How to start to find a Job?
Summer 2018…
One of the busiest summers of my life. While everyone was on vacation and sunbathing in Majorca, Spain, I was trying to finish my Master Thesis and decide what I want to do after my studies?
I was sure that starting a Ph.D. for me would be wrong.
At least one step ahead … I had to find my “Dream Job”!
From July, applying for Full-Time jobs all around Germany started.
As you already know, essentials to be ready to apply are:
- Cleaning up Linkedin
- Updating the Resume
- Increasing the number of contributions to GitHub
Besides that, you have to recap some computer science fundamentals which probably only studied for a specific course during the Bachelors/Masters…
So much work to do right?
I want to share the steps that I took to be able to find a job before I graduated. Let’s start from the simple things to make them done first.
Take advantage of being a student.
Subscribe for Student Developer Pack on GitHub. Then you can freely have private repositories. Connect your Thesis or any project with your account. If you see you have a valuable and clean university project as well, make them as a public repo.
By this approach:
- Managing the project/thesis becomes easier
- The Contributions are increased
- You make a solid profile to show your programming skills
Clean up your Linkedin account.
It seems so much work to do, but you have no idea how much is important.
- Make sure your educational background is up to date. If you have a student job, for sure mention it. Describe your responsibilities, give a brief information about the company and list the technologies you have been using. Make sure in the first glance, useful information are visible, people/recruiters do not have that much patience/time.
- Reorder your skills set. It will help to know what is your interest.
- Do not be shy, ask your friends/colleagues to endorse your skills.
- If you have a chance to ask your boss/team-lead for a recommendation on Linkedin would be great. If not, ask your classmates or other colleagues.
Start following companies that you feel like to work them ( No matter if you think there might be a job position open for you at that moment ).
- Set to get a notification on the job posts.
- Set your career interest in your account settings. Enable that you are actively looking for a job in this field and that cities. So many of my friends also used the paid version of it, but I did not pay a penny and still was satisfied with recommendations and job vacancies that I got.
Throw away your word version of CV/Resume!
Create your CV with Overleaf. There are so many nice and clean CV templates. Since it’s LateX, modifying and adding content is way much easier.
Keep it maximum 2 pages.
Remember you are not a student anymore and you are not applying for universities. Education is still is important but skills, experiences and the job history has higher priority and should come first.
At the same time, it’s nice to give a short introduction to your thesis and internship (Particularly if you did not work a lot during your studies).
Define your thesis deadline to show that it’s a work in progress.
Personally, I like to have my picture on the top, right corner of the CV. But so many people are against it… See what you feel like to do. You can try A/B test on your CV. Check how is the response rate with each version and then choose the winner.
Subscribe to Job Finding websites.
There are different platforms that companies post there. Websites like:
- Indeed
- StepStone
I used Glassdoor for the companies review and insights from the employees and interviewees. But you can also see the job positions as well.
But Linkedin Jobs was the most useful for me!
You will recieve available positions almost everyday. Do not apply to ALL of them, even if you think it’s a fit for you. Because then you may overwhelm yourself with high number of interviews.
Until now, you just made your applying material ready. Probably based on the positions that you are applying, also need to “Personalize” some parts of your CV as well.
It’s also nice to come up with a Cover Letter Template for yourself.
It just saves a lot of time if there is a field that you have/can upload a cover letter.
Dear Sir/Madam <Recuiter-Name>
I came across <Company-Name> profile on <Platform-Name> and saw that you are a recruitment specialist in <Position>.I have <months> of experience as a <Current Position> in the <Industry>. During this time I have enhanced my skills in cloud Platforms and microservices.
I have a background in <Short-Summary>. I feel confident in technologies like <Technologies>.
During my internship, I <Short-Summary>.
…
Thank you for taking the time to consider my application, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
….
Wish you luck with your future job! I hope the tips help you …
In future posts, I will share some experiences during the interviews and publish some of the important questions that I was asked.
