Working for a tech company can be a dream come true. Tech start-ups are known for their rapid growth, excellent benefits and groundbreaking products. If you have a background in administration or finance, there are definitely opportunities for you in tech companies! Beyond the engineering and design team’s work on the product, tech companies – like any other business – need office managers, executive assistants, event coordinators, accountants, controllers, bookkeepers… the list goes on and on. Interested in landing a job at one of the hottest tech companies? Tired of searching endlessly online and applying to no avail? Here are some tips on landing either an admin or a finance role in a tech company:
Search Smarter
Hiring managers will sometimes post job openings on their company website, sometimes they will use job boards, and sometimes they will use both. It’s a good idea to check both just in case there’s a job opportunity on a company website that you haven’t seen listed on job boards. Following companies you’d like to work for on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, as some companies will use those exclusively to notify their network that they’re hiring.
Join forums that are relevant to your skill set and to the types of position you’d like to apply for. If you’re friends with people in your industry on LinkedIn or Facebook, ask which groups and forums they are in. It’s also a good idea to join your alma mater’s alumnae group and to request updates from your fellow graduates.
If you’re dying to work at a company, but aren’t sure who to ask about available opportunities, reach out! Even if you can’t find the hiring manager for the company, send a LinkedIn message to someone who works there if they would be able to connect you with the correct person.
Is your resume readable?
When you’re submitting resumes to tech companies, especially if the bulk of your experience has been in a different field, be sure to leave off industry jargon. Keep the terms on your resume to generic synonyms that are easily comprehensible no matter which industry you’re in. If you’re not sure if a term is generally known, ask a friend in a different industry to read through your resume and point out any words that are confusing to them.
Also – if you’re changing industries because of a bad experience in your current field, try to think about the positive reasons about why you’re interested in tech jobs. This goes for any type of interview: bashing your previous position isn’t exactly the best way to present your experience or yourself. Hiring managers are definitely interested in knowing why you’re excited about their company so be sure to have specific reasons ready for that question. Painting a positive picture of your hopes for the future will be appealing to the hiring manager, and can help give context to why you’re transitioning without putting down your current or previous industry.
Work with a recruiter!
I may be biased here as I am a recruiter, but the work I do for job seekers is to make the job searching process as seamless and painless as possible. Applying to jobs through job boards or even on a company website can end up putting your application into a “resume black hole” that includes you, and several hundred other applicants. Companies may be hiring for multiple roles at once, which would spread their hiring manager or human resources person very thin. Companies come to Betts Recruiting when they want assistance finding qualified candidates. Before we introduce you to available opportunities, we have extensive conversations with the company about what they are looking for and what expectations are for each step of the process. Working with a recruiter can give you valuable insider information, both about available opportunities that aren’t posted elsewhere and about what the hiring manager is specifically looking for.