Jul 11, 2018Setting a better standard for job advertisingThe standard, accepted practice for advertising job vacancies simply isn’t good enough. I say this from the perspective of someone who has advertised hundreds of jobs over the years and applied to dozens. From both sides of the table, the employer perspective and the applicant perspective, the current standard is…Hiring5 min readHiring5 min read
May 14, 2018Writing Effective Cover LettersI recently made the classic error of venting on twitter about a cover letter I received, without considering the fact that I was failing to provide any appropriate context. Fortunately, a bunch of good humans helped put in perspective why my tweet did more harm than good so I’m…Job Hunting6 min readJob Hunting6 min read
Mar 14, 2018What your job ad says about youI have written and read so many job adverts over the years that I have almost become immune to phrases like “rockstar developer”. That’s a lie. I still throw up in my mouth a little every time I see that kind of bullshit. I’m going to walk you through some…Hiring6 min readHiring6 min read
Mar 1, 2018Honesty is the new game changerI really hate the phrase “game changer”. It’s right up there in the TechBro lexicon alongside disrupt, growth hacking, hustle and burn the village (I have no idea what that last one means either). If tomorrow’s billionaires could start using words and phrases like honesty, transparency, consistency and fancy a…Jobs4 min readJobs4 min read
Published in HackerNoon.com·Jan 5, 2018On loyalty to your employerI’ve just returned to London having spent the past two weeks back home in Cork where I spent an awful lot of time with my father, a man who set up his first ever email account less than a year ago and a man who has spent the past 30…Startup5 min readStartup5 min read
Nov 8, 2017Rejecting Great CandidatesWe are all familiar with the old recruitment trope of interviewing for a job only to get a generic, impersonal rejection email with no quantifiable feedback or, worse, no clear reason for the rejection. This trend has bothered me for years and it’s also a practice I’ll admit I have…Hiring4 min readHiring4 min read
Sep 25, 2017Ping pong, desk beers, and employee benefitsOver the past ten years, I’ve worked with UK tech companies of all shapes and sizes. From the suited and booted “be at your desk by 8am and don’t even dream of leaving before 6pm” to the trousers optional “choose your own hours and work from home as often as…Startup4 min readStartup4 min read
May 8, 2017Tech Nation 2017: At the forefront of bad dataEarlier this year Tech City released “the most comprehensive analysis of the UK Digital Tech Ecosystem” and, unsurprisingly, I had a little rant on twitter. …Startup6 min readStartup6 min read
Feb 2, 2017So you want to be a developer…These days, the barrier to entry for becoming a software developer is significantly lower than I ever remember it being. Companies are progressively coming to terms with the fact that a Computer Science degree from a Red Brick university isn’t a fundamental necessity for a great developer (although it certainly…Programming6 min readProgramming6 min read
May 26, 2016The worst tech interview questionsI have a slightly unfair advantage over most tech recruiters in that I was once a developer (albeit a pretty shitty one) and as a result, I’m able to empathise with the majority of the issues they face on a daily basis. Ever since I transitioned to the dark side…Hiring4 min readHiring4 min read
