Наталя Хандусенко Work 29 January 2025, 15:01

Dreaming of working for a big IT company? Here are job search tips from a former Amazon, Meta, and Google recruiter for juniors and seniors

Before becoming a career coach, Holly Lee worked as a consultant at Microsoft, headed the engineering recruitment department, and later managed the recruiting departments at Amazon, Meta, Google, and several startups. Here are her tips for those IT professionals who are having trouble finding a job. It will be especially useful for beginners and for those who dream of working in large IT companies.

Start small.

If you are at the beginning of your IT career, do not start your job search with large companies where there is the most competition.

Lee recommends looking at smaller companies, but they should offer opportunities for growth, learning, and developing the skills you need. Small and medium-sized companies will also allow you to try out different roles.

You might also find a fast-growing startup looking for Series B or C funding, which means the company has enough revenue to keep someone employed for a while.

"When you're fresh out of college or starting your career, you may not know what you're passionate about or what role suits you. A smaller company can allow you to explore, helping you figure it out," Lee told Business Insider.

Be willing to learn.

The recruiter also advises you to master as many skills as possible.

When you work for a big company, they want to see a wide range of skills. If you can juggle a few different things, you have a better chance of getting the job than 1,000 other people applying for the same position.

“If you’re hired as a web designer, don’t just stick to web design tasks—look for opportunities to take on other projects that will help you gain additional skills,” says Lee.

To learn skills that go beyond your role, help colleagues and see other projects they are working on. If you are a UI/UX designer and want to become a graphic designer, these are different skills, but you can master them, says the recruiter.

The same goes for programming languages. “Let’s say you don’t have experience with Java or Python. If you know one of those, you can learn to translate between similar languages. In fact, coding has a lot in common — you just need to learn the little tricks,” the recruiter added.

Build a network

Networking is the way to go, says Lee. One way to build it is to pay attention to your friends and the people you meet. You can also join groups and communities on LinkedIn and Facebook.

The recruiter provides an example of a message you might send to someone you know. Don't just say, "I saw you work at Amazon, and I want to work there." Instead, try something like, "I've been following your career and I'm interested in your growth at Amazon. I noticed you recently worked at Microsoft, and I'd like to add you to my network."

If you're reaching out on LinkedIn, tell them what you found interesting about their profile and try to build a relationship, not just send a one-time message. You should find a way to stand out and ask yourself how you can be of benefit to the person.

Prepare for the interview

Make sure you're prepared for the interview. If you're asked why you want to work for a company, interviewers want to hear three sentences, not a fifteen-minute answer. Ultimately, companies want to see if you have the desire and ability to learn and do well.

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