How to Get Hired: Encoded Secrets of Hiring Managers

The hiring process is ever-transforming, ever-changing based on the evolution of the latest technology. If you told me in the last century that I’ll be building assessments and hiring people via live video streaming interviews, then I would imagine a 3D hologram display of a person, just like in Star Wars, rendered via a holotransmitter. Even though such mixed augmented reality technology exists with even better 3D quality, plus holograms can speak different languages with the speakers’ unique voice signature, the cost of it is still too high to be widely used by businesses.?

Now in 2020 the society was forced to evolve quickly and adapt to working from home almost overnight “thanks” to COVID-19’s shark-like attack over millions of people worldwide. That’s when the world’s leading inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil’s predictions came to mind: “The emergence of distributed energy grids and full-immersion virtual reality will, when combined with high bandwidth Internet, enable the ultimate in?telecommuting. This, in turn, will make cities obsolete since workers will no longer need to be located near their workplaces.?

Teleworking (sometimes also called telecommuting, e-commuting, or simply e-work) is a work arrangement in which employees enjoy flexibility in working location and hours. The daily commute to a central place of work is replaced by telecommunication links. Many work from home, while others, occasionally also referred to as nomad workers or Web commuters, utilize mobile telecommunications technology to work while traveling to or from other locations. Long distance teleworking is facilitated by such tools as groupware, virtual private networks, conference calling, videoconferencing, and Voice over IP (VOIP), in addition to e-mail, IM and text messaging.”

Look at us in the last quarter of 2020 still working from home and using Zoom meetings, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, BlueJeans, Slack, Hangouts, Discord, texting, and e-mailing. Why are we still e-mailing in 2020? If you ask iGen (Gen Z) about e-mails, they would describe a box, the content of which they never read or care about. However, most organizations are still using it, even it stands at the door on the way out. Look at the slides from my presentation where I predict the emails will be replaced by chat apps by 2032.

And yet Zoom meetings stormed into our workspaces and homes pushing Slack video conferencing and Skype to the curb. Replacing live meetings, live interviews with virtual video meetings/screen sharing/chatting. That’s when we, hiring managers, had to adapt to assessing candidates based on their performance during the video interviews in addition to their resumes and LinkedIn profiles.?

Get Noticed

There are a few things that would get our attention:

• A well-written resume with the experiences we are looking for.
• A short cover letter that describes why you are the right candidate.
• Updated LinkedIn profile with the name that matches the resume submitted. The profile picture is enabled for a public view. The online resume is spelled correctly. There is a list of endorsed skills and recommendations (received and written for others).
• Understanding what our organization does. A quick Google search of what our software does is better than answering "I don't know".
• Ability to impress us during a Zoom interview despite us throwing many curve balls at you. Confidence, calm presence, expression of a desire to learn new tools is always captivating.
• A persistent client-facing recruiter that would find many unobtrusive ways to push the right candidates and would remain kind, undeterred by rejections of some candidates.

Resume

Your resume should be no more than two-three pages. Since we are going through hundreds of resumes. We have 10 seconds to make a decision if the candidate is worth our time. Each point should be unique and different. No redundancy of the same thing for different companies. Be creative. Use as many technical keywords as you can.

Save your resume in pdf or docx format and name it <your name> <resume>. For example, Anna Brown resume.pdf. Stay away from "txt or doc" file formats. The reason for it is the Greenhouse recruiting software has issues with syncing certain formats and the resume shows up as empty. Only after downloading the file, a person can view it. Since hiring managers would download a lot of resumes, it's easier to differentiate files that have the name of the candidate versus some would just name it as "CV".

Always start your resume with:

• A link to a LinkedIn profile (never put it on the bottom)
• Eloquent summary
• Technical skills/ Certifications
• Articles/ Speaking engagements/ Special Projects
• A link to your Github account, if you are going for a Dev, SDET or DevOps position

Talent Facing Recruiters

I would highly recommend using recruiting/staffing agencies. You would have a higher chance to get an interview and get hired through them. There are multiple reasons why:

• Most companies don’t post job descriptions. The new position opens up suddenly and the hiring manager doesn’t have time to write the job description and the position should be filled quickly.?
• Some companies prefer to work with recruiters versus individuals directly. Often because they are leaning towards hiring contractors only, or a contract-to-hire or they have a special deal with vendors for hiring full time employees. It’s often easier to deal with professional staffing agencies/vendors that you trust.?
• Recruiters would work their backs off to push your candidacy, to get you noticed, and would do their best to get you a higher salary/rate.
• Recruiters would make sure you are happy in your position, you are paid regularly and they would address any issues that you might have at the workspace.?

Client Facing Recruiters

You do your best to deliver high-quality resources by understanding business needs that a particular role will address and the most relevant skills needed. However, we, as hiring managers, are at fault for not responding to your emails/messages. There are a few reasons why:

• Our company doesn’t have a contract with your agency. It takes 3-4 months to put one in place and we are not allowed to work with agencies that are not on our current vendors' list.?
• Didn’t see your email. If you receive 100 emails per day, there are a few messages that would slip through.?
• The candidate is not what we are looking for or there is some missing information to get the full picture.
• We are saving a req to convert someone from contract-to-hire that needs an H-1B Visa transfer.
• Based on a budget it’s more economical to obtain offshore or nearshore resources through particular vendors’ SOW (Statement of Work) versus hiring local talents.?
• No reqs available on no budget to hire through staffing agencies.

My advice is don’t take it personally, be patient and stay persistent. Learn based on our feedback what specifically we need, what is in high demand, where the technology is moving towards.?

When we select candidates for interviews, please make sure that people are prepared and ready to rock our socks off on a phone or Zoom interview.?

Zoom

It allows us to see your private living space if you don’t use a virtual video or image background. We can see if you are a neat or a messy person. We can see and hear your family members, pets, and how you communicate with them. We learn more about who you are as a person when it was impossible to do during interviews at the office space.?

Here are a few Dos and Don’ts of Zoom interviews.?

Do:

• Wear a clean outfit that is appropriate for the role you are going for.
• Find a quiet place so you won’t be interrupted.?
• Set the computer on the desk and keep it steady.
• Have water and a notepad near you. Have a desktop digital notepad ready as well.
• Login into the Zoom meeting from your desktop.
• Test the Zoom sound (make sure there is no eco) and test the video quality (Enable HD Camera).
• Test screen sharing option, how to copy/paste messages in Zoom Chat.
• Have good lighting or adjust the setting in the Zoom app (Video ->Adjust for low light).
• Use the mute option, when needed to prevent any noise.
• Minimize your movements or preferably sit still and straight.?
• Look into the camera. Let us see your eyes.
• Be concise and direct with your answers.
• Observe your audience's reaction and pause or stop talking, if they are bored.

Don’t:

• Have a meeting in a garage next to the bus stop. So the meeting could be interrupted every 5 min.
• Have any distractions or external noise that comes from washing machines, dryers, disposals, drills.
• Access Zoom app via VPN or have both computer and telephone audio active that cause audio eco issues.?
• Have terrible lighting so we can only imagine what you look like.?
• Walk around with a laptop during a meeting and shake it up.
• Log in to the meeting from a mobile device and set it between your legs.?
• Utilize a different monitor and never look into the camera.?
• Move around the screen a lot and fiddle with objects around.
• Talk over 5 minutes without taking pauses.

We sincerely want to get to know you as a human being. You have to be natural, likable, confident, open to collaboration with team members, feel comfortable in front of leadership. You should show enthusiasm and passion for the work you are being interviewed for. Be respectful and have good manners during the interview. Don’t act like you are giving us a favor to interview you.?Tell us why you want to work for us. Flatter us a little. Ask us questions.

The best interviews are when you have a regular conversation as if you are already hired.

Rejection is Redirection to Something Better

No matter what the outcome of the interview is, be grateful at the end and, preferably, send a thank you note directly or through the recruiter.

I often went out of my way to recommend a candidate to other departments or other companies, because the person did very well during the interviews and sent a thank you note on top of it, but we didn’t have an opening with their specific skills at the time or they were overqualified.

Sometimes, I remembered how well the person did and brought them back a few months later when we finally needed a person with particular skills.?

Don’t get discouraged when you are rejected. That means you are being redirected to something better. You don’t know why you were rejected.

Often the reasons could be because we already have similar talents, because of the budget or the contract claws we have with a particular vendor or we didn’t see how would a particular personality fit with the team’s culture or would a person bring the strength we were missing or keep us on the same level. It’s not about you. It’s about our needs at that moment. They might change a few months later.?

Remember that the greatest gift you can give yourself is the gift of freedom from caring what others think of you.

Never feel disappointed. Continue on with a grateful mind. That means the right job is still ahead of you. Look at interviews as an enhancement of your study. You are learning through every question, every position, every company.

Remember that you are more employable and more valuable than you might think. Believe that your job is on its way to find you. Every action you take today is the step toward it. You've got this!