** Hey again, everyone! Happy 2022 to you all! I have such a great feeling about this year, and you can quote me on this at the end of the year. I genuinely believe this will be a year filled with wonder for all of us …and for my readers on the job hunt, you’re landing that Tech Job in 2022!

Below is a list of a few additions I have planned for this year:

• I will be adding this small section at the beginning of most articles, where I will have a small informal catch-up with you all before we go into the actual read. Skip past the ** signs if you just want to get into the reading.
• I will begin showcasing people with exciting careers in Tech! I hope they encourage you to keep designing your perfect career…watch out for this coming soon!
• Stay tuned for more exciting career content such as company profiles, hiring manager interviews, and more!
• I’m growing my base! So please sign up for my newsletter here and follow me on Medium. **

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What I've learnt along the way

I recently sat down with the ladies of the Tech Unstacked Podcast (please check out their podcast — shout out to them!). We spoke about my career journey, the various career changes I had made, and how I finally found my way into Tech. The conversation allowed me to go deeper into my career journey and provide more context into how and why I made some of the career changes I made. I’ll share the episode in my next blog post when the new episode airs!

One of the opportunities this gave was to detail how I practically went about showcasing the value I could bring to Tech companies when I had never worked in Tech before. And so, here it is!

Four practical things you can do within your CV and cover letter (or during an interview to get you into that new Tech Job.)

1. Showcase overlaps in contexts

Showcasing overlaps in context is one of the best ways to showcase your transferable knowledge. For example, you might have been a corporate travel agent helping small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) manage and plan their business travel. As a travel agent, you might have experienced a number of your SME clients struggling to pay for your services on time due to delays in receiving payments from their corporate or government clients. This example showcases that working with SME’s, no matter the context, means you have an understanding of SMEs ’ major pain points (such as cash flow issues). But, more importantly, it also showcases that you are likely to have experience solving for these pain points. Such experience would be gold for Fintech companies looking to improve ease of doing business for SMEs.

You can use this same approach with other areas such as having worked in similar geographies (rural areas, a particular country and their operating context, etc.), tools (salesforce, etc.), target audiences (women, Diversity & Inclusion, etc.), and more.

2. Showcase overlaps in interests and values

This is where your personality and interests get to shine! It is important to highlight areas of overlap in interests and values between you and the company. You can do this by giving examples of times when you showcased a particular value that the business believes in. For instance, if the company values a self-starter mindset, speak about the projects you developed, pitched, and managed in your previous roles. If someone on your hiring team is passionate about coffee, then talk to them about a fantastic coffee tasting tour you went on. Keep all examples honest so that you can find the best company and team match for you!

3. Showcase overlaps in expertise/skillsets

This one seems pretty straightforward, but many people still struggle with it, so it still deserves mention. It’s crucial to show hiring managers that you can do the work despite having limited practical knowledge of the exact context. One of the ways one can do this is by showcasing overlaps in expertise/skillsets. For example, you can outline that you’ve used similar tools to those used by the company (Salesforce, Zendesk, Google Analytics, and more) that you’ve used similar ways of working.

4. Showcase the relationships you have

Lastly, people often forget that who they know and their relationships are also valuable assets for any company to have access to. A great network can help companies broker deals more efficiently, set up more contextually relevant partnerships, and get them into rooms they might have never thought of before. Showcasing your network would also show hiring managers that you’re good at building and nurturing relationships. So, go ahead and mention the various corporates, non-profit organisations, and/or government departments you’ve worked with and the projects you’ve delivered together.

Conclusion

In conclusion, think broader about the value you can bring to a company! Then, reinforce this throughout your hiring experience by covering all 4 sections above, and you’re sure to land your new job!

Happy Job hunting!