Job Hunting Talk Proposal

RailsConf2016.md

###Bio I am a native Texan, US Army Veteran, and mom to two brilliant teenage boys. I found a love of programming while working as a technology recruiter in Nashville. I decided to turn my hobby into my new career and attended Nashville Software School where I learned full-stack development with Ruby, Rails, Javascript, and Angular.

I have helped organize user groups like Code for Nashville, Nashville MongoDB, and currently Nash.rb. I assist in organizing conferences like Nodevember and BarCamp.

###Abstract Software Developers are a highly sought after group. But the jobs we are contacted about are rarely the ones we want. When it is time to take the next step in your career, are you going to know how to do it? In this talk, I discuss the modern job ecosystem and provide tips and techniques for job hunting in a rich market.

###Details I started out in technology as a Technical Recruiter. I was fortunate enough to see the job hunt through that lens. I want to take my listeners through relevant observations and suggested techniques from those experiences.

I have 4 main categories (10 minutes each):

1. Resume strategy:: Are you sending your resume to a database or a human?

2. Interviewing:: Everyone is terrible at it.

3. Networking:: It really is all about who you know.

4. Negotiating offers

####Resume Strategy will cover organization and layout of resumes. How resumes are being processed, tactical submissions, writing resumes for databases and humans.

####Interviewing will cover how to properly interview your next employer. Analyze the interview process and common steps. I will discuss what to expect on phone screens, technical interviews, and in-person interviews.

####Networking will cover how to mostly eliminate resumes and interviews through the power of networking. Through community involvement, you can find your next mentor, employer, or padawan. Through volunteering and community support, you can find what it is like to work with other teams. I discuss strategies for finding relevant community activities and participation.

####Finally... Negotiating. You CAN wait for that other offer to come in before you decide. Make sure you are getting what you want for compensation. I will discuss common requests, etiquette, and limitations in the negotiating process.

My tone is fun and sarcastic with a quickened pace.

###Pitch We are all job seekers at multiple times in our careers. As a recruiter, I witnessed the job hunt on a large scale. Now, as a developer, I can say I will never apply for a job the same way again. Being a recruiter opened my eyes to the hiring process in a technical age and saturated market. It is possible to hack the process and find the job that is the best fit for you!

Seems like a very thorough plan for a talk and lots of useful content.

Did they want this much detail? If you are emailing this in rather than filling in an online form, maybe put the bio at the end so the idea comes across first.

'My tone is fun and sarcastic' Sarcastic? Is that a good thing? Why would I want a speaker to be sarcastic at me?

Agreed on the reference to tone; leave that for attendees to discover on their own. I'd suggest trying to beef up the Abstract section a bit more, maybe mention the four areas you'll cover there rather than separately (i.e. in Details). A number of conferences will typically want an abstract of restricted length, but one that fully communicates to prospective attendees what the talk will cover, so in that respect it needs to concise but descriptive.

Conference bios are usually in the third person so they can get copy-and-pasted to the site if you're accepted. If the conference you're submitting to doesn't specify, try to find examples from previous years and match the tense.

I agree about beefing up the abstract. Attendees won't see anything besides your abstract, and some conferences won't even let you submit more than that. The abstract should sell the talk on its own, with the rest of the detail making your case stronger.