Brittany J. is making the huge transition from education to tech.
In the midst of this transition, she found SkillGigs which completely changed her job search trajectory for the better. So we caught up with her to find out her thoughts about how SkillGigs helped her career. Feel free to watch the full-length testimonial video or read along the transcript below.
Q: Hello Brittany! Are you able to tell us how you found SkillGigs?
A: Yeah! I have just transitioned into a new role as a project manager / scrum master. Before that my experience was in the educational sector. I worked as a teacher and as an assistant principal. So I’ve been doing my new gig now for about the past. And it’s been going awesome.
So I was doing a lot of applying online. I was doing it through all the typical sites, , that are out there. Just tons of them, probably five to six, at least. So I was going through LinkedIn, indeed, Glassdoor, like just all of them setting up. For jobs that would come up in my inbox. It was overwhelming to try and stay on top of which ones I had applied to through LinkedIn versus indeed, and making sure I wasn’t double applying and, the process takes a long time for each and every application. And that’s a lot when you already have a full-time job on top of it. So, it was a pretty exhausting experience. I went through that for months and then I started to think about the idea of a reverse recruiter that would actually go out and look for jobs for me.
Q: Are there any features that stood out to you the most?
A: One thing that caught my eye when I was reading up on it. Was that SkillGigs doesn’t get their cut from the applicant. It comes from the company side. So it would be of no cost to me. And it still works in the same way, kind of as a reverse recruiter in the sense that I’m only having to put my information out there once.
The employer’s recruiters are coming and looking at my resume to see if I’m a good fit. So one of the things I enjoyed was I could see when somebody viewed my resume, it would give me an alert, which was really cool. Then also I could see when people were bidding and these were big name companies, these weren’t, , small little startups or, I mean, these were big name companies. I could see when they were bidding like a quote that they. Pay, should they decide to hire me and then we could move to the application process.
SkillGigs helped my confidence honestly. After you apply for so many jobs in the normal old fashioned way, and you either don’t get callbacks or it’s just a phone screening of someone who doesn’t really understand what it is you’d doing. That can, that can really get you down. But. With SkillGigs, all you get are the positives.
Q: Can you tell us about how you set up your profile?
A: I truly enjoyed creating my profile. I’m not having to go through the same all monotonous forms that you would have to in the traditional sense. So you have to fill out a five page form. That’s all the information that’s already on your resume. And you have to answer all of the legal questions all over again, and you have to create an individualized cover letter and do research on the company
So you only know when people are looking at your resume, , when they’re interested in you by creating a bid, you can schedule your interviews straight through SkillGigs and talk to not just the recruiters, but the actual person you’re gonna be working with. So that was a really nice experience.
And all of those things is, is so time consuming, but with SkillGigs, it had a really cool platform. That’s very user friendly. I liked the design of it. It was fun to play with and I create my 3d resume just one time. So I don’t have to keep recreating the wheel over and over. In fact, I could go back in and sometimes just edit or tweak my resume, cuz it was kind of fun to play with. So I really liked the user interface.
Q: When filling out the Skill Listings did you find any similarities between your current and former roles?
A: Coming from education into tech, what skills do you think really transitioned over or what has been your biggest transition? So the hardest part was just. Getting someone to let me get my foot in the door. I knew all my skills would transition well, but to break into the tech industry, after being in education, a lot of times they just wanna see how much experience you’ve had under the exact same job title.
Even without experience under the exact same job title, my skills might be more fitting actually than some people that have. So my background was in graphic design. I was a visual arts educator for a long time. I started doing some really cool cutting edge curriculum through art media communications and working with Texas cultural trust. I also got to write curriculum for the state and in doing so I got to go to some externship. At IBM and follow around people who are doing the real. New cutting edge job roles. So user experience designers, especially I get to see what the design thinking process is like and how they work with people from other companies.
Q: Is there any advice for those looking to get their tech certifications?
A: There’s lots of different certifications out there that you could take a weekend course and then just take the exam online and you can get a certification and start applying. So. That’s exactly what I did now, getting someone to see that I had all the skills necessary, regardless that I’d never had that job title was a big challenge in this transition.
The lessons I’m going back and teaching my students about these things in the back of my head, I’m like, man, that would be a fun transition. Well, then I moved into being an assistant principal and I really get that managerial experience. Of learning, how to manage programs, processes, systems, people. And so I think all of those skills kind of culminated and I got my scrum master certification. But SkillGigs helped me get through that to make sure I had everything I needed.
Q: As you transition into this new role, what is your biggest excitement?
A: The biggest excitement I got coming into this new role was definitely. The people that I’m getting to meet and work with. I actually interviewed with my boss, like she’s my direct person that I report to, and that I work with the most on a daily basis. And she’s amazing. And so I already knew right off the bat that, , I’d have a good rapport with who my direct supervisor would be.
But aside from that, , people know that I’m new to this role, and there’s so much willingness for grace and so much willingness to help. Not only from the supervisory level, but people doing the same job as me and even people that, , I oversee and manage projects for they’re they’re all willing to help me through the process and give me.
And oh, Hey, you should meet this person. They’re a really great resource. Or, Hey, have you seen, have you tried this? And , so everyone has just been very collaborative and that’s exciting to me. So to be able to just meet all these new people, have this new experience and just jump in and give it a shot.
Q: For those still looking for a career what advice do you have to them?
A: My biggest advice would be don’t give up! I have friends that have tried to break into user experience world scrum master world. It took them months of interviewing as well. So let the rejection just wash over. You don’t give up any interview you have and you don’t get the job. It was great practice. Keep putting yourself out there, but if you don’t have time to go, the traditional route SkillGigs is gonna be your best friend because. You can put all your information out there and these big name companies will come to you. So that’s really cool, and that’s my advice use SkillGigs and don’t give up.
Q: Was there ever a time that you felt SkillGigs really impressed you?
A: Everyone at SkillGigs has been extremely helpful. I still keep in touch with quite a few people that work at SkillGigs. it is worth mentioning, like you said, transparency earlier that they will help you with negotiating your salary. Which was really exciting to me as well. I had two companies that were interested in me, but I was more interested in working for the company that was offering less. And, I told that company, Hey, I may have to decline. It’s just the pay isn’t high enough and SkillGigs stepped in and said, no, no, you don’t have to say no just yet. Let us talk to the company, let us help you with that. And they came back and matched and even a little better than what I needed. So. I, I just can’t say enough good things about the people who work at SkillGigs. They really do care. They check in on me. They see how I’m doing. And it’s been a good relationship. And actually the company that I’m working for is going to continue to use SkillGigs. So I’m looking forward to seeing who my next coworker will be.
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