A big challenge facing a career changer is how to get a hiring manager to take a chance on you. Let’s assume that you have already taken steps to become eligible for your new career, such as getting trained or certified. Now it’s about telling your story in such a way that the hiring manager […]

Back in the day, if you wanted to really prepare for your job interview, you’d have to go to the Public Library and do some research on the company you were interviewing with. There, you would find dusty old tomes in which you could look up information about the company, and you could learn even […]

I just read a Human Resource article that was alerting managers to the fact that they might be bad interviewers. And the fact is, many of them are. I don’t mean to criticize, but good interviewing techniques don’t always come naturally - they are often the result of reading lots of good articles on how […]

Recently, I saw some interesting statistics about the hiring process. Studies have shown that 30% of hiring decisions are made within the first five minutes of an interview, and 5% are made within the first 60 seconds. That puts a fair amount of pressure on a person to make a good first impression. Obviously, you’ll […]

Who knew that 80% of money transfers and 95% of ATM swipes are still powered by programs written in COBOL? This is very good news for retired COBOL programmers who want to keep doing a bit of work. It is also good news for younger developers who learned to program in COBOL to take some […]

In business, summer is typically slow when it comes to...well, everything. Not the least of the slow-downs is the revolving door of people coming and going from vacations. Decision makers are OOO (out of office), approvals for spending are challenging to chase down, and job interviews are often difficult to get scheduled. So, if you […]

Recently, Stout Systems had the pleasure of being the food sponsor for the Great Lakes Michigan .NET Users Group meeting. We love attending these users group meetings because not only does it help us keep abreast of the latest technological advancements, it also allows us to interact with whom we consider to be the cream […]

"If you were to walk on stage, what theme song would be playing…?" I find that most people in the field of technology are not fans of this type of interview question. "I'm a Java developer!" I can hear some of you saying. "Does an employer really benefit from knowing what theme song I want […]

Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he That every man in arms should wish to be? (William Wordsworth, 1807) If you're at all inclined to read poetry, William Wordsworth describes in extensive detail who The Happy Warrior is. Among other things, "his high endeavours are an inward light that makes the path before him […]

Over the years, I've collected a surprisingly long list of things you can do--or not do--that can make or break an interview. I selected the ones that I think are the most important and impactful. I recommend that candidates take the time to review this list both at home as well as shortly before going […]