Maxwell Elliott

The following post was submitted by one of our Readyforce students: Maxwell Elliott from Ohio State University. Maxwell connected with over 25 companies and received 5 job offers after creating a profile on Readyforce.  He recently accepted a position with Originate. Congratulations Maxwell!  

When other students ask about how my job search is going they seem very surprised by my answer.  They cannot seem to believe that someone could connect with over 25 companies and receive more than 5 offers.  Those who are intrigued by my results ask, “What do you recommend I do to have the same result?” and this is what I say:

1.    Learn things outside of class:  The most uncomfortable feeling is when you get the question “So what do you work on in your free time?” and you have nothing to talk about.   There is no better response to this question than giving the interviewer a link to your application. Find what you like to work with and just start doing it. Like web development? Show it by studying a web framework and then make a website.  Don’t worry if what you make is already out there, you will learn so much just from making something and sharing it with others. Also it doesn’t matter what you learn outside of class, the interviewer will see your passion. (School projects are great but most interviewers will quickly discover if it is a school project, stand out and do you own projects!)

2.     Aim High! : You never know what you can achieve when you haven’t even tried!  Before I started using ReadyForce, I was about to accept a position in Columbus Ohio.  I wanted to live and work in the Bay area but I thought “How can I achieve that?”  One day I said, “I am just going to start applying to jobs in the Bay area”.  After joining Readyforce, applying and interviewing many, many times, I found a great job in San Francisco with Originate.  Looking back I am so glad I tried to apply in the Bay area at all.

3. Solve every problem you can on CodeEval:  CodeEval is amazing because you can practice on so many problems and CodeEval saves your answers!  The more problems you solve the higher probability you have of seeing a previously solved problem come up in an interview, which is huge. (Protip: Make sure to solve FizzBuzz)

4.     Never get discouraged! : At the end of the day we are all just students and we make mistakes.  Did you just bomb your Facebook interview? Yeah, it sucks but what matters is that you don’t get depressed.  Many companies will say no, some will say yes but if you get depressed or negative it will show up in the interview and will give others an edge.

5.    Get a profile on ReadyForce: ReadyForce provided me with the best bang for the buck for my job seeking efforts.  ReadyForce also allows you to keep track of whom you are currently talking to which help as you talk to more and more companies. I received so many connections just from this site!

I hope that these tips help you with your job search and I wish anyone reading this the best of luck with their interviews!

-Maxwell.