Weekly Roundup: Top 5 Career and Tech Hiring Tips – August 22, 2014

Welcome to CyberCoders' Weekly Roundup! Every week, we handpick the top five stories from around the web that offer great insight into hiring in the tech industry. 

1. 40 percent of American workers will leave paid vacation days unused (LinkedIn Today)

Arianna Huffington points to a recent study by Travel Effect that points to just how overworked Americans are. Our culture tends to instill a sense of fear for taking too long of a vacation.

Overwhelmed America: Why Don't We Use Our Paid Time Off? is the study that found that 40 percent of American workers will leave paid vacation days unused.

"Even more revealing are the reasons respondents gave for leaving paid time off on the table. The four reasons cited the most are the dread of returning from a vacation to piles of work (40 percent), the belief that no one will be able to step in and do their job for them while they're gone (35 percent), not being able to afford it (33 percent) and the fear of being seen as replaceable (22 percent)."

2. How Spotify’s Music-Obsessed Culture Makes the Company Rock  (Fast Company)

What's it like to work at one of the leading music service companies in the world? Fast Company interviews a handful of Spotify employees about the day-to-day life at the music mecca.

"On Saturday there was a hackathon organized by Spotify and it was all about how to make new musical instruments." Here, much like at The Echo Nest's Somerville, MA offices, events like this are standard.

Conference rooms are named after famous venues and it's not unheard of for a superstar to stop by to perform live.

3. Six Tech Leaders on What it Takes to Get Hired at Their Companies (Fast Company)

"You can tell someone is right for the job by learning what they care about and whether they say 'I' or 'we,'" says Jess Lee, CEO of Polyvore.

Problem solving skills, cultural fit and personality over pedigree are just a few key characteristics it takes to get hired at some of the top tech companies.

4. Product Hunt, the Reddit for What's New in Tech, Is Now an App (Mashable)

Love keeping tabs on the hottest technology coming out of Silicon Valley? Product Hunt is the perfect app for this. It gives you the lowdown on the newest software products and services, ranked by the beloved Reddit-like upvotes. So, you can cut through the buzz and get straight to the best, crowd-sourced stories.

5. Download 275 Free Resume Templates for Microsoft Word (LifeHacker)

Thinking about dusting off the old resume this weekend? Now is as good a time as any. Lifehacker points to Hloom's 275 free Microsoft Word templates that are ready for download. One of those could help you stand out.

With nearly 300 options to choose from, feel free to peruse through specific categories and job types to create the best, most tailored resume for you. Happy job hunting!