Job Search Pain Relief

Finding a new job is painful!
It's well-reported how time-consuming, stressful and soul-destroying it can be. Trust me I've been there. Even though it's been a problem for years very little has improved. I'm afraid I can't fix it, but I do have a lot of experience in the recruitment industry and have hired hundreds of people for my team over the years, so I've put together some tips and insights for you. I hope these help you make the most of your time, have more success, and feel better when it's not going well.

Sadly, a lot of the tools and people that are trying to help you are just making things worse. In the UK response rates to applications from companies and recruitment agents are low. Only about 50% of applications will get a response. I would say that's generous. Often, you might get an initial response but the trail can still go cold with no explanation. Even a recruitment agent who told you their client was 'super excited about you' can suddenly just drop off the radar, never to be seen again.

Just a quick look at these stats from Standout-CV.com, will show you what you are in for:

• Only 2% of candidates who apply for a job are selected to attend a job interview.
• Employers will interview an average of 6 candidates for every job vacancy they advertise.
• The average interview process in the UK takes 27.5 days to complete.
• The average time for employers to contact candidates with feedback after an interview is 12 days.
• On average it takes 3 weeks for an official job offer to be made in writing.
• More than half of all candidates are rejected at the first interview stage.
• An average job interview will last between 30 – 45 minutes.
• The most common reason why a candidate would fail a job interview is a lack of understanding of the role.
• 78% of candidates say they find it difficult to find information about companies before the interview.

Of course, some companies are better, but some are a lot worse, and in most cases, every application runs into at least one of these problems, and those are the ones that go smoothly. The stats match my experience, both as a candidate applying for jobs and as a hiring manager getting frustrated at how long it takes to hire someone. The problem is so well known that, ironically, companies rely on your reluctance to find another job when reviewing salaries, and yearly bonuses, even though they to hire themselves. Somehow the pain continues.

If everyone wants a fast, pain-free recruitment process what causes all the problems and delays?

When searching and applying for jobs you are going to interact with a lot of tools, platforms and people, and there are many more behind the scenes. Additionally, all of these are entwined in a complex web for processes, policies and, of course, laws.

Let's have a look at some of these:

• To start with, you're going to use several job search and social platforms in your quest. They all work differently and have their quirks.

• Companies and recruiters use search tools on these platforms to find you and your CV. They are typing in keywords and don't always look at the details in the search results before spamming you with a message.

• Then, there are recommendation engines, the AI, working tirelessly - though not always intelligently, sending you and recruiters recommendations for jobs and candidates, best on some criteria they don't tell you about.

• Most companies use an Application Tracking System (ATS) to track your application. These vary in functionality and often don't fit well with a company's recruitment processes, slowing things down. For example, some don't even integrate with email or instant message tools, so you have to keep logging and searching to see if the status has changed.

• The approval and sign-off processes in hiring companies can be a real pace killer. I've known it weeks to get an offer approved - of course, the candidate was long gone by then.

• Availability of reviewers and interviewers and even your availability, results in a lot of elapsed time while someone tries to align these

• Availability of interview rooms is even worse -- though COVID has taken the pressure off of this; a lot of interviews a now done over video calls.

• Monthly budgets and targets can get in the way. "They will have to start next month as we're over budget for this month already", Is a sentence you don't want to hear as a hiring manager, but it happens.

• Privacy laws such as GDPR are there to protect you, but the implementation of this can make it difficult even to share your CV before an interview.

The worst of all, and the most common reason it takes so long is people's inability to make a decision.

A lot of the above are in place to make the experience better, and more efficient but in reality their idiosyncrasies and interplay result in, frustration, an increase in your blood pressure, and a loss of motivation. The whole process of job hunting and headhunting is broken, so you can expect a rocky road. You will have to accept there will be a lot of noise, knockbacks, ghosting, and a few surprises along the way.

At the end of the day, it's a numbers game, especially in tech roles. You're likely going to have to make a lot of applications, talk to a lot of agents and do a few interviews before you get the offer you want. It's the only way to do it, start broad and narrow down.

Pay Attention to the Tools You Are Using

Job Search Platforms or Job Boards, as they are affectionately known, are ubiquitous. They remain the largest marketplaces for candidates and companies and recruiters pay for access to these. Even so, they come with their problems, especially if you're not careful about how you use them.

Firstly, they can generate a lot of spam in your mailbox. Maybe not intentionally, but they do. I know a lot of the major Job Boards work hard to find you the best matches without spamming you, but they still do. What a person calls spam is subjective; you might prefer a lot of attention and be prepared to filter through yourself or you might want to keep the noise to a minimum and let the platform do the filtering for you. A lot of what you receive depends on the information you have provided and what you have subscribed or consented to.

To get the best out of these boards consider carefully what information you're providing. Some job search tools speed up things by asking for minimal information from you to get started, such as an email address and a link to your LinkedIn profile. This might reduce your initial workload, but it can result in a few surprises. These kinds of platforms usually fill in your profile from data scraped from other sources such as the LinkedIn URL you provided. This is fine if that's what you're expecting, and your profile is up to date. If not you'll get some unwanted jobs coming your way. Always check what you're providing is what you want them to see. Even if the information is correct check how they have filled in your profile. You might not be happy with how you're being represented. For example; sending you jobs based on skills you haven't used for 10 years. It's worth checking your profile from time to time and editing it if needed.

A more concerning feature is automatic applications, where the platform applies for jobs for you based on a matching algorithm. This can be helpful, but I've noticed that consent for this is sometimes subtly implied in the Terms and Conditions when you sign up. It might be just what you want to get yourself in front of companies when you don't have much time, but if you didn't realise you were signing up for it you'll get a lot of surprise calls from companies you've never heard of. Given that the most common reason for being rejected at an interview is a lack of understanding of the role, this can be a time waster as well as a spam generator. The main reason the platforms implement these features is not for the candidate's benefit, but to bump up the application stats to their clients because that's what they're selling to the hiring companies, that's how they monetise you. So be aware and use wisely.

CV Parsing

When you upload a CV to a platform it's going to be 'parsed'. The text from the CV will be pulled apart by algorithms, categorised and stored in various parts of the system and used to create job recommendations for you among other things. In some systems, the information is added to your profile, but it's not that common, often what is stored from the CV parsing is not visible to you at all.

Even if the data on your CV is used to fill in your profile it might not be what you want, so always check through your details on the site. Also, check which CVs you have stored on the platform. If you have an old, out-of-date or alternative version of your CV it can cause irrelevant jobs to be sent to you. Either change or delete them. I advise you to only have one version of your CV on the same platform at any time to avoid confusion.

Consent

Under the Data Protection Laws, you have the right to how your data is used in processing. Check carefully what you have consented to. This can make the difference between being spammed and not receiving anything at all. Make sure the consent options you've chosen match what you're expecting from the platform.

If you want your CV to be found by companies and recruiters in their searches you might have to give explicit consent. The same can apply to parsing and using information from your CV to fill in your profile or for other purposes. It's common for the consent for this use to be in the Terms and Conditions and implied when you sign up or upload a CV, but it's worth checking to ensure it's doing what you want.

Don't be afraid to leave a platform, if you don't like the way they use your data treat you. You can remove consent, delete your account, and if you're still not happy you can flex your legal rights. Under the data protection laws, you have the right to make a Subject Access Request to see all the data a company holds about you. You also have the right to be forgotten and can request your data to be deleted from their platform altogether. It's an extreme measure, but in some cases, it might be the best for you.

One System, Many Job Boards

These days, a lot of job board brands run off the same system in the background. It's common in niche industries. In most cases, you will never notice, but some implementations are not so smart and they can cause confusion. Especially if you created different profiles for specific industries which share the same primary details such as your email address. The worst I've encountered was a niche brand which shared the same login credentials with the umbrella brand. I changed the password on the niche brand, and the following I spent 20 mins figuring out why the password was wrong. This is rare, a more common issue is receiving irrelevant job alerts. If that happens click around and see if you can find out who the board belongs to or is partnered with.

Your CV

• Short CVs are better.
• Show what you know
• Highlight what you've done
• Avoid repetition
• Don't waste space with a Photo
• Don't be a victim of bias

Is your CV Important?

Oh yeah, it's still the main commodity you're trading with. It's the CV that gets you to the interview, and it's going to pass through many hands and numerous systems before that. Even one job application to a medium-sized company can put your CV in front of 5 to 10 people, all before they've even met you, so it's important to give a good representation of yourself, in a way they can easily understand.

Note on job search platforms:
If you have a profile on one of these, check your details are up to date, and that what they are showing is what you want to be seen. Not all of them get this information from your CV. A lot don't, and even those that do often store the data separately from your profile. This can be especially true if you have multiple CVs uploaded to one platform. Even if they have filled in your profile from your CV check the profile data to make sure it represents you accurately. These discrepancies are often the reason you have so many unwanted job vacancies sent to you. Check that your profile data and your CV are saying the same thing about you.

Short CVs are better. Always! Stick to 2 sides, in a readable format. Don't squeeze in too much in and turn it into an unreadable essay. Put the most relevant impactful stuff on the first page. Show what you know. Focus on what you are good at now and the tools and tech you know best. Don't list everything you've ever used, seen or heard about.

Anything on your CV is likely to get asked about in an interview. If you find yourself making excuses for something you don't know much about you're wasting valuable interview time that could be used to make yourself shine instead. You only have a finite amount of time in the interview so use it well. If the interviewers don't learn enough about your relevant skills in the time they are going to reject you. There's no such thing as a maybe in the selection process. Plus, they'll be annoyed if they brush up on something to ask you a good question, only to find it doesn't belong on your CV in the first place. You should be able to talk confidently and with authority about anything on your CV. If you can't either leave it off or keep it to a minimum.

The stuff you don't know so much about or aren't as interested in will still be used by recommendation engines to send you jobs and found when recruiters are searching keywords in a CV database. I frequently receive emails from recruiters for roles that require skills I had 15 years ago.

The amount of detail you have in your CV depends a lot on your experience. When you are starting in a tech career you are not expected to have as much detail or knowledge on tools and languages as someone with 5 years of experience, so don't pad it out with stuff you don't know anything about in the hope of attracting attention. Sure, you will get a lot of attention, but you'll also be wasting your time on jobs you're unlikely to get. Focus on what you know, and the reasons they should hire you.

Highlight what you've done

This is the most important part! This is what makes you you. Interviewers want to know what you've done, and more importantly how you did it. Being vague is the enemy. Whatever your level of experience highlighting things that make you stand out as a doer is the key. Think about tasks that gave you a good feeling about yourself when you did them. The things that gave you a sense of accomplishment, and those you had good feedback or were praised for. It can also be something that didn't go well, but you learned a valuable lesson from it. Interviewers love to hear a story of overcoming failure and learning from it - that's how we grow.

An example of being too vague is stating 'writing and testing software' under the responsibilities of a Software Engineer role. It's a given that's what software engineers do. Yet, I've read this thousands of times in CVs. It's a complete waste of space, it doesn't say anything about you, what level you're at or how you work.

Vague statements leave you open to the interviewer's imagination -- that's if you even get an interview -- they'll end up asking a lot of questions you probably can't answer well, which is going to end badly for you.

Be specific, highlight what you did and if possible, what the outcome was. If you work in a tech company it could be things like:

• Led a retro

• Tracked down a tricky production bug

• Refactored code that improved response times by 10x

• Removed tech debt by...

• Upgrade a framework version

• Presented the team's work at company gatherings

• Convinced the team to try a new approach

• Coach a colleague to help them pass a certification

• Found an innovative way to solve X

The list goes on. Think about what you've done that you want to talk about more and write a one-line teaser using an all-important doing word. It will make your CV stand out, and lead the interviewer down a path you want to go down. They will want to know more about how you did these, and that will make for a great interview for you.

Avoid Repetition

Repetition wastes space. You've only got 2 sides. Remove wanted repetition and pack in more good stuff. Excessive repetition can cause 'snowblindness' in reviewers, leading them to overlook crucial aspects of your CV resulting in you missing out on an interview, and a wasted application.

I've seen a lot of technical CVs which list every version of a tool or library the candidate has ever used or heard of. DON'T do this! It's wasting space. Stick to the relevant, most up-to-date skills. These are the most valuable to the interviewer. Keep less relevant, older info high level, and don't repeat it. Ancient history is interesting, but it won't get you the job.

Be careful about repetition in the structure of your CV. A well-organised, easy-to-follow CV is a must, but sometimes what looks satisfyingly orderly on the page can be lengthy and monotonous to read. As an example, don't write phrases like "date started" and "date finished" for every job in your history, it's just a lot of unnecessary words to read. Choose a format that is minimal, but clear.

Don't waste space on a photo

No company, that I know of, has guidelines on what to look for in a photo as part of the selection process. For that reason alone I wouldn't waste time and space on it.
It also puts you at the mercy of the reviewer's biases, conscious or unconscious.

It can go either way. At best your warm smile might give the reviewer a fuzzy feeling and they put you through even though you don't have the right skills or experience. When that happens you usually find yourself, looking at a disgruntled interview panel, wondering how you got there. In the worst case, you might be negatively discriminated against based on your appearance. So just don't put your photo on there.

Avoid being a victim of bias.

My advice is to avoid putting anything on your CV that can expose you to bias.

Certain facts about yourself can expose you to an unfair disadvantage. For that reason, these are classified as 'protected characteristics' under UK law. An employer cannot lawfully use these characteristics in their selection process. Protected characteristics include; age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

It might be tempting to include this information on your CV for transparency or to give a more complete picture of yourself but it shouldn't used as part of the assessment so you're wasting precious space.

There are some exceptions where a protected characteristic will be relevant to the roles you are seeking, and including them can help you achieve a higher ratio of application to success. An example jobs that require you to drive a company vehicle, will probably have an age restriction because of the insurance. In such a case, putting your age might be useful.

If you think a characteristic might be relevant, then do your research and consider it carefully before putting it on your CV.

Most companies these days have implemented initiatives to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in their selection processes, but still, it creeps in. Everyone in the interview process at a company is likely to be under pressure, and struggle to make time to do everything and bias creeps in.

Don't include this sort of information and avoid the risk altogether.

Be Proactive

Keep Track

You're probably not going to be using an Application Tracking System yourself, but you're going to make a lot of applications, on numerous platforms, and things soon get out of hand. You need a way to track the jobs you're interested in, the applications you've made and where you are in the process. A spreadsheet is all you need for this.

Set Reminders

Set reminders to follow up on the application if you haven't heard by a certain date. It's all too easy to be passive and wait. Don't let the trail go cold, keep in touch and keep yourself front of mind.

Make a Date

Set up a calendar just for your job search to make time for your search activities, not just booking interview reminders. If you're already busy with work, this will help you be prepared. And being prepared is what gets you results.

Refine

Keep updating your CV and details on the job boards based on feedback. You should be able to get the email alerts more relevant with a bit of tweaking.

Interview Prep

It's worth repeating, being prepared is the key to success. Interview prep is a whole topic in itself, but here are a few points to help you get ready.

• Make sure you have something to talk about for all the key points on your CV.

• Find out as much as you can about the company and role you are applying for

• Have some questions about them. Interviewers love this, and there's nothing worse than saying don't have any questions in early-stage interviews. At this stage, you should have, it'll look like you're not interested if you don't. So get the questions ready.

Practice is good preparation. If you haven't been in an interview for a while don't be too fussy about what you apply for to start with. If you wait for that dream job before applying you'll likely blow it in the interview. Be brave and get started as soon as you can. You can also practice with a friend or colleague who has done interviews before. You could try some online tools for this too, but in the end nothing beats a real interview.

Recruitment Agents

Should you use them? Well, you don't have to, but you probably will. Once you start posting your details on the various platforms you are likely to get a lot of attention from them. In my opinion working with a good agent, one who understands you and their clients, is invaluable.

However, finding the ones that are right for you is challenging. It can be like taking on a zombie horde. There's a lot of churn in the recruitment business, and agents come a go pretty fast for various reasons, but being proactive will pay off here. Put in the time to build relationships, give them honest feedback, and filter out those who don't listen or put you forward for unsuitable jobs. If they don't know what's right for you after the first feedback from yourself or their client be ruthless and give them the elbow. Again, it's a numbers game, start with a lot of agents and keep whittling down until you have a few who are working hard for you. You'll save yourself a lot of time in the long run.

An agent who understands you and their client's needs might not send you a lot of opportunities, but the ones they do send are the ones worth spending time on. Plus, if they know you well they're likely to headhunt you in the future, so it's a worthwhile investment.

Summary

• Be prepared
• Expect a bumpy ride - remember those stats
• Manage your profile on the platforms
• Be mindful of consent
• Get your CV right
• Be proactive
• Build relationships with the right people
• Review and tweak regularly

So what are you waiting for?
Get cracking, and get that perfect job!