Ask HN: How do I help get my significant other a job in tech? NYC/ATL

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3348467

by Whitespace • 15 years ago

3 3 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

My girlfriend is looking to switch careers but doesn't have any experience outside of the call center job she's held since college. She's finding it impossible to get a job in the areas that she's interested in (librarian/archivist, executive assistant, customer service, office manager) and is emotionally drained from writing cover letters and sending résumés to job sites only to hear complete silence.

I had the idea that she could work at a startup as an intern. She'd get lots of experience doing a wide variety of things that she'd immediately be good at (customer support, office manager, receptionist) as well as get to be introduced to completely new things such as marketing, product, or design, which could be her dream job. Plus, she'd learn about the tech scene and could network to find other opportunities instead of having to blindly submit résumés.

I think that even just three months at a startup would give her much more experience than working as a drone somewhere else, and she's really excited at the prospect of working in a small team with other young people.

Has anyone else gotten their significant other into the tech scene? How should I approach another startup if I were to ask them in her stead (she's in Atlanta now, I'm in NYC)? What things should I do to help prep her for her interviews?

gyardley• 15 years ago

I can only speak for me personally - but I'd find it strange if someone I didn't know from Adam gave me a introduction to their girlfriend. I'd think 'what in hell's wrong with the girlfriend - why didn't she just contact me directly?' Even if she's in Atlanta, I think she should be the one reaching out, not you.

(The situation's completely different if I do know you - candidate referrals from personal networks are always fine.)

You can help her by giving her the confidence that it's possible for a non-technical person to hustle their way into a startup and then learn a ton. You might also be able to help her by doing research on the startups, to identify candidates she wants to approach.

That said, the main things that are going to make the difference all have to do with her and her attitude. When I've hired people in your girlfriend's position, enthusiasm, confidence, hustle, and the ability to genuinely convey knowledge about and interest in my company and industry have gone a long way.

When entry-level jobs are publicly posted you get a deluge of people, and it's hard to stand out. Instead of applying to what's out there, I'd be approaching companies that haven't bothered to post. A personalized email that included feedback on / ideas for / questions about my company, a description of what she could do for my company now and what role she'd like to grow into, affordable salary expectations, and a request to talk further by phone would certainly get my attention. Done right, I'd think about whether I had a role for this woman, even if I didn't have an open position.

I've got an (anecdotal) impression that things are a little tight in NYC right now for entry-level folks - a former intern of mine with experience at multiple startups has put together some part-time work, but she's been looking for that full-time position for months now. I wouldn't let that discourage your girlfriend, though - work hard, long, and smart enough and good things will eventually happen.

Whitespace• 15 years ago

Thanks for your comment; this is really helpful information.

To clarify what I meant by asking in her stead, I meant if I were at a meetup or mixer and was talking to some founders, not applying for a job in her stead (which would be really strange).

__ingrid__• 15 years ago

I don't think meetups are a great place to ask about entry level positions. I tried this while looking for a technical internship, and I was most successful when I could talk about/show a project that particular founder was interested in. When they weren't interested in talking about my work, one of two things would happen:

1.) If they were a well established company they'd just refer me to their jobs site and probably barely remember afterwards so it was almost starting from scratch.

2.) If they were a small company still getting started they would remember me because I said "intern" and they thought that might mean "free".

I feel like you're going to get a lot of these kinda reactions if you're just mentioning her, because there's not much to say about her if she doesn't have some solid experience you can mention. If she's really into start ups and is a good conversationist, I'd just bring her to mixers if you can. Don't mingle with her though, you two should split up and she should strike up conversation on her own, if she's with you all night she may get treated as arm candy.

Other than that she can comb the Who's Hiring thread for smaller companies that are just getting started and that she'd be interested in, research them, and email them saying she found them on Hacker News, and why she thought she as neat. Her lack of experience will be hard to get around, but showing genuine interest in start ups outside of employment is always helpful.