Imagine: you graduated from CodeGym, completed an internship, and even wrote a program for friends, but you haven’t worked on a commercial project yet. In IT vacancies in the market, they are looking for juniors with at least a year or a year and a half experience. And this requirement stops you from sending out resumes. CodeGym HR manager Olga Zhukova says it's pointless to be afraid of rejection. We asked Olga about how to overcome the irrational fear of an interview at first and took a few tips on how to profitably present yourself for an interview.
Stop being afraid of lack of experience
This is banal, but, nevertheless, effective advice. The beginning of a career path is a state from which absolutely all people begin. Some managed to successfully overcome this status and realize themselves, others, due to their fears and weaknesses, remained at the same level or achieved far from what they dreamed of. It must be understood that a person entering a new professional sphere cannot know everything. Anyone at any age can retrain and end up at the very bottom of the career ladder. Only a few are lucky if they get a job through an acquaintance. 99% of applicants go through multiple rejections due to lack of experience. It is important to be honest with yourself and answer the question: “Did I do everything to get a job? What does June need to know to get a job?
Monitor key market requirements
You can monitor the basic requirements for the market and in certain companies, if you want to get a job there. The result of your training should be complete satisfaction with your level of knowledge. If you understand that you do not fully meet the requirements, you should try to tighten them up, and then go to the interview. But I recommend not to delay the moment with going to interviews for a long time, because you can improve forever.
Show your motivation
A candidate may have a great resume, he may be suitable for hard and soft skills, but he does not show motivation to work in the company, or the motivation does not coincide with the company's goal. This may not play into the hands of the applicant. People are motivated to work in different ways: for some, first of all, the salary is important, for some it is the realization of their inner potential, for some it is the team, for some it is just like a stage before achieving their global goal. It is advisable to analyze the company in which you are going for an interview and adapt your motivation for this company in a favorable light for yourself. Before you voice your motivation, figure out what you would like to hear in the place of your interlocutor. If you say "I need a job to make my first million" and it's a start-up or mid-range company, the company will not be able to offer you this. Most likely, such motivation can play against the applicant. In this case, it is better to talk about the fact that you have an interest in developing and launching projects from scratch.
Show professional activity
In the interview, tell us that you are actively exploring new technologies. For example, a story can be structured like this: you learned Java, mastering frameworks, and now you are learning additional technologies that will help you develop more complex and interesting projects in the future. This will show that you see your future in this area and will willingly develop in it. It is important to show any of your experience, even in a non-commercial project. You can talk about free projects, and about internships, and about completed trainings.
Learn more about the company you're interviewing for
Almost always, when selecting candidates, they prefer people who consciously state what interested them in the vacancy and the company, all other things being equal. You can explain why the company and the position are of interest to you not only in the context of the tasks you will be engaged in, but also in a more global sense, for example, in the social mission of the enterprise. I recommend studying the information about the company and linking your motivation for finding a job with what the company is striving for.
be sincere
If you completed the course and have not worked anywhere before, and want to appear cool and experienced, this will not work. Your experience will become clear during the technical interview and during further work. You're doing yourself a disservice by talking about skills you don't have. Sincere people, on the contrary, dispose to themselves. If you understand that knowledge is not enough, it is better to focus not on this, but on how you are ready to learn and develop for the sake of a new job.
Conduct a test interview
You can ask a friend, wife or husband to conduct a test interview for themselves to practice answering and overcome fear of an interview. They can ask general questions regarding the first phase of the HR interview. It's also a good idea to find an experienced developer to test technical knowledge. The more experience a person has of answering difficult questions, the more confident he will feel in an interview.
But what if you send out a resume, but they don’t invite you for an interview?
First, check the resume itself: for errors, formatting (how readable it is in principle). Remember that the ideal resume is one page. Concise, informative and to the point. It’s cool to customize your resume every time before sending it to a new vacancy, if there may be slightly different requirements. A relevant resume is 90% of success. Be sure to include a valid phone number, email, and social media links. Secondly, sometimes (if you are really interested in the vacancy, and you understand that you meet the requirements), you can and even need to write to instant messengers or call the recruiter and make sure that your resume has been received. By doing this, you will show your interest, and make sure that the resume is in the right hands, and ask for feedback in case of refusal. Believe me, very often a resume ends up in spam, and with a large flow of responses, and even for several vacancies, the recruiter may miss your CV. Thirdly, pay attention to your salary expectations and those that are spelled out in the vacancy. If you include this information in your resume, then it can harm you. For example, if the vacancy indicates a salary level of $500, and you have $1,000 in your wishes, then it is very likely that you will no longer be contacted to continue the dialogue. And in general, try to evaluate yourself objectively. Fourthly, if you have a 95% match with the requested skills, then do not forget to indicate that you will be able to master 5% of the experience necessary for a future job or you have already had a fleeting digression on them. The main thing is to talk about it. Fifth, stay tuned and check your email and LinkedIn regularly. If you were answered and asked to complete the TOR or provide clarifying information on the resume, try to respond in a timely manner. The competition among juniors is very big, and usually the most nimble ones are lucky. Don't be discouraged and don't panic! Rejections are normal. We get into the companies we need to get into. Nothing is accidental, but the protracted time looking for a job can be spent on training and practice, playing sports and emotional relaxation. Chat with familiar juniors and seniors, find out how they are doing with their job search or what cool life hacks they have, maybe someone will recommend you to the company they work for. In general, act. Chat with familiar juniors and seniors, find out how they are doing with their job search or what cool life hacks they have, maybe someone will recommend you to the company they work for. In general, act. Chat with familiar juniors and seniors, find out how they are doing with their job search or what cool life hacks they have, maybe someone will recommend you to the company they work for. In general, act.
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