“With the Test Analyst Job Ready Programme I learnt automation testing which is a big plus on my resume and put me in a good position to be employable.”

Shiny had manual testing experience back in India but found it hard to get her foot in the door to a job when moving to New Zealand.

What would you suggest to people that want to get into the Testing field?

Automation testing is highly sought after in New Zealand.  I had manual testing experience when working in India but with the Test Analyst Job Ready Programme I learnt automation testing which is a big plus on my resume and put me in a good position to be employable.  

Resume layout, what is highlighted in it and length is very important to make a good first impression on paper.  My resume, before coming to Industry Connect, was three pages long and I shortened it to two pages which was recommended.  I also changed my font in my resume and it made a big difference.  I started getting interview calls so the little details can make a big difference.

In an interview you need to firstly have local commercial experience which I got when doing the Internship.  A big thing that employers are looking for is the ability to fit into a team.  Even though automation testing is big in New Zealand, you also need to know manual testing, test estimation, giving a framework of them, test plans etc.

Interviews will have technical questions but a lot of questions are behavioural.  For example the interviewer would ask scenario questions like “if xyz happened in a project what would you do?”.  In saying this you need to prepare well for these types of questions.  I learnt a lot about “how to answer questions at interviews” in the Internship.

What is the key factor that made you successful?

Being prepared for my interviews technically and for behavioural questions.  Also during the internship I learnt how to work within a team well and handle pressure if it comes up which helped me answer behavioural questions in my interviews.  

Would you recommend Industry Connect to everyone?

Definitely.  It’s the best option to get you job ready for the IT Software Market with local commercial experience not just technically but also how the real work environment works. 

Well thank you Shiny, and congratulations again on your new job as a Test Analyst!