第二次面试时再和招聘经理,或者,如果你幸运的话,和你的同事一起工作。 老实说,这是你能要求的最好的东西了。 我先和一个招聘人员面试我的新工作,然后是招聘经理,一个领导和我的主管,最后我只和主管进行了一次面试。 到那时,最后一次面试差不多是“当你开始的时候,你会在这儿,做这个,到我们的办公室来……” 我最终得到了那家公司的工作,但几个月后才得到答复。 我的家人收拾行装,带着猫一起搬了3000英里。 那是在新冠肺炎初期。 现在我在新的城市工作,在我的家乡! 完成远程培训很有趣,这很快就会成为另一个话题。 艾丽卡:谢谢你分享你的求职经历,罗克西。 随时向我们汇报情况,并祝你在新的工作岗位上一切顺利。 你给了我们所有人希望!

以上中文文本为机器翻译,存在不同程度偏差和错误,请理解并参考英文原文阅读。

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