How Do You Attract the Attention of Recruiters From Top Tech Companies?

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

A person who wrote asking about how they can get someone’s attention to the top tech firm. They went to an average to a mediocre school and they really want to work for such a firm.  I answered this from the perspective of a recent grad as well as the vantage point of an experienced professional.

So, I’m Jeff Altman, the Big Game Hunter, and I received a great question: “How do you attract the attention of recruiters from top tech companies?”

So, I’m going to answer this for new grads and experienced professionals alike, but I want to read the subquestion in the original question posed of me: “I’ll be graduating with my bachelor’s in computer science by next year, and I’m looking to get into software engineering. I did not go to a well-ranked school for computer science. I’m looking for some ideas on how to attract attention from recruiters.”

So, let me address this one, then I’ll go to the general CS grad, and then I’m going to come to experienced people. So, the first question is, “I didn’t go to a great school. How do I attract their attention?” And the answer is: it’s probably too late. What you’re going to need to do is invest some time and do some great work that’s noticed in order to get into that top organization. Why? Because they’re not there to satisfy you. They’re trying to find exquisite talent for their organization, and they’ve come up with criteria that works for them. You’re a stretch at best, and probably a loser from their previous experience. That’s not a criticism of you—they’ve just come up with formulas that dictate who’s going to be successful in their organization. And it’s not the person who went to the C-school. You know, by that I mean A, B, C, D, E, F schools, so I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt—you went to a mediocre school, a C. And they’re not there to do social work and make you happy; they’re there to solve a problem, right? So, you’re going to have to up your game, and instead of doing the mediocre work that caused you to be in the C-school, you’re going to have to step up your game. So, that’s going to be on you. Now, you can do that in your next job, you can do that by working on projects on the side that get noticed, however you do it, you’ve got to step up your game so that they want to talk to you. So, that’s for that person.

For the new grad: again, for this person who hasn’t really played big yet, you’re going to have to step up. So, if you’ve gone to a top school, you know, you’ve got it easier. Not easy, but easier because you come with that brand with you. So, if you attended Stanford, you know, you’ve got a certain amount of recognition that comes with that, and they have a positive halo. But you’ve got to deliver the goods. Positive halo—that basically means the people that they’ve hired from that school in the past have been successful in their organization. Think of it from that perspective. Find the alum from your school who’ve already gone there and see if you can develop a relationship where they want to refer you. That’s the easiest way to get in. From there, it is having a profile that causes them to want to reach out to you. Talk to your career services office to see how they can set you up, if they can set you up. I’m going past Stanford at this point, obviously. So, you know, again, previous grads who’ve gone to work at these firms, career services, creating a profile that’s attractive, that calls attention to you and your work, reaching out to HR and hiring people. HR, I only bring up from the standpoint of new grads because most of the time, unless you’re getting referred by a previous grad or someone that you know there, that’s going to be your only way of getting in.

Lastly, for the experienced person: if you’ve done great work, if you are marketing yourself beyond simply “I’m in my job, in my silo, doing this task,” if you are out promoting yourself because your career is part what you do and part marketing… After all, you know of these firms for a variety of reasons, including how they’ve branded themselves from a career standpoint, right? You have to follow their model and brand yourself, and market yourself, and promote yourself outside of the cube that you work in for your current firm. Your LinkedIn profile: small piece. Your public persona, where you put yourself out, is going to be part of this. Where can you connect with people who work at these firms? Where are the speakers from these organizations appearing, and can you get introductions to them there or introduce yourself to them there? Lots of different ways to market and promote yourself, but the big thing is making sure that the world knows about you. I want you to hear that again: making sure that the world knows about you and doing it consistently.

Hope you found this helpful. Have a great day. Take care.

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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER

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