communication — Blog

How to prepare job interview take home assignments when you don't have a lot of time.

It seems like the job interview process is getting longer and longer. There are initial screenings, panel interviews, all day onsites, and take home assignments. The take home assignments can be very open ended, and it can be a challenge to create presentations that seem comprehensive. Preparing these presentations is also very time consuming when you are still at your old job, or you are talking to multiple companies. There’s some great advice out there on setting the right mindset for these assignments. I’ve developed a framework for creating thoughtful parameters for take home assignments that effectively demonstrate the necessary skillsets.

InterviewingAnica JohnNovember 28, 2018communication, interviews, career, womenintech, job search

How to win friends and influence people, in the tech world

Meeting new people for the first time can be stressful in any context. Meeting new professional contact’s, and ensuring you consistently make a good impression and a meaningful connection can be a challenge. In the tech world, where everyone seem to be on constant overdrive, it’s even harder to really focus on basic human connection instead of passing transactional platitudes. I was recently reading Miriam Grobman’s Credibility Guide, a great primer on the process we all go through when we are first meeting a new person. According to Miriam, the two most important qualities we are trying to gauge in that first meeting are “Can I trust this person?” and “Can I respect this person?”

Anica JohnNovember 9, 2018Networking, communication

In Sync: How to manage team morale when you are changing the direction of a project

This week, In Sync interviewed Randi Eichenbaum, Director of Product at Tradesy. As part of the Level Up 90 program for her first 90 days, Randi took on management of a brand new team. Within the first two months, she was already taking more responsibility and negotiating a promotion. We got an inside look at how she recently managed a major change in direction for a project her engineering team was working on. She walked us through the challenges of communicating the new initiative, and ensuring the team kept up morale.

Anica JohnNovember 4, 2018management, leadership, communication Comment

5 Ways To Expand Your Sphere Of Influence And Exhibit Leadership By Strategically Taking On More Responsibility

Even the best of us get frustrated with our roles at times. There’s the grunt work that needs to get done whether you are CEO or the intern (ok, interns definitely get more grunt work!), and then there’s the good stuff. The good stuff for you might be collaborating with others, or achieving your flow state for hours on end.

But, for almost all of us, there comes a time when we are ready to expand our role, or focus on that one thing we are AMAZING at, love to do, and brings the most value to ourselves and the people around us. The great news is that - wherever you are in your career - you can start making that transition! The real key to getting to where you want to be is to strategically take on more of the types of projects you would like to work on.