Do This, Get Interviews
It's actually that simple.
NextPath has helped hundreds of developers find their next role. The advice I give here come directly from our interactions with clients, based on what’s working and what doesn’t. This article is taken directly from an internal guidance given to the clients in our Embark Cohort, and the impact was immediate. Give it a try, and if you’re looking for hands-on support, let’s talk.
This advice has been so incredibly helpful for my coaching clients, so I’m sharing it here with you all. Everyone who I’ve given this advice to has seen a marked increase in interview volume - including the person for whom I wrote this guide for, who recently signed a role with a FAANG company after 3 years of unemployment.
Getting Interviews Is Hard
We live in a post-AI society where everyone is over-polishing every aspect of their persona with the help of ChatGPT. This isn’t an indictment of the tech- it’s just the way it is. The result is that hiring teams can no longer rely on the written word (such as resumes and cover letters) to identify talent (see more in this post.)
Additionally, everyone is mass applying to jobs using AI automation. This means that applications are functionally useless - if you haven’t been reading the last few posts, nobody even reads applications anymore.
So what I want to encourage you to do is stand out by doing cold outreach. The goal is to get eyes on your resume ASAP, and not waste your time doing the dance with an ATS if the role isn’t right for you.
Also, side benefit- if you’re sensitive to rejection, this is a good way to step outside of your comfort zone. Give it a try.
Before You Send Outreach
First thing is first- you should apply to the job. The Referral Economy has crashed- companies are no longer offering crazy $10k+ referral bonuses, and in many cases, they don’t give any preferential treatment to referrals at all. Personally I think this is a good thing, but regardless- the end result is that waiting for a referral is no longer helpful. Instead, you want to apply to a role as soon as you can.
I don’t have any empirical data here- mostly just a wealth of anecdotal evidence. Consider that:
Outreach to candidates happens as soon as applications start flowing in
Many hiring managers cut off applications when they’ve hit a certain amount
Right now, with AI tools, by the end of the first week of a job being posted it’s expected they have 1,000+ applications
So, when you find a job you want, immediately do the following:
Customize your resume to the role
Apply to the job
Do your outreach
So There Needs To Be A Job?
Not necessarily. If there are companies that you’re interested in, but they don’t have a role listed, just reach out. You never know when a company is about to post a job, or is considering it. Sometimes companies will interview opportunistically, as in, they’ll just get on a call to chat with you. I’ve had experiences where I messaged a recruiter the same day someone left their role, and I was able to slide right into the interview process to be their backfill.
Who To Target For Outreach
This part is honestly a shot in the dark - you never know who is going to be using LinkedIn reliably, who would be open to receiving this message, and unless it’s a smaller company you might end up messaging someone who has zero impact on the role you’re applying for. If you’re lucky, and yes, this happens, the person who gets your message will connect you with the person you should be talking to. But a missed shot is better than one you never took (I think that’s the quote from The Office or whatever).
So ideally, you’d message the recruiter or hiring manager who is responsible for the role you’re interested in. Sometimes you can guess- if there’s only one recruiter/talent acquisition employee, they’re your best bet. Sometimes the Engineering Managers/Directors list which team(s) they manage on their LinkedIn, or if it’s a small enough company, there’s only one of them.
Basically- pick someone who you think is a good target, and go for them. A few signs of a good mark:
The purple “Hiring” banner
Lots of connections
Actively using (commenting, posting, etc)
A title such as “Talent Acquisition”, “Technical Recruiter”, “Team Builder”, etc.
I don’t recommend messaging individual contributors in engineering. They tend to have very little sway, and little motivation to help you out. Going directly to someone who is responsible for staffing is ideal.
What To Say
Ok the important part- what to say. Basically, you want to tell them that you’re a human being, and you’re interested in the role. That’s it.
My template looks like this. Feel free to use it directly, or ideally, edit it slightly to fit your voice:
Hello PERSON - nice to meet you, I’m NAME. I’m interested in the TITLE role at COMPANY [you shared | on COMPANY’S careers site], and would love to connect to learn more about it.
I’m attaching my resume here for your reference. Thanks in advance!
Short and sweet. Don’t send a novel, they won’t read it. If they’re open to it, they’ll click through to your profile and determine if they want to talk. Companies are looking for people who are self driven, and this is already sending them a good signal.
If you do have some sort of specific connection to the company and/or a detail worth calling out, it’s worth including that. Examples are:
Experience in the field
Unique skills overlap
A personal connection to the mission
Flexibility in relocation
Here’s a version of the above message with that added:
Hi PERSON - it’s nice to meet you, I’m NAME. I’m very interested in Software Engineer positions at COMPANY, especially the TITLE role.
I’m a huge [fitness | music | travel | whatever] nerd and COMPANY is a dream company for me! I’m open to in-office positions and would love to chat if you’re open to it. Thanks in advance!
Plenty of folks in the NextPath practice have seen a lot of success with this, so give it a try. And with every application, you get another opportunity to try a different approach.