Nothing about our current situation is “normal” and as one-by-one things that were previously in-person went virtual it’s only fitting that the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) the largest gathering of women in tech annually would also go virtual. So first of all, what is GHC? GHC is a huge conference that back in pre-corona times would be held in a massive conference venue and include a huge career fair hall, networking sessions, workshops, talks, and company sponsored after-parties. But with the announcement of the 2020 vGHC a lot of people have been wondering how to prepare and how to make the most of this now virtual conference.

I’ve attended GHC almost every year since 2016 - when I was a GHC Scholar and lucky enough to attend the conference all-expenses paid. It was at GHC that I managed to land 5 internship offers, one of which has now turned into my current full-time job. 

Related | What to Know About GHC

Since then, I’ve also attended on behalf of my company for recruiting and this fall I’m excited to say that I’ll be attending as a speaker! Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about how to make the most of GHC from my own job hunting experience plus my recruiting experience that I’m excited to share with you today!

This year GHC is offering access to only the career fair which is the first time this has been an option -- for those of you most interested in finding a job at GHC this section is for you! Otherwise feel free to scroll down to find more info about preparing for the conference (minus the job hunting advice!).

Be sure to submit your resume to the resume database ASAP (click here for the link)! This is open to anyone job hunting and not limited to conference attendees. The earlier you submit the better, because company sponsors will use this database to identify potential candidates. From my experience - employers will do a “download” of the database and they typically only do this once! When uploading your resume keep in mind that -- there’s been a lot of issues reported about having the formatting messed up after import. Here are some tips that worked for me: 

1. Save your resume as a .doc or .docx (Microsoft word) instead of a .pdf

2. Remove any unnecessary formatting from your resume such as italics

3. Don’t edit your resume once it’s uploaded in the text editor

4. Submit your resume as a google drive link so that recruiters will have access to a formatted copy

While you’re getting your resume ready -- make sure you have it ready to go for the conference virtual career fair as a .pdf titled something like “First Name Last Name Resume” and saved somewhere easy to find such as your Desktop. Additionally, be sure to have it ready as a Google Drive link you can reference. To do this simply upload your .pdf resume to Google Drive and use the sharing link to give to recruiters. Since the virtual career fair eliminates the need for physical print copies (and saves a lot of trees!) you’ll want to make sure you have your digital resume available in as many different formats as possible.

In addition to submitting your resume, start applying to open positions today! GHC has posted the list of sponsors here so start identifying companies that you’re interested in and see if they have opened their internship/full-time applications. I recommend submitting an application right away and hopefully clearing 1 or 2 rounds before GHC. That way, when a recruiter reaches out to schedule an interview -- you can mention you’re attending GHC. Many companies have recruiting application tracks set aside specifically for GHC attendees. Some even have dedicated application links for GHC attendees you can apply to. On this note, the same career center you uploaded your resume to has a dedicated “Jobs” section that lists open positions. It’s worth checking it out to see if you find anything that is a good match to apply directly through the site.

Be sure to join the “Grace Hopper 2020 Celebration” Facebook group. This is a great resource since many times people will post application links specific to GHC employees and it can be a great place to also find out about opportunities that companies are hosting in advance of GHC. 

You’ll also want to update your LinkedIn headline with vGHC 2020 or GHC2020, something that is easily searchable as it will help recruiters identify you as a GHC attendee. This has definitely worked for me even in years where the conference has been in-person and now that it’s going virtual it’ll be good to broadcast to your digital network that you are attending the conference. 

Lastly - be sure you’re on-top of your set-up for the virtual conference. Your computer, microphone, and video setup are incredibly important for a virtual conference! I recommend checking out my article on virtual interviewing here that has a lot of helpful tips for you to prepare your setup in advance of the conference in addition to any virtual interviews you might be doing at GHC or in the weeks leading up to GHC. If you’re going to be interviewing for technical positions I recommend reading my guide on How to Prepare for Technical Interviews.

Related | Acing a Virtual Interview

Reaching out to recruiters and/or companies -- I’ve seen this advice and definitely given it myself but be strategic with how you approach this. I personally have not had much success reaching out directly to recruiters at companies that are attending GHC ahead of the conference. I usually get a response along the lines of “here is our online application, please apply there - looking forward to seeing you at GHC”. I also have given that exact message myself since I don’t have any capacity to help an applicant unless they’ve already applied. I highly recommend applying to the company you’re interested in ahead of time and trying to clear a few of the rounds (e.g. hackerrank and/or phone screen) before GHC and mention that you’ve already applied when you go to the company’s virtual career fair booth. This is usually when I find talking directly to a recruiter about next steps the most helpful. Sometimes they will schedule you for an interview on the spot!

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For those of you who are attending the conference less for the career fair and more for the huge number of talks, panels, and workshops - sharpen your virtual pencils! AnitaB has released the agenda for the conference and as per usual, there are multiple talks, panels, and workshops happening at the same time. You’ll want to make a schedule for yourself -- a big bonus of the virtual setting is that you won’t need to factor in any walking time to physically get to another room! Previously in-person sometimes it would take 20 minutes to get from one end of the conference center to the other so this is a huge virtual bonus! 

Once you have your perfect agenda, I highly recommend pre-registering for the sessions. Pre-registration opens today! September 2nd at 5pm PST and you’ll want to set a reminder on your phone. It’s also a good idea to have back-up options in case your first choice fills up and you don’t secure a spot. Be sure to have this link ready to go - you’ll need to sign-in using the Already Registered button before you can pre-register so allow yourself a few minutes to do this. UPDATE: 09/03 - pre-registration is open! In order to register for sessions you will need to sign-in using the Already Registered button then navigate to “Modify Registration” and click through until you get to the “Sessions” section and then select which ones you would like to register for.

One thing to note is that even though this is a virtual conference - not all sessions will be recorded for playback. Be sure to keep this in mind when you’re choosing how to split your time between the career fair and the sessions! 

Another huge perk of the in-person GHC would be the networking opportunities. I have met so many incredible women in tech at GHC many of whom I’m still in close touch with today! This year it’ll be a little different due to the virtual format but I strongly encourage you to join Facebook groups, Slacks, WhatsApp groups and reach out to others attending vGHC. The great part about this is that your networking is not limited to the conference (since it’s virtual) and you can start that as early as today!

Even though this year’s GHC is virtual I’m still incredibly excited for all of the amazing opportunities it presents. I hope you found this article helpful when preparing for GHC and if you’d like you can always check out my previous articles written for the in-person GHC!

Previous posts for in-person GHC you might find helpful: What to Know About GHC and Job Hunting at GHC