Here's why I got rejected

I mentioned that job hunting in itself is a skill that must be mastered alongside the skill that you actually need to do the job. I haven't mastered it yet but here's what I found out so far.

The content in this article is extracted from Full Steam & Hard Left #37.?A?weekly newsletter on Personal development based on real-life lessons.

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Hey there,

I did what I said I would. In my last newsletter, “To laugh or to cry - Handling rejection 101”, I talked about how getting rejected for jobs is a common phenomenon and that anyone who truly wants to grow professionally should respond to any job rejection in 4 steps;

• React - Allow yourself to feel, laugh or cry.
• Analyse - Find out why you got rejected
• Act - Make the necessary changes
• Reapply - Find other offers and go again

I then said that:

I understand having the right network makes things like this more achievable, so I will put together a group of 5 product designers to learn and master the art of being globally employable as Product designers.

Well, It’s been a week, and despite my experience as a Product Designer and President of a Non-governmental Youth Leadership Organisation, I’ve come to learn and relearn so much about the factors that are responsible for some of the rejections I have gotten that I can understand why they happened.

Quick timeline breakdown

• Sunday - I shared the plan with you and immediately contacted some product designers.
• Monday - I created a group chat with 3 product designers, including me. I talked about creating a group of 5, but we decided 3 was a better way to start.
• Tuesday - We clarified the things we wanted to work on. Number 1 on that list was CV/Resume creation.
• So, from Tuesday to Saturday, we talked about all the focus areas and planned out time to work on them despite our busy work weeks, shared resources and opportunities and essentially got to work.

I’m here to spill what I’ve found so far.

First, here are some areas we decided to work on first to improve our chances:

Some Focus Areas

1. CV Creation & ATS compliance
2. ADPList Mentorship
3. LinkedIn Search Filter
4. Company Selection
5. Portfolio Design
6. Whiteboard Challenge
7. Filling knowledge gaps (Research and core UX)
8. Interviews

There’s a lot to unpack here, but it would be more beneficial to you if I zoom in and discuss number 1 only - CV Creation and ATS Compliance.

I would try not to get into the story and timeline of how we came to learn these things, but I would share what you need to know.

Note: If you don’t get called back for interviews, it’s very likely that your CV did not pass the automated screening stage facilitated by ATS (Applicant Tracking System).

So if your CV is good enough for the job posted, I believe you should be called back.

The Gist on ATS

This system compares the specified job description from the job post with the CV you submit and returns a score representing your compatibility.

If your score is below the cut-off, for example, 80, the system will not pass your application. This is where many people, including me, have dropped off.

Now to the tips:

1. Use an ATS complaint template. Not all fancy designs can be read by ATS. - Choose an ATS-compatible font. - Avoid the use of double columns or tables. - Use good spacing. - You can quickly get through all these if you download an ATS template online.
2. Make sure your CV is specific to the job you are applying for. This is because ATS will check how you match the job posted by comparing keywords, not by what you’ve done.
3. Use as many keywords as reasonably possible. Reasonably, because a human would still review the CV when due. To find keywords embedded in the job description, you can use ChatGpt.
4. You need to design your experiences to match what the system is looking for. You mostly have to re-word things. You don’t need to lie.
5. Make sure you find a way to scan your CV against the job description so you can know your score. I can recommend a few I tried - ResumeGo, SkillSyncer. Some have limited free scan slots, but they should give you enough context.
6. Use Active verbs
7. Avoid personal pronouns
8. Add quantifiable metrics. Don’t just type what you did; highlight how it affected the company in numbers.
9. Be heavy on including soft and hard skills.
10. Target a 450-600 word count, provided you have the experience. If not, find out an ideal range.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on the subject yet. But everything I have provided above would increase your odds of getting an interview and you would know that because your CV scan score would increase.

Extra Tips

1. Instead of LinkedIn, apply using the company’s career page. You can find the company on LinkedIn jobs, but visit the website to apply.
2. If you want to do this right, you need to be more critical and intentional about how you select the jobs you apply for. Make a list of companies you want to work with, and play your cards right. Keep filtering on LinkedIn till you get more options specific to you.

I would stop here now. I’m glad I was able to share this.

Here’s a link to my CV before and after implementing these things.

Before - https://bit.ly/3QUzJTo

After - https://bit.ly/3T0zbOi

This is not to say that it has gotten me jobs, but it definitely ranged better than the old one.

I hope you learned something.

Cheers.

In summary

• To become more employable, you have to learn new things. You may not get the job immediately, but you would have become better for it.
• Even if your goal is to become an entrepreneur or to build an agency, being able to compete globally in a world where anyone from any part of the world can get the job in your place is a measure of success.

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