By Jackie Morgan, Manager of Job Placements and Student Career Development
When Flatiron School first opened its doors, the founders had a clear vision: to deliver outcomes-based education. Three years later, 424 grads have found jobs as a result of working with Flatiron School’s placements team. We’ve shown that education can produce life-changing results in a short amount of time and for less money.
Now that we’ve launched the Learn Full Stack Web Development Program, we’re delighted to open our doors to people all over the United States. Students will have the ability to push themselves to new heights, all from the comfort of their own home, or a coffee shop, or maybe even a study group of fellow Learners.
We are bare-bones honest about our job placement rate, because we are also still the only school of our kind that releases an annual verified jobs placement report. Beyond that, there are a few reasons the placements team feels confident we can provide people with careers if they have the drive, skill, and ambition to make it through Learn-Verified.
Here’s what makes us stand above the rest:
Strong business partnerships that lead to employment
Flatiron School has spent years cultivating close relationships with other businesses, and this has helped our students get jobs in a couple different ways.
Firstly, we know what employers are looking for, because we keep an open line of communication with our partner companies. In turn, that informs the curriculum Flatiron School and Learn offer students. The result? What you’re learning is based on direct feedback from the very companies who want to hire you.
Secondly, we find out what these companies are looking for in a developer and understand their existing teams’ cultures and tech stacks — then connect our best-matched grads with open opportunities at those companies. It’s based on mutually beneficial relationships, ones that have resulted in multiple hires from many of the businesses with whom we work.
One of our alumni (right) at a speed interview meetup in NYC.
Experience coaching people remotely
Although Flatiron School’s placements team is based in New York City, we have successfully helped students get jobs in all sorts of geographic regions, from Chicago to Denver to Richmond, Va. However, it’s not just our talented team or business partnerships that matter — it’s also the insider knowledge we have on helping people find and land great jobs.
In my years of experience, it boils down to this formula: 1. Make connections with people (which will lead to interviews), and 2. Allow the team to coach you through that process. The first step may involve setting up coffee dates with potential connections, attending programmer meetups, and writing blog posts about your coding experiences. The second will likely entail us helping you with an array of activities, from revamping your resume to talking job search strategy on Skype.
Adam, an alum who was based in central Massachusetts, is the perfect example of this formula at work. To keep him on track, we had a recurring 15-minute Skype call every Thursday with him to talk through all his job-related activities. We also followed up with his existing interviews, and brainstormed strategies for opening up new opportunities in the greater Boston tech scene.
Adam attended the two Ruby meetups in his area every week and got three interviews from just talking to people at those meetups. We coached him on how to appropriately follow up with people he met at those meetups, and turn those casual meetings into interviews. We also coached him through how to find companies within an hour’s drive from his home (the distance he was willing to commute). Adam learned how to find people who worked as engineers at those companies, and what to say when reaching out to them. In the end, he ended up choosing an offer with a company where Flatiron School staged the introduction. Now, in addition to having a job as a developer, Adam has a community of developers he can turn to.
Team members who know this business inside and out
So, you know that we can help. But where did Flatiron School’s placements team get its credentials?
Before coming to Flatiron School, I worked at a non-profit where I helped to launch an employment program that helped unemployed people over 50 improve their technology skills in order to find jobs. Prior to that, I was a recruiter in the luxury retail sector, so I know what it takes to get through a stressful interview process and how to communicate with recruiters and HR professionals. I also spent three years in the career services department at Fordham University, where I worked one-on-one with students coaching them through internship and full-time job interviews while simultaneously working with large corporations to coordinate on campus recruiting events, so I understand the student job-seeking experience as well as what employers are looking for when hiring grads. Now, as the Manager of Job Placements and Student Career Development at Flatiron School, I work with a talented team of people whose breadth and depth of experiences make all the difference.
Take Joe Lehr, for example, whose job is completely dedicated to outreach, relationship development, and management with partner companies. In the past, Joe worked with the Washington Speakers Bureau and dealt with heads of state and other prominent people to secure them speaking engagements. He also worked at an agency that represents sport talent.
Or Kevin Character, who’s managed 200 people at New York Botanical Garden’s career and development programs. There, much of his work entailed working closely with Human Resources to establish better recruiting practices and build professional training programs within the Bronx community. He’s devoted much of his professional life to relationship building, management, and team development.
Flatiron School’s placements and business development team from left to right: Kevin Character, Rebekah Rombom, Jackie Morgan, Joe Lehr
When it comes down to it, our team will leverage all of our experiences to help you write your next life chapter. Have questions or want to talk? Feel free to tweet @FlatironSchool. We’re here to help.
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Written byFLATIRON SCHOOL
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