Time Flies When You're Out of Work

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted here. I've been pretty busy lately, and since nobody's really reading this thing yet, I haven't had much motivation to post. Looking for a job is hard work. I spend all day scouring the job boards, looking for local software companies that might have unadvertised positions, and looking in the papers. Then, when I finally do find something that looks good, it takes at least 1/2 hour, often more, to tweak my resume for the position and write the cover letter.

That being said, things are looking better. I had an interview yesterday that I think went well. I had a phone interview, and this was the in-person interview. When the manager said he was going to give me a test, then asked how I would test a phone. I was a bit surprised, since my resume shows that I've spent the last two years working with phones. Hopefully, it went as well as I thought. If not, I have another interview this week for another QA job. Two interviews in one week. I think it's a record.

On the subject, I've learned quite a bit about the job market and have a few tips.

Simplify Your Resume
Keep your resume short and simple. Two years ago, I had trimmed my resume down to two pages. The format I used worked great back then. These days, though, even two pages is too much. There's a lot more competition for jobs right now. SQA has been hit particularly hard since many companies think they can just have developers test their own code (that's a mistake, and probably could be a blog entry on its own). Hiring managers are looking at dozens of resumes. If it takes longer than a couple of minutes to read, it won't be read.

A person I used to work with is working for a fairly major software company now. They had a QA position open, so I sent her my two page resume. She gave me some tips to trim it down and make it much easier to read. Between her tips and some other tips I've picked up over the past couple of months, here's what I suggest.

• Start off with your name and contact info at the top.
• Add a short paragraph (2-3 sentences) summing yourself up in a "profile" section.
• For each of your jobs, list no more than 6 bullet points.
• If you have a long job history with lots of different jobs, don't list them all. List your last 2 or three jobs, going back up to 10 years or so. Then, have a final "job" called "Earlier Career Summary." If they want more details, it will come up in the interview.
  
• Only list accomplishments in your job experience section. Do not list responsibilities.
• After your jobs, have a small section listing your skills. Break them down into categories. For example:

QA: Exploratory and scripted, planning and developing automation, metrics
Networking: Packet capture and analysis, troubleshooting multiple OSI layers
Development: C, C++, C#, QTP, Java, HTML, XML

• Use a decent sized font. 11-12 points should be good.
• Make sure you have decent spacing between lines and sections. Keep it easy to read.
  

Remember, the point is to sell yourself to the company, so you want to emphasize what you've done in the past and what you can do to improve the company's bottom line.

That's not to say you shouldn't have a resume that lists all your skills. If you're posting your resume on a job board, you'll want the skills section to include everything you can do. In fact, if you've done a little bit of everything, having 1/2 a page or even a full page of lists of skills isn't bad in a resume you're posting on a job board. The reason is that recruiters and hiring managers often do a keyword search on the major job boards to find somebody who has specific experience. Listing everything in this resume will make it more likely to get picked up.

Customize Your Resumes Before Sending Them Out
I spend at least 30 minutes applying for a job. I look at the job description and requirements carefully, make sure I think I'm qualified for it, then customize a resume for that particular job. I'll remove accomplishments and skills that I don't think are important for that job and include the things I've done that are. In fact, even though I've sent out scores of resumes, no two have been exactly the same.

If a hiring manager sees a bunch of things on your resume that have nothing to do with the job you're applying for, they think you didn't read the description very carefully. With a job in SQA, attention to detail is important, so this would make a horrible first impression.

Write the Cover Letter from Scratch
Make sure you always include a cover letter. The only exception is when you have to use an application wizard online, and it doesn't let you add one.

Second, always start from scratch when writing the cover letter. It may take more time, but it will keep it from looking like a form letter.

Pay Attention to the Job Requirements
If the job says certification or a degree is required, make sure you acknowledge it. In your cover letter, bring attention to your degree. Mention the school. If you don't completely meet the requirements, but have experience that you think makes up for it, bring it up by saying something like, "Although I do not currently hold CSQA certification, I have 14 years of professional experience testing software." I've gotten interviews for jobs that require certification I didn't have because I was up-front about lacking it, but made up for it with experience. Again, this is an attention to detail. If you just apply without mentioning it, the person looking at your resume might think you weren't paying attention.

Track Your Applications
It's important to keep track of where you've applied. For one thing, if you've applied to Company X five times, and haven't gotten an interview once, when you see another position for Company X, you know you probably should either ignore it or, if you think you might have a chance the sixth time, you won't spend too much time on it and won't get your hopes up.

This is especially important if you deal with recruiters. When they call for a job opportunity and mention the company, you can check your list to see if you've already applied. If you have, let them know. Most of the time, they won't be able to represent you for the job, and you'll save everybody some time this way.

You don't need to do anything fancy. I just use a TXT file with a running list of where I've applied. I can then do a search for a company name and quickly see if it's a position I've already tried for.

Call Up Your Old Friends
Get on networking sites like Linked In. Look up your old friends and coworkers. Network, network, then network again. If you know somebody at a place you're applying to, let them know about the position. You might get some inside information about the job that could prove useful in an interview. More importantly, they might be able to hand deliver your resume to the hiring manager. It won't guarantee a job, but it could mean that your resume will at least be read.

Stay on Top of the Job Postings
Pay attention to multiple job boards. Don't forget places like Craigslist (but be careful of scams). Do a web search for software companies in major cities near you (or where you'd want to commute), then find their career pages and look for jobs that aren't posted anywhere else. When you do see a job, apply right away. The sooner you get your resume in, the more likely it will be seen. If you wait a day or two, the person reading the resumes will already have seen several and will be less likely to even look at your resume than if you were one of the first few in.

Don't Get Frustrated
If you are looking for a job, I wish you the best of luck. I know how frustrating it is to send out 20 resumes and not get a single phone call. I wish I had some of this advice two months ago; I probably would be working now. Since I've changed my resume format, I've been getting more phone calls and email responses. It's a tough job market, but there are still some jobs out there. You just have to be patient, professional, and quick.