Recently, someone I’ve been helping find their first tech role landed a job after several months of searching. After a bit of celebration and the usual bout of “am I really good enough to have this job? Maybe they made a mistake!” impostor syndrome, my friend took a moment to reflect on both the process and the things that ended up making a difference in their search. They listed out 10 aspects of their job hunt – from things about themselves (interviewing skills, patience, education) to things they thought would be useful to have (resume, website, connections). Then they asked me to rank them in order of importance – which ones did I think mattered the most versus those I thought were less of a concern.
The original list was:
- Connections
- Resume
- Interviewing Skills
- Experience
- Education and Certification
- Job Searching Skills
- LinkedIn Profile
- Cover Letter
- Patience
- Personal Website
I thought it was an interesting question, something work sharing here. To be clear, I don’t believe the list itself is nor my responses are perfect. But the question at the heart of it – of all the advice we get on finding our next role, which of those, at the end of the day, really mattered and which were just window dressing?
- Patience, perseverance, and healthy habits to maintain your positivity in the face of rejection.
(Yes, those are 3 things, but you need them all; and they comprise the most important of everything in your list.)
- Connections. Not just having them, but being willing to learn the skills necessary to gain and maintain effective conversations with those folks. That includes the willingness to seek out new venues (whether they’re slack channels, online forums, or local meet-ups) as well as the polite persistence to ask for introductions so you can meet more people who can help you connect with folks who can help you grow your skills and further your career.
- Experience. But more than just HAVING it, the ability to understand how different types of experience can fit a particular need.
Folks who have been working for a while in tech will be the first to say that the ability to configure a device, or implement an architecture, or code up a solution is of course central to most roles. But equally important are skills that are neither so-called “soft” skills (a term I deeply dislike) but also aren’t tech-specific. Everything from business plans to budgets to time management to project management. Skills that could be learned in many different work situations, technical or not.
My point here is that – especially at the start of one’s career – the ability to frame experiences gained outside of a specific industry is crucial. By definition you don’t have a lot of work experience, so anything that applies is valuable. At the same time, knowing how to state experience honestly without overblowing or overselling it is also crucial.
- Interview skills. Although if you can check off 2 and 3, then you likely have this one covered. Meaning that if you know how to have conversations with connections, that ability easily transfers to having a reasonable conversation in an interview context. And if you know how to talk about your experience – whether in the industry or not – then you can probably do so in the course of a job interiew as well.
5a) A clear, clean, readable, grammatically correct resume. It doesn’t need to be a work of art. It just needs to be readable.
What I often see is people hyperfocus on the LOOK of a resume. The layout, the style, the fonts, etc, while overlooking the need for a resume to list out – clearly and simply – the things needed to get you a call. As I’ve blogged about before, at the end of the day your resume serves exactly one purpose: To get the reader to call you for a conversation. If it does that, nothing else about it matters.
5b) BUT… it should also be relevant to the job you’re applying to. There is no one-size-fits-all resume. Hell, there’s not even a one-size-fits-most resume!
What I mean is that you should be customizing your resume for (almost) every job you apply to. Now, the word “almost” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that statement. I don’t mean you should customize your resume for EVERY job application. But if the job is one you are really interested in, whether because of the culture, community, creation, or calling it represents, then it’s worth taking a few moments to ensure that your resume highlights the experiences that most relate to the job.
- Job searching skills. I wish these were things people didn’t need. I wish it could be outsourced with other distasteful activities, like plumbing, getting your taxes done, or visiting my great-Uncle Herbert on his birthday. But it’s 2024 and it’s more true than ever: each of us will probably have to look for a new job 10-20 times over the course of our working life. We might as well get good at it. And that means knowing how to use all the tools at our disposal.
What’s important to note here is that “job searching skills” isn’t just “get really good at google” or “pay for a subscription to the XYZ job list service”. It also means going back to #2 above and having conversations with your network that leverage those connections to help find you your next gig.
- Education and Certification. I think these matter, but only to a certain point. Having the “right” education isn’t as critical today (and especially in tech) as it was even a decade ago. Nor are certifications the slam-dunk they once were.
How much of either do you need? It varies with the specific role you’re seeking and the stage of career your in. The best way to know is to ask professionals currently doing the work, and get a consensus. Yup, that takes you back to #2 on my list.
- A place to showcase your work (not ONLY a personal website).
When you are interviewing, it’s helpful to be able to direct folks to examples of your work. That might be a github repo, your StackExchange profile, or a list of articles you’ve published. But note that we’re already down to #8 on the list. The is by no means a criticial element (in my not-so-humble opinion). It’s just a nice-to-have.
- Cover letter. Across recruiters, HR staff, managers, and job hunters you will find a lot of strong opinions – both for and against – about these. My opinion is that at the very worst, it will be ignored and you will have wasted your time writing it.
However, I think it’s never a waste of time to develop your ability to express your thoughts in writing. The only way to become a better writer is to write more. But back to the question at hand: do you NEED to write a cover letter? Probably not.
- LinkedIn Profile. Yes, you need one. Make sure you’ve spelled your name correctly. You should PROBABLY list out your work experience there. Beyond that, it’s just another tool (making this part of #6 above and not really it’s own category)and I don’t think that NOT having one is a deal-breaker. I’ve never heard of someone not getting a job (or even hearing about a job) because they didn’t have a LinkedIn profile.
So that’s it – my reflections on the list my friend sent me. If you have thoughts about this – either the original list or my ordering and/or reflections on the list, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.