Job hunting amid tech layoffs

In response to a spate of recent layoffs in the tech industry, Arts & Sciences Career Development is offering a free online session Thursday for students interested in finding internships and jobs in the tech sector.

“Finding a CS Internship Beyond Big Tech” is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Feb. 2. Students can sign up for the virtual event on Cornell’s Handshake platform.

“Students are seeing those headlines and so are we,” said Justin Goot, career development associate, who is leading the workshop. “We want to reassure students but also give them information about some steps they should be taking.”

 Goot will share information about various careers related to technology beyond the big tech companies, talk about the importance of networking and share resources and tips for finding opportunities.

“Maybe a student’s dream is to work for Google, Microsoft or Amazon, but we want to let students know there are other companies out there,” he said. “Tech is in every industry. You could be working for a nonprofit, in media or entertainment, healthcare or government, and still have a tech role.”

Goot emphasized that networking is an important component of the job search in the tech field. “We’ll talk about what effective networking looks like and give them a number of ways to make connections,” he said.

Since there may be fewer internship opportunities in tech careers, Goot said they’ll talk about the importance of students’ resumes and cover letters. “How can I make my experiences and abilities as attractive as possible to a company?” he said.

And, Goot said, it’s not that the big tech companies aren’t hiring at all – they still are. And working at a smaller company could still be a steppingstone to Meta or Google.

“It’s not as is they’re closing up shop,” he said, “but you might have to consider other places first and tailor your experiences to get there.”

The session will include plenty of time for questions and College career advisors are happy to set up appointments to talk individually, Goot said. Students can sign up for a half-hour career counseling session, a resume or cover letter review, a practice interview session or another meeting to talk about graduate or professional school, negotiating offers or even choosing a career path.

Find more information and sign up for the event on Handshake.