A good resume is only part of the success during the job search. To get your dream job, it is important to have not only experience and technical skills, but also so-called soft skills - friendliness, openness, and good manners. Sometimes a company may prefer a candidate with a weak technical background, but who is more friendly. It seems that the topic of communication culture during the job search and at work is a long-worn topic. However, job seekers continue to make the same mistakes. JavaRush HR Manager Olga Zhukova tells how to avoid awkwardness and make a good impression on a recruiter. As a bonus, we've also collected a few stories about how recruiters can mess things up.
How to submit a resume?
A resume is the first contact with a recruiter, team lead or director of a company. Therefore, I would advise you to show respect to the person who will look at your resume: provide the most authentic information about your professional experience, knowledge, and work history. The resume should be clear and readable, preferably written in the same language as the vacancy. This will show your interest and understanding of the position you are applying for. If you realize that you do not meet all the criteria in the job description, it is best to indicate this in your cover letter and explain why you want the job. It is important to provide real information about yourself, including your first and last name, otherwise you may confuse the recruiter. Some applicants write only their nickname. For example, Alex, but it could be either Alexander or Alexey. To avoid awkwardness during communication, it is better to indicate your full name. Information about your place of residence will also show respect. If the job description states that the company is not looking for a relocation employee, and you are located in another city, this information is really important for the recruiter.
How to behave during the first call or correspondence?
There are no special requirements for this stage. Just be as friendly as possible and show respect to the other person. If you are not comfortable communicating, arrange a suitable time. There are different situations: for example, a person is on the street in the rain, or he has a suitcase and coffee in his hands, and he is uncomfortable talking. In this case, you should not take it out on the recruiter. The recruiter may think that the person is emotionally unstable. It’s better to just say: “Sorry, I’m uncomfortable right now. Let's call at another time." I had this happen when I wrote to a person after he responded to a vacancy, and he immediately began to be rude. “You are recruiters, you don’t understand anything, do you think I remember your vacancy?” This approach will not bring any benefit in your job search. The recruiter does not know how the applicant is looking for a job. Some people write out companies to which they sent their resumes. When a recruiter contacts him, the person immediately remembers. There are people who simply saw a vacancy that was interesting to them and did not even remember the name of the company. If you misunderstand something, you need to clarify the information as correctly as possible.
What about the test task?
Many applicants have a negative attitude towards taking the test. Here you need to immediately make it clear whether you will do it and under what conditions. People often say that they won't take the test because it will take a long time, and then they get rejected. They also don’t want to do a test because dishonest companies can use the results of such work as free labor. There are applicants who say: “Everything will be clear during the interview, the team lead will talk to me.” If you don't want to do the test at all, offer some alternative option to show your skills, rather than just insist on eliminating this step. You need to understand that the team lead will not communicate with everyone who has a good resume: it is necessary to select candidates. One of the filters is proven technical experience, which is verified by a test task.
How to behave at an interview?
Adhere to basic rules of behavior in society. Don't be late, look neat and tidy. It’s impressive when a person accepts the recruiter’s rules of conversation. In my practice, there have been people who, during an interview, first of all started asking questions: how many people are in the office, how salaries are paid, and so on. They began to rush and thus ruined the entire plan for the conversation. If the recruiter doesn't explain how the interview will work, you can take the initiative and ask. You can say: “How will our conversation go? First I’ll tell you about myself, then you, and then there will be questions?” This is a normal tactic, because not everyone wants to waste time on an interview if the company’s conditions do not suit them. Often the recruiter asks the applicant to describe his professional biography. Some candidates say: “Why am I going to tell you this? Actually, all this is written down in the resume.” But resumes are prepared in order to select an applicant from a dozen other candidates. A recruiter cannot always remember some nuances. If a person answers in this way, they will answer him in the same way when he asks questions about the company. If he wants to hear a frank story about the company, then it is better to behave openly. Tell us as much as possible about yourself, highlight and emphasize all your strengths. There are shy people, but if we are talking about juniors, then the competition is very big and therefore it is important to show your best side. You need to try and come up with a couple of template sentences that you will tell about yourself: not everything in a row, but some general biographical facts. Ask questions. An interview is the stage when you can form the most detailed picture for yourself about the company you are interviewing for. As practice shows, after an interview the candidate has many questions, but it seems like it’s not the right place to ask them. Therefore, before the interview, you can even specifically write a list of questions.
How to ask for feedback?
Specify the deadline for making a decision. If the recruiter or team lead has not mentioned the deadline, the candidate should find out about it. If he was given a certain deadline, then try not to ask for the result ahead of time. If a company delays feedback, the applicant has every right to write or call and ask if he can receive feedback. If not, clarify why and how long you need to wait.
When can I write to a recruiter?
It's better not to write on weekends. At a minimum, the candidate may not receive an answer these days, because often recruiters can use work equipment, and even if they use a personal phone, then working on a day off is as unpleasant as possible. It is better to write from 09:00 to 20:00 on weekdays.
How to accept a refusal?
It is very pleasant to deal with friendly and positive people. If you are rejected, it is unethical to respond with counter-criticism or aggression. We need to thank you for the communication, and perhaps leave your feedback if you have something to say. The best thing to do is to thank them and say that you remain open to communication. It often happens that people remain in the reserve base and are invited back for an interview. Nobody will contact the person who responded aggressively a second time.
Case study: how not to communicate with a recruiter
The girl left a response to our vacancy. We became interested, asked her to complete a test task, and she agreed. We gave a deadline for completing the test, she accepted it and did not write anything else. After more time than was given to complete the test, we began to receive repeated responses from her. On the fourth response, I thought that she should remind her about the test. I contacted her, reminded her that we had communication and we gave her a test test, and perhaps there were some problems with it? To this the girl replied: “I have no problems. Maybe you have them? And she said that she would not do a free test. The most important thing is that when they agreed on the test, she did not say this. I think she forgot that she already had communication with our company. Instead of apologizing and saying that our test task was difficult for her or that she had changed her mind, she began to be rude. There was another incident when searching for support. As a test, the applicant had to complete a translation. He was provided with a laptop with the source text, and he used the “Go Back” function: another candidate had previously translated the same document. The applicant simply copied this translation with the same errors and thought that this was normal. Then the proofreader learned from errors that he had already seen this translation.
For balance, here are a few examples of how recruiters should not behave
Boris, software engineer
When I was still specializing in system development for Linux, recruiters from Samsung R&D noticed me. Since several of my colleagues at that time left there with the unanimous assessment “Asian management, hard work, don’t let anyone pray,” I had no desire to get there. I said once that I was not interested, three months later again, after another three months - again, and then again and again. So for several years. I already asked to be removed from their lists of potential employees, and asked to make a note that I was not interested - all in vain, they continued to call. Until one day I came across one detail in their job description - a higher education diploma is required. The next time they called, I asked if it was true that they had to have a higher education. “Yes,” they say, “Very, very necessary.” Well, I say, you know, I want to come to you, I can’t eat, but I don’t have a higher education, so write it down, it’s a pity, thank you very much. After that they didn't call again.
Alexander Gorbov, technical lead
They often forgot to give me feedback, or simply disappeared in the middle of the process. The last time there was a terrible mess. After five technical interviews for one project, the position was closed and they said that there was now a quarantine and they were suspending hiring. After 2 months they returned and asked for a short conversation, saying they were ready to hire. After the conversation, it turned out that this was the interviewer’s first interview, and he was not ready to accept the first candidate. Total 10 hours to nowhere.
Alena Gishchak, manager
One of my favorites: a company invited 10 people for an interview, they sat them at a table, and everyone had to tell about themselves in front of everyone. Afterwards, everyone had to answer the question why other candidates were not suitable for the company, and I was exactly the person they were looking for. It was terrible.
Anya Goldman, product manager
One recruiter used a type of “stress” interview on me and spent half of the interview finding out whether I was going to give birth or not. At first she just spoke rudely to me, and then suddenly she became interested in my matrimonial status. When I said that I was single, she was surprised. At that time I was 29. She asked if there were children. I said no. Then she said: “It’s clear, everything is still ahead, you are probably planning to give birth soon.” I said no. She told me: “Are you child-free?” Then I said no again. Then she said this: “It would be worth it.”
Zoya Kurbanova, email specialist
Once I was at an interview where the team lead and HR manager were present. The interview was scheduled for 17:00 and it lasted more than an hour. At 18:00 the HR manager gets up and leaves the office. We continue to communicate with the team lead and after five minutes the HR manager looks into the office in a jacket and with a bag and, turning to the team lead, says: “Well, that’s it, Vasya, I’m off. Tell me tomorrow how the interview went.” He says to her: “Wait, how can you then instruct the candidate on further actions?” She replies: “Well, you’ll tell me everything tomorrow, and I’ll write a letter or call the girl tomorrow.”
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