Hiring the tech sector is a all time high despite the media portrayal of staff freezes and massive layoffs. Bee School16 recruiters reach out weekly to inquire about hiring our students, largely because there is currently a major talent shortage in technology making it easier for people looking to break into the tech industry from other seemingly unrelated fields such as education and health care .
The disconnect is driven by news of slower hiring from tech giants like Meta and Amazon that have hired too many people in the past, but it’s irrelevant to the average job seeker given the thousands of other growth-stage tech companies that are moving fast. looking for rent in the coming year.
Even in a recession, many are able to start new careers or thriving businesses simply by targeting sectors less likely to suffer an economic downturn. The key is to get specific with the kind of opportunities you’re looking for, how you position yourself, and what you do to set yourself apart from everyone else.
Focused on the right industry for you
When you think about a career switch, it’s easy to feel like you have to start all over again. However, after talking to dozens of career changers the most common thread we identified is that each of them focused on leveraging expertise they had already developed in an unrelated industry.
Let’s take as an example breaking into technology from a non-tech sector. If you are a teacher, you should look for growing companies in the education technology niche that are looking for teachers as users and customers. These organizations will appreciate that you already know how to talk to their customer base and who the right decision makers are in a school.
If you work in a hospital, look to Health Tech companies that need your hospital surgery expertise. They can easily teach you how to talk about their software, but they may not have talent in the team that really understand how the hospital system works, which takes years to develop.
This is a critical step that most career transitioners miss. Of the thousands of applications reviewed by our team, less than 1% of applicants focused on opportunities clearly related to their transferable skills or knowledge. If you do this, you are automatically in the top 1%.
Rapid refresher training to fill CV gaps
You don’t need a Masters Degree or MBA to break into an industry like tech. This sector has shifted dramatically towards hiring talent with a non-traditional educational background. Short Term Certificate Programs like those offered at School16, focus on rapidly developing skills that will help you position yourself for a non-technical career in technology in just 4 months by providing guided live online education with expert mentors who will teach you the ins and outs of the industry.
You can also supplement live education with self-paced certificate programs offered by tech giants like google and LinkedIn to enhance your resume. While self-paced courses typically can’t replace live online classes that provide project-based work with real-time feedback, they do add credibility to your resume and help you stand out at a low cost.
Develop a network that will get you a job
Looking for opportunities during a recession means standing out. If you only apply for jobs posted online, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to set yourself apart from everyone else doing the same.
The top candidates we spoke to use two critical strategies to set themselves apart from all other applicants. First, they only apply to jobs that are relevant to their background or domain knowledge. This makes it very easy for them to contact hiring managers directly after applying to express their interest, rather than passively waiting for a response. These hiring managers often welcome immediate follow-ups because it saves them time guessing who to speak to the most proactive candidates.
Top candidates also stand out by narrowing their focus to a few companies (5-10) they are very interested in rather than blindly taking every opportunity they see. This strategy allows them to network with employees and leaders within their target list of companies before and after they sign up.
Economic downturn is cyclical and most of us will experience at least 2 or 3 of them during our career. But they don’t have to feel intimidating. Microsoft, Airbnb, Groupon and even Burger King all have their start during a recession. You don’t have to be afraid to look for new opportunities when the economy is in a downward spiral. You just need to pursue industries that are still healthy and learn how to stand out from the crowd to achieve your goals.
