You have been looking for a job in tech, but are not getting the results you are after. You think you’re doing everything right. But are you? First, check out this post on doing the tech job search the right way.
Now let’s go over the eight (8) things you might be doing wrong, why it’s a problem and how to fix them:
Problem #1: Branding
Your resume is generic and is not targeted to a specific role.
Why is this a problem?
Your generic resume highlights your skills and experience from prior jobs, but it won’t be effective at selling you as the ideal fit for any specific role. In today’s competitive environment, recruiters and hiring managers are looking for candidates whose resumes line up well with the open position they’re trying to fill. If your resume is generic, chances are that it will be rejected.
What is the solution?
A targeted resume, built around the role you want most, Project Manager, Customer Success Rep, etc. You have a better chance of getting an interview when you make it clear that you have the skills and experience that are required for the job.
Problem #2: Value articulation
Your transferable skills aren’t reframed to you target role.
Why is this a problem?
When transitioning to a new career, you must target your resume to the new role and industry. You may be great at your accounting job, but all of those accounting related skills and accomplishments won’t show a potential hiring manager that you can do the Project Management job. You need to identify your transferable skills from accounting and reframe them to the Project Management role.
What is the solution?
You need to identify the hard and soft skills required for the role you are targeting by finding and reading job descriptions for that role. Then, check your past working experience job description and find similarities. The last step is to reframe your skills by using the appropriate key words and terminology of the new role to describe your past working experience.
Problem #3: Not results focused
Your resume is task driven, not results driven.
Why is this a problem?
A results-oriented resume is one that focuses on quantitative accomplishments, rather than vague tasks that are unaccompanied by credible statements. By structuring your resume to be results-oriented, you provide employers with the opportunity to measure your success at previous jobs using specific metrics that show what you’ve done, instead of just telling what you’ve done. Quantifiable results will have more of an impact and increases the chances that a hiring manager will want to talk to you.
What is the solution?
Your resume bullets need to quantify, using numbers, percentages, and statistics, how what you did had a positive impact on the company and delivered value.
Did you take an initiative that:
- Increased revenue?
- Increased efficiency?
- Decreased redundancy?
- Saved time?
Yes? Use numbers to answer the question “by how much?”
Compare the two statements below:
- Task Driven: Collected survey data from email subscribers.
- Results Driven: Collected survey data from 1,000 email subscribers. Used this data to implement four new marketing strategies that helped increase sales numbers by 15% within three months.
Source: Indeed
Problem #4: Unreadable in applicant tracking systems (ATS)
Your resume is not formatted properly to be successfully parsed by the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) resume scanner.
Why is this a problem?
If the ATS scanner is not properly able to parse your resume when you submit it to an online application, it will be more difficult for the recruiter to assess your qualifications and your profile won’t come up in search results.
What is the solution?
When writing your resume, follow the recommended guidelines to make your resume ATS compatible.
1. Make your resume easy to scan and read. Just like humans, the ATS reads left to right and top to bottom. Scanners also prefer chronological resumes vs. functional. With a functional resume, also called a skills-based resume, it is hard for the scanner and the recruiter to piece together your work history. Either do a chronological resume, or a combination.
2. Don’t include fancy formatting. This one hurts, but creative or fancy resumes are not only harder for the ATS to read, but also harder for recruiters to read. In order to scan your resume for relevant keywords most ATS systems will convert the document to a text-only file. So at best, any fancy formatting will be lost. At worst, the ATS won’t be able to pull out the important information and so, a person may never lay eyes on your nice designs—or read about the experience and skills that actually qualify you for the job. Avoid the following: tables, text boxes, columns, logos, images, colors, hyperlinks and less common fonts. Keep it simple – black and white, common font, use common section headings and bullets.
3. Use relevant key words, but it has to be in context. You may pass the scanner, but a bunch of key words that don’t make sense, will irritate the recruiter.
4. Don’t try to trick the ATS by pasting the job description in tiny font in white color. When it goes through the scanner, all of the text will appear in the same color to the recruiter viewing it on the other end.
5. Use the right file type. While PDFs are best at keeping your format intact overall, the .docx format is the most accurately parsed by ATS.
6. Don’t apply to too many jobs at the same company. The recruiter will be able to see what positions you have applied to within the company. When you apply to everything from entry-level to senior manager, a recruiter can’t tell what you’re actually interested in or if you’re self-aware about your abilities.
Source: themuse.com
Problem #5: You're not targeting your job search
You’re applying and applying and not getting called for interviews. What’s going on? You are not tailoring your resume to each job that you apply to. (This is different than targeting your resume to a specific role.)
Why is this a problem?
Think about things from a hiring manager’s perspective for a moment. If you’re trying to fill a project management or customer service manager position, what do you want to see? Do you want to review a generic resume that could apply to any job? Or, would you prefer one that seems as though it was written with your company in mind? The answer should be obvious.
The truth is that you need to tailor your resume during the job search to have any real chance or positive results against other applicants. That’s the only way to ensure that you are properly addressing a given company’s job requirements. This is also the best way to demonstrate to a hiring manager or employer that you’re the right candidate for the open position. Non-specific resume templates simply can’t achieve that objective.
What is the solution?
Tailor your qualifications and employment history to better align with the demands of any open position. You can selectively present skills, experiences and achievements that demonstrate your value. You should tailor your resume for every job that you apply to.
Problem #6: You are not writing a tailored and impactful cover letter
Ah, cover letters! We love to hate them, however, many employers still find value in the cover letter as it helps them get a glimpse of YOU and why you believe to be a good fit for the role and the company.
Why is this a problem?
A cover letter provides further detail on how your skill set aligns with the role, what you can bring to the team and why you want the position. Cover letters allow recruiters and hiring managers to develop a better understanding of your suitability for a position. This is critically important when you are trying to transition to a different role and industry. You don’t want to miss a chance to explain to the recruiter and hiring manager why you are looking to change your career path and how you and your previous experience will add value to their team.
What is the solution?
Write an impactful cover letter that will help recruiters and hiring managers connect the dots on why you are applying for this position at their company.
Do you have domain knowledge and can apply your years of experience in healthcare working as a Business Analyst for a company that builds software used in hospitals and clinics?
Are you an event coordinator who simultaneously manages multiple large scale events looking to use your organizational, leadership and communication skills to get into a Project Management role at a technology company?
Use the cover letter to connect these dots.
Problem #7: You are applying to any job
We’ve all heard the saying garbage in, garbage out. Same applies to your job search strategy. Be sure to do the work to understand what the company does, what the role’s responsibility is and how you can connect the dots on your resume as to how YOU have the transferable skills to perform the role successfully.
Why is this a problem?
If you’re not researching the company and the position, you may be wasting your time. Rather than focusing your time and effort on getting as many resumes out as possible, spend your time doing some research so that you can target specific companies and jobs that align to your interests and what you are looking for in your next role. Otherwise, you may end up with a pile of rejections, or worse, spend a lot of time talking to companies about jobs you are not interested in. Wasting your time in this way will drain your morale and self-confidence.
What is the solution?
Find companies that are more likely to hire employees with the features and benefits you offer.
Are you in Healthcare? Try targeting HealthTech companies. Are you a teacher? Look at companies in the EdTech space. Read the job description carefully and make sure it’s in line with expectations. Sometimes companies themselves don’t understand the purpose behind a particular role.
A common example of this is a job listed as Product Manager, but when you read the job description, the tasks are mostly aligned to a Project Manager. You want to pay attention to the requirements of the job to make sure that what you’re applying for and what you think you’re applying for is the same.
What is the solution?
Find companies that are more likely to hire employees with the features and benefits you offer.
Are you in Healthcare? Try targeting HealthTech companies. Are you a teacher? Look at companies in the EdTech space. Read the job description carefully and make sure it’s in line with expectations. Sometimes companies themselves don’t understand the purpose behind a particular role.
A common example of this is a job listed as Product Manager, but when you read the job description, the tasks are mostly aligned to a Project Manager. You want to pay attention to the requirements of the job to make sure that what you’re applying for and what you think you’re applying for is the same.
Problem #8: You're not networking
Are you only applying online? To increase your chances of a call back, in addition to applying online, you must also be networking.
Why is this a problem?
When you are trying to transition into a new career path, networking is essential. You can apply online, but you need to find and speak to people in the company that you are applying to or their affiliated recruiter(s).
It cannot be understated: having your resume handed to a recruiter or hiring manager almost always guarantees an interview.
Research has shown that close to 80% of jobs are not published and are gotten through networking, so having an established network in your targeted industry or profession is important. Not only does your network connect you to other professionals and like-minded individuals, it also opens up doors to jobs that you otherwise wouldn’t have known about.
What is the solution?
Come up with a networking strategy and stick to it. Here are some tips:
Set a target number of informational interviews to do per week, per month and commit to it. Make meaningful connections with people on LinkedIn or other social media. Set a weekly target. Attend in-person or virtual networking events. Tell everyone you know and everyone you meet what you do, if you’re looking for a job, what you’re looking for etc. Post on LinkedIn exactly what you are looking for and ask your network if anyone knows recruiters or hiring mangers looking for candidates with your skill set and qualifications.
So, how many of these were you not doing or didn’t know about? Don’t get lazy and cut corners, it does matter. And, don’t underestimate the toll on your mental health that sending out hundreds of applications only to get rejections or not hear anything back can have. The strategy is to focus on quality over quantity. You are better off sending 10 great applications and getting a few call backs, than sending 200 and hearing nothing.
One last tip: the job search process can be overwhelming, depressing, hard and can affect your mental health in a negative way. If you need to, step away and take a break from job searching for sometime. You will find that you come back to the process refreshed, re-energized and with a new perspective.
Ready to start your journey to a career in tech? Check out the Start Here page for step by step guide.
Let T3 help you transition to tech! Get more information on our one on one coaching program HERE.
