Hi! Welcome to our 13th newsletter! 💡learnshiv is here to make learning easy for you, whether it’s tech, social justice, or self-improvement content. In this constantly changing world, the only way to future-proof yourself is diversification, and that’s what I’m here to help you do.

This week’s newsletter involved a lot of career/tech content - I hope that’s okay!

PS. What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing right now? In life, at work or with the state of the world? Reply to this email, and let’s see what we can do to point you toward the right resources.

💡 GLOSSARY OF GROWTH

Here’s a new section where I’ll define three terms in each of our verticals: tech/career, politics/social justice and mindset/self-development.

TECH — b2b SaaS: Business-to-Business Software as a Service refers to companies that offer software products to other businesses via the Internet on a subscription basis. This model enables businesses to use essential services like customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning without local installation or maintenance.

SOCIAL JUSTICE — Divestment: Divestment involves selling off investments in unethical sectors/businesses, like fossil fuels, to pressure entities to change harmful practices. It's a strategic move to weaken targeted companies financially and raise public awareness about critical issues.

SELF-DEVELOPMENT — Stoicism: Stoicism is an ancient Greek philosophy that teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means to overcome destructive emotions. It is a practical philosophy that advocates focusing on what one can control and accepting what one cannot.

💡 LESSON LEARNED

Here are three lessons I learned from doing 50+ interviews last year.

1. Nail your “tell me about yourself”. — Perfect your 'Tell me about yourself' response. Keep it simple: your professional background, skills you've gained, and how these relate to the role. Don't overcomplicate, don't ramble, and PRACTICE! Include a memorable fact/statistic if you can!

2. Always have questions ready for the interviewer. — This shows your interest and helps you evaluate the role and company. Examples: How will success be measured in this role? What's a current project you're working on that you're excited about? What is the current tech stack for someone in this role? Is there a process for actionable feedback, and if so, how is progress tracked? Depending on the position, I have about 6-10 questions ready, but I generally ask these first.

3. Use the STAR Method for answering questions. — Structure your responses with Situation, Task, Action, Result. Be succinct and practice this format. It’s very easy to ramble, but there is so much value in being concise and confident. Another alternative is to ensure all your answers have a distinct beginning, middle and end. If you practice this out loud, it’ll be much more natural in the interview itself.

Have you interviewed in the last year? What have you learned? Reply to this email with advice, and I’ll feature it in the following newsletter!

💡 F R E E B I E

Ross Simmons, who I consider a content marketing legend, tweeted this, and I just had to share it with you all. Even if you’re not a marketer, you can learn much about tech from reading these breakdowns. I highly recommend going through them all and determining what you can learn about marketing your own business, how you should change your marketing process, or just new info about marketing!

💡 LEARNSHIV CONTENT

• 📝 FREE DOWNLOADS

  • Grab my digital marketing assignment here.

• Find videos breaking down all three parts of this assignment here.

• This assignment will be helpful to anyone interviewing for a digital marketing position at any company, but specifically for one where your job entails partnerships, paid media and writing briefs.

Thanks for reading our 13th newsletter. I want you to be prepared for the ways in which our world may change and affect our lives, careers, relationships, and more in the future. 💡learnshiv is meant to share my three passions with you, share what I learn, and make your life easier by helping you learn, too, in a digestible way.

If you have suggestions for improvements, please reply and send them my way. (Seriously, reply!! I’ve only had two replies ever!)

Have a great week, and stay curious,

Shiv 💁🏽‍♀️