Those who last applied for a job a couple of decades ago will find themselves in unknown waters once they restart their job search. At least that's what happened to me. The process has changed so much it took me a bit to adjust. I'd advise everybody, whether you're planning to leave or not, to start applying and going to interviews. This is just to get a feel for it again, even if you're not that interested in the position you're interviewing for. If nothing else, you will be prepared in case you're unexpectedly laid off.
5 replies (most recent on top)
I was part of the 2017 layoff and the job market had changed a lot in the last decade. Back in the “naughties”, you used to just go to a few agencies and you’d get interviews but now LinkedIn is king and you need to get through keyword searches before you are even considered for roles. I’d advise getting LinkedIn Premium for a few months. It might seem expensive, but it really pepped me up to see “you have appeared in x searches” every day and you can learn new skills on LinkedIn Learning. Invest in some time to understand how the market has changed. Invest in your network. There’s nothing more awkward than having a “do you have a job for me?” conversation with an ex-colleague who’s now a VP but you haven’t spoken to for 15 years. Keep trying, you ARE a “Senior Technical whatever” not WERE. You DO have a job, it’s just that for now, your job is to find a new job. You’ll get there. It took me a year, but I got there eventually and I’m now very happy!
❤
What I have learned this year is to never stop interviewing. Practice makes perfect and you learn new trends to improve current job environment.
tech interviews, when i got a job twenty years ago all you had was a chat and a few technical questions.
Now I'm expected to know a riduclous amount of information and do it all in a timed test.
I have over twenty years of SW experience in embedded systems but got told I failed the interview because I forgot a basic c++ function which in real life wouldve taken me one minute to look up. The only other thing I failed on, they gave me some stupid puzzle that I recognized instantly as unsolvable which they said I had correctly spotted but Because I didn't waste time on optimizing an unsolvable thing I failed!!! Ignored 20 years of programming avionics because I didn't optimise some stupid egg dropping problem. Was told I had good answers for everything else.
Ps. Don't think I went into the interview with negative attitude from the above, it was only after the interview I had a negative attitude.
For those lifers at Citrix the interviews could be tough to handle. You have to be up on current trends in the real world. Having 15+ yrs here won’t be any benefit to you. I agree with OP that it won’t be easy.
Changed how?