Girls In Tech

Resume Best Practices Workshop

Sponsored by Kosmix: The web organized for you

Have you ever wondered what it is, exactly, about your resume that will turn a recruiter on/off to your potential as a candidate for employment? Find out with Girls in Tech Silicon Valley, on November 19, as we invite a variety of  managers / recruiters to share resume best practices and knowledge around how to make yourself an attractive professional in today’s competitive market.

During the evening, participants will be breaking out into intimate groups to do peer resume reviews while Hiring Professionals provide valuable insight and feedback.

Professionals from the following industries and others will be joining us:

Lizelle Baylon, Principal Recruiter at Boston Scientific (Medical Devices)

Debbie Donovan, Sr. Manager, Practice & Hospital Market Development at Intuitive Surgical (Medical Devices)

Kiran Prasad, CTO at Sliced Simple, Inc. Former Senior Director WebOS Emerging Technologies at Palm (Mobile)

Cindy Wang, Product Manager at Tiny Prints Inc. (Online Retailer)

Stephanie Lonn, Technical Recruiter at Zynga (Social Media / Games)

Isabelle Mitura, Recruiter at Zynga (Social Media / Games)

Spots are first come, first serve. Refreshments and snacks will be provided!

Doors open at 6:45, breakout sessions begin at 7:00pm
$10 in advance (register at Eventbrite)
$15 at the door

Kosmix
444 Castro St
(Entrance on Mercy St)
Mountain View, CA 94041

This event is being rescheduled. Please keep an eye out for a future Facebook invite or check the Girls in Tech blog for updates. Thank you!

Sponsored by: Kosmix: The web organized for you

If you had three minutes to get to know another business professional, what would you say? Join Girls In Tech – Silicon Valley as they put a new spin on traditional business networking with “Speed Networking”.

Speed networking is a unique and fun way to network without dealing with the awkward conversation starters and exit strategies at typical networking events.  It allows you to meet more people throughout the evening and helps you to get straight to the heart of the conversation. We will start off the evening with networking tips and ways to converse with others. Then you get to practice during the three minute conversation blitz.  If three minutes isn’t enough for you, keep the conversation going afterwards and socialize over drinks and hors d’oeuvres!

In addition, you can participate in the Kosmix Lucky Twit giveaway. Lucky Twit lets you pick tweets at random from a group of hashtag comments. Attendees can tweet something with #GIT@Kosmix sometime during the evening, and have a chance to win some prizes.

Join us and have some fun on Thursday, October 15 at our first speed networking event of the year hosted at the Kosmix’s office in Mountain View! Doors will open at 6:30 PM and the event will start promptly at 6:45 p.m. Be sure to bring lots of business cards!

Pre-register by Wed, 10/14 – $8
$10 at the door
*Wine, drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Agenda:
6:30 PM            Doors open
6:45 – 7:00 PM     Networking Tips
7:00 – 8:00 PM     Speed Networking Blitz (3 mins per person)
8:00 – 8:30 PM     Open Floor Socializing

Where:
Kosmix
444 Castro Street
(Entrance on Mercy Street)
Mountain View, CA 94041

I am a PC. I am happy with my Thinkpad. Yes, there are service packages that I need to install, but I look at it as par for the course. I understand the complaints others have regarding their Windows machine. I appreciate the Mac commercial (though I do have more sympathy for the PC character, since I think the Mac character is way to smug…) I am happy with my Windows machine (or I am not cool enough for a Mac).

I have an iPod Touch. I use it mostly for the apps and enjoy trying out different ones. However, I have been reluctant to download more recently. Why? Well, it seems like every time I want to try something new, I discover that I need to upgrade the software on my iPod.

This was my recent experience trying to download a new app. I needed the new iPhone/iPod software. Okay, I synced it with my computer in order to upgrade. Oh, we can’t upgrade it yet, my iTunes software needed to be upgraded. Okay – downloaded the new version of iTunes. By the way, it came with Quicktime, Bonjour, and MobileMe, that Apple thinks I will need (I uninstalled some of them last time I upgraded). Okay… (The download and install took a while.) Afterwards, I needed to reboot my computer. By the way, my previously made shortcut didn’t work anymore. Okay, I needed to make a new shortcut. Hmm, why did it take over 30 seconds to load the new iTunes? Finally, I was able to upgrade the software for the iPod. It costed $9.95! Sigh!

I was told that the $9.95 thing is not Apple’s fault – it is GAAP related. Those silly accounting rules… But the whole process for me wanting to try out a new app took FOREVER. Yes, it was a one time thing, but there were incremental upgrades that I had to do in the past. The upgrade process is not the most simple, the syncing and the dual downloading / installing. It happened more frequently that I like for a portable music player. Yet, there are no major complaints from Apple users. Why is that?

I get the sense that Apple can’t do no wrong, whereas everything Microsoft does is evil. Maybe I am not seeing the Apple complainers. Still, Apple is a huge company making money off of us. Even Google has been getting some flack after getting “too big”. Why does the public seem to have this double standards with Microsoft and Apple?

Please checkout GIT Silicon Valley launch event on Thrusday, 9/10.

http://gitiphoneapps.eventbrite.com/

We are very excited to introduce Girls in Tech – Silicon Valley! Yup, girls of the South Bay and Peninsula, we now have events closer to home.

Our first event is

From Whiteboard to App Store: Taking your iPhone app from concept to launch

Thursday, September 10, 2009
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM (PT)

Event Description:

Have you ever had a great idea that you thought would make for a perfect iPhone application? Ever wonder how to get your product ideas from a paper napkin to getting launched in the iTunes app store? Do you have questions on how to develop the perfect user interface for your applications? Are you interested in learning more about how to monetize your iPhone applications?

The Girls in Tech-Silicon Valley chapter launch event aims to answer all these questions and more. We have put together a fantastically talented and knowledgeable panel of experts who will not only be informative, but engaging and inspirational as well. The panel consists of Suzanne Ginsburg of Ginsburg Design and author of the iPhone design blog iPhone UX Reviews, Mike Fyall from AdMob, an expert in promoting and monetizing your app with advertising, and Dhana Pawar, a leading mobile application development expert.

Panel:
Suzanne Ginsburg of Ginsburg Design and author of the iPhone design blog iPhone UX Reviews
Mike Fyall of AdMob, an expert in promoting and monetizing mobile applications via advertising
Dhana Pawar, a leading mobile application development expert

So come join us for a session of networking, learning, bloopers and, yes, successes too!!

Where:
TIPS Groups
1000 Elwell Court, Suite 150
Palo Alto, California 94303
650-293-3350

Price:
$10.00 (includes hors d’oeuvres & drinks)

RSVP:
http://gitiphoneapps.eventbrite.com/

Like many of you, I am also job hunting. I am searching though job listings, using my network, and trying to expand it. We hear many, many stats telling us that of all the job-hunting techniques, networking is the most effective. But, what if networking is not working for you? Your industry is going through restructuring. Your contacts are going through the same thing you are. Now what?

So, I came across this book at the bookstore – Get Hired Fast, Tap the Hidden Job Market in 15 Days.  Okay, I am not naïve enough to believe the title, but it did get my attention. Quickly flipping through it, it provides a 15-Day Action Plan to tap into the “hidden job market”.  The argument here is to use the direct-calling approach – calling people you have never met. You target people in key hiring position with companies you are interested in. It provides advices on how to cold call. Of course, you need to do in-depth research first, such as company mission, competitors, current company projects, what you can bring to the company… Next, you need to get at least 150 contacts. How? Google, Hoovers, Yahoo Finance, alumni associations… The point is not to know them personally, just people to call.

Then, call them.  Make 5 calls in the mornings. Make 5 calls in the afternoons. Arrange one to two in-depth conversations with hiring contacts within a selected company. Per day. This is hard work. You will get rejection. 50 calls can lead to only 8 connections, to 1 interview.

Call with confidence. Call before work day starts (6:30 to 8 am) or after work days ends (5-7pm). Call at 50 minutes past the hour, when the contact just finish a meeting, with a few minutes before the next one. Call with a rehearsed script. And call.

The book really pushed you out of your comfort zone. It goes against your natural job hunting instincts. But if you are frustrated with how things are now, it is worth a shot.

Be on the lookout for details of the GIT Silicon Valley launch event on Thrusday, 9/10.

http://gitiphoneapps.eventbrite.com/