Episode 44 – How to get a great job as a developer

Meet Cassandra Ferris. Cassandra is not a developer. Nor is she a consultant. Cassandra is a recruiter. Now, recruiters, at least in the tech industry, have in some cases gained a bad rap, but don’t let that stop you from listening in. Cassandra has a unique background and history that is very interesting. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a recruiter or how to approach a recruiter? Well, wonder no more. Listen in to episode 44 as Arsalan and Cassandra discuss what life is like for a recruiter. We promise that you won’t want to miss out on this one.
Cassandra’s Bio:
Cassandra Faris is the Talent Manager at Improving, a software development consulting and training company in Columbus, Ohio. She is highly involved in the regional technical community. She is President of the Microsoft-focused Dog Food Conference and Marketing Lead for CloudDevelop, a cross-platform cloud computing conference. She has an MBA in Organizational Leadership and Marketing and is an avid tabletop gamer, runner, and rabid soccer fan who travels as much as possible.
Episode Highlights and Show Notes:
Arsalan: Hi everyone. Today my guest is Cassandra Faris. Cassandra, how are you?
Cassandra: Good. How are you?
Arsalan: I’m doing great and I’m so excited to have you on the show. I’ve been trying to get you on the show because I think you’re very unique.  I can say it easily that you are the most unique of all my guests so far and that’s because you’re not a developer yourself, but you hire developers and you work in Human Resources. You’re a recruiter. Is that right?
Cassandra: That’s correct. I am in charge of talent management for a software development consulting company called Improvement.
Arsalan: That’s awesome. I want to talk to you about all the stuff that goes into hiring and what makes a good developer for you to hire. What do you look for? What do you not look for or what do you try to avoid? But first I want to ask you about something very interesting about your life. You did something in Mexico and there’s some story behind that. Tell us a little about that.
Cassandra: When I went to college my minor was actually Spanish. I spent two summers while in college living in Mexico studying one summer and interning with a human rights group the following summer.  I came out of that experience as a Spanish-English bilingual. Being bilingual is actually the skill set that got me started with recruiting. My first recruiting role was with a diversity staffing agency and I was in charge of hiring and Human Resources for temporary warehouse employees. Throughout the day, my work was primarily conducted in Spanish.
Arsalan: Did you find that challenging?
Cassandra: I did. The biggest challenge when I’m going into a situation where I Have to speak Spanish is just learning the vocabulary. So, picking up the vocabulary for interviewing questions, HR issues as well as speaking the warehouse language was challenging and interesting.
Arsalan: Do challenges motivate you? Is that what gets you going?
Cassandra: It’s one of the things that get me going, yes. I like that challenges. I like helping people develop their careers as well. That’s something I’m really passionate about. In the case of the warehouse employees, several people were new to the country and several were political refugees and others had other situations that brought them here. So, it was exciting helping people get their start here in America.
Arsalan: It’s just so interesting. People have different backgrounds. We tend to assume that everyone has the same experiences as our own. I would never have known that this was how you got started. For me, this was a complete surprise and it’s wonderful because that reminds me that when I get to know people I will learn about their unique experiences and that’s what’s going to help me to have empathy for different situations,

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