Greetings from the final TechLauncher workshop at the Australian National University. This is a chance for students to not only listen to potential employers but also talk to them. Of course many computer students already have jobs, as they have in demand skills. There are some extra requirements for computer people, such as a Github account to show they can code. The workshop is held in "The Hive" which is an open plan area set up to look like a typical shared office environment.
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| Bianca Sawyer, Quantum Brilliance |
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| Kevin Landale, Digital Atelier |
These workshops are intended to help students, but a bonus for staff, such as myself, is to meet interesting people from interesting companies. The three company representatives (who are also company founders) talked about how they ended up where they are.
Jonathon emphasised that applicants should be ready to talk about why they applied in everyday language.
Bianca emphasised the importance of a cover letter focused on relevant qualifications, skills and experience, not just "sixteen pages of CV" and no "Spam CVs". Kevin said he uses behavioural pre-screening questions, unrelated to technical skills. Jonathon asked if job ads should give the specifics upfront, or talk about the learning opportunities in the job and he was surprised that students preferred the upfront version. The students then talked about what they studied and what they aspired to work on. One student said they wanted to work at a large company, at which point the employers discussed the pros and cons.
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| Jonathon Stapels, Overflow Solutions |
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