Dear job seeker,

A job opening is an odd thing, because everyone involved is a buyer and a seller. You are trying to sell yourself to my company while at the same time I am trying to sell us to you and others we might regrettably have to turn down this time.

Two months spent actively searching for a new member of our team (we found him this week) made me reflect on the whole process. I am not the only one and I sympathize with everyone going through this. In last few years I have read tens if not a hundred of job applications and interviewed tens of applicants for different Slovenian IT companies, mainly startups. Not enough to be an expert, but enough to provide me with a firm opinion that most applications sent sucked.

That doesn’t mean that you personally suck, but I feel comfortable saying that most of you do not know how to present yourselves well. Mind you most companies are failing at this too, but this post will be long enough even as I limit myself to just one side of the story. My intent is to provide a maximum amount of help with a minimum amount of venting.

I think it is a safe assumption that you sent an application because you wanted this job. It should also be obvious that we were looking for someone that we think we’ll be able to entrust with challenging tasks and has a personality that won’t turn our jobs into a punishment.

So the question you should pose yourself is: “ What kind of person is the company looking for and how do I best show to be him? ” (or her)

If you don’t know, then look for information until you do. Ask if necessary, since any company worth working for doesn’t mind answering them. But knowing this is absolutely crucial if you want to be persuasive and at the same time not needlessly wasting your time on a company that doesn’t fit you. If you still think our company is right place for you, and I hope you do, then you should make sure that everything you do when communicating with us tells us that you are THE person we want to hire.

First and foremost, read and follow job ad instructions . Seriously, you would not believe how many applications fail to follow even most basic requests. Ask a friend to double check after you if necessary so you won’t miss anything. Zemanta is an international company and much of our communication has to be in English and yet, when we asked for applications to be sent in English, majority of them weren’t.

If something is unclear, ask for clarification . Responding to a job ad is the first test of your ability to receive a task, gather missing information and perform it to expected (agreed) level. Ignoring requirements or reinterpreting instructions on your own will make us doubt you.

Send resume when asked for, but don’t think it can substitute things that were asked for. It is amazing how many people just send their resume, when ad explicitly said we would like to see examples of work above everything.

Having said that, resume ( CV ) is definitely an asset when trying to sell yourself. When you write, keep in mind that its purpose is to sell you to a company. Put yourself into my shoes and think what should you write there, that is truthful and will make me want to hire you.

Europass resume is something only a bureaucrat could love . We won’t hold it against you, since somebody probably misinformed you of its usefulness, but it does tell us almost nothing about you. Even if I knew all listed companies, I couldn’t tell from a job title what you actually did there.

Much better is to explain in couple of sentences under every job list item what you achieved there and if necessary why I should care about this (e.g. At company ACME I introduced automated testing of Javascript code that reduced bugs reported by 30% )

In a fast moving industry like IT there is probably little reason to go into details about what you did in 1999, unless you are certain it is still relevant today. I started my career in 1997 porting backup agents to new UNIX platforms, but nobody would hire me for such work today (and probably shouldn’t then either). Old job listings are mainly used as a signal for steadfastness.

Don’t embellish resume too much . It is impossible to impartially judge your skills and most reviewers expect resumes to be, well, somewhat too rosy. Still, keep things at least defensible. Think what would happen if you were invited to an interview and found out that a part of it is a lie. How much weight do you think the rest of your resume would carry afterwards? Would you trust integrity of such person?

Considering what I said so far about poor quality of most applications, you might think it is easy to get to interview, but it is not necessarily so. There can be external factors that might work against you so sometimes even otherwise promising candidates have to be turned down (e.g., it is easier to teach people who live near by).

Let’s say now that you were interesting enough that we want to conduct an interview with you. I think following tips should work well for you on most occasions. If they don’t, count yourself lucky not to work there. I am not joking.

Don’t bluff. It’s reasonable to assume that I wouldn’t ask you a question I didn’t know the answer to so it’s unlikely it would work. Good questions can’t be tersely answered so you can’t really hide anyway.

Admit when you don’t know the answer. True, knowing it would be better, but at least you are not wasting my time. It’s especially important in small companies that problems are found out as soon as possible and it is a positive sign that you are a person that we can trust to let us know about them when there is still time to do something.

Don’t just give up. We all encounter problems that we can’t solve and interview questions we don’t know answers to. Show initiative and think out loud how you see the problem and what solutions might be. Give us a chance to see how you think and persuade us that you are a tenacious problem solver that won’t unnecessarily seek help of others.

Speak to the point and be active . From my experience this is a problem more prevalent in Slovenia. It quickly becomes annoying and tiresome trying to get a direct answer to a question from a person who doesn’t want to give you one. Making me feel like I have to work to keep interview moving is probably not the best way to leave a good impression.

Skills are…needed. We all want to hire people who fit our needs perfectly. We rarely can. What happens next depends on company and people involved, but judging by my experience, we value person over his skill. If choice comes between a flaky or otherwise non-solid person with better skills and someone that couples ability to solve problems and thirst for knowledge with personal integrity and maturity, then it is likely that latter will be chosen.

Ask questions. Inquisitiveness is always a turn on, but interview is also a chance for you to find more about us. Most companies expect from you an investment of 8 hours of your life daily and if you are like me, then it should be important to you what kind of company and people are you dealing with, what work entails and how do we go about it. Personally I don’t mind questions about salary and benefits, but I do find it odd if interview starts with them.

Regretfully interview is a last stop for some candidates and we have to turn them down. I know some companies have a bad habit of turning people down without letting them know and if that happens to you, well, count yourself lucky. At Zemanta we find such behavior rude and we notify everyone. What happens afterwards is usually….nothing. No reply.

My advice to you would be to respond with a note thanking for the opportunity. It probably won’t make a difference in a short run, but it does leave a good impression. We are all more inclined to recommend (or hire in next round) people we like.

Good luck!