Let the market dictate your value, not you.
This Business and Moment...
- Thread starter randomshenans
- Start date
Soldato
Fresh year, fresh attempt at finding a job. It's probably going to take a couple of weeks before companies get any ads posted, but I'm here and ready to apply when they do.
Still can't really get my head around how I haven't found something yet, or what I'm going to do if I'm in the same position a few months from now.
Still can't really get my head around how I haven't found something yet, or what I'm going to do if I'm in the same position a few months from now.
Last time I tried I found simplifying my CV helped get more interviews. I left off anything I hadn't done in years and put minimal info on it.
Soldato
Thanks for the anecdotal evidence, appreciate it.
I spent a lot of time working on my cv last year because it was the only info anyone had about me and I wasn't hearing anything back from most applications so I assumed it must be at fault. I used professional cv services, I asked every recruiter I spoke to if there's anything I could improve. I got a lot of mixed messages, most said it was fine and in hindsight I think it probably was (but I improved it anyway), some say it should be shorter, some say it should include everything. I'd improve my cv based on someone's feedback and someone else would say that's worse, so I'd change it based on theirs and someone else would say that's worse. End up flip-flopping around if I listen to what people say, drove me nuts. So I decided to focus on discovering how the cv is being used.
Some recruiters said they don't even read most cvs because they get too many, so they just read enough of them to find a couple of viable candidates and discard the rest, so it's a race. Other recruiters explained that if they search for candidates in their system it needs to light up like a Christmas tree with matching terms otherwise they won't even look at it. Contracting recruiters specifically wanted every skill/achievement listed because they care about what you can do rather than who you are.
When recruiters talk about reading a cv they mean 'scan the first couple of sentences' and often they read so quickly they haven't really understood it, or have crossed wires with other cvs they've looked at, one guy even quoted someone else's cv to me thinking it was mine.
Anyway... at this point I feel like I've done it to death and settled on a cv I'm happy with, faffing about with it any more is likely to annoy me and not improve my chances. But if anyone's legitimately an expert (e.g. an experienced hiring manager of software devs) and willing to look at it let me know (via private message).
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It becomes a case of too much info enables a rejection decision earlier rather than allow their imagination to fill the gaps until the interview.
However now with ATCs and AI it’s bot clear on what they actually look for to make the decision other than trust the tools.
I may even look at installing a free ATS to see what it thinks.
I once reviewed a CV from a guy in Saudi, it was 15 pages long - had literally everything the person had ever done, it even had a watermark on the last page, and a declaration signed by his father, certifying the information as 'genuine' never seen anything like it.
It went in the bin.
It really did have a watermark, it was like a proper certificate - I didn't know what to make of it lol.
It went in the bin.
It really did have a watermark, it was like a proper certificate - I didn't know what to make of it lol.
Issue is you get zero responses - either positive or negative - hence you cannot tune a CV through reinforcement learning.
It’s a null response, so it’s no different to randomly changing the CV
I get your point though. Tou could say no contact in 1 week means no.
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I'm so used to people especially at work not replying (usually blocking progress), that my default is to leverage it to move forward.
That said, there's a balance between spamming job applications and really researching companies and fine running each application and CV to the specific position.
That said, there's a balance between spamming job applications and really researching companies and fine running each application and CV to the specific position.
That’s the main point - if you’re particular in aligning what you apply for it’s a better option of your time.
Issue is it takes time!