WiBD Interview Workshop, May 4, 2017

May 10, 2017

The Women in Big Data Workshop, May 4, 2017

Forty-seven attendees showed up to a packed room at Cloudera HQ to join Bob Loftis in a workshop on Interviewing Skills. Women of many ages, nationalities and points in their careers attended the event, recognizing the need for soft skills training (as hard skills alone are simply not enough to navigate today’s business culture.).

Some of the key points Bob shared:

Our communication impact:
- Words we use 7%
- How we speak 38%
- How we look/behave 55%
Ways to control stress in the moment:
- Breathing
- Learn to be happy in the moment
- Meditate
Interviewing and Networking:
- IAO answer: what was the ISSUE, what ACTION did I take, what was the OUTCOME
- Develop a communications plan, where do I want to go
- Source resume (master) is a 10 page private document to use subsets of per job posting
- LinkedIn profile is generic v. custom-targeted resume per job posting
Tell me about yourself, why do you want to work here and other common questions:
- Use IAO type answers and then follow up with would you like to know more about that?
- Use open dialogue like what and how (not yes or no answers).

In addition, Bob suggested volunteering at Meetups, asking for informational interview, etc. to expand ones’ network. Silicon Valley Engineering Leadership and Agile Leaders Network are a few Meetups he likes. A member of the audience suggested iRelaunch for women going back to work

Click here to access a course slide deck for flow and practice demo scripts for ideas, as well as note resources page, including Crucial Conversations by Patterson.

Thank you to Cloudera for hosting the well-attended event and to career coach Bob Loftis (his photo attached) for taking us through this training. And mark your calendars for another training Bob will be leading on negotiation at the end of July, 2017. Plus, the WiBD Mentoring team will also host some soft skills round table sessions in 2H’17.