Tips for Twits

About a month ago, Z wrote a collection of his thoughts on attracting top talent. Serving as HR Manager at Savant Degrees for about a year, it was something that I had to face on a daily basis. However, a lot of the challenges that I faced came from sieving out the top talent from the not-so-top talent.

One day late last year, I received a particularly bad application that put me in a very foul mood, sparking a rant on Facebook. I wrote a note on my pet peeves from a HR Manager’s perspective and I was pleasantly surprised by the positive replies I received.

So today, I hope you enjoy the view from the flip side. It’s a toned down, less ranty version of my thoughts on impressing your recruiters and getting that job at your fave startup.

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My pet peeves and what smart applicants should do instead:

1) Missing cover letter

As we are a small company, all of our applications are done by email. The great thing about email is that it allows you to attach files and documents application systems sometimes don’t allow you to. Furthermore, on the careers section of our website, it says to submit your cover letter and resume. (This is a particularly bad sign for developers, not getting conjunctions right… but moving on.)

However, I often receive email applications saying, “Please see my resume attached for the XYZ position. I hope to hear from you soon”.

Resumes are just a record of what you’ve done, which may or may not be relevant to what I’m looking for. Especially if you’re a fresh graduate and probably have a mish-mash of internships and student gigs. Sometimes I don’t even look at a resume until the interview cos most of the time, it doesn’t add much value to me when narrowing down candidates at the beginning of a recruiting process.

A better way to get attention from the recruiter is to write a letter to tell them why you want to work for their company and in this particular role. A number of our best performers now impressed us with the passion they displayed in their cover letters. We had someone come to us with 5 years of experience as an editor, but wrote us a very spirited letter about why she would make a good programmer. We gave her the job and she’s doing really well now.

2) The super long resume

Google “resume templates” and chances are you’ll get tips that say “keep your CV to one page, max two”. There’s a reason why all these websites say the same thing – it really makes a difference.

I’ve gotten resumes that were 12 pages long listing out the person’s entire work, school and life stories. I really do not need to know every last detail. This problem seems to be more for techies who want to show off what languages and frameworks they know how to use, but my point is, it’s TMI.

And in the words of Mark Twain, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” If you didn’t have time to apply for a job, I’m not sure how much effort you’re gonna be putting into your work. So keep it short. Seriously. (Note: this principle does not apply directly to the one-line “Here’s my resume attached” email)

Like I said on my previous point, the stuff you’ve done may or may not be relevant to the position you’re applying for. What I would suggest is that you pick conversation points for your resume, those jobs and experiences that let you learn skills that can be applied to this job or lets you demonstrate your personality really well.

If you really need to write all your experience down, just use LinkedIn. Then you can add a link on your resume. Tip: It makes great reading material for when your recruiter is bored and wants to look productive Extra brownie points!

3) “Err, what exactly does the company expect me to do?”

As the main inspiration for this post, this is really a problem you can easily avoid.

If you managed to dig up the email address to send your application to, I’m sure you can dig up the job description on my site too. Why would you send me your resume to apply for a job you don’t even know about?! Immediate big red REJECT stamp.

4) Subject title: “Job Application”

Again, this might not apply to big companies that make you fill in application forms on their recruitment portals, but more for smaller companies like mine that still make use of email applications.

I get a ton of emails and although Gmail is awesome with its labels and filters, I’m not diligent at keeping up with them. So if you want me to pull up your application fast, always include the title of the position you’re applying for. That way, when it’s time for me to go through them, I have them neatly searched and yours is definitely gonna be in the pile. Plus you’ve got your kick ass cover letter on that email so I’m gonna sit up and take notice.

Moral of the story: don’t fall through the cracks with lazy subject lines.

5) Don’t call me Mister

First of all, my name is pretty feminine. And also there’s Google, Facebook and LinkedIn. So if you had basic face-stalking abilities or met me before (this one takes the cake), please don’t call me Mr Bi Ying. It’s Miss Wong. Mademoiselle, if you so please.

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Well, there you go! So, if you want to get that job, you’ve gotta position yourself as top talent and it starts with the little things. No, hang on, if you think about it, it starts with the big thing – it’s you. Give yourself the best chance and we’ll do the same. Good luck!