Series 4 of the ‘How Did You Get That Job?’ podcast starts with guest Abigail Rappoport. Based in the UK, Abigail has led a diverse and exciting career, working at household names such as Microsoft and Meta, as well as setting up her own businesses. She’s also recently been named on the 2024 longlist for ComputerWeekly’s Most Influential Women in UK Tech! In this interview with Hays’ Shaun Cheatham, Abigail talks about her route into tech and weighs up the benefits of working at global o...

In this special episode of ‘How Did You Get That Job?’, host Shaun Cheatham is joined by two former Chief Warrant Officers in the US Army. Having retired from service, each have taken different paths but have continued to enjoy highly successful careers in cyber security.Fernando “Nando” Tomlinson has since joined Mandiant (part of Google Cloud), where he works as a Technical Manager in Digital Forensics and Incident Response. Roy “Big Ruck” Rucker Sr., meanwhile, runs his own cyber security ...

Joining us on the How Did You Get That Job?  podcast this time is Emily Cornock. Based in Australia, Emily works at financial services company Suncorp, where she’s the Executive Manager for Core Data Platforms.  In this insightful conversation with host Shaun Cheatham, Emily shares how sticking to her career plan didn’t always work out, and what she did to pivot and keep her journey going. A proponent of authenticity with little time for stereotypes in tech, Emily is passionate about not only...

In this special episode of 'How Did You Get That Job?', host Shaun Cheatham looks at data from recruitment specialists Hays that reveals which tech roles are most in demand among employers in 2024. During the show, he talks to Hays experts to uncover why these organisations need people in these roles, and which skills you need to get the job and succeed. Guests include Joshua Tang, Jason Barr, Giulia Bonvissuto and Breanna Mahan. If you want to know more about the jobs mentions in Shaun's...

Paul Smith, CIO at Amnesty International, joins host Shaun Cheatham for another episode of the How Did You Get That Job? podcast. Based in the UK, Paul took a non-traditional path into tech and credits his passion for learning with his success today.  During his conversation with Shaun, Paul discusses his early career, his transition into working in tech and how building relationships with other leaders landed him his current role. He also shares what it’s like working for an organisation...

In the latest episode of How Did You Get That Job?, host Shaun Cheatham meets Kumar Parakala. Currently based in the US as President of GHD Digital, Kumar saw his career really take off when he moved to Australia, where he worked in a public sector role before spending 14 years at KPMG. Kumar came on the podcast to discuss his career and how he got to where he is today. He is a huge advocate of taking risks, and speaks candidly about the benefits of this, as well as the negative impact this...

How Did You Get That Job? is back and we’re starting by recognising Cyber Security Awareness Month this October. Shaun’s guest is Neil Khatod, who recently left the US Army after 30 years of service. Neil most recently served as COO of US Army Cyber Command, where he was responsible for defending a network with over 1.4m endpoints.  In a fascinating conversation, Neil tells us about his experiences of working on the army’s offensive and defensive cyber and the difficult decisions he had to...

The pace of change in the tech industry is very high, meaning you always need to be open to enhancing your skills. At Hays, we call this skills development, but in the wider industry you may hear it called “upskilling”.   In this special episode, Shaun Cheatham is joined by Harry Gooding - Solutions Director at Hays and presenter of the Tech Founders series from Hays. Together, they discuss what is happening in the industry at the moment, how best to determine which skills you need to learn...

In this episode we meet Evangelina Avendano, Location Leader at EY GDS. We speak to her about her career and discover more about her path from the technology industry to finance, only to come back to tech in her present role. She shares her reasons for makingthe transition, the differences between industries and what advice she has for others who are looking to make the change.  We also speak to her about being a woman in the industry and how she was told to be bold and raise her hand,...

In this special episode, originally released in 2022, we celebrate International Women’s Day by looking back at key moments from ‘How Did You Get That Job?’. We pick outcomments around gender imbalance within tech teams and challenges like imposter syndrome which have played as a key disabler in career progression. We’re also joined by Hay’s very own Caroline Wilson, the Director of Workday Practice. Caroline will give us a wider industry glance at what is happening within tech, the trends...

In this episode, Shaun Cheatham sits down with Barbara Skerritt, IT Director (EMEA) at ICON Plc. She shares insights from across her 30-year career, starting in data management and fast forwarding to now, where she is IT Director (a role which she asked for!) to lead a whole new product at ICON.   Barbara talks about how she loves working in teams and is a natural people leader. This has led her on to creating a Women in Technology group, where she can help see through a diversity and...

In this special episode of How Did You Get That Job?, presenter Shaun Cheatham meets James Milligan, Global Head of Technology Solutions at Hays. They talk about how the tech industry is open to all backgrounds and career paths, plus look back at key moments in the series so far where guests have shared their experiences. Last year, research firm McKinsey reported that 44% of professionals within the tech industry had started in a non-tech career before migrating. Rebecca Keenan, Global...

To celebrate Cyber Security Awareness Month we meet Julie Pearl Matira, who is the SOC Manager for the CyberQ Group. Based in the Philippines, Julie is someone who has dedicated her life to the security industry to succeed in a difficult environment. She joins Shaun on the podcast to tell us about the tech environment in the Philippines, the certifications she gained (and the advantages which these have given her) and gives a checkered account of her successful career to date. We also touch...

Campaign Against Living Miserably (aka CALM) is a UK charity helping those struggling with their mental health, ultimately in order to prevent suicides. Their Head of Data & Innovation is Seun Akindele, and she joins Shaun as the guest in this episode. She talks about her background outside of tech, and how she brings the skills and experience from her early career to tech in the charity sector. We also look at regulations, innovation in tech and its implications, and ultimately what is...

In this episode we spend time with Ellen Wu, the CIO of Manulife China (or Manulife- SInochem), the JV in China. She shares how working on a UN think tank opened her eyes to the opportunity and responsibility which the technology industry has around sustainability. Ever since it has become a passion project of hers to learn and help influence those around her into more sustainable practice.  Other guests we’ve had in the series have mostly come to technology via a non-traditional career...

This is a special episode dedicated to mentorship and how it can help your career. Since starting this podcast and talking to successful tech leaders, mentorship has always been a topic which has been spoken about glowingly. These leaders have all spoken about how and why mentorship is responsible for where they are today, the confidence it’s given them and what they’ve learned as a result.  This episode looks back on these moments and we also chat with Thea Watson, Global Customer Experience...

In this episode we meet John deCraen. He is the Associate Managing Director for Cyber at Kroll, a consultancy organisation who, among their services, offer digital investigations and incident response. John speaks about the daily challenges he faces, how he helps clients to protect themselves against attacks and his career experiences with digital forensics. Presenter, Shaun Cheatham, speaks in more depth with John about his career and how he had a later start than those around him, and how...

The guest in this episode is Dave Messenger. He’s the Executive Chairman of LianLian, a Chinese-born FinTech company he’s helping to go global. Dave discusses starting his career as an apprentice chef, before training to become an engineer and later venturing into leadership positions at Virgin Mobile and American Express. Shaun asks Dave about mentorship and its influence on his career, as well as his observations around diversity. We also land upon the topic of failure, which is something...

Shaun is joined in this episode by Tariq Khan, the Chief Digital & Information Officer at Camden Council. Tariq started his career in the private sector working for big multinational organisations. However, in the pandemic, and after a lot of reflection, he decided to take up a role with Camden Council to help implement social change. Tariq is now responsible for technology on 600 lines of business, from parking solutions to schools to road maintenance. He shares his thoughts on why...

In this episode Shaun is joined by Ivan Woo, who is the Chief Information Officer at the Qi Group. Ivan started his tech career as a programmer and he talks about his passion for working hard and facing challenges which has helped unlock doors for him along the way. Ivan also shares that one of his biggest inspirations is the book ‘What Got You Here Won’t Get You There’ by Marshall Goldsmith. Listening to this episode, you will: Discover why Ivan thinks people should “follow their passion”...

In this episode we meet Angie Zhu who is the General Manager of AI & IoT Insider Labs at Microsoft. In her career she has led over 100 innovation projects which have included autonomous cars, healthcare and retail.   Listening to this episode, you will:         ·       Hear advice on how to communicate with different stakeholders, inc techies, investors and management      ·       Discover how she self taught artificial intelligence and other future tech with autonomous cars ·         How...

Through the episode Sean shares his observations from a career of over 30 years within the financial tech industry. He talks about how to lead projects in different parts of the world, combatting pain points and how success can only be determined by whether it is a success with the customers only.  Listening to this episode, you will: Understand how tech skills are invaluable in giving you a good basis for any role within a businessHear first-hand experiences from large scale digital...

To kick off series two, we meet Rebecca Keenan who is the Global Head of Process Automation at Expleo.  She shares with us her career journey to date, the experiences and pains in launching the new department from scratch and we discover her “take back control” moment which helped accelerate her career.  By listening to this episode you will: Learn more about process automationDiscover different roles which make up highly productive teams in the space Why young people in tech should be...

We are back with series two of How Did You Get That Job!? by Hays Technology. Shaun Cheatham will be meeting more leaders from the tech space to uncover their unique and personal stories about their career paths, challenges they faced and to ask how did you get that job!? We hope by listening to leaders from Microsoft, Dyson and other tech giants will inspire you to follow in their footsteps. For more about Hays Technology visit https://www.haystechnology.com