Reaching Out

[Careers Foundations, with Pasan Premaratne] 0:00 [Applying & Interviewing - Deep Dive] 0:02 Once you've done your research and found positions of interest to you 0:04 based on your skill set, then it's time to start applying. 0:07 You should only apply to positions that you really want. 0:11 You can spend more time on these applications and make sure you do 0:13 a good job with them. 0:17 Now when you open up a job posting, the first thing you should do 0:19 is develop an objective or elevator pitch for the role. 0:22 Read down the job posting and determine what they're looking for. 0:25 Now that you know what they're looking for, do you fit this role? 0:31 Are your skills matched up to the requirements? 0:35 The answer to this question is your elevator pitch. 0:38 Use this answer to form the basis of all the documents to use in the application process. 0:41 Let's look at an example. 0:46 You read a job listing and summarize it down to this. 0:48 They're looking for a senior UX designer 0:51 with five to seven years e-commerce experience in the travel industry. 0:54 They want someone who has experience using, designing, and prototyping tools. 0:58 If this applies to you, your elevator pitch could be something like this. 1:02 I have worked as a senior UX designer for the past five years 1:06 in firm A, using tools X, Y, and Z. 1:10 Now this elevator pitch isn't what you send off to the firm, 1:13 but it is what you can use as a basis to craft your entire application around. 1:16 You've figured out exactly what they're looking for, and now you're crafting 1:20 your response to suit it exactly. 1:24 Now sometimes you may not have all the requirements 1:26 for what the firm is looking for, but that's okay. 1:29 It's your job to convince them why you are a great fit, regardless. 1:31 In our example, now you may have the necessary experience 1:36 but in a different industry or different segment of the industry. 1:39 Figure out what skills transfer over and how you can highlight those. 1:42 Once you have an elevator pitch crafted, you should create the documents 1:46 proving that you have these skills. 1:51 There are two documents that you should focus on, 1:53 the cover letter and the resume. 1:55 Let's start with the cover letter. 1:57 The purpose of a cover letter is to do three things: 1:59 introduce yourself and apply for the position, 2:03 explain why you are the candidate for the job, 2:06 and then you sign off on a positive note, showing your enthusiasm for the job. 2:09 The first point, your introduction, should be exactly that, short and simple. 2:13 All it does is lead the employer to the explanation of why you are the ideal candidate. 2:19 The second and most important part highlights why you are the ideal candidate. 2:23 Now this can be achieved with specific bullet points that describe each 2:28 necessary skill and your experience with it. 2:32 Use the key points from your elevator pitch and present them as a bulleted list 2:36 as to why you are the best choice. 2:40 Then include a closing paragraph mentioning how enthused you are 2:42 to be considered for this job. 2:46 The second part is the core part of your cover letter. 2:49 The reason we're going with bullets is because it is much easier 2:51 to read than if you were to just write a paragraph about yourself. 2:54 The employer can easily see what qualifications you have 2:58 that makes you good for the position, and can arrive at that decision quickly. 3:01 Each bullet should reference a specific project or skill 3:06 that is expanded on in the resume. 3:09 Using our example, a cover letter would look something like this. 3:12 Nine years' overall experience as a user experience designer, 3:15 including five years' experience as a senior UX designer. 3:19 Proficient in designing and prototyping tools 3:22 with extensive experience using Photoshop, Illustrator, and OmniGraffle. 3:26 Proven track record implementing successful UI decisions 3:30 within the travel industry. 3:34 While at Firm A, I successfully improved the UX to optimize the signup experience, 3:36 which increased activation activities by 32% and increased overall revenue by 18%. 3:41 Add any other points that would be relevant to the job. 3:47 Highlighting on your cover letter, using bullet points like this, 3:50 shows the employer that you took the time to understand what they're looking for 3:54 and have customized your cover letter to suit the requirements. 3:58 Bonus points already. 4:01 In addition to a cover letter, you could be asked to provide a resume. 4:05 Like cover letters, your resume should be tailored to the job that you are applying for. 4:08 Now there's not a lot of customizing to do with the resume. 4:13 But sometimes you can highlight different aspects of your profile, 4:17 depending on the job requirements. 4:20 There isn't one right way to write resumes. It really is an art. 4:22 With both your cover letter and resume, you should be constantly modifying 4:26 and refining it, adding new skills and writing in your latest achievements before you forget it. 4:30 At minimum, your resume should include the following bits of information. 4:36 Your name and your contact information. Your experience. 4:40 Now this can be arranged chronologically, by relevance, or by industry, 4:44 if you've been employed in different industries. 4:48 Also, you don't have to list every single job that you've done, 4:50 just to fill up your resume. List only what is relevant to the job that you're applying for. 4:53 Then you list your educational background and any relevant certifications. 4:57 And finally, you can list proficiency in certain technology or languages. 5:01 I've provided a few templates in the notes below, so you can go over 5:05 some different styles and resume examples. 5:10 When putting your resume together, one of the potential mistakes 5:12 you could be making is focusing on responsibilities instead of results. 5:15 Listing out results shows not only the responsibilities undertaken for that job, 5:19 but the tasks you handled and the results you've achieved as well. 5:24 An example of listing out responsibilities versus results goes something like this. 5:27 When you list a responsibility, you could be saying 5:32 responsible for strategic and overall IT infrastructure. 5:35 But if you were to focus on the results achieved, then you could rewrite it like this. 5:39 Maintained web services handling a customer base of over 1 million customers a day. 5:43 Improved existing servers to reduce average response time by 30%. 5:49 Now, when the employer looks over the resume, he understands 5:53 what the IT infrastructure tasks were and that you produced favorable results. 5:57 If you have difficulty putting your resume together, 6:02 an easy way to get started is to get a LinkedIn profile. 6:05 LinkedIn will walk you through all the steps you need to complete a minimum profile. 6:08 You can then export all this to PDF, and the website will generate a resume for you. 6:13 Use this as a starting point and fine-tune it 6:18 to highlight everything that you need. 6:21 Cover letters and resumes aren't the only tools you use to show off your skills, however. 6:23 In the tech industry, while a lot of the larger companies will still require 6:28 you submit a resume, a lot of medium to smaller companies, 6:33 especially the new ones, will evaluate you based on examples of your work alone. 6:36 Some companies even mention that they don't want a resume. 6:40 Now there are many different websites out there that you can use to highlight 6:43 your work, depending on your role. 6:47 As designers, you can use websites like Dribbble 6:49 and Behance to show off your work. 6:52 Developers can showcase all their projects on websites like GitHub. 6:55 These websites are increasingly being used to evaluate designers and developers 7:00 over things like resumes, because they show actual work, 7:04 how involved the candidates are in the community, 7:07 and the scope and breadth of their knowledge. 7:10 Use these tools well to enhance your marketability as a candidate. 7:12 Now I have included a list of these resources in the notes below. 7:16 If you don't have a profile up yet on the relevant site, 7:20 I would highly recommend getting started. 7:23 Now that you know how to put together the necessary tools 7:25 to apply for different jobs, let's talk about how you can evaluate 7:29 the responses you get in. 7:32