How to get an interview in the first place
I won’t cover where to search for suitable roles. I used linkedin, my favourite recruitment agents and hired.com. I’m sure you have a bunch of places to get leads. That’s not what I am going to write about here!
So, step one: you have a job description, you like the look of it and you feel that you are in with a chance. What nearly all of them want is a CV and a cover letter.
This CV and cover letter will go to a recruiter person or an automated process that is used by the recruiter person
So the initial point of contact is this recruiter person or an automation. Most automations look for keywords in the list it has for the job role that goes with the application. Most recruiters are more perceptive than the automated process but essentially are doing the same thing, looking for key skills.
CV tips
So your CV has to mention those keywords and mention them in a fairly obvious way
The CV should also list your “achievements” by which I mean you say I was at company X and I did a thing and it had this positive effect. I was at Voodoo Corp, I took charge of the AWS infrastructure and reduced the bill for infrastructure by 20%. List things that the non-technical recruiter will understand and link them to business requirements. In DevOps speak, shift left :)
Be sure to list all your certifications. Certifications seem fairly pointless but the CV is their raison d’etre. All a certification does is prove that you can do a thing to a certain standard to people who don’t know you, exactly the context of a CV
If you struggle to make the CV look good and keep it up to date then I recommend Kick Resume
Cover letter cheat sheet
The cover letter is probably something I could do better but I have a simple formula.
1/ “Hello, I think we should talk” or “Hi I noticed your job ad and I believe I have something to offer” - make a friendly introduction, try and give something positive
2/ Pitch with 3 quick points (you like the idea, you are suitable and you want to do the job) “I am currently in the SRE field and Goats have always fascinated me, so when I saw you advertising for an SRE at Goats R Us I was immediately interested. I have many years of experience (see below) and I am actively looking for a new challenge”
3/ The job description always has a list of “requirements” or “what we are looking for”. Cut n paste this into the letter and fill in after each requirement what your experience is. If you don’t have experience in one of the areas, just skip it.
4/ End with: Thanks for reading, hope to hear from you soon
This method for doing a cover letter takes a little while as you have to fill in the requirements
what happens next
Send the CV/Cover letter off
If nothing happens don’t worry about it. Sometimes the recruiter person is on holiday. Sometimes they filled the role and didn’t pull the Ad and can’t be bothered to reply. If you never hear from them again, no problem!
If you do get an interview…your troubles have just begun
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