Two new Meet-a-Mentor/Career Hacking event ideas
Maggie Cranford
Hi guys,
I hope you are well. It looks as though finally this week we’ll get some summer weather – let’s hope it lasts more than a couple of days!
I'm sure everyone in the group is familiar now with the expression "Career Hacking", the short-hand way to refer to the whole idea behind mentoring, but just in case you haven't yet seen the presentation on Career Hacking, I'm providing the link for you.
We’ve been thinking, as always about ways to improve the events we run and I have two suggestions to supplement the events we have been running over the last few years. I wanted to tell you about the ideas before we start any planning, because if you can think of ways to improve on them I would really appreciate your feedback.
1. A Career Hacking Session. We would like to try a small-scale, informal, Career Hacking event because:
- The full-scale Meet-a-Mentor events we arrange for the GDC need to be in the November to March period to fit in with the academic year, and we think members of our communities would appreciate more opportunities to chat about career hacking and the choices they are contemplating.
- Some of our members and mentors find the full Meet-a-Mentor sessions too fast and impersonal, so trying something smaller and more personal sounds like a good idea.
The format that we are considering is that we’d choose a pub and invite people to RSVP if they would like to talk with some other developers about the decisions they are making: the things they have learned so far and the sort of job that would be the best next step for them. In short, they’d have a chance to apply the principles of career hacking and be clearer about the things they can do to get the most out of their career and, if they are thinking about a new job, the sort of job/company that might be best for them. Of course there would also be the chance to ask some specific questions about what people think they should include in a CV and so on.
We would ask a couple of guys from RecWorks to run the session and really hope that one or two mentors might come along on the night to add their breadth of experience to the conversation. I’d anticipate telling mentors about the date and posting a poll so people who might be free could register their interest. As we’re looking at an informal event, we’d probably aim to have 12-15 community members coming along.
There's no need to email me if you agree that this is something that is worth trying. However, I would be really grateful if you could let me know, either by replying to this email to the list or contacting me directly, if you can see any problems with the idea, or ways to improve the value of the sessions.
2. Career Hacking - Interview Skills: how experienced candidates approach an interview.
There is huge value in the events we run where people who have interviewed for tech jobs in the past chat to attendees about what they look for in a CV, how they short list for interview and what makes a candidate stand out at interview. However, an additional approach has been suggested that sounds good to us. This new idea is to look at interviews from the other side of the fence – how do experienced developers approach interviews so they make sure that the job will be right for them.
We would not talk about specific companies, of course, but would keep the conversation focused on the sort of research people do before they apply, the questions they ask the recruiter/hirer before they apply, the questions they compile before interview, how they identify points of concern, and how they resolve them at interview, and at what point they make the decision that they will accept the job when (if!) it is offered to them.
Once again, if you have any suggestions or issues with the event please let me know. You can reply via this email to the whole list, or you can contact me directly.
If all goes well we'll get some new style events set up soon after the summer holiday period. I'm also arranging more traditional Meet-a-Mentor events for the GDC, so I'll be keeping in touch to let you know dates and details and hopefully there will be an opportunity for you to get involved.
Until then, enjoy the summer. If you have a holiday planned I hope it is perfect for you!
Best wishes,
Maggie
Ben Noble
I’d be happy to take part in either event. For the Career Hacking Session, it will be worth making sure that the mentors wear a name badge, or *something* that makes them stand out from the other participants – I’ve found this to be an issue at the Meet a Mentor events where it’s not always possible to initially tell who the other mentors on the same table are (if there are any).
Thanks,
Ben Noble
Twitter:
@Discombenulated
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/benn83
Mobile: +44 7767 380868
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