How to (and not to) apply for a position

I, frankly, do not have a lot of experience with hiring, but I have been fortunate enough to recently have three mentorship program applications approved and supported by RISC-V International, for Spring 2024 (completed), Summer 2024 (now underway), and Fall 2024 (applications now being accepted – see recent post). I presume the experience I had in screening applicants would be similar to those in which full-time professionals are being hired. I have some advice for applicants, based on the materials provided by applicants to my mentorships: cover letter, resume, coding challenge.

The cover letter is important. Consider that the other parts (resume and coding challenge) are already rich with structured information, and generally light on unstructured information about you. The cover letter is your opportunity to connect with the reviewer, to share information that won’t be found in a resume. Why are you applying for this position? What are your goals or dreams? How does this position help you reach your goals? Why are you the best candidate? How do you learn? What are you proud of? Do you have (short) stories that show your strengths? Use this space wisely and efficiently.

If you highlight something in your cover letter that is something that should be found in your resume, make sure it is in your resume. Here is an actual quote from a cover letter: “As you'll see in my resume, my technical skillset includes a strong understanding of OCaml”. There were no mentions of “OCaml” in the associated resume. (Maybe this sentence was inserted by the use of artificial intelligence?)

Use artificial intelligence (AI) with great care, if at all. I don’t have a lot of experience as a user of generative AI, but I do have experience as a victim. These are actual verbatim quotes from cover letters:

• Experience with [mention specific OCaml libraries relevant to the project description, if available, based on your resume projects or training].
• The ability to write clean, efficient, and well-documented OCaml code, as demonstrated in my previous projects (refer to relevant projects in your resume, e.g., "Developed and implemented an IoT-based smart charging system" where you can mention using data structures and algorithms).
• Problem-Solving Skills: Developing user-friendly and efficient mobile applications required me to break down complex challenges into manageable steps and identify creative solutions (mention a specific example from your resume projects if possible).
• Teamwork: Collaborating effectively with other developers was crucial in ensuring the successful completion of Android projects (mention a specific example from your resume projects if possible).
• Communication Skills: Conveying technical concepts clearly and concisely is essential for successful collaboration (mention a specific example from your resume projects if possible).

Also, be aware that it’s not just you that has discovered AI. When 30% of cover letters sound suspiciously similar, none of those stand out.

I’ll note here that the RISC-V Mentorship Program is open worldwide. English is not necessarily the first language of many applicants. Using AI can be a good way to get some content and a framework for a cover letter. I get that. However, it is also very important to be able to communicate efficiently and effectively with your mentor. A good mentor should give reasonable allowance for communication challenges. (I once conducted an interview over Slack, for example.) A mentorship is a two-way street that has to work well both ways. There is no perfect solution, unfortunately. Try hard, but also expect your mentor to try hard. If you need some accommodations, ask. If your potential mentor cannot accommodate your needs, you probably wouldn’t want the position, anyway.

Spell-check. Enough said.

Capitalize consistently.

Check any hyperlinks, and make sure they go where you want them to go.

Be careful with text attributes:

• If you use color, check your palette to make sure it is friendly to color-blindness. My advice: use color sparingly, if at all, to highlight. There are bad uses of color, of course. Yellow-on-white is bad, for example.
• Use only one or two font faces.
• Don’t use too many font sizes, and be careful with using tiny font sizes. Yes, reviewers can zoom in, but make the reviewer’s job as easy as possible. Always.
• If you modulate font brightness, ensure the lightest brightness has high-enough contrast with the background so as to be easily readable.
• The headings don’t need to highlighted at the expense of the salient text. Large bold headings with small light gray text is perhaps not the best balance.

If you use statistics, make them understandable. If you say you made something “30% better”, explain what that means and/or how that was measured. Statistics without appropriate context look suspicious.

It should go without saying, but don’t lie. Don’t mislead. In the category of misleading, I once saw a resume in PDF form where some text in a “skills” section was formatted as white text on a white background. I presume this was to help the resume get past automated resume scanners. This is at best deceptive. If you are willing to be deceptive in a job application, how can you be trusted in the job?

For a coding challenge, please do not send screenshots of source code. Your submission should be easily runnable by the reviewer. Again, make the reviewer’s job as easy as possible. Always.

Positive advice:

• Put your skills at or near the top of your CV/resume. It’s great that you have a high GPA, but that doesn’t actually tell me what you can do. I want to see that you have some relevant experience, a capacity to learn, a knack for effective communication, and an eagerness to positively contribute.
• In the cover letter, mention the project. Indeed, tailor your cover letter to tell the story about why you are the best candidate for the specific project for which you are applying.
• In the cover letter, highlight relevant skills and experience and back them up with specific examples. Further reinforce these on your resume.
• Consider pointing to a portfolio of examples of your work of which you are proud.

Lastly, some operational advice or expectations:

• Don’t ask to connect to reviewers on LinkedIn or elsewhere during the application process. At least for me, I want to remain unbiased and to appear as unbiased as possible. Connections to applicants blur that line unnecessarily.
• If the project to which you are applying is an open source project, consider carefully whether to start participating during the application process. The mentors are motivated to advance their projects, but not at the cost of distraction. It’s a gray area, for sure. If you think you can show that you are the best candidate, maybe it’s worth the risk. Note that your opinion of your project participation and the prospective mentor’s opinions may differ, so there is a risk that your participation will be found wanting. I also don’t want to feel like I’ve been taking advantage of an applicant’s time and effort, only to later decide not to choose them for whatever reasons. I have mixed feelings about this.

Be brave. I hope this helps! Good luck!