
A Look at Our Recent Event with Vrbo (formerly HomeAway)
Featuring the CEO of Expedia and the President of Vrbo (formerly HomeAway)
When you convince more than 100 women in tech to come to an event on one of the coldest nights of the year, you want to have a stellar line up of executives from one of Austin's top companies discussing their diversity and tech initiatives. That's exactly what happened on January 17th when Vrbo and PowerToFly hosted an evening that included Vrbo's president, members of its executive team, and the CEO of Expedia, Vrbo's parent company.
For people who couldn't attend, we wanted to share a few quotes and anecdotes that moved the conversation forward in the room.
- Vrbo President, John Kim: "In the last two years, there has been an awakening in diversity and inclusion. We are not going back."
- Expedia CEO, Mark Okerstrom discussed how Expedia has made diversity a major initiative at the company by increasing the number of women on the Expedia board and expanding the number of women vice presidents.
- Tina Weyand, Chief Product Officer at Vrbo discussed how "ideas can come from anywhere." She detailed how feedback has been key to her career. In fact, feedback is so valued at HomeAway that managers and teams recently received six hours of training on how to give constructive feedback that is actionable and unbiased.
- Siobhan Burch, a Software Engineer at Vrbo, shared advice about returning to the workplace, something she herself has done after taking a five year break to raise her family. Burch leveraged her network of female supporters and kept herself sharp via internet courses to ensure that the transition back to the workforce was a successful one.
- Vrbo Senior Strategic Data Analyst Nikole Phillips also stressed the importance of ongoing education citing advice her single mother gave her growing up in a low-income neighborhood in Philadelphia. "People can take anything away from you but they can't take the brain out of your head."
- As one attendee, Violeta Albrecht, noted, it's important for women to not feel the need to hold back but to rather have a strong and equal voice at meetings, especially when you are one of the only women in the room. "I've taken myself off mute."
For more information on Vrbo's gender diversity initiatives and jobs follow their company page.
Best Work-From-Home Companies 2022
Every year, PowerToFly creates a list of the best work-from-home companies. Now that over half of the U.S. workforce is remote, compiling that list was a bit more challenging.
This year, we prioritized selecting companies that are remote-friendly—meaning they have both remote and in-person roles—but they have made long-term commitments to hiring and supporting employees who choose to work from home; and we think they have the perks, values, and organizational framework to allow all employees to flourish in their careers, regardless of location.
Keep reading to see our top 15 work-from-home companies for 2022, along with a description of what they do, why we like them, and who they’re looking for.
PowerToFly's Best Work-From-Home Companies 2022:
Bumble—Create a world where all relationships are healthy and equitable
What they do:
Bumble is the parent company that operates Badoo and Bumble, two of the world’s largest dating and connection apps with millions of users globally.
Why we like them:
“We’re a diverse and international bunch, with over 600 employees working across four key offices in Austin, London, Moscow and Barcelona. We also have employees working in other parts of the world too, including Germany, Australia, Mexico and India.”
They believe the best way to create a more equitable and healthy world is by starting within. Uber offers a highly competitive benefits package with benefits that are designed to support you in your health and wellbeing, financial wellbeing, happiness, community, and learning and development.
Who they’re looking for:
Product Designers, Developers, Partnership Directors, and more!
Audible—Listen more
What they do:
Audible is an online audiobook and podcast service that allows users to purchase and stream audiobooks and other forms of spoken word content.
Why we like them:
“Audible's People Principles celebrate who we are and where we've been, and guide the way we work shoulder to shoulder to enhance the lives of our millions of customers.” This company offers exciting benefits include wellness reimbursement, fertility coverage, and childcare benefits.
Some of their other benefits include:
- Health: Dental and vision plans, life insurance, and the medical plan options that suit individual needs.
- Savings: Plan for your future with employer-matched savings accounts.
- Stock: We grant our employees Amazon restricted stock units, because we want them to think and act like owners.
- Time off: We love what we do but everyone needs the opportunity to hit the refresh button. Take advantage of vacation days, sick days, and personal days to rejuvenate.
- Social: From tickets to local events and exciting company-sponsored events, regular outings and team-building events foster our spirit of collaboration.
- Amazon discount: As part of the Amazon family, Audible employees are entitled to a discount on products on Amazon.
- Fitness: Discounted sports clubs or fitness reimbursements.
Who they’re looking for:
Software Engineers, Director of People Analytics, Strategic Advisors, and more!
ServiceNow—Making the world of work, work better for people
What they do:
ServiceNow is a cloud computing platform that delivers digital workflows that create great experiences and unlock productivity.
Why we like them:
“We strive for a fair system of opportunity and treatment for all. Competitive health, wellness benefits, zero-tolerance for any kind of discrimination, and protection from social stigmas such as mental health are core to our values and beliefs.”
Who they’re looking for:
Accounting Managers, Sales Representatives, Product Managers, and more!
OfferUp—Buy. Sell. Simple.
What they do:
OfferUp the largest mobile marketplace for local buyers and sellers in the U.S., that offers iOS and Android apps that make selling an item as easy as snapping a picture from your mobile device.
Why we like them:
“We’re a diverse team with diverse passions and skills, but we’re united by a shared commitment to helping people accomplish their goals through the power of peer-to-peer commerce.
Our company culture makes us unique. At the best companies in the world, work and life aren’t just balanced, they’re blended. Team outings, virtual celebrations and lunch-n-learns, informal gatherings, and family events keep our neighborly culture strong. We’re a diverse team with diverse passions and skills, but we’re united by a shared commitment to helping people accomplish their goals through the power of peer-to-peer commerce.”
Who they’re looking for:
Chief Technology Officer, Content Writers, Business Operations Analyst, and more!
Work & Co—Digital product design and development
What they do:
Work & Co is a digital product agency that defines and launches digital experiences people love using every day.
Why we like them:
Some of their benefits include:
- Zero Timesheets or expense reports
- 18 weeks paid parental leave
- 100% health, dental, vision coverage (they also pay your entire monthly premium and cover 70% for spouses, partners, and dependents)
- Nonelective 3% match (they contribute to every person’s retirement account regardless of their own contribution)
Who they’re looking for:
Designers, Technology Directors, Marketing and Communication Leads, and more!
Relativity—Organize data, discover the truth, and act on it
What they do:
“We create intuitive software that helps law firms, government agencies, financial institutions and other major corporations quickly find the truth in data.”
Why we like them:
Relativity's software helps users organize data and quickly identify key issues during litigation, internal investigations, and compliance projects. They offer their employees great benefits like:
- Competitive healthcare, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability plans
- Hybrid work model: In-office once we re-open, fully remote, or a mixture of both
- Unlimited Time off
- 401k matching
- 12 weeks of 100% paid leave for the primary caregiver and 6 weeks of 100% paid leave for the secondary caregiver
- 2 week-long company breaks in the winter and summer
- Wellness perks such as virtual yoga classes, financial wellness sessions, access to meditation apps, etc.
Who they’re looking for:
Software Engineers, Marketing Managers, Customer Success Managers, and more!
GoTo—We live the work-from-anywhere life, too
What they do:
GoTo provides the most-comprehensive, secure, and flexible suite of products to help businesses embrace remote work, learning and customer engagement.
Why we like them:
“For bold and creative individuals, LogMeIn provides limitless growth opportunities. We hire extraordinary talent who continually seek opportunities to tackle challenges. We pride ourselves on an inclusive culture and collaborative spirit. Speaking up and listening to others is not just encouraged here, but expected.
We thrive together and champion each other’s successes, providing our employees with rich experiences to help them develop resiliency and skills; positioning them to grow into future roles either inside or outside GoTo.”
Who they’re looking for:
Technical Writers, Global Markets, Compliance Leads, and more!
Autodesk—We make software for people who make things
What they do:
Autodesk is a global leader in design and technology.
Why we like them:
“At Autodesk, we believe flexibility in where and how work gets done will better enable our people to thrive and realize their potential. While most roles may be required to be in the office, we also have roles that are home-based, and hybrid. From implementing virtual learning platforms to promote personal/professional development, to virtual marathons, DIY craft kits, scavenger hunts to virtual wine tasting and everything in between – we’re doing our best to champion for a workplace culture that spanning boundaries and borders. That’s #Autodesklife.”
Who they’re looking for:
Engineers, UX Designers, Business Analysts, and more!
Veracode—Keeping your business confidently secure
What they do:
Veracode delivers the application security solutions and services today’s software-driven world requires.
Why we like them:
“Veracoders are dedicated to creating a world where the software fueling our economic growth and solving some of society's greatest challenges is developed secure from the start.”
Here are some great reasons to join Veracode:
- PEOPLE & TEAM: Veracoders help their peers grow, achieve, and see the best in themselves.
- CHALLENGING & INTERESTING WORK: Veracoders are passionate about solving one of the most important challenges facing our digital world, securing the software changing our world.
- INDUSTRY-LEADING TECHNOLOGIES: We are the pioneer in the AppSec market and a continued leader in secure development innovations
Who they’re looking for:
Sales Leads, Talent Acquisition Partners, Product Managers, and more!
Unstoppable Domains—Building decentralized digital identities for the world
What they do:
Unstoppable Domains brings user-controlled identity to 3 billion+ internet users by issuing domain names on the blockchain.
Why we like them:
“Unstoppable Domains’ remote, international team is made up of a wide range of diverse experiences, languages, cultures, nationalities and backgrounds. We are proud to be an inclusive employer with team members in over 18 countries.”
They’ve also offer benefits:
- Equity in the company
- Annual work from home stipend
- Crypto education program
- Full medical, dental and vision coverage
Who they’re looking for:
Art Directors, Community Managers, Growth Marketers, and more!
Helm—A team of scientists, designers, engineers, and campaigners
What they do:
Helm is building a data and technology platform for organizers and issue advocates.
Why we like them:
“We are assembling a team who understands, shares values with, learns alongside, and stands with the people who are doing the work to change the nation. We are seeking team members who want to see a more equitable future in their lifetime, and who have the passion and skills to help us get there.”
They’ve also got incredible benefits like:
- Comprehensive health plans
- Unlimited PTO
- Paid parental leave
- Paid volunteer time
- 401K
- Stipend to enhance your home office
Who they’re looking for:
DevOps Engineers, Account Managers, Customer Support Analysts, and more!
Lattice—Making work meaningful
What they do:
Lattice is the people management platform that empowers people leaders to build engaged, high-performing teams that love coming to work.
Why we like them:
“We’re growing extremely quickly, hitting all of our financial targets for the last 2 years. We also have a negative net retention rate, meaning customers are staying and growing with us.”
They’ve also got incredible benefits like:
- 401(k) package
- Maternity & Paternity leave
- Medical / Dental / Vision insurance
- Flexible equity terms
- Commuter benefits
- Learning & Development reimbursement
- Flexible time off
Who they’re looking for:
UX Writers, Account Executives, Program Managers, and more!
MongoDB—Build faster. Build smarter.
What they do:
MongoDB transforms industries and empowers developers to build amazing apps that people use every day.
Why we like them:
At MongoDB, you can grow your career in the direction that you want it to, gain new skills, experiences, and relationships that will stay with you forever.
Some of their stand-out benefits include:
- Mental health counseling and resources, and complimentary Headspace (meditation app) access
- Rich health insurance coverage, including Transgender-inclusive coverage
- Fertility and adoption financial assistance
- 20 weeks of fully paid gender-neutral parental leave, parental counseling for new parents, and flexible work arrangements
- 4 weeks of emergency care leave
- Global and internal mobility opportunities
- Equity and Employee Stock Purchase Program
Who they’re looking for:
Sales and Technical Recruiters, Product Designers, Engineers, and more!
Uber—Move the way you want
What they do:
Uber is a mobility service provider that constantly reimagines how we can move better.
Why we like them:
“We welcome people from all backgrounds who seek the opportunity to help build a future where everyone and everything can move independently. We publicly support policies that drive diversity and inclusion in the countries where we operate so that people everywhere have the right to live, work, and be their authentic selves.”
They’ve also got incredible benefits like:
- Unlimited PTO policy
- Maternity and parental leave
- Monthly Uber credits
- Medical, dental and vision coverage
Who they’re looking for:
Marketing Leads, Account Representatives, Operations Specialists, and more!
Guru—Organize company information and access it anywhere
What they do:
Guru reinvents the way people connect with meaningful information at work by providing customer-facing teams access to expert-verified information where they work and when they need it most.
Why we like them:
“At Guru, our core values bind us together, influence how we work.”
They’ve got incredible benefits like:
- Competitive salary
- Employee Stock Option Plan
- Generous health and commuter benefits
- Dog Friendly Office
- 401k Program
- The chance to contribute to an upbeat, fully engaged culture
Who they’re looking for:
Marketing Leads, Sales Development Representatives, Web Designers, and more!
Don't see what you're looking for? Check out a fill list of 5,000+ open remote roles here!
Celebrating Global Asian & Pacific Islander Identities | Learn More About Our Sponsors & Speakers
Learn more about the sponsors and speakers that contributed to our May Summit in the 2022 Diversity Reboot Series: Celebrating Global Asian & Pacific Islander Identities.
Art Is A Tool To Politicize Our Communities www.youtube.com
Your Struggle Is An Incredible Story www.youtube.com
Build Healthy Environments To Thrive www.youtube.com
Disrupting The Model Minority Myth www.youtube.com
Queer Asian Stories Need To Be Told www.youtube.com
Careers in Web Development: Which One's For You?
We all have our favorite websites– the ones we frequent, bookmark, and recommend to others. You might even enjoy some website features so much that you’ve found yourself wondering why they aren’t more popular. Or maybe you’ve experienced times where you were frustrated with a website and wished you could add features or even design your own!
If you’ve ever found yourself intrigued at the prospect of designing and developing your own websites, then a career as a web developer might be just for you!
As a web developer you would be responsible for coding, designing, optimizing, and maintaining websites. Today, there are over 1.7 billion websites in the world and, in turn, the demand for web developers is on the rise. In order to figure out what kind of web development work best suits you let’s start with an introduction to the three main roles in web development that you can choose from.
The Three Types of Web Development Jobs
Front-End Web Development: The Creative Side
Think of front-end development as the décor of a house. The color scheme, furniture, manicured lawns, and overall aesthetic. In terms of a website, front-end development is laser-focused on the appearance of a website and its presentation on different devices. If you’re considering a role in front-end development, it’s important to learn programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These three languages go hand-in-hand. HTML allows you to create user interface elements, CSS helps you with stylistic elements, and JavaScript allows you to incorporate online tools and connect your website to back-end functions.
In addition to programming skills, front-end developers need to be detail oriented, creative, willing to keep up with the latest trends in web development, cyber security conscious, and geared toward user-friendly designs. The median salary for a front-end developer can reach well into the $90,000 to $100,000 range.
Back-End Web Development: The Logical Counterpart
While a house can be beautifully decorated, it’s incomplete without a solid foundation and efficient infrastructure. Similarly, a well-designed website depends on logical and functional code to power the features of that website. Back-end web development is code-heavy and focused on the specifics of how a website works. If you enjoy the analytical challenge of creating the behind-the-scenes code that powers a website, then back-end development is for you.
Since this role is more code-heavy, it’s important that you learn numerous programming languages and understand algorithms and data structures. Some languages that are essential to back-end development are Ruby, Python, SQL, and JavaScript. Back-end developers also ensure that users can successfully retrieve and access data. This requires creating and using APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) which act as messengers that relay data related requests. Additionally, developing the code for the inner workings of a website also requires back-end developers to be conscious of the user interface features designed by front-end developers and to internally mitigate potential security risks. Due to the increased technical aspect of this position, back-end developers normally earn higher salaries than front-end developers. The average median salary for this role is around $118,000 per year.
Full-Stack Web Development: A Little Bit of Everything
A full-stack developer is essentially the Jack (or Jill)-of-all-trades in web development. Full-stack developers need to be knowledgeable about both front-end and back-end roles. This does not necessarily imply that you would need to be an expert in both roles, but you should fully understand the different applications and synergies they each imply. In order to work in this position, you will need to know the programming languages used by front-end and back-end developers. In addition to these languages, full-stack developers also specialize in databases, storage, HTTP, REST, and web architecture.
Full-stack developers are often required to act as liaisons between front-end and back-end developers. Full-stack developers need to be both problem solvers and great communicators. The end goal for a full-stack developer is to ensure that the user’s experience is seamless, both on the front-end and on the back-end. In return, you can expect to earn a median salary of $100,000 – $115,000 a year for this role.
Taking the Next Step
Web development is both in-demand and lucrative! All three roles described above contribute to specific aspects of web development and the scope of each one can be customized to the industries and positions you feel best suit you. Regardless of which role you choose, all of them need a foundation in programming.
To gain the programming skills needed in each role, you can enroll in courses or learn independently. Coding bootcamps are a great way to boost your skillset quickly and efficiently.
Click here for some of our highly rated programming bootcamp options! Make sure to check out the discounts available to PowerToFly members.
How Relativity’s Elise Tropiano Makes an Impact at the Intersection of Legal and Tech
Elise Tropiano begins most days pushing a jogging stroller and trying on a three-year-old’s perspective of the world.
“We bond in that early morning time. We observe butterflies and tulips sprouting in early spring,” explains Elise of her routine, which happens even when the Chicago mornings are cold ones.
It’s good practice for what the Product Director at legal and compliance technology company Relativity spends her workday doing: taking in information from various sources and creating a unified vision of where to go next.
We sat down with Elise to hear more about what a day in the life as a PM at Relativity looks like, as well as how she got into the field and how she measures the impact she’s making on it.
Embracing the Chance to Control a Product’s Destiny
“I, like a lot of product managers, landed in this discipline almost through serendipity,” reflects Elise, who pursued a psychology major as part of a liberal arts education.
She almost went into clinical psychology, having been inspired by the way that psychological research explored the differences in the human psyche.
“I came away from it recognizing that people’s personality compasses are so multifaceted. There are so many different levers that go into motivation and decision-making and the way individuals act, behave, and learn,” says Elise.
That appreciation for the differences in people certainly helps now that she’s a manager of three other product managers, notes Elise, but it was useful even before she expanded her career into leadership, too.
Elise started her professional journey at a rotational program at a large financial company, where she was first exposed to customer support. She found that she really enjoyed creating relationships with customers and solving their problems.
But she wished she could go beyond fixing the case at hand. “A lot of the problems could only be fixed through changes in the product itself,” she says. That’s when Elise raised her hand for a role in product management. “It came from a desire to have greater control over the destiny of a product that customers were engaging in.”
Finding Her Path to Relativity
While she’d found her ideal career, Elise realized she wanted to work at a smaller company with a mission she felt more connected to. That’s when she found Relativity.
“I was really drawn to the work they do, which was to use technology to identify what happened in the context of a legal matter that is potentially instrumental to changing legal case outcomes,” explains Elise.
She started at Relativity as a product manager, and now leads other product managers across Relativity’s suite of products.
Those include various tools that together provide end-to-end support for litigation, including AI-based search and review tools. “The value that these capabilities deliver is in massive reductions in the time and costs that typically go into a litigation review,” she says.
And Elise loves that she’s not alone in caring about her company's products or the impact they make on their customers.
“I love working here because all of Relativity is so intrinsically devoted to building a product that helps our customers with their legal or investigative work,” she says. She sees it every day, including in the customer calls she regularly joins, and also in special moments like Relativity’s week-long hackathons, where engineers, product managers, designers, and others come together to work on new ideas with true enthusiasm.
“It’s such an emblematic signal of this passion that all of our teams have. We’re so excited to experiment with something that has some tie to a business need,” she says.
3 Ways Product Managers Can Make an Impact in Their Work
As a product manager, Elise spends a lot of time roadmapping. What’s the future vision for this product? How can engineering and design proposals come together into a proposal that works for everyone?
“Our role is to provide clarity around what impact we should deliver at the end of the day,” she says. And she’s given us a few tips on how other product managers can maximize their own impact:
- Embrace “ruthless prioritization.” “There’s never any shortage of ideas to ponder, or things to bring into the roadmap. You can very easily chase something that is just not part of your critical path. When you’re thinking about the roadmap, remember that no more than a few things can be done exceedingly well,” says Elise.
- Spend 80% of your time understanding the problem. “Then the solution will come much more quickly,” says Elise. “Ask, ‘Why did we get here? What is the problem that our customers are really feeling that they’re demanding a solution to?’ It’s easy to just start throwing things at the solution basket, but it’s better to understand the problem.”
- Don’t forget the importance of communication. “Product managers are the center of disciplines that learn differently. Your role is to enable all of them. That means you need to understand who you are speaking to, where they are coming into the conversation from, and how to speak to them in a way that resonates,” says Elise. “For example, the way I speak to an engineer is way different from how I speak to a designer, which is way different from how I speak to an executive. It’s such an important thing, especially as you extend your career and can do less by yourself and need to enable others. That’s rooted back in good communication.”
Does a job at Relativity sound right for you? Check out their open roles!
Helix CFO Sarah Bobulsky Shares How She Reached the C-Suite & 3 Key Pieces of Advice for Potential Applicants
Before starting her journey at population genomics company Helix, Sarah Bobulsky worked in strategy consulting, most often with pharma and biotechnology clients. She accumulated a wealth of experience very quickly: “One of my managers always said ‘one year in consulting is like seven years in a regular job’,” Sarah jokes.
In spite of her rapid exposure to so many different projects and clients, she was a bit hesitant when her firm wanted her to branch out into diagnostics. “My reaction was, ‘I don't know anything about diagnostics! I don’t want to do diagnostics,’” she laughs. “Yet, here I am CFO of a diagnostics company.”
“I would not have guessed that I would be a CFO,” she confesses. “I always hoped my career would advance, but I don't think CFO was where I was starting my thinking.”
But thanks to a lot of hard work and encouragement from current and former managers, Sarah took on the CFO challenge and is thriving in her new role.
Now that she’s settled in, Sarah’s looking to expand the finance team at Helix. We sat down with her to learn what interested candidates can do to stand out in the application process.
The Road to Helix
Sarah ultimately said yes to the project with the diagnostics company and that led to three years of consulting frequently with diagnostics clients. “I ended up being pretty well-versed in that space,” Sarah says, explaining how she heard about Helix when they got their first round of funding. The company immediately caught her attention.
“I thought their business model at the time was really interesting. It was a departure from what other companies in the space were doing, with a lot of opportunity for innovation,” she says.
Sarah also happened to know one of the cofounders of the company through her previous consulting experience. This led to some organic conversations about opportunities at the company.
“I was interested in joining a startup, but also somewhat risk-averse,” says Sarah. “So finding a startup that had strong backing was appealing to me.”
She was also reluctant to lose the diversity of experience afforded to her by consulting, but she felt that Helix was dynamic enough to ensure that she’d still get to tackle lots of different kinds of challenges. So she took a leap and accepted a role focused on corporate development and strategy.
“I accepted the position without a job description,” Sarah reminisces. “When I first started, I worked on a lot of different projects, many of which were very much outside of my comfort zone,” Sarah says. “Over time, the number of projects kept expanding, and as the company grew, the role expanded and got more operationally focused.”
Working instrategy involved a lot of long-term planning and scenario analysis. But as Sarah’s role became more operational, she found value in better understanding the day-to-day operations on the ground. “I think getting my hands dirty was really important [in understanding] how little things can influence the company's strategy,” Sarah explains. She worked closely with Helix’s customers as well as with numerous cross-functional teams which helped her better understand the ins and outs of Helix’s product. This proved to be a great foundation as she moved into the CFO role.
Journey to the C-suite
Although she didn’t originally set out to be a CFO, Sarah spent much of her career working closely with her finance counterparts — both in her consulting days pre-Helix and during her time at Helix. It was Helix’s former CEO, himself a prior CFO, who initially raised the idea of moving fully into finance though. “He was the first person to tell me I’d make a good CFO and honestly I was very surprised at first,” Sarah explains. She was initially concerned that she didn’t come from a traditional finance background. “But he was thinking more about the strategic side of the CFO role, from being able to tell the story of the business to investors and to our board, and being able to understand different nuances that drive a forecast and long-term value.”
Helix’s former CEO wasn’t the only person supporting Sarah through the transition. “Our current CEO and co-founder has never hesitated to give me new opportunities. It’s always a bit of a risk to give someone something they’d never done, but I’ve always found leadership at Helix willing to take that risk” Sarah explains. “That's been a hallmark of my time here and what has kept me here as long as I've been here. I know that there's the opportunity for growth.”
Nearly 7 months in the CFO role, Sarah has spent a significant amount of her time focusing on a long-term value perspective. “We spend a lot of time on our annual budget, our forecasts,” she explains. “I spent a lot of time in the first couple of months painting a picture of 2024 and 2025 — What does that look like? How do we get there? What are the things that drive value?” She’s now looking for mission-driven finance professionals to bring their diverse perspectives and experiences to her team.
3 Essential Attributes in Finance & 3 Tips for Interviewees
While role-specific experience is important, there are three main attributes that Sarah looks for in any potential members of the finance team at Helix, regardless of position.
- Intellectual curiosity. “Even if you're not necessarily involved in the day-to-day on-the-ground operations, it's still really important that you understand how our business works. It influences everything we do on the finance team from invoicing customers to recognizing revenue to long-term forecasting,” Sarah explains.
- Creative problem solving ability. Problem-solving isn’t always about the solution itself, but more about how you created the solution. “I always look for examples of how someone solved the problem creatively or did a lot with only a little,” Sarah shares.
- Detail-oriented. “I'm a fairly detail-oriented person, and I think that's important in lots of roles, but I think it's particularly important in finance,” Sarah reiterates.
If that sounds like you, you might be a good tip for Sarah’s team! Keep reading for Sarah’s advice on how to display the attributes above during your interview (if you want to learn more about the interview process at Helix, click here!).
- Highlight Your Impact. “When you’re giving an example or answering a ‘tell me about a time’ question, make sure to highlight how what you did had an impact on the company – whether it’s optimizing a process or uncovering a new trend in the data – make sure that stands out,” Sarah says.
- Frame the narrative upfront. When explaining previous work, Sarah suggests using roadmapping language for your interviewer such as, “This was a big project. Here are the three things I'm going to tell you about it. And then walk [the interviewer] through each of those three things.”
- Be selective. While providing depth in your responses is important, be judicious about what you share. “Interviews are usually only 30 or 45 minutes, so it's not about describing every little detail. Acknowledge all of the things you had to consider, and then choose a few critical things to highlight,” she explains.
Interested in working alongside Sarah at Helix? Check out their open positions here.