Boost your job application

If you’re looking for a new Software Engineering job, it’s important to get your application noticed.

Picture by Sora Shimazaki via Pexels

As a hiring manager I’m surprised by the sheer amount of job applications we receive at Travix that do not seem to pay attention to details. And while some developers stand out among others by their impressive career, if it’s not represented the right way in their resume, their application will end up in the big pile nevertheless.

So how do you have your job application stand out among the many others? Based on my experience, allow me to share with you some useful tips.

Balance your details

Details matter. In fact, only the right details matter. I’ve encountered CVs that contained too much information, which makes it difficult to filter out what mattered to me. Usually I end up dropping these application in favor of a candidate with a more compact and tailored resume.

The problem with most job seekers is that they want to reuse their resume in applications for multiple companies. Which makes sense, because it would speed up the process for them. But at the same time it will also slow down the process on the hiring manager’s side, because the resume will contain a superset of information instead of a subset. And instead of tailoring your resume for each job application individually, it’s better to group these job applications together and tailor your resume to each group.

On the other side, try to avoid a single-page resume, especially later on in your career. With most single-page CVs I end up looking at their LinkedIn profile to see the information that I was missing. And the moment that happens, your resume is missing the point. Always make sure that your CV contains the right details.

Trim irrelevant information

Ten years ago, I was continuously approached by recruiters with jobs focusing on VB.Net. Although I’d been a C# developer for several years in my most recent job experiences, VB.Net was still listed as one my skills. And while this shouldn’t be an issue on LinkedIn, by mentioning it as a skill on my CV it gave a signal to recruiters that I still be approached for job related to that skill. This changed when I removed VB.Net as a skill on my resume.

If you want recruiters and hiring managers to notice you, make sure that your CV doesn’t contain skills or experience that you don’t think will matter for your future. But you can decide to keep these details on LinkedIn, just in case.

Here is some information that you don’t need on your resume:

• Personal details, like marital state, address, driver’s license or passport number. While this information is relevant for getting hired, it’s not required for screening or interviewing. In fact, it’s dangerous to mention these in a document that you’re sharing with a company that you don’t know.
• Obvious experience details, like “Analyzing requirements”, “Attending Scrum ceremonies”, “Writing and reviewing code”. Recruiters and hiring managers are only interested in experience indicating good software craftsmanship and leadership skills.
• Company descriptions. These can be found on the internet or can be mentioned in an interview.

And here’s some information that is optional:

• A profile picture. Your LinkedIn profile should have one already, so there’s no need to include it in your resume.
• A personal description. Your cover letter should include this already, but if you decide to include it on your resume, then keep it short.
• Software. I’m surprised at the sheer amount of CVs listing all the software tools, editors and operating systems that they’re familiar with. But they’re actually not that important for your resume. If you’re an expert user of a particular tool or OS, it’s better to save it for the interview, where you can find out if you’re able to share your expertise.
• Hobbies. If you do want to include something personal, then highlight one or more of your most passionate hobbies. Put them at the end of your CV as a subtle reference that leisure comes after duty.

Check your links

Adding links to social media, LinkedIn, Github or even your personal website sounds like a good idea, but it’s not contributing to your resume if they’re outdated or don’t even work. Most CVs that I’ve seen that contain a link to their Github profile have hardly any recent activity in that profile. This tells me that they’re not actively contributing to projects on Github or updating their own repositories, which contradicts any claims in their resumes related to experimenting, collaborating or contributing.

Another pro tip: Make sure that the links on your CV are clickable. Nowadays, most resumes are processed digitally, and whenever I want to check a link I don’t want to copy-paste it. It’s one of those tiny details that help speed up the process a little.

Update frequently

If you’ve changed jobs or job positions recently, then it’s time to update your CV. It’s better to do that right away instead of going through the stress of having your resume undergoing a mass update right before applying for a job.

The same applies to your LinkedIn profile. It’s important to keep your CV in sync with your LinkedIn profile. If one of them is more recent than the other at the time you apply for a job, it might lead to unnecessary questions, or worse, incorrect assumptions that would lead to a rejection.

Tailor your cover letter

Although our job application process doesn’t require including a cover letter, including a good cover letter can make your job application really stand out. But most of the cover letters that I’ve seen completely miss the mark. Instead of convincing me that the applicant would be a good fit for the company by connecting their skills to the company, they try to sell their skills independent without paying attention to the company’s needs.

Remember that companies are not hiring you because of your skills alone, they’re also hiring you because you fit in. This is where a good cover letter can make all the difference. If your letter is convincing enough, then you‘re more likely to be invited for an interview.

Here are a few pointers to create an effective cover letter:

• Don’t start paragraphs with “I”. Be creative in your sentences to avoid this.
• Keep the letter short. The more content it contains, the less powerful the content is. Three paragraphs should be enough.
• Add a reference to the company, either by name, by industry or by something unique to the company.
• Connect. Write about what sparked your interest in the job post and the company, what your ambitions are and what you can contribute to the company.
• Avoid mentioning technical skills. Save that for your resume.
• Avoid bullet points or numbers. Summaries do not belong in a cover letter.
• Don’t turn your letter into a template. If you miss a detail (job title, company reference) while applying it for a different company, it will miss the mark completely. I turned down an application once because the cover letter mentioned a different company and a different job title. Ouch!

If your cover letter meets these criteria, you’ll give your potential new employer the impression that you’re genuinely interested in them instead of just looking at them to be your next gig.

Pay attention to the layout and format

Nothing is more frustrating than seeing a resume that’s more a puzzle than informative. Your CV can sport the most beautiful layout, but if I cannot find the information that I’m looking for, its good looks will be meaningless.

On the other hand, a text-only document can be very informative, but also more tedious to process. There’s a reason that even the most basic text editors support basic formatting. If you want to keep it minimalistic, then at least stick to Markdown.

If you’re using an external tool to generate a CV from your LinkedIn profile, make sure to pick a layout that is readable and highlights the elements that matter to you. Ideally you should be able to modify the layout or content after the CV is generated, otherwise it will be a blind copy of your LinkedIn profile that might contain too much detail.

Once you’re done assembling and tweaking, don’t forget to export your documents as PDF. Don’t send around copies of the original document, which contain your document history, including all your changes(!) By exporting to PDF, your layout is perfectly preserved, as other formats are highly dependent on application versions and operating systems. But do pay attention that the exported PDF still contains text as text, not as images. Recently i declined a resume that looked beautiful, but was completely unusable because it didn’t allow us to search text inside it.

Ask for feedback

How do you know that your resume is effective? Getting invited for an interview is a good start. But if the application ends there, don’t be shy to ask for feedback related to your resume and your cover letter. In fact, I’ve seen some resumes that were missing some important information that was mentioned during the interview. And while it’s okay to skip some details on your resume, the last thing you want is that the interview ends up being a fishing expedition to uncover details that could have been mentioned on your resume. Whenever I spot something like this, I let the candidate know. But better is to pay attention to the questions yourself and consider including those details in your resumes to improve the quality of your interviews.

If you send job application after job application and only get turned down (or no response at all), then don’t be shy to reach out to the recruiter for feedback.

Be prepared

Okay, so you applied for a job position. But are you prepared when a recruiter approaches you for more details? I was surprised to find out how many candidates are rejected because they’re not prepared for an interview. And I’m not just talking about missing a call, it’s not knowing a good answer for essential questions. Why are you interested in this job? What are the consequences for you to accept this job? Do you need relocation? What do you know about the location? I know that many developers do not pay attention to the company itself, but moving to a different country is quite a big thing. If a recruiter notices that you’re not prepared for that, they will stop the process. So make sure that you’re prepared to answer these questions before applying. And again, writing a good cover letter really helps.

Pay attention to the application form

Typos in names, salary expectations and LinkedIn links can be prevented by carefully reviewing the filled-in application form before sending it. And don’t forget to check if you uploaded the right documents. Mixing up CV and cover letter is not so bad, but sending only a cover letter and not the CV may not be effective.

Ready?

This was a selection of tips that might help you boost your next job application. Feel free to leave some claps and refer this article to your colleagues and friend.