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How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

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Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#51

Post by raverbashing »

kasey_junk wrote: post #47
izolate wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you perpetuating the myth that frequent switching of jobs is somehow detrimental to your career? Maybe that's true for corporate megacorp, but in the startup world I feel it's par for the course. At least all the best engineers I've worked with never stuck around long.

As someone who has done a ton of hiring, switching jobs a lot is definitely a red flag. Not an automatic reject, but I frequently have to make choices like "It will take this person N months to become useful here, they switch jobs on average every M months. M-N seems like a pretty short time..."

So, would you advise towards a competence based CV?

In case a frequent switching happened, what would you like to see in a resume?

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#53

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

pjmlp wrote: post #27

Behind a corporate firewall, so I cannot read it. One thing I have been noticing lately with HR drones, is that unless you have stated specifically that you worked in technology X on a project at work, it doesn't matter how many off work projects you might have done in the said technology. Even if there are other people using the said projects. They just go top to bottom looking for keywords.

Speaking as a hiring manager this feels perfectly reasonable so I'd be interested to know why people might think it isn't.

I write a job spec which lists what we're looking for which is advertised and passed to recruiters - if you're interested in the job you've almost certainly seen that.

Assuming you do have the experience, using the spec you should be able to tweak your CV in about 5 minutes to highlight the key things we're looking for. If you do that, you've cleared this (very low) bar with a very small time investment and it's not a problem. If your CV makes it past the recruiter (or HR department or other non-technical screener) I then know that the CV I'm looking at is worth my time and the following interview is more focused as I know a bit more about what you've done where.

Yes you are having to spend time but, as I say, this should be a very short tweak to your existing CV so it doesn't feel like a big ask given that I'm going to spend longer than that reading it (and hopefully interviewing you about it).

Obviously if there is no job spec then this doesn't work so well but there's usually something, even if it's just stuff you've gleaned from the advert or conversations with the person you learned about the role from.

As an aside, please don't ever try to get round the keyword thing by listing everything you've done or used. I had a CV the other week which listed 43 skills, tools and technologies for one nine month role. From that I have no way of knowing what you used in passing and what you really know - you've provided so much information it just became noise. My rule when I'm working out what to put - if you put it on your CV you'd better feel happy answering (proper) questions about it and I don't believe that you passed that threshold with 43 things in a nine month period.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#54

Post by mrottenkolber »

lostcolony wrote: post #34
Bahamut wrote: post #5

"...did you wear a suit" I guess it might depend on the industry, but at most interviews I have done, the expectation has been to just wear jeans and whatever. I usually go with jeans and a polo shirt for safety.

'Or at least business casual' It really depends on the place. If there's a recruiter involved, ask them. Otherwise, (the following is based on my experience in the US, YMMV, etc), if they're not a software company, or are a defense contractor or similar, probably safest to go with a suit. If they are a software company, business casual is probably fine. If they're a startup, jeans and a t-shirt is probably fine. If y…

I don't have all these different kinds of clothing. (And no I don't want to own them either).

Am I the only one who thinks this game should be played the other way around?

If a company needs my services, they should impress me. I am not a model and I am sure as hell not a wage slave. I don't do CVs, and I sure as hell don't talk to HR. I am performing a necessary duty, if I can fill my role then my other traits will be catered for.

From my experience some basic self respect ensures you only end up with good jobs. The positions you have to bend for are not worth bending for imho.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#55

Post by nemanja »

agumonkey wrote: post #44

I remember an awful confrontation with a first stage HR employee that was particularly nitpicking with my resume while not knowing the difference between Java and javascript. Ha.. keywords.

An awful confrontation is definitely not a way to go. May want to try coaching approach, politely explaining the difference. For all you know, it may have been an intentional filter.

Bottom line though is that it helps you to use the same keywords they are looking for, to the extent you have the relevant experience.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#56

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

magoon wrote: post #13
Bahamut wrote: post #5

"...did you wear a suit" I guess it might depend on the industry, but at most interviews I have done, the expectation has been to just wear jeans and whatever. I usually go with jeans and a polo shirt for safety.

It may seem like you were dressed OK, but do you really know? Does anybody ever say "we can't hire that guy, he dressed up?"

No, but if one wears an ill-fitting suit, and or is visibly uncomfortable because of their clothing; that could negatively affect an interviewer's perception of a candidate.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#57

Post by kasey_junk »

raverbashing wrote: post #51
kasey_junk wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has done a ton of hiring, switching jobs a lot is definitely a red flag. Not an automatic reject, but I frequently have to make choices like "It will take this person N months to become useful here, they switch jobs on average every M months. M-N seems like a pretty short time..."

So, would you advise towards a competence based CV? In case a frequent switching happened, what would you like to see in a resume?

The things that would really make up for the switching would be either A) experience which is very close to what I am currently hiring for B) a reason for the frequent switching.

At least for me, the CV is the least important part of the hiring pipeline. I have found them to have virtually zero correlation with good hires. So if I get a CV with frequent switching on it, and the candidate is great in all the other pipeline, it probably won't matter at all. If on the other hand, there are other questions about the candidate, a frequent switcher will get some questions about what they want in a job and a little bit of skepticism if we think there will be a big ramp up cost.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#58

Post by dunk010 »

tortos123 wrote: post #52

Sorry It was nice and made nice points but it seems like you just want to advertise your own business by offering to rewrite CV's and a link to your site.

Hardly. There's a lot of great information in the presentation which is applicable to all developers.

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#59

Post by UK-AL »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #48
izolate wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you perpetuating the myth that frequent switching of jobs is somehow detrimental to your career? Maybe that's true for corporate megacorp, but in the startup world I feel it's par for the course. At least all the best engineers I've worked with never stuck around long.

It's not a myth, at least not in most cases. If I take you on I want some indication that you're going to stay around long enough for the investment we're going to make in you to be worthwhile. We'll normally pay a recruitment fee and then we'll pay you while you're learning about our product, our industry, our processes and the specific technologies you haven't worked with that we use, and we'll be paying our existi…

Most people jump when the company is not paying market price so they switch.

I move very fast from companies that don't keep up with pay. I stay at companies with regular pay rises. I've had both. So in my mind it means that companies concerned with job hopping, are really hoping to keep your pay down. It's an early warning .

Re: How to write a developer resume that will get you hired

#60

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

nraynaud wrote: post #39
peteretep wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, and there's a strategy for addressing that (and a description of the problem) in the slide set

spoiler: he advises to just put the keywords, to please every layer in the hiring process. This is a quite conservative document: your CV is a little piece of shit in the stack, people have better stuff to do than read your freaking CV, you stupid millennial, they hate recruiting and they are absolutely not willing to spend any time on it, and there are millions other people waiting for your job, so you'd better get…

I'd be terrified of anywhere that didn't put their best people forward for interviews. Two reasons:

1) Hiring someone is a big deal. You want the people best placed to judge whether they're right involved.

2) You're selling the company to someone who may/will have other choices. Put the people forward who are going to do the best job of that.

Point 2 is important. I have no interest in candidates who do the whole "you'll make all the effort and bend over backwards because I'm in demand". Similarly I have no time for companies who demand days of preparation before interview as if I have no other options and they're the only game in town. In almost all cases the person isn't good enough to put up with that attitude and the company isn't the only place the person might consider working.

Jobs are a coming together of two interested parties and both sides need to show respect and be fair and reasonable. As a result if I'm recruiting then beyond a slightly tailored CV and some basic research into what we do (and maybe the technologies we use if you don't know them) I don't expect preparation. In exchange I'm going to spend time telling you about the role, the company and the project, I'm going to answer questions and I'm going to be as honest as I can be to make sure you can make a good decision.

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