16. Positioning Yourself
Let’s look more closely at these strategies
1. Maintain indicia: evidence of your skills and
experience
2. Track companies (policy areas) you are
interested in
3. Conduct informational interviews
4. Communicate your value to multiple audiences
15 / 31 .
18. The hiring manager’s perspective
Your application is a noisy signal of
• What you can actually do
• How you stack up to other candidates
• Whether you’d be a good fit for the job
Maintain Indicia 17 / 31
19. The hiring manager’s perspective
Your application is a noisy signal of
• What you can actually do
• How you stack up to other candidates
• Whether you’d be a good fit for the job
Hiring managers use triangulation to get a stronger
signal
Maintain Indicia 17 / 31 .
20. How hiring managers decide
What is triangulation?
Triangulation is the process of locating or learning
about something that you can’t observe using
related pieces of information
Maintain Indicia 18 / 31
21. How hiring managers decide
What is triangulation?
Triangulation is the process of locating or learning
about something that you can’t observe using
related pieces of information
Use your indicia to make triangulation easy for
the hiring manager
Maintain Indicia 18 / 31 .
22. How triangulation works
Example: You list Python on your resume, but the
hiring manager can’t observe your coding skills
Maintain Indicia 19 / 31
23. How triangulation works
Example: You list Python on your resume, but the
hiring manager can’t observe your coding skills
Triangulation
• Your undergrad major was computer science
• You answered a Python question on
StackOverflow
• You blogged a tutorial written in Python
• Your Github profile features several Python
projects
Maintain Indicia 19 / 31 .
24. Maintaining your indicia
Maintain a portfolio and web presence, and maybe
even a blog
But blogging is hard! Try...
• A recap of your experience attending a
conference
• A review of your favorite tools
• A write-up/tutorial of a problem you solved
• A case study based on your class
project/internship
Maintain Indicia 20 / 31 .
26. Why track companies and issues
The goal of tracking companies and issues is to
uncover “hidden” information
• Who makes hiring decisions?
• How are hiring decisions made?
• What skills are most in demand?
• What is the hiring timeline?
Track companies and issues 22 / 31
27. Why track companies and issues
The goal of tracking companies and issues is to
uncover “hidden” information
• Who makes hiring decisions?
• How are hiring decisions made?
• What skills are most in demand?
• What is the hiring timeline?
Use this institutional knowledge to align
yourself with opportunities
Track companies and issues 22 / 31 .
29. Why informational interviews
Informational interviews are a powerful tool for
gathering information that isn’t publicly available
• May feel weird, but it’s perfectly
acceptable/normal
• Request directly or via introduction
• Use proper etiquette and calibration
Informational interviews 24 / 31
30. Why informational interviews
Informational interviews are a powerful tool for
gathering information that isn’t publicly available
• May feel weird, but it’s perfectly
acceptable/normal
• Request directly or via introduction
• Use proper etiquette and calibration
How I used informational interviews
• Grad school
• Salary negotiation
Informational interviews 24 / 31 .
31. Benefits for everyone
Benefits for you
• Get a practitioner’s perspective on applying the
“book knowledge” you’ve learned
• Learn more a particular company or role
• They may invite you to apply
Informational interviews 25 / 31
32. Benefits for everyone
Benefits for you
• Get a practitioner’s perspective on applying the
“book knowledge” you’ve learned
• Learn more a particular company or role
• They may invite you to apply
Benefits for them
• Professional courtesy/paying it forward
• Learn about perception of employer
• Self-selected motivated candidates
• Learn about new tech and tools
Informational interviews 25 / 31 .
33. Finding suitable people
Option 1: Request via introduction
• Most effective!
• Be sure to thank everyone involved
Option 2: Request directly
• Be explicit in what you want
• Minimize “distance” via affiliation and/or
common interest
Informational interviews 26 / 31 .
34. Do’s and Don’ts
DO
• Read/research beforehand
• Be respectful of their time
• Follow-up with an introduction
DO NOT
• Ask for a job
• Rant about yourself
• Ask basic information available online
Informational interviews 27 / 31 .
37. Multiple stakeholders
The job search process is not monolithic
• Many stakeholders: hiring manager, HR
• Stakeholders often have internal disagreements
• Different stakeholders optimizing for different
things
• Organizations increasingly using algorithms
• Hiring often ad-hoc
Use what you’ve learned to communicate
appropriately with different stakeholders
Manage Audiences 30 / 31 .
