How To Find The First Job
Sources of Vacancies 🔗
- job ads
- Djinni
- friends, acquaintances
- conferences, meetups
- hackathons
- courses
- company websites
- freelance platforms
- volunteer experience (including open source coding)
- telegram channels
- placing CV on dedicated websites
Sending CV 🔗
Sure you can just send your CV using the web form, but I think it makes sense to spend a couple of minutes and find company’s email like “jobs@foo.bar” or “hr@foo.bar” which usually can be found in ‘Careers’ section on websites.
I would first send via website and if no reply for a few days then send a reminder letter to “jobs@foo.bar”.
Another useful way is to get in touch with recruiters directly on linkedin and send your resume there. Some may find it obsessive but that’s what linkedin is made for. Recruiters don’t hesitate to get in touch with candidates on linkedin so neither should you.
Cover Letter 🔗
IMHO cover letter should be attached to a CV.
Criteria for a good Cover Letter are:
- personalized - not copy-pasted for each vacancy.
- relevant to the position you are applying to.
- short. In most cases a few sentences would be enough. Nobody has time to read A4 sheet.
Example of Cover Letter
Dear Sir/Madam,
My name is Ilarion Halushka and I am a Software Engineer
with 4 years of experience with primary focus of JavaScript/TypeScript.
I have experience of working on health-care projects and developing mobile apps.
I reviewed the requirements and my skills match most of them
except of Scala and C# languages.
Hopefully, this won't be a problem as I am a fast learner and
motivated to work on a High-load project like Yours.
Looking Forward to Your reply.
Sincerely,
Ilarion Halushka
Software Engineer
Reminders 🔗
Don’t be afraid to ping the company representative after one week (may differ depending on location and company type) of silence.
Just a simple polite letter would work:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I applied to an open position of Junior Software Developer about a week ago.
Hopefully you had a chance to review my CV and
make a decision if you would like to move forward with me.
I would really appreciate if you could share some feedback
because I do think that I would be a good fir for this role as my skills and experience match the requirements.
Thank you for your time and have a nice day!
Please let me know if you don't want to hear from me again.
Sincerely,
Vasyl Bybkin
To tell you the truth, I stole this technique from recruiters who ping me on linkedin.
Interesting fact is that I usually ignore their first messages if I am not interested. However, when they ping me multiple times telling something like: “I reviewed your profile, and it looks like you would make a good fit for an open role…” Sometimes they even mention my previous experience or skills to make the message more personalized. This makes me reply them move often.
You may think that you don’t want to irritate anyone with your messages. However, this way you remind about yourself and increase your chances of getting feedback.
LinkedIn tips 🔗
- be active - put likes, leave comments on posts, subscribe to communities.
- connect with recruiters from your area. 100-500-1000-5000 - the more the better.
- connect with peers (engineers with similar experience and skills).
- endorse skills of recruiters/peers to get attention to your profile.
After you are done with all the items above you can add a “looking for a job” post to your feed.
CV tips 🔗
- no lie
- professional photo or no photo at all
- 1 page
- no “personal qualities”, “objective”
- white background
- black font color
- font type Times New Roman or some other basic and easy to read
- ask friends/peers/recruiters for proofreading
- mention courses, certifications, personal projects, hackathons, conference speeches
- add github account
Conclusion 🔗
Every little detail is important in finding a job in these competitive times. Even if it’s a small typo in your CV it can decrease your chances of getting a job. It may seem not significant at first, but many little things combine into the general evaluation of your candidacy.
Little things matter. ©