Weekly Roundup: Top Career & Tech Hiring Tips - January 23, 2015

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. 

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1. Facebook Goes on Massive Hiring Spree [Top Tech News]

After acquiring several startups, like Oculus Rift, Facebook is looking to increase its worker base by 14 percent -- or about 1,200 new hires -- in the short term to help push its acquisitions forward.

2. Windows 10 Will Be a Free Upgrade if You Have Windows 7 or 8 [Business Insider]

Microsoft just upped its game a bit by offering a free upgrade of its new version of Windows, Windows 10. Typically, the company charges for new versions, so this is a new approach to drive adoption.

3. 5 Questions to Turn Your Job Interview Into a Job Conversation [INC]

For job interviewers, broiler-plate questions drive the conversation onto boring, stiff and rehearsed territory.

In order to ditch the job interview facade, this INC article offers five great conversation starters that should help you get to know the person on a more genuine level.

For instance, instead of the run-of-the-mill question: "Why do you want to work here?" a better question would be: "I would love to hear about what you'd like to do here." By focusing on what the candidate is looking for offers more insight than just why they want to work at your company. This works both ways. Candidates who want to get a more genuine read on the company should spin these questions and ask the interviewer.

4. The No. 1 Skill Every Startup CEO Should Look for in Their Teams [INC]

Answer by a , partner @ Storm Ventures; ceo/co-founder @ EchoSign (acq'd by Adobe:

"From a start-up CEO perspective, the #1 skill you should develop is ownership. Most employees just can't be owners. This may not matter at Adobe, or Google, or wherever.

But up until you have 500 employees or so, the CEO is looking for owners. People that don't just play a role, but truly own something, that make 100% sure it comes inahead of time and ahead of expectations--with as little drama as possible."

5. IT Job Market Unemployment Rate Drops to 2.5% [eWeek]

"In the fourth quarter of 2014, the tech unemployment rate averaged 2.5 percent, slightly below the third-quarter figure of 2.7 percent, and the lowest rate recorded since 2008, according to online IT jobs portal Dice's analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics."

"The average annual tech unemployment rate came in at 2.7 percent, a significant decline from the average tech unemployment rate of 3.6 percent in 2013."