Roberto Angulo

Article / Updated 09-07-2023

One of the advantages of being a first-time job seeker is that employers most likely won’t ask you for references. This is because they know you haven’t had any previous employment. Nonetheless, some employers may ask you for some references. To paraphrase a popular saying, it’s better to have the references and not need them than to need them and not have them. You’re also better off asking for references early on in your job-seeking quest to get this out of the way. This way, you’re not scrambling later on trying to get endorsements on short notice while an employer is waiting for them before it can give you an offer. Start making a list of past employers, teachers, and classmates whom you’ll ask to serve as references or to give you endorsements. Securing past employer recommendations You’ve most likely had internships or a part-time job in the past, or you’ve done some volunteer work. If so, start asking some of your past employers if they can act as references. You can also ask them for recommendations ahead of time, even if you’re not sure your prospective employer will need them. It’s up to you. Past bosses often move on to other organizations. If all your prospective employer needs is to verify past employers, give it the main number for the organization. If you or your employer needs a recommendation or reference, track down your former boss and reach out to her. Writing someone for a recommendation You may have a great relationship with your former boss where it’s easy for you to ask for a reference or recommendation. Either way, be polite and ask early enough. Also, be ready to thank the person for any reference or recommendation, whether or not you get the job. Here’s a simple note you can send to your former employer, via email or via LinkedIn, asking for a good word from him: Hello, _____. I hope you’re doing well. I’m in the process of looking for a job and I’d like to list you as a reference. I had a great experience working with you and learned a lot. I’d like to share your name and contact information with prospective employers. Please confirm this is okay and let me know what email or phone number I can provide as contact information. Thank you very much, and take care, Your Name If you need a reference letter, definitely ask for it early in the process. They take time to write, and you want to make sure you give the person enough time to write you a good letter. Here’s an example of how you can make the request. Fill in the blanks appropriately. Make sure you provide a deadline of when you need the letter, and most important, always be courteous. Also, add details on the job you’re pursuing and a link to the job description if you have one. This will help the person craft the letter. Hello, _____. I hope you’re doing well! I’m in the process of looking for a job, and I’d like to ask you for a letter of recommendation. I know you’re busy, and I appreciate your help. The deadline for the letter is _________ and you can send it to _________. The opportunity I’m considering is a ____________ role with ____________. My job would entail doing _________________. I’ve attached the job description to help you understand the role. A good word from you will definitely help my prospects in securing this job. Your letter can briefly describe the work I did for you, some of my best qualities, and how you think I can do well in this role. If you can do this, please let me know. I really appreciate it! Also, please let me know if I can do anything to make it easier for you to write the letter. Thank you in advance and best regards, Your Name Be ready to provide the writer of your letter with some bullet points of items to include in the letter. This can include some of your strengths and specific contributions. You may also need to write the letter for that person. Approaching teachers for recommendations Professors typically don’t do recommendations unless they know you well enough. If you have a professor you work with or an advisor, she should be willing to write you a letter. You can also approach a faculty advisor of a student group if you belonged to one, especially if you were in a leadership position. Here are some things to remember when asking a professor for a recommendation: Ask early. Do it prior to finals or midterms, when your professor will most likely be inundated with grading papers or exams. Consider teaching assistants. If your professor is unable to write a letter, ask the teaching assistant. A professor is more prestigious, but a teaching assistant’s recommendation is better than no recommendation at all. Write your own letter. In some cases, you may be asked to write the letter yourself, for the professor, and then hand it to him so he can add the finishing touches. If you get asked to write your own letter, don’t be bummed. It’s normal and it just means the individual is busy, but he wants to help you. Crafting your own recommendation letter If you’re asked to write your own letter, here’s a sample letter you can customize and use: To whom it may concern, It is with pleasure that I recommend YOUR NAME HERE for ___________ role at _________. As I understand, the opportunity entails doing ____________________ __________________________________________________________. YOUR NAME HERE is an ideal candidate for this position. While he/she was a student in my _______ class/group, he/she showed great aptitude in _______________ and performed well, obtaining one of the top scores in the class. The work involved working in a group, and YOUR NAME HERE was able to work well and collaboratively as part of a team. His/her fellow team members often went to YOUR NAME HERE for assistance and relied on him/her for feedback. YOUR NAME HERE showed mastery of the subject matter and was always willing to help others. I believe YOUR NAME HERE’s work style, ability to master difficult concepts, and willingness to help others provide him/her with the skills necessary to succeed in any endeavor he/she sets his/her mind to. I would, therefore, appreciate any consideration you can give YOUR NAME HERE for this position. Sincerely, When writing your own letter, provide the document to the person recommending you in a file format where she can easily make edits (such as Microsoft Word). Be sure to include the following components in the letter: Role and responsibilities: Include the job that you’re applying to and details about what the job entails. Organization: Include the organization that you’re applying to. Accomplishments: Include any of your specific accomplishments or results you achieved that the recommender can point to in his letter. Skill sets: Include any skills that are relevant to the job you’re applying to that the recommender will also be willing to write about.

Video / Updated 08-14-2023

Your salary is only a part of your compensation. Many employers offer other ways for you to earn money or to save it. You also can avoid paying taxes on these savings, increasing the money you set aside. This is because when you save money to a pre-tax account, you aren’t paying taxes on that amount of money; instead, you’re using that money you would have paid in taxes for medical, commuter, or childcare expenses. Or you can save it for retirement. Knowing about these perks will help you get a better grasp of your compensation package and your full earning potential. 401(k), 403(b), and 457 These employer-sponsored plans allow you to save for retirement by setting aside “pre-tax” dollars from your paycheck. This is a big advantage because these savings are not taxed as you store them away. Only when you retire do these funds get taxed — but not before many years have passed, and the power of compounding interest has made your savings grow. Another advantage of having one of these retirement plans is that your employer may provide matching funds, up to a certain percentage of your salary. The types of matching include the following: Discretionary match: The employer is not obliged to do this but can match the funds you contribute to your plan at its own discretion. This is usually based on the organization meeting certain revenue, profit, or cash milestones. Safe harbor match: In this type of matching, the employer may be required to provide matching in a given year if certain tests are triggered. Specifically, if the organization has a lot of highly compensated employees (HCEs) contributing to their plans and not enough non-HCEs, the employer may need to match the contributions of non-HCEs. These matching contributions are typically 100 percent vested. Guaranteed match: In this type of matching, the employer guarantees a match up to a certain percent of your gross salary every year. For example, an employer may match 100 percent of your contribution up to 5 percent of your gross salary. So, if you make $60,000 a year and contribute 4 percent of your gross pay ($2,400 a year) to your 401(k), your employer will put in another $2,400. The percentages will vary by employer, but the idea is that they guarantee a match up to a certain percentage. If an employer provides matching, you should take this match into consideration as you evaluate a job offer. You typically become eligible for retirement benefits upon hire or three to six months after your start date; ask your prospective employer when you’ll be eligible. The 401(k) plan is for companies and for-profit businesses. The 403(b) is for public education organizations and nonprofits. Governmental and certain nongovernmental employers offer the 457 plan. Unlike a 401(k), the 457 plan can have independent contractors as participants. Another difference in the 457 plan is that, unlike with a 401(k), there is no penalty for withdrawing money before age 55. Health insurance Health insurance can be expensive, costing hundreds of dollars a month for an individual or even thousands a month for a family. Employers tend to offer health insurance, along with vision and dental insurance, at a reduced monthly cost, referred to as a premium. Some employers may cover the entire premium for you; others will make you pay a small part of it. Just as important as the monthly premium is your annual deductible, the amount you pay out of pocket each year before the insurance starts covering your medical expenses. If your deductible is zero, then your insurance starts covering expenses as soon as you’re insured. If you have a high deductible, such as $5,000 a year, then you need to pay for the first $5,000 of medical expenses before your insurance starts covering medical costs. Flexible spending and other accounts Flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are similar to retirement accounts in that they allow you to set aside money before tax. But in this case, the money can be spent on qualified medical expenses such as prescription medicine and dependent-care expenses such as childcare. The advantage of these accounts is that the money you set aside is never taxed — not when you set it aside and not even when you spend it. The higher your tax rate, the more you save. For example, if you’re in a high tax bracket and pay 30 percent in taxes, $1,000 in income ends up being $700 after taxes, costing you $300 in tax. But if you save $1,000 in a pre-tax account, you get to keep that $300 and use it for medical-related expenses. Types of savings accounts include the following: Health FSAs: These are the most common and allow you to save pre-tax funds for medical expenses such as prescriptions, co-payments for doctor and dentist visits, and birth control. The annual limit of what you can contribute to your individual health FSA is $2,650. If you don’t use all your funds for the current year, you can carry forward up to $500 to the following one. The employer keeps any unused amount over this. When choosing how much to set aside for your health FSA, do your best to estimate how much you may spend on medical expenses in the coming year so that you have enough money to cover these, but at the same, you don’t end up leaving unused money. You can spend the money even before you’ve contributed it to your account. Health savings accounts (HSAs): HSAs are similar to health FSAs. They also allow you to take pre-tax money out of your paycheck for medical expenses. But unlike health FSAs, you don’t lose the funds if you don’t use them. The money carries over and accumulates, and it’s always available to you. HSAs are available to employees who are enrolled in high-deductible health plans, and you can have either an HSA or a health FSA, but not both. As with health FSAs, you can spend the money even before you’ve contributed it to your account. In 2018, you can contribute up to $3,450 into a personal HSA account or $6,900 into a family HSA. These limits change periodically, so be sure to check with the IRS at www.irs.gov for the latest information. Dependent care FSA: These accounts cover expenses for childcare if you have children under 13 years of age. They also cover elderly care if you have a senior citizen as a dependent. The annual household limit of what you can contribute is $5,000. Unlike FSA and HSA accounts, with dependent care FSAs, you can only spend what you have contributed so far in a given year. Commuter spending accounts: These accounts allow you to save up to $260 per month for parking at work and up to $260 per month for transit expenses to and from work. These accounts are also funded through pre-tax dollars. Save your receipts and ask for detailed receipts whenever possible. These accounts often require proof of your purchases before you get reimbursed. For medical visits, the receipt should include your name, the date when the service was provided, and details of the service you received. Bonus plans Bonus plans vary from employer to employer and even within an organization. These plans tie bonus compensation to your individual performance, or your team’s goals or to the organization achieving certain milestones. You may be able to participate in one or more of these types of bonus plans at the same time. Bonuses may consist of cash, stock, or other incentives such as paid travel expenses and educational opportunities. The frequency of these plans also varies. You can have quarterly bonuses tied to a quarterly goal. Team performance may also be measured quarterly. Bonuses tied to an organization reaching certain goals, such as revenue or profit markers, tend to get paid quarterly or on an annual basis. Profit-sharing plans and profit-sharing retirement plans Employers can set up profit-sharing plans at their own discretion. Usually these plans allow employees to earn bonuses based on annual or quarterly profits. These profits are also commonly referred to as earnings and are calculated on the organization’s after-tax net income. If the company does not make a profit, then the employer does not have to give a bonus. Profit-sharing retirement plans are similar to profit-sharing plans, but the employer makes a discretionary contribution, based on profits to an employee’s retirement account, such as a 401(k). In essence, the employer makes a discretionary contribution to your 401(k), but the match is based on the organization’s earnings. Restricted stock units Restricted stock units (RSUs) are a way for publicly listed companies (companies that trade on public stock exchanges such as NASDAQ or the NYSE) or venture capital–backed companies to give stock to employees. These stock units are called restricted because they usually vest over a period of time before you get them. They may have other restrictions as well. RSUs are intended to give you ownership in the company and to provide you with an incentive to grow the value of your shares, and the company, through your hard work. Instead of getting RSUs outright when you start employment, they vest over a number of years. This is to encourage you to stay at the organization until your RSUs vest. After they vest, these RSUs are considered income and are taxed at your income level. The employer may withhold some of these RSUs in order to cover your tax liability. For example, if your RSUs end up being worth $10,000 and you owe $2,000 in taxes, your employer may keep $2,000 worth of RSUs to cover your tax liability and give you $8,000 in RSUs. At some point, you’ll most likely leave your first job to pursue another opportunity.  Take into account any vesting schedule for RSUs, retirement account matches, or stock options you have, and plan your departure date accordingly so you don’t leave money on the table. Stock option plans Stock options are similar to RSUs in that they’re also meant to provide you with an incentive to stay at the company and to help grow its value. Stock options are not stock. Instead, as the name implies, they’re an “option” to buy a certain number of shares at a specified low price. This price is often referred to as the exercise price or strike price. If you get a chance to sell your shares because the company goes public or gets bought, you make money on the difference between the share price and the exercise price at the time you sell your shares. With opportunity often comes risk. You could encounter a scenario where the company’s shares have a certain price, you exercise your options at a lower price, and you decide to keep your shares and not sell them for the moment. This may create a taxable event for you. Then the company’s share price may drop sharply, causing you to lose money. On top of that, you may have to pay taxes and not have the money to cover those taxes. Check with a professional tax accountant if you ever find yourself in such a situation. For example, if you have 1,000 options at an exercise price of $1 per share and the company ends up going public at a price of $10 per share, you make $9 per share. Your total gain is $9,000 because you have 1,000 options. Options tend to get taxed at the time of exercise. There are two types of stock options: incentive stock options (ISOs), which are available only to employees, and non-qualified stock options (NSOs), which can be granted to anyone, including employees, contractors, and advisors. The tax treatment varies for these types of options. Check with an accountant about your particular tax circumstances and how ISOs and NSOs affect you. You can also learn more about taxes from the IRS at www.irs.gov. Tuition reimbursement This benefit means what it sounds like. Some employers offer financial assistance to employees who take courses or who are working toward a degree. The amount reimbursed varies by employer, and sometimes the employer requires you to be employed with it for a certain period of time before this benefit kicks in. Employers may impose certain conditions for tuition reimbursement. You may be required to maintain a certain grade level. The course material should also apply to your work at hand, and often, your studies should contribute toward an advanced degree or certificate. Employers tend to offer this benefit as a way to attract talent and to grow the capabilities of their workforce.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 08-14-2023

When you're applying for a job, you need to stay organized! Keep track of the jobs you've applied and when you applied. When you get your first job offer, you may be tempted to grab it! But first, you need to evaluate the offer and make sure it's a good one. Finally, job hunters are targets of online scammers, so you need to know what to look for to avoid getting taken.

Article / Updated 06-20-2023

Professors and teachers are among the most influential people who can help you in your career. Professors are obviously knowledgeable in the subject matter they teach. They know their field and they also tend to know people working in their field. Because of this, they’re in a good position to help you with leads and introductions. When you think of professors, also add your teachers, teaching assistants, department head, academic advisor, or thesis advisor into this category of people who can help you. Professors are usually busy teaching classes and doing research, and it’s not in their job description to help students find jobs. Most professors, though, feel a sense of responsibility to help their students. They want their students to do well when they graduate. Here are some ways your professors can help you: Identifying promising jobs: Faculty tend to be experts in their field and industry. Because of this, they’re likely to know what jobs are out there that are relevant to you and your major. For example, your economics professor may be able to tell you about policy jobs at government agencies or analyst jobs at companies that she has worked with before. Pointing you to interesting organizations: Professors can also point you to employers that hire people with your educational background. Many professors consult for other organizations while also teaching. In my case, for example, I had professors who worked for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and for companies like Hewlett Packard and Google. If you have the opportunity, ask a professor what kind of work she does for these organizations and ask if she knows of any relevant entry-level opportunities within these firms. Making introductions: Not many faculty do this, but in some cases, especially if you’re working on your master’s degree or PhD, professors can introduce you to people in their industry with whom they’ve worked. If you have a good relationship with a teacher or professor, ask him to introduce you to employers in his network. Professors who advise PhD students tend to stay in touch with their students after they’ve graduated. And these grads tend to go back to their professors when they’re looking to hire recent grads. Sharing job leads: When I was in college, my most interesting job and internship leads came from my professors and department administrators. Savvy employers know that the best way to reach students from your school and major is to contact your department. So if you get an email from a professor, teaching assistant, or department administrator about a job or an internship, take notice. These opportunities are typically very relevant and have been targeted by the employer to students with your educational profile. Giving you an endorsement: Ask early. Some professors, especially the ones who teach a large number of students, don’t give recommendations because, if they do it for one student, they need to do it for everyone. Still, if you work closely with a professor and she knows you, ask her for a letter of recommendation. You can also ask her for permission to give her name and contact information as a reference to potential employers. Don’t get discouraged if you ask a professor for help and she turns you down. Not all professors are able to help. Some are busy and have so many students that they set a policy of not giving recommendations or making introductions.

Article / Updated 06-06-2023

Your family and friends are most likely the people who know you the best. They have a good idea of what you’re good at doing and your top qualities. They also know where you need to improve. This makes them good at judging what jobs may be relevant and interesting to you. Ask them for help in keeping an eye open for jobs that could be a good fit for you. Here are other ways your friends can help you: Getting an internship, co-op, or temporary job. A friend, relative, or friend of the family may hesitate to get you a full-time job simply because of the connection. This is fair — nepotism is seen as a negative thing and your friend or relative may get in trouble at work. With internships or temporary jobs, especially if they’re unpaid, this shouldn’t be an issue. Internships and co-ops are temporary, usually lasting two to three months. Because of the short duration, employers tend to be less strict on how these hires are made. In fact, it’s often unspoken that friends tend to help other friends by giving internships to their relatives. Don’t be shy about leveraging your connections or asking relatives to leverage their connections for an internship. If you do well in your internship, everyone wins. If this is not the case, it was only a two- to three-month stint. When leveraging a family connection or friend to get a job, reach out to the employer yourself and don’t rely on your connection to do it for you. This shows the employer that you’re proactive and you take the initiative. You’ll make a good impression. Employee referrals: A simple referral, even if not an endorsement, often helps to get you through the door and to secure an interview. Larger employers often pay employees a referral fee for recommending someone who ultimately gets hired and stays with the organization for some period of time, normally three to six months. If you have friends who work at an employer of interest, ask them if they can submit your résumé or add a note with the recruiter that you’ve applied for the job. They’ll be doing you a favor and they may also earn a bonus.

Article / Updated 05-01-2018

LinkedIn makes it easy for you to ask for recommendations. When someone recommends you, her endorsement appears as part of your profile. Recruiters who look at your profile will usually look to see if you have any recommendations. Not having them doesn’t hurt you, but having them definitely adds to the appeal of your profile and makes you stand out. To get recommended on LinkedIn, follow these steps: Go to LinkedIn. In the upper-left search bar of the screen, enter the name of the person whom you would like to ask for a recommendation. Click the three dots toward the top of the person’s profile and select Request a Recommendation from the drop-down menu. Select the relationship you have with the recommender and the role you had, as shown. On the next screen, you’ll be able to enter a message for the person. Make sure you personalize this message and include detail about yourself, your interactions with the person, and any specific aspects that you would like the recommender to mention. When you receive a recommendation on LinkedIn, you can decide if you want to accept it. You can also keep it private for now and make it public at a later point. Recommenders on LinkedIn need to be LinkedIn members, and you need to be connected to them. Many people in academia are on LinkedIn, but not all.

Article / Updated 05-01-2018

Alumni are an effective channel that can help you get a job, especially that first job. But how do you connect with them? You can do it online via LinkedIn, but you can also do it with a more personal touch like the following: Alumni events: Annual reunions tend to bring alumni back to campus. Check with your alumni association or career center about any upcoming mixers for students and alumni. Alumni houses: Some of the big universities tend to have regional alumni offices or houses around the world. If this is the case with your school, check with the local representative to see if they have any opportunities to connect with alumni. Fraternity and sorority events: Not everyone was in a fraternity or sorority in college, but if you were, then this is a network of individuals who can also help you. Don’t be shy about asking for help or leads. Tailgaters: These are also a great opportunity to meet alumni. Although they’re social events, you can take the opportunity to get to know people and ask them about what they do. You can mention casually that you’re looking for opportunities. Do you belong to any alumni email lists or groups? If so, send your résumé along with a detailed note asking if anyone knows of opportunities available for someone with your school and major.

Article / Updated 05-01-2018

Use Facebook in the same way as LinkedIn to let your friends know that you’re looking for a job. You can do this easily by creating a status update and making it public, as shown here. Complete your Facebook profile by adding your school, major, and any previous internship experience you’ve had. More employers are using Facebook to look for talent, so the more information you have, the more likely you are to be found. Here are some ways to make your update stand out: Make it public. By default, updates appear only to your friends. Make this one public so everyone sees it. Add a background. Facebook now lets you add a background to your updates. Doing this will make your update stand out. Add a link to your professional profile. If you have a LinkedIn or AfterCollege profile, add a link to it in your update.

Article / Updated 05-01-2018

LinkedIn is as effective as the number of contacts you have. The larger your number of online connections, the louder your megaphone for letting people know about career and educational updates. When you’ve established a LinkedIn profile, LinkedIn can help you in two simple ways: Be found. By having a profile with some basic information such as your school and major, you’re likely to be found by recruiters who are looking for entry-level candidates. Tell people you’re looking. LinkedIn allows you to update your headline to announce things to your network. This small and simple action has high impact, because it lets your LinkedIn network know you’re looking for work. And you never know — someone can stumble upon an opportunity that is relevant to you and make you aware of it. Always let your contacts know that you’re exploring opportunities. People on LinkedIn typically don’t announce that they’re looking for a job, out of fear that their current employer will find out. But in your case, because this is your first job, it’s not an issue. Take advantage and announce your search. To announce on LinkedIn that you’re looking for a job, update your profile headline and summary. Do this by following these steps: Go to LinkedIn and make sure you’re logged in. On the top menu bar, scroll to the right and click Me to bring up a menu bar. Click View Profile. Click the pencil icon on the right side of your profile. This will bring up an edit screen. Next to Share Profile Changes, change the switch to Yes. This ensures that your contacts will be aware of the updates you’ll make. Update your headline and summary. For your headline, you can use something along these lines: Stanford University economics student looking for internship The headline should be one line; it should describe what you do and what you’re looking for. Keep the summary to three lines and add some specific skills. Avoid using adjectives like enthusiastic or phrases like eager to learn. These are more fluff than real information. Keep it focused on specific skills and attributes you bring to an employer. A good example of a summary can be something like this: Majoring in economics at Stanford. Knowledgeable in Microsoft Excel and SQL, and experienced in developing financial models. Enjoy working with data to glean insights that help solve business problems. Pack some specific skills and knowledge in your profile summary so when a recruiter glances at your profile, the summary and headline will catch her eye.

Article / Updated 05-01-2018

The benefits that come with working for a large employer are many, and they vary in importance. Here are some of the pros of working for a large company. Teams More employees means more teams. As part of a team, you get to interact with others who will help you gain knowledge. At the same time, you get to interact with other teams. For example, if you’re a project manager in a team of project managers, you’ll get to learn from some of the senior members on your team. And as a project manager, you’re probably working with cross-functional teams of engineers, programmers, and finance people within the organization. You may also work with client teams. All these interactions do two things for you: You’ll meet people from whom you’ll learn. You’ll expand your professional network, which will come in handy as you eventually look for your next job or project. Learning resources Although not exclusive to large companies, many large employers tend to have educational assistance and tuition reimbursement programs. Employers offer these programs in order to retain employees, attract new ones, and ensure workers keep their skills up to date. An example of an employer offering tuition reimbursement is Procter & Gamble. As of the writing of this book, it reimburses up to 80 percent of tuition and qualifying fees on courses that relate to your current or future assignment at the company, with a cap of $40,000 over the span of your employment with the company. Children’s National Health System, based in Washington, D.C., is another organization that provides educational assistance. It offers assistance after six months of employment and your education must lead to a degree. One thing to look out for when considering an employer that offers tuition reimbursement are the repayment terms. Often times, when you leave an employer before a certain amount of time, you may have to repay part or all of your tuition assistance. Benefits Benefits are prevalent at most employers. But when you join a large organization, these benefits tend to be richer. Retirement saving and investment plans are one of these benefits. At companies, the most common benefit is the 401(k). At nonprofit institutions, these plans are called 403(b) plans, and at government agencies, they are referred to as 457(b) plans. These non-glamorous names come from the sections of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service code where the programs are defined. The advantage of these plans is that you get to save money for retirement from funds subtracted directly from your paycheck, before taxes. This is a big benefit in itself because it’s rare to be able to use pre-tax money for savings. The higher your tax rate, the more you can benefit from these plans. Again, many employers offer retirement plans. But large companies tend to offer better matching for your contributions. Yes, this is what you think it is. For every dollar you contribute to your 401(k) plan, the employer will contribute a matching amount as well, up to a certain point, usually up to 6 percent of your pre-tax income. Perks Companies also tend to offer special perks to outdo other employers in order to retain employees. For example, companies like Salesforce.com, based in San Francisco, offers a free iPhone to qualifying employees, with a fully paid call plan. Other employees tend to offer other gadgets. For example, LinkedIn, at one point, gave free iPads to all its employees. Google, which is one of the largest and most well-regarded employers in the world, offers free lunch and access to a full gym to its employees. These perks can also include free transportation to and from work. In the San Francisco Bay Area, which has a lot of traffic congestion and not enough transportation between cities, large companies like Apple, Google, and Genentech offer bus service from various points in San Francisco to the South Bay and to Silicon Valley. These buses are often more comfortable than public buses and they include free Wi-Fi. Brand recognition Large organizations, especially consumer-facing ones, tend to have good recognizable brand names. Examples of such employers include Google, Apple, and Facebook, which touch most people’s daily lives. Other brand names include companies like Oracle and Salesforce.com, which sell to other businesses. The you have government agencies like the National Security Agency (NSA) and NASA. Working for organizations such as these provides you with a good brand name that you can put on your résumé or profile, and can help you down the line as you look for your next job. Working for a brand-name employer can help get you in the door of a future employer.