3 ms·

Ask HN: Help, why my girlfriend can't find any job

2 points by siscia 8y ago

Hi all, I come to this community when I really don't know what else should I try. My girlfriend is a very skilled statistician, given any amount of data, small or big, she can really extract information from it. She can talk with whoever requires the analysis and figure out better options to actually reach the answers they are looking for. She is also quite good with technology, her language of choice is R and is quite skilled with it, up to the point to make a simple website and host it on github: https://emanuelaf.github.io/ She is also quite capable with SQL, at least for simple/intermediate queries (I would say up to "GROUP BY" and "JOIN" queries). She is lacking in python which is used as well in the field. I would say that she is a senior one. She go a Phd in statistic and now she is doing a post-doc. However, we don't see a future in academia and she decides to switch in the industry, we are focusing in Europe, ideally, Geneva (where I currently work) or Zurich (where I have some opportunities to explore) but even Berlin or any other European city would work. The US would work as well. The point is that from 20 curricula she send exactly zero offered here an interview. At first, I thought that the HRs where a little scared of her having worked mostly in academia, so I encourage her to create the website to show that she is quite capable and put more prominently her work as a consultant in the space. But again, only rejections. Which is quite concerning, and I am starting to think that she is been rejecting just because she is a woman in her 30. Now we don't really know what to do next, keep sending CV seems quite useless, but on the other side I don't see any alternative. I am wondering if you guys can suggest any strategy or if you can see what we are doing wrong. I also share her CV just in case we are missing something: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Uyvo5k-iMGNomE4Q2TzDHK4OByWGcX34/view?usp=sharing

itamarst 8y ago
1. Instead of just sending out CVs, can try meeting people who work at companies and can get her pass initial filter. E.g. if there's data science meetups she can go to, or relevant conference where people do hiring. E.g. a PyData conference might be good place to learn a little Python and meet people who are hiring. 2. Keep sending out CVs. Plausibly there might be discrimination at some places, but it sounds like you have access to a very large geographical area, which means very different cultures and demand levels. In the US there is high demand for data scientists. 3. https://twitter.com/sehurlburt/status https://twitter.com/sehurlburt/status /923830594240372736?lang=en has some advice for twitter based outreach. Comments on CV: 1. "leads to solving defined problems" can make it sound like she needs someone to tell her exactly what to do. Presumably she can work independently, so should change phrasing so it explains better what she means. I'm guessing "leads to solving real-world problems" maybe. 2. Typo: "Adjunt" should be "Adjunct". 3. Remove mention of "internships" from intro paragraph. Makes her sound inexperienced. 4. Move consulting role so its at top. 5. Talk about at least one specific project in the consulting job. "Here's the problem they had, here's what I did to help them, here is the outcome for the client." Right now it's very vague.
- siscia 8y ago
  Thanks! This is exactly the type of feedback I was hoping to receive. Unfortunately she is not based in any of those cities, so going there is at least an investment that need to be considered carefully. Thanks so much for reading the CV, I really really appreciate it!
  - itamarst 8y ago
    Thing I have heard people do in this situation: 1. Change location in LinkedIn to new city. 2. Get in touch with relevant employees at companies in target area, e.g. another data scientist. Ask if you can do quick talk about their company and what it's like there. You get to learn more about company that way. Sometimes you can hear about jobs that aren't posted, or they'll want to submit your CV because of referral bonuses, etc..
    - matt_the_bass 8y ago
      > they'll want to submit your CV because of referral bonuses That is a great angle I had never considered before. Good idea!
rajacombinator 8y ago
Hard to say without knowing what kind of jobs she is applying for. Also I don’t know how the job market conditions are in Europe. However... her CV comes off as somewhat unprofessional and nonserious. Someone with a PhD should not be including their high school on a CV. Next, a PhD in statistics that took 1.5 years to finish sounds like a nonserious PhD. If she’s applying for roles in Switzerland or the US, or other major markets, that expect a PhD in stats, I would expect her not to get much traction. Next, there’s simply not much demand for R programmers. In the US she’d be looking at junior roles. Finally, you can’t give up after 20 applications, that’s nothing.
- siscia 8y ago
  Thanks for your feedback!

2 points by siscia 8y ago

itamarst 8y ago

1. Instead of just sending out CVs, can try meeting people who work at companies and can get her pass initial filter. E.g. if there's data science meetups she can go to, or relevant conference where people do hiring. E.g. a PyData conference might be good place to learn a little Python and meet people who are hiring. 2. Keep sending out CVs. Plausibly there might be discrimination at some places, but it sounds like you have access to a very large geographical area, which means very different cultures and demand levels. In the US there is high demand for data scientists. 3. https://twitter.com/sehurlburt/status https://twitter.com/sehurlburt/status /923830594240372736?lang=en has some advice for twitter based outreach. Comments on CV: 1. "leads to solving defined problems" can make it sound like she needs someone to tell her exactly what to do. Presumably she can work independently, so should change phrasing so it explains better what she means. I'm guessing "leads to solving real-world problems" maybe. 2. Typo: "Adjunt" should be "Adjunct". 3. Remove mention of "internships" from intro paragraph. Makes her sound inexperienced. 4. Move consulting role so its at top. 5. Talk about at least one specific project in the consulting job. "Here's the problem they had, here's what I did to help them, here is the outcome for the client." Right now it's very vague.

siscia 8y ago
Thanks! This is exactly the type of feedback I was hoping to receive. Unfortunately she is not based in any of those cities, so going there is at least an investment that need to be considered carefully. Thanks so much for reading the CV, I really really appreciate it!
- itamarst 8y ago
  Thing I have heard people do in this situation: 1. Change location in LinkedIn to new city. 2. Get in touch with relevant employees at companies in target area, e.g. another data scientist. Ask if you can do quick talk about their company and what it's like there. You get to learn more about company that way. Sometimes you can hear about jobs that aren't posted, or they'll want to submit your CV because of referral bonuses, etc..
  - matt_the_bass 8y ago
    > they'll want to submit your CV because of referral bonuses That is a great angle I had never considered before. Good idea!

rajacombinator 8y ago

Hard to say without knowing what kind of jobs she is applying for. Also I don’t know how the job market conditions are in Europe. However... her CV comes off as somewhat unprofessional and nonserious. Someone with a PhD should not be including their high school on a CV. Next, a PhD in statistics that took 1.5 years to finish sounds like a nonserious PhD. If she’s applying for roles in Switzerland or the US, or other major markets, that expect a PhD in stats, I would expect her not to get much traction. Next, there’s simply not much demand for R programmers. In the US she’d be looking at junior roles. Finally, you can’t give up after 20 applications, that’s nothing.

siscia 8y ago
Thanks for your feedback!