The days when our graduates ring us up and tell us their job success stories are simply the best! We recently got a call from Galina, and she wanted to tell us about her remarkable QA role in Manhattan. Read on to learn more about her success story.
Tell us about yourself and how long it took you to get a well-paying job?
So, I took my Careerist QA course in July and I graduated in August.
I started looking for jobs around September. Why didn’t I look straight away? Well, I just wanted to take some time to watch all the videos from the course one more time, so that I would feel more comfortable and really confident about QA before I went to interviews.
My last interview was in the middle of November of the same year, so it took me 2.5 months to get a job after graduating.
The company I had my final interview with didn’t make me a final offer for a very long time because they were doing some strict background checks. So, it took some time to get a starting date. I did start to worry, but it’s all okay now.
Were you actively applying for jobs every single day?
Honestly, I was picky about the jobs I applied to, and so I didn’t apply for too many jobs.
I think I applied for around a hundred or so jobs in total.
However, one HR recruiter found me, via LinkedIn I believe, and I got an email from them asking if I’d be interested in a job.
You were quite lucky in your job search, but we recommend that our students are very active in their job search, what would you say to other students?
I was actually very lucky in my job search. I mean I was asking for $80,000 per year on some applications, and some companies I had interviews with offered me much more. I am very grateful and happy about this miracle, but I doubt this will be the case for everyone.
My advice, listen to what the Careerist team say and apply for jobs as they recommend. Your chances of getting a job will be higher the more applications you send out.
How were your interviews? Were they crazy or had you prepared well in advance for them?
Pretty much all the interview questions were the same across the different interviews.
I did have a video chat interview too, because the company's headquarters were located in Germany, and this was exciting. During the interview, I didn’t fully understand what the interviewer wanted to hear from me, and it was weird, but I managed to complete the interview successfully because I tried my best.
All the others were easy. There were no questions about API, Unix or anything like that. In time I figured out that interviewers were mostly looking for good communication skills, and they wanted to see how easy I was to work with.
How long were your interviews?
My interview durations were mixed lengths. Some were short but some were long.
I had one call that initially lasted 4.5 hours and there were 7 people present, the successful people would get to the next interview phase. Then I had a call that lasted 2 hours and there were 4 people present. There were more behavioral questions by this point, but I managed to secure my place in the final interview. The final interview was around 4 hours long and there were 2 other people present.
How does it feel now that you’ve got a great job?
It feels really good.
It’s a full-time job with all the benefits and vacation time that I could ever want. I get paid holidays, and I also get discounts on the products made by the company. The location is fine, given that it’s Manhattan, New York, but what they’re offering me smoothes out all of the minor inconveniences.
Do you chat with other graduates? Do you find these chats helpful?
I chat regularly with other graduates, and yes, I find these chats useful. I really like it when we discuss some tricky interview questions on the Slack channel.
The one thing that really helped me a lot on the Careerist course, aside from great communication with teachers and students, is the internship that is offered through the course.
The internship helped me a lot during my interviews because I could talk about what I did with ease. I didn’t have to come up with some lavish story, I told them about my internship in full. My internship lasted around 2 weeks and it was a great experience that did boost my confidence.
You’ve not quite started your job, but what are the job requirements?
I know it’s a Manual position and I’m starting next week, so I will have to figure everything out! I know that the company offers an annual bonus to staff and they revise your salary every year too.
I’m so excited about starting my new job!
Things to consider
- At the beginning of any job search you should look at what jobs are available and apply for lots of jobs. You should listen carefully to what your teachers have told you, and use your notes to guide you through the process. If something is not clear feel free to contact us.
- Don’t be put off by the wording in a job advert. For example, a former student applied for a position that had Java, Python, API, SQL, and automation written in the description. There were only a few words about Manual testing. The student applied anyway, and they got the Manual testing position after all.
- Follow our instructions and get our feedback. We recently talked to a guy in LA, who was unable to find a job. We chatted and ran practice interviews with him, so we could give him feedback on his technique. There were around five issues in total that we found, and together we fixed them. The moment you feel that you are not getting interviews and/or callbacks is the time you need to contact us so we can double check everything.
- You have every chance of finding a great job even if you don’t know HTML, Python, Java, automation, API, SQL, JavaScript and CSS. If you feel like you’re stuck and not getting enough calls or interviews, just let us know and we’ll try to figure out what’s wrong. Just keep applying.
- Don’t be afraid of background and reference checks. Sometimes they take up to three months to complete, so don’t worry about it, just try and relax.