Lessons from reviewing ~200 job applications.

[Burnsy2023]

Following on from this thread, I thought it might be useful to share some of my notes around common mistakes or things that could be improved from the applications I reviewed.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/foru...g-work-experience-or-qualifications.18897592/

• Tailor your CV to the job. It often doesn’t need to be much, but put the most relevant information right at the very start. Highlight key skills and reduce the amount of detail on irrelevant education or job experience. I don’t need to know you had a C in GCSE Music when you have a degree.
• Read the job listing to know what information to highlight. Some people put key skills in bold to draw the eye, it’s cheesy but it does work if done well.
  
• Keep it concise, less is more. I’m spending literally hours reviewing applications and I might only spend a minute on yours. Generally, 3 pages is the absolute maximum for a CV, 2 pages is good, one page is ok, but it might be hard to include everything you need. Cover letters should be kept to 2 pages maximum. I won’t read 8 pages where the first page is how you played with computers as a child. I like the passion, but I don’t need a whole page of it.
  
• Tell me why you want this job, not just why you want a job.
  
• Make me feel like I can connect with you. One candidate wrote about her confidence issues and how coding has helped her overcome these. We’re looking for people who are resilient, can overcome problems and become better from it. She’s been shortlisted with this part of her cover letter being key to that decision. Another example is telling me why you like technology or coding - why are you passionate about it rather than just stating you are passionate and hoping we take you at your word.
  
• We’re looking for self-directed learning. It’s great you’ve been on a boot camp, online course or have a degree, but tell us about what you did with those skills after. It doesn’t need to be much but tell me that you didn’t just stop. Refactoring code or reimplementing it a different way would be great evidence of this as it shows you want to tackle the same problem with new knowledge around how to solve it.
  
• The cover letter is probably more important than the CV for this particular job vacancy as what you did previously is less relevant, so don’t leave it out. With that said, note the point above regarding tailoring your CV to be as relevant as it can.
  
• Proof read and spell check your application. We’re judging your maturity and literacy skills though how you write this letter.
  
• Be honest. If you’re lacking in a particular area, tell me what you’re doing to address it. That might be looking for volunteering opportunities.

I might add to this list if I remember other things or perhaps another thread for interviews. Hopefully this is useful to some of you.

 

[Burnsy2023]

How many did you rip up Burnsy? All 200? lol

Them are some good pointers indeed, well worth the read.

10 were shortlisted for 4 positions. It was actually a very competitive set of applications. I would say 10% were people applying without any thought, possibly to show they're applying for JSA, 60% didn't evidence all the points we were after or not in enough detail for us to be confident we want to invest in an interview, and the remaining 30% were high quality applications. That's 60 people who we would've interviewed if we could've. So we had to disappoint 50 people who gave us a solid application.

 

[Burnsy2023]

ooof! and in this climate applications are going to get larger. It's going to be dog eat dog very soon if it's not already. What was the 4 posts available?

Check the link in the OP - Trainee software engineers.

Interestingly, there are a noticeable number of people applying who were engineers in the gas and oil industry.

 

[Burnsy2023]

I really hate the term "coding"...
Writing a program is called programming. Heh

Writing production code is software engineering. Coding/programming is relatively easy, writing something that is designed and written in a way that it's easy to understand, change, maintain, and is secure, tested etc is very different. People often say they can program therefore they are a software engineer. That's like me saying I can weld therefore I can build a bridge.

Some good tips in there.

Something else I found useful is scanning LinkedIn if you know, or can guess, who the hiring manager is.

If they are active on there, you can sometimes get a feeling for the person and tailor your CV or cover letter to appeal to them.

For example, an old boss of mine is constantly on LinkedIn bemoaning the traditional approach to Customer Sevice at organisational level.

If I were applying for an role within his department or whatever, I'd definitely tailor my CV to point out where I'd made improvements in that area and write my cover letter with that in mind.

A good point, but the only thing I'd add is don't be overly familiar. I've had that before and it gets a bit creepy.