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The short answer is: yes. Especially LinkedIn. The longer answer is somewhat unrelated. If you never really interviewed or applied after college, it's going to
by donkeyd 5y ago
The short answer is: yes. Especially LinkedIn.
The longer answer is somewhat unrelated. If you never really interviewed or applied after college, it's going to be crappy if you take all the resume/application/interview classes seriously.
On the resume part, fill up your resume/LinkedIn profile. If you've done 'various QA and product roles' and 'project management to product management', make sure to write them all down as separate experiences within the same company. With every experience, add a start and end date, doesn't matter if they overlap or if you don't know exactly, it doesn't matter. Also, add the technologies, skills and other relevant info per experience. This way, you show growth and broad knowledge.
On the application part, I have noticed that a warm entry is the best. E-mail a recruiter with a question about a role anything is fine. Their response will tell you a lot about the company. Sometimes they ask you to just send your resume and set up a call. These calls are a much better way to introduce yourself than a cover letter. Sometimes a cover letter is necessary though, if it is, at least write something honest. You can also just pick up the phone and call a recruiter, that also works sometimes.
On the interview part, my most important advice is that it's a two way street. Not just the interaction, that's what they teach you at school. It's a two way street in the fact that the company should also be somewhat trying to convince you to work there. Especially because you have skills that are sought after. So don't feel like you have to impress the company too much, be yourself, be honest (of you can't answer a question, say that, don't make something up) and think of it as a conversation, not an interview. That can really help with the nerves too.
Finally, don't get discouraged. There are many shitty HR departments, shitty manager, shitty companies and of course, shitty interviews. If that's the case, just realize it's them not you. You've dodged a bullet by seeing that and you can continue to the next interview. I once rejected an offer because the interview process gave me such a bad vibe, that I couldn't see myself working there. And beyond shitty interviews, sometimes you're just not a good fit for a roll or company and that's fine too.
- brayhite 5y agoAppreciate the thoughtful reply! Lots of what you said resonates and is what I've done, so I'm happy to see some of that validation. Having been on the interview end of things a handful of times, I 100% agree on the two-way street analogy. I've somewhat prided myself for at least trying to make interviews conversational, both because it seems to organically bring about more interesting (and relevant) parts about their job history, but also because it's a way for myself and the interviewee to get a feel for the professional culture. That said, having not interviewed for a job in nearly a decade, I have little idea if that's the norm. Especially given how much "resume" and "interview" training from school was centered around spinning negatives into positives and glowing up a job history, both conflicting with the organic, and maybe too transparent style or resume and interviewing I gravitate towards. Thanks for the reply and the assurance I'm not too far off track :)
- donkeyd 5y ago> I have little idea if that's the norm. > style or resume and interviewing I gravitate towards. If that's what you gravitate towards, to me that seems like an incredibly good benchmark for your cultural fit from your side. > spinning negatives into positives and glowing up a job history, both conflicting Don't confuse 'glowing up your job history' with lying about your experience though. Many people under sell their job history, because things you do every day become normal to you. So people often actually need to 'glow up' their job history in order to not under sell themselves.
- hwbehrens 5y ago> On the resume part, fill up your resume/LinkedIn profile. I've been told the opposite -- in the recruiter view on LinkedIn, they can only see your 3 most-recent positions, and they almost never expand the fold to see the rest. Thus, it's critical to curate those. For example, let's say you previously worked at BigCorp, but left to pursue your startup idea (Startup A). In the meantime, you've consulted at another startup (Startup B), and you're working at SmallCorp to make the ends meet until your idea takes off. You'd be better off listing StartupA, SmallCorp, and BigCorp (or StartupA, StartupB, and BigCorp) as compared with StartupA, StartupB, and SmallCorp, since only the most recent three jobs will be shown, and recruiters tend to more heavily weight BigCorp signals.
- Aea 5y agoI can't speak to recruiters, but as a hiring manager I see padding as a yellow flag. I don't really want to see the same company listed three times consecutively unless you've spent 1+ year in substantially different roles.
- donkeyd 5y ago> unless you've spent 1+ year in substantially different roles That's exactly what I meant. I've seen people with a single entry for their current job at am employer they've worked at for 10 years. That means they've either been stuck in the same role and learned nothing... Or their profile doesn't show what they've actually done. I've also seen 10 entries of 3 months at client X. That's not what I meant.