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What I learned after applying for 100 jobs

shushugah on September 09, 2019

Between August 2014 and July 2019 I applied for over 100 jobs. Like most people, I find job hunting incredibly stressful. Yet, I am also extremel...
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mjsarfatti profile image
Manuele J Sarfatti

"And remember, to have fun. It's mostly a crapshoot!"

Literally the only way to make it out sane & alive!

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kurisutofu profile image
kurisutofu

I was once passed over for a job and tried again 1.5 years later where they picked me.
They were very happy I applied again and sped the interview process to hire me after 2 interviews.

The first time, when I failed, I was told that I would not be a good fit "because I was in for the money only" (nevermind the fact that I specifically said I was less interested in the salary than in the overall atmosphere of the office).

After I joined, I was told that the real reason was that they wanted "a local" because the boss was worried a foreigner would not talk the language well enough (even though I took all the interviews in Japanese and had no issue communicating).

The second time, they took the boss out of the loop and were looking at competence and also that my Japanese was fine.

All that to repeat what's said in the conclusion of the article, don't hesitate applying again ;)

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Kyle Griffin

It's funny how the law pushes hard for equal opportunities but companies are made of people, and people as individuals have prejudices that they bring to the hiring process. Companies will jump through hoops and use doublespeak to make sure they're not outright dismissing candidates because of their ethnicity or gender, but it's so blatant just by looking at their "our team" page on their website.

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Ramon Polidura

do you feel like knowing good Japanese is essential for a programming job in Japan?

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kurisutofu

For the job itself, I don't think it would help much.
It would depend on the company and the expected level of communication with the teams.

When I came to Japan, I knew only the very basics (self-introduction, ordering at restaurants, and not much else) and it was fine but now, many companies ask for being at least able to discuss. Many even ask for business level ...

I'd say if you are looking for coming here, don't let the lack of good Japanese stop you from applying and see from there.
However, you may need to be in the country already or your resume will just be skipped.
I also recommend using a recruiting company, there are many you can register online.

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Ramon Polidura

That's great to hear thanks, I had the impression that to work on any Japanese company you had to be fluent and polite in Japanese, I'm not going to Japan any time soon, but is good advice.

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kurisutofu profile image
kurisutofu • Edited

As a note, I know many foreigners who've been here a long time (one has been there for 35 years, married to a Japanese woman and with kids) and don't speak Japanese so it's possible to get by without it, at least in Tokyo ;)

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Chris Achard

100 jobs! Whoa. That's what it takes though...

I definitely agree that most companies are disorganized. For many, it seems like hiring is a burden that they have to get through - and that feels bad from the perspective of the person applying.

It's also interesting that you've applied multiple times and gotten to different points every time - why do you think that is? I guess there is just a bunch of luck to the process (when you apply, who reviews which application, etc) - but that's not a great answer either :) "There has to be a better way!"

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shushugah

I was upfront about applying again, and had a little more experience than the previous time. This role in particular required leadership skills, so I framed some of my extracurricular mentoring differently than last time. I still did not get the job, and like most job hunting, it’s anecdotal still.

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Chris Achard

Ah, makes sense - yeah, many companies like you to apply later after a bit more experience. Thanks for sharing :)

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Alex Sarafian

Nice article. Enjoyed reading it as well.

I think that many people share similar experiences not in the same volume though. I've been on both sides of an interview and my conclusion is that most don't know how to evaluate a candidate. It is not about being organized but more about knowing how to evaluate a resume and a person. Without that knowledge, the usual buzz word driven exercises are used as a fallback.

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Rob Kendal {{β˜•}}

Great article! I've been through my own hiring hell and job hunting is a thankless task. There needs to more emphasis on candidate experience and I think that's where a lot of companies fall down: whether it's failing to update you at all on where you sit in the process, to really protracted or obtuse hiring pipelines.

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Taha Paksu

The funniest thing was the rejection with an explanation like "We couldn't see the enthusiasm in you to work in our company" while I was one of the perfect fits for a job (I had experience in all the items in the job ad), and the saddest thing was that I got rejected at the last step of a 4 step interview, talking with the CEO, who asked "where do you see yourself in 5 years", "how do your colleagues/team members define you" like questions from the beginning.

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zakwillis

Thanks for sharing your experience. Bit of random advice, the chart you provided, you could have plotted multiple data series on the same axis as a stacked bar chart. This would let you show total applications per year by total successes.

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shushugah

I created a stacked bar-chart, see before/after

Before

and after, using codepen for interactivity

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zakwillis

Awesome, well done :D

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shushugah

I agree in terms of showing β€œinterview conducted” or not, but is 4 interviews better or worse than a company that hosts maximum of 2 before making a decision? That doesn’t reflect my success/failure as much as company policy

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Matt Curcio

Excellent article, I LOVE the points at the end. I have a short-attention-span (LOL) and summing up the messages at the end is very helpful. It is good to know that 1/3 of your resumes got some at least a phone call, really good to know. I love the spreadsheet idea too. I have done the same but it can get big and unwielding when you have a lot of company info.
Thanks

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Jamie Ferrugiaro

Great advice!

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Chris C

that "no response" category is disheartening. Getting ghosted by most companies was also my experience in easily 100 applications.

Perseverance is key!

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Jacob Herrington (he/him)

Thanks for sharing. I've been through something like this and I've interviewed at some great companies because of it. It is really exhausting though!

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shushugah

Thank you for your words! I think we have a colleague in common! In my brief contract in my first Berlin job, I met and worked with Martin Meyerhof who is with Solidius now!

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ryanAllMad

I loved this article! β™₯️

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Sameer S

Any thoughts on why the number of applications were so much higher in 2018 and 2019? Did you feel the market got more competitive?

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shushugah • Edited

No, I just became much more confident, and also more picky in the companies I interviewed with. I genuinely looked for fit, yellow/red flags, as opposed to saying whatever the companies wanted. For example, one finance tech company I interviewed with asked me to do an "aptitude test" and I told them what I truthfully thought about that (racist and pseudo science).

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Ramon Polidura

I'm sure if you keep trying you can find a job, 10 years of self taught stuff is very important

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Ibrahim Imran

Nice research I'm currently Not very good on Dev. Hopefully I'll get better.

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Alexis Woodbury

This is super encouraging.
I'm applying for jobs after a bootcamp now, I cant believe you landed your first job so quickly!

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Artofaj

Thanks for sharing your experience! I'm really wondering how Berlin can be good for your mental health and bad for your momentum. I would have assumed it to be the other way around, honestly.