u/Federal-Subject3838

Anybody know when they'll restock merch? Want to get a gift for a friend and everything between a small and large is sold out.

Got fired on Christmas Eve last year. My old line manager threw me under the bus for a huge mistake they made and told everyone that they messed up. However, they officially fired me with that blame, even though I had documentation to prove against it. My old line manager abused their power as second in command at that place and I have a pending lawsuit for wrongful termination where one of the local attorneys is taking the case pro bono since it was a slam dunk and he felt really bad for me.

In the meantime, that person also spread lies throughout the industry I was in (very small field) and was effectively blacklisted from most places, despite the pending lawsuit, as I had no clout compared to may former boss. I spent this entire year trying to look for a job and I'm happy to say I'm finally employed.

I also wanted to share what worked for me:

1. Not using AI to make my resume. I know it sounds like shitty advice but I was cranking Chat-GPT and Gemini to create AI-generated resumes to mass spam to any job I thought I was qualified for. The rate of getting an interview was ~8% or something after 124 apps and I would make it to final rounds, but I'd always get passed on for another person. I started to tailor my resumes to JDs by myself. Sure, the number of apps decreased, but it really made me focus on the skills that the JD actually required and helped me read between the lines of what exact person they wanted. For example, if they had a technical skill they wanted worded a certain way, I could tell if they wanted someone with my background or someone from the other background that would apply for the position.

2. Doing research for jobs to apply to AND researching the company/team. Again, it sounds obvious, but what I mean by this is not just gunning for top companies/"big-name" brands. I looked for companies big and small, hot or cold, all across the country. For my case, I especially considered companies that had relocation benefits as I was willing to move. I applied to "big-name" companies but also found more niche places as well, and while researching them, I would dive into what they say the culture was and could tell what kind of a role they preferred. For example, let's say it's engineering. You could read and see if they wanted this person to be technically-specific on certain niche skills, a jack-of-all-trades, or someone who's more of a "translator" who can facilitate the work to other teams while having knowledge of only certain skills. That helped me tailor my resumes and get offers at the end of the day. In addition, there are many many companies out there, but you need to do the research on finding them and not just focusing on big names. It's sorta like applying to college where you have "dream schools" (basically F500s/hot startups/etc) and you have safeties (local/small businesses) and you apply to both if you want any chance of going to college. Also, by doing this,

3. Prepping for interviews as if they're final exams. Probably because my role is more technical, but I treated interviews as if they were final exams. I studied the technical stuff based on googling interview questions for my field, practiced STAR questions, knew my resume back-and-forth, and also thought of some project ideas based on my previous experience that would help the team. I spent at least an hour a day "studying" as if it were like an exam in school and it really paid off.

4. Using Linkedin. People don't really teach people how to use LinkedIn. Sure, it's harder in other fields compared to others, but just reach out to people via your alumni circle or previous employers. It sucks, but just reach out. After you have a decent circle (~80 connections) then cold message/email people in the field/company you want to work at and ask for a zoom chat on how they broke in the field or how they got to working at said company. I only got 5 responses out of 103 emails+messages, but those 5 responses really helped. 4 of 5 gave me a referral and all of them connected me with other people or taught me their "tricks" in applying. All 5 of them found open positions at their company or at places they knew people and I was able to get to the final interview stages at all of them.

I've been a lurker here for a long time and finally caved into making an account to ask stupid questions on here. You all made it possible even though I did a huge career switch. Thank you all so much and if I could do it in this job market, so can you!!

A friend recently was hired as a new grad and their relocation assistance was the 7.5k lump sum and the recruiter is saying they can't negotiate this despite having to move cross-country with her family and sell her house. I remember when I started I got all expenses covered but that was L2. Is that true or could the they negotiate? I just told her to try to reason with them because she has a competing offer somewhere else with a less-ideal location but full relocation.

Got the panel interview email last week and replied immediately with the three of the four dates that worked for me. The recruiter said that they'll get back after working with the team to get it scheduled but hasn't said anything for a week now. Should I send a quick email with my written summary?

Just wondering on how long things took for the hiring manager+team to decide whether you moved onto the panel or not. The hiring manager said that the talent team should contact me soon and so far, the phrase "may reach out soon" has meant within 1-2 business days for me. It's been more than seven business days and was getting worried with all the times I got ghosted at this stage. I'm also in the interview process with/got unofficial offers from other places but I would drop anything to be at Blue if given the opportunity not gonna lie.

Got to the final stage of interviews for a scientist position and am giving a 45 minute seminar. I was told to basically rehash my research seminars/showcase my skills as a researcher, even though my research itself isn't related to the role of the job, and rather, to focus on the research content. It was mentioned to not really concentrate too much on connecting the work, which came as a surprise to me. I was also told to have a couple of slides introducing myself, which I've never done before.

I was wondering how I should prepare for this, how others tackled this situation, and other general advice. I'm grateful to even get this far where they're flying me out and getting this position would be really awesome!

Just wondering about the interview steps. Is it a screen, then a 30 minute technical interview with the hiring manager, then a bunch of 45 minute interviews with other engineers, if you get past the 30 minute technical with the hiring manager? Got an email to fill out screening questions and after I answer it, I got passed to the next round stating it's a 30 minute technical with the hiring manager. I'm applying to other places and their technical interviews are 45-60 minutes for an engineer II position and didn't really know what to expect for this 30 minute technical with Blue.

Sorry for the stupid question and thanks for the help.