Starting a job search
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Today I found out that I wasn't making it to the next round of interviews for a sysadmin position at GitLab. However, this has fueled me into starting an active job search. However, I'm not quite sure how to start it.
I'm not planning on moving, so the position would have to be a remote one. I'm looking for an IT or a Development job, or some combination of the two.
Is LinkedIn actually a useful platform? I deleted my account when MS bought it, but I didn't feel like I got any benefit from it at the time.
I see quite a few remote jobs that I think will just accept US applicants but they don't clarify in the posting. Is it a better use of my time to mostly focus on remote jobs based in Canada? (unless I know that the company is international)
I also know that some jobs will accept remote workers if they seem like a good fit, but don't advertise the job as a remote position. Is it worth my time to be looking at and applying for jobs that might not even allow working remotely?
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@flaxking said in Starting a job search:
Is LinkedIn actually a useful platform? I deleted my account when MS bought it, but I didn't feel like I got any benefit from it at the time.
LinkedIn has been the only useful social media resource IMO. It may not be the best place for IT, but there is no better place to network. LinkedIn jobs have been real and relevant where I've found sites like career builder or monster to be a complete waste of time
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@flaxking said in Starting a job search:
I also know that some jobs will accept remote workers if they seem like a good fit, but don't advertise the job as a remote position. Is it worth my time to be looking at and applying for jobs that might not even allow working remotely?
Nope, I've tried this myself and I've not gotten any traction from anyone who advertises on site jobs and getting them to allow remote.
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Your best bet is to get 3 or 4 recruiters to look for you. Remember, you dont have to accept or agree to anything. Let them help you with your search. You may find them sending you unwanted stuff, but thats OK because they are somewhat of a filter
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@flaxking said in Starting a job search:
I'm not planning on moving, so the position would have to be a remote one. I'm looking for an IT or a Development job, or some combination of the two.
That's pretty damn broad. What skills do you have to offer on your resume? What certs or experience do you have in DevOps roles?
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@flaxking said in Starting a job search:
Is LinkedIn actually a useful platform? I deleted my account when MS bought it, but I didn't feel like I got any benefit from it at the time.
Useful? Hard to say. There are real things lurking on there, but it is such a sea of crap that you will likely be derailed by the garbage. Wading through it is pretty hard.
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@IRJ said in Starting a job search:
@flaxking said in Starting a job search:
Is LinkedIn actually a useful platform? I deleted my account when MS bought it, but I didn't feel like I got any benefit from it at the time.
LinkedIn has been the only useful social media resource IMO. It may not be the best place for IT, but there is no better place to network. LinkedIn jobs have been real and relevant where I've found sites like career builder or monster to be a complete waste of time
As hirers, we've found Facebook to be way better, actually.
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@flaxking said in Starting a job search:
I see quite a few remote jobs that I think will just accept US applicants but they don't clarify in the posting. Is it a better use of my time to mostly focus on remote jobs based in Canada? (unless I know that the company is international)
Hiring in another country is crazy complex and specific. If a company would consider another country, they would be advertising there. And if they are going to consider another country, they will be doing so strategically. Canada is one of the hardest places for remote work because the local market is so small, but doing business with Canada is so expensive. So as a company that hires almost entirely internationally, Canada is a "no consideration" country for us, for example. The cost of hiring is higher than in the US, but the benefits lower.
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@scottalanmiller said in Starting a job search:
@IRJ said in Starting a job search:
@flaxking said in Starting a job search:
Is LinkedIn actually a useful platform? I deleted my account when MS bought it, but I didn't feel like I got any benefit from it at the time.
LinkedIn has been the only useful social media resource IMO. It may not be the best place for IT, but there is no better place to network. LinkedIn jobs have been real and relevant where I've found sites like career builder or monster to be a complete waste of time
As hirers, we've found Facebook to be way better, actually.
I have not seen a single job posting I would take a seriously on FB. Nothing about FB is to be taken seriously from what I have seen.
Yeah you will get garbage in LI as well, but it is much better filtered then other places. LI jobs has one click apply which is super nice. If you have LI premium, you can get useful stats on those jobs.
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I used ZipRecruiter. It took me a bit, but finally found something that pays reasonably well. Once you get your information plugged in, applying is really quick and easy. A lot less work than any of the other sites.
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@travisdh1 said in Starting a job search:
I used ZipRecruiter. It took me a bit, but finally found something that pays reasonably well. Once you get your information plugged in, applying is really quick and easy. A lot less work than any of the other sites.
That's my favorite.
Another great one is Indeed. It's simple, easy to use and makes applying easy (when applicable lol) -
@scottalanmiller I've never heard of anyone getting a job using Facebook. How do you use Facebook for this?
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@IRJ said in Starting a job search:
@flaxking said in Starting a job search:
I'm not planning on moving, so the position would have to be a remote one. I'm looking for an IT or a Development job, or some combination of the two.
That's pretty damn broad. What skills do you have to offer on your resume? What certs or experience do you have in DevOps roles?
C#, Python, Powershell, Nginx, IIS, Docker, Jira admin, Windows sysadmin stuff
I'm kinda in a DevOps-type role right now, but most of the time I either work on IT stuff or Dev stuff and don't get much time to work with the DevOps tools (which means that no one is working on it).
I only have real professional experience with CruiseControl, though I've done some working with Jenkins, Bamboo, Azure DevOps, and GitLab. Our Docker Swarm project was deprioritized, so I don't have any production experience there. If I was going to try to go full speed into DevOps, I would probably try to get a Kubernetes certification. The last certification I got was MSCA Windows Server 2012. There's a demand for DevOps-type roles, but actually getting one looks like it would be challenging, it seems like often they're looking for someone with a good amount of experience with a software stack similar to what the company is using.If I wanted to focus on CloudOps, I'd probably focus on Azure since I've already have a bit of a head start there with things I've worked on in my current job.
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If my girlfriend's job search is any indication (banking/mortgage industry), there are lots of jobs that don't advertise the possibility of remote work, but that have it available. And it's also been a numbers game, in that she has applied to dozens and dozens of jobs in order to get a handful of phone/in person interviews, and lots of those turn out to be bullshit. Seems like a numbers game (like online dating): apply to all the things, get a response 10% of the time, 10% of the responses are remotely legit jobs. Just her experience, it could be vastly different for your search for IT jobs, but it's something to consider.
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@RojoLoco said in Starting a job search:
If my girlfriend's job search is any indication (banking/mortgage industry), there are lots of jobs that don't advertise the possibility of remote work, but that have it available. And it's also been a numbers game, in that she has applied to dozens and dozens of jobs in order to get a handful of phone/in person interviews, and lots of those turn out to be bullshit. Seems like a numbers game (like online dating): apply to all the things, get a response 10% of the time, 10% of the responses are remotely legit jobs. Just her experience, it could be vastly different for your search for IT jobs, but it's something to consider.
Scott claimed that something like 80% of jobs posted are fake (maybe it was a much higher amount than that). That they are just resume gathering posts with nothing really behind them.
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@Dashrender Ugh, I have experience with that crap. You see a job post, click to apply, go through a stupid sign up process and end up being on some janky looking job finding website that noone has ever heard of.
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@IRJ said in Starting a job search:
@flaxking said in Starting a job search:
Is LinkedIn actually a useful platform? I deleted my account when MS bought it, but I didn't feel like I got any benefit from it at the time.
LinkedIn has been the only useful social media resource IMO. It may not be the best place for IT, but there is no better place to network. LinkedIn jobs have been real and relevant where I've found sites like career builder or monster to be a complete waste of time
The jobs I actually ever interviewed with were all from linkedin. All other places like career builder are garbage. Do not use career builder unless you want email and phone spam for jobs outside your career parh and location. It's absolutely ridiculous.
LinkedIn is the only one that has ever lead to anything.
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@IRJ said in Starting a job search:
I have not seen a single job posting I would take a seriously on FB. Nothing about FB is to be taken seriously from what I have seen.
We actually use it and hire people that way.
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@IRJ said in Starting a job search:
@scottalanmiller I've never heard of anyone getting a job using Facebook. How do you use Facebook for this?
They have a job posting mechanism. So you make a job posting, then go into a region and post it for like a city or town. Then they contact you and there is a "job candidate messaging system" for communicating back and forth with them.
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