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Don't make these mistakes when applying for a job

Alvaro Montoro on August 02, 2021

We've had a couple of openings on our team, and I have been reviewing resumes and running pre-screenings and interviews lately. It's one of the fir...
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GrahamTheDev • Edited

Two things I have seen that really made me "sit up and pay attention".

The first was someone had obviously read a marketing book and sent us some "lumpy mail". Their CV was in an envelope where they had stapled a tea bag to the letter with the text "please enjoy a cup of tea while reviewing my CV, thank you for your time".

It stopped the letter being thrown away as the envelope has a lump in it (plus...it was a letter, a physical letter!) as immediately we were intrigued and the cup of tea bit made us all laugh. They didn't get the job...they got the interview though, and they did end up working at the company 9 months later!

The second was someone sent us their CV and it had a QR code on it that says "why I want to work here".

They had bought a URL to point the QR code at: "thisiswhyiwanttoworkat{company}"
and put a two minute video together instead of a cover letter, highlighting what they like about the projects the company was working on and how they thought they could help.

I can't remember if they got the job, but yet again, they got the interview.

I think the crux of what I am saying mirrors point 3 -> stand out!

Do you know what I think would work today (for the right size company...the type you are more likely to be applying to not FAANG), pick up the phone and ask to speak to who is responsible for recruiting.

Tell them you are just researching the company and ask maybe one or two questions about the company culture, expectations, how long the recruiter has been there etc.

When the 50 different applicants come in you might be the only one where the recruiter goes "It's InHu, right, we spoke on the phone"...you are already 50% of the way there!

Anyway, great article! I got distracted and started writing an essay as always instead of what I intended writing, great points and did you get the person you were looking for yet?

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ADEOYE ADEFEMI OPEOLUWA

Thanks for sharing, if you don't mind I'd like see you write more from the abduance of your exprience.

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GrahamTheDev

What exactly are you hoping for? Is there a particular topic you are hoping to get covered that you haven't seen much on?

I did contemplate writing a piece titled "marketing is the most important skill you can possess as a developer" to explain how "putting your best foot forward" is an important skill many people lack?

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ADEOYE ADEFEMI OPEOLUWA

Writing CV as a Developer & the tips for getting first job as a developer

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GrahamTheDev

@alvaromontoro who wrote this and others would be far better positioned for that.

I have been involved in hiring quite often, but I am rarely part of a typical hiring process and often encourage companies away from typical coding interviews that you are most likely to deal with.

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ADEOYE ADEFEMI OPEOLUWA

Thank @inhuofficial and yes! Writing on the topic "marketing is the most important skill you can possess as a developer" would be a blessing to start-ups like myself and those who have been in this game for a while, I'll look forward to it.

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ADEOYE ADEFEMI OPEOLUWA

@alvaromontoro could you please write on tips for getting first job as a developer especiall as it concern writing cover letter and CV

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Waylon Walker

I've all too often seen links to github profiles that have three repos created 4 days ago, one commit each, no readme, and a sloppy jupyter notebook as the only file. If you are going to link your github, show us you know git, commit somewhat regularly, show us you can communicate, have a good readme, your side project is not expected to be the best code, but it shouldn't have anything detrimentally wrong.

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Blossom Babs

Thank you for sharing

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Alvaro Montoro

Thanks for reading 😊

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ADEOYE ADEFEMI OPEOLUWA

I'm trusting to get my first job soon as a junior JavaScript Developer and this is of great help