I.e. you were a hooked applicant, so your success rate is expected to be much higher than for unhooked applicants.
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I think of it more as utilizing existing connections. The fields of tech we have been discussing tend to have a high turnover, so if you work for a good amount of time, you are likely to have colleagues that now work at other similar companies. There are many other examples of connections one can utilize beyond sending a resume blind. Even without connections, one can research the company well enough to get a sense if it is a good match for skillset + experience and whether there is a realistic chance of being hired (some specific tech positions at hot companies get 1000+ applicants per job, others remain unfilled for months with few qualified applicants).
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This is could be true in certain districts, but not all. Potential hires need to be flexible.
Districts by me pay well, but many are experiencing huge budget problems and some are laying off teachers or reducing staff to part time.
There is an influx of new, affordable housing. Although the housing is 100% necessary, the students do not always bring in tax dollars.
Health insurance costs have gone up by 30%, according to my district.
There is a 2% tax cap.
That being said, if you are willing to work in certain districts you will be employed (and paid well).
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Amazon is one company my children avoid in terms of jobs. They also said they read enough about its terrible corporate culture. Though I know they order from Amazon!
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every kid i know brings up this video when asked why they don’t like amazon. The only other firm that gets similar hate is Palantir
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A good friend’s daughter worked for Amazon robotics for 5 years (CS & Engineering major) and HATED it. Frankly, she only stayed because of the money - it go so bad that she finally quit before securing another job.
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A friend of mine joined about 10 years ago and, within a year, was already complaining about the work culture. Now, 10 years and $10 million+ later, he’s still there — and still complaining.
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Thanks for the video. WOW.
My husband also worked for Amazon for a while and hated the culture, too. (He did not plan to work there… he was working for a startup and Amazon bought it.) But he would also say that it’s better than no job. Especially for early career.
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There’s a lot of companies with not great cultures. Just like a college applicant, some chase name, money or prestige vs other factors.
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My current company has a lot of ex-Amazon folks - from engineering to data science to TPM. every one of those folks uniformly have nothing good to say but they all recall fondly the millions they made in stock appreciation last decade. very much similar to the sentiments Varun expresses towards the end of that video.
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But is the future expectation of Amazon stock value (in the estimation of prospective employees) optimistic? If not, then working there loses some of the appeal that working there in the past (with high growth in stock value and their stock based compensation) used to have. If that was the only appeal, but is no longer appealing, then those lucky enough to have a choice are more likely to choose other employers.
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Companies go through an ebb and flow - if they can’t keep fully staffed, they’ll change. Or they’ll falter.
Amazon didn’t get where it is by being a country club.
The company has found success so they’ll continue that way until they can’t.
But we read they hire so many UCB kids. There’s lots of companies and lots of school’s students getting hired by other companies - employees will have a choice. Of course, many kids from lesser pedigree schools would likely love to work for Amazon.
But often when choosing an employer, people choose the highest salary, not accounting for cost of living or non salary factors. IB is another field this is common.
People base future predictions on past results. I was at a meeting with a well known economist. Someone asked them what they thought the stock market will do next year. They said, “it could go up or it could go down”.
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Exactly. Predicting the value of stock options you haven’t yet been awarded is a fool’s errand. I’ve worked for companies that work hard to get employees to fill out a one page form to qualify for subsidized public transportation (essentially free money) and yet the benefits dashboard gets thousands of inquiries a month from employees checking in “what are my options worth”. Mind you- these aren’t options that have been awarded. These are the “if all goes well with my product launch and the company is still doing well so I get promoted from manager to director and I get X options in my year end package, and they vest over three years, and and and….”
The corporate version of “If I were a rich man”.
I wonder if Varun has ever considered a career with Amazon’s HR dept. ?
Here’s a weird one: My C23, on track to graduate this May and thus in the thick of applying to post-graduation jobs, was given the following directive for one of them, in the instructions next to the button for uploading a resume:
I have my guesses about what this is after, but I am uncertain if I’m correct, and this really does seem unnecessarily confusing, you know?
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What the heck? Is this an anti DEI thing?
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Please make sure to remove the college, major, and any companies they interned at or duties that they did.
Your best bet is the name, the contact info….and lots of white space.
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