90% of recruiters are looking for candidates on LinkedIn
Before you look for work, you need to bring your LinkedIn profile to the ideal. Create an account if it is not already, and select English as the main language, because then it will not be possible to change it. Come up with a short name to share your profile on social networks. It is better not to write a nickname or year of birth, but to indicate real data. I have MarinaMogilko.
My LinkedIn Profile
The LinkedIn profile is a professional business card, so post photos in it in a business style - at work, study, conferences. On the avatar, put a strict portrait photo measuring 400x400 px, on the cover - neutral, 646x220 px. In the heading, indicate the position, profession or field of activity.
Add work experience and professional skills. The main thing is that you need to write not about what you did, but about what you did. Specifically in figures and facts. Find the LinkedIn profile of each company in which you worked, and put a link to it from your page. If the company does not have a profile, create it yourself and fill out. If there have been several promotions or transitions at one place of work, be sure to indicate this. Add study sites, projects, and volunteer work, as well as, if any, links to GitHub and Behance.
Fill out a summary in which briefly tell about yourself and achievements. It should answer the question: “Why do you need to be hired or invited to the project?” You can add a couple of keywords to the text so that the profile is better displayed in the search results. However, key words should be small and they should be inserted in place. LinkedIn also has skills, or “skills,” from which you must choose which you own. Minimum - three, maximum - 50.
Check all text for errors. To do this, use the Grammarly extension or give proofreading to native speakers. For example, I created the service fluent.express, in which English-language editors work. Short texts can be checked for free.
After filling out the profile, download it. If it takes more than two A4 pages - cut it.
HRs spend an average of three seconds looking at a resume
In top Russian companies, recruiters look at about 200 resumes a day; the situation is similar abroad. To quickly get attention, you need to make a well-structured, neat and capacious resume. The rules for filling it in the United States are slightly different from Russia. For example, the resume does not indicate gender, date and place of birth and does not insert a photograph because this data violates the U.S. discrimination law.
The title of the resume is the name and surname, they are highlighted in large print. Nearby indicate contacts: phone, email, sometimes - messengers, as well as a link to a profile on LinkedIn. Then fill out the block on work experience over the past 10 years in order from last place to first. For each company, indicate the name, period of work, position, responsibilities. Focus on the results you have achieved - preferably in numbers. If you once worked outside the profession, it is better not to indicate this, especially if such experience is not suitable for solving future tasks.
My game was downloaded 100 thousand times in the first week, and a month later it was in the top 10 in its category.
My game was downloaded 100 thousand times in the first week, and one month later it was in the top 10 in its category.
Indicate professional skills and competencies. Ideally, they should match the requirements of the vacancy, so for significant employers it is better to create a separate resume for their request. Unfortunately, many of the competencies from the resume - “easy-to-learn”, “stress tolerance”, “multitasking” - turned into a stable cliche, so it’s better not to simply list them, but to decipher them.
Multitasking: I worked on two new projects at the same time, and both passed on time.
Multitasking: I worked on two new projects at the same time, and finished both in time.
In the "Education" section, list the names of educational institutions, specialties and terms of study, starting with higher education and ending with short-term intensive studies. You can indicate academic performance if you graduated less than three years ago. Additionally, provide links to certificates and diplomas.
Put all the information on 1-2 pages of A4.
Use popular fonts - Arial or Times New Roman.
The font size is 11-12 pt.
The desired formats are PDF or DOCX (DOC).
Do not add information to the footers, because it may not be displayed or printed.
HR makes an opinion about the applicant in the first 10 seconds
The main task of the interview is to show that you are an excellent specialist and a pleasant person at the same time. To do this, follow simple rules: dress cleanly and neatly, smile and show friendliness. Before the interview, find out more about the potential employer - the history of the company and its founders, field of activity, mission, values and achievements, large clients. So you can show interest in this particular vacancy and stand out among others.
How to have an interview in English
Start the interview with small talk - an easy conversation about simple things. Often HR starts it, but the candidate can do it. Say hello, make an appropriate compliment to the HR or company in which you are interviewing. You can carefully joke on neutral topics or on yourself.
Then briefly tell about yourself - a few words about education and work experience, what projects you like and what tasks you like to solve. It is not necessary to report in detail about all places of work and projects, especially if there is nothing to boast of in them. Also, do not talk about hobbies and hobbies that are not related to work.
To illustrate competencies and personal qualities, provide examples of work situations. For example, on a previous project, two developers suddenly fell ill, and you had to spend a week with teamlide in the office to catch the deadline. So HR will see that you are responsible and cheer for the result. Think in advance that you will answer the frequent question of recruiters about your weaknesses. It would be nice not only to name minor defects, but also to tell how you deal with them. For example, in order not to be late, you put all the clocks 15 minutes ahead.
“What do you see yourself in 5-10 years?” Is another private question at the interview, which allows HR to determine the ambitiousness of the candidate. In Russia, the question is sometimes surprising, because our life is unpredictable. But abroad, for example, in the USA it is necessary to plan career and personal steps for many years to come, so think ahead of time what to say to the employer. In an extreme case, you can simply answer that you want to grow even more professionally and acquire new skills.
Be sure to ask questions yourself, which are divided into two groups: for HR, general and organizational, for the immediate supervisor, technical. As a rule, after an interview with HR, there will be a technical interview where you can learn more about upcoming tasks, the technology stack, the principles of interaction, and more. And ask the recruiter about the company, work schedule, salary, team and the like. All this will help to make an informed decision.
Total
- Create and complete a LinkedIn profile in English. Indicate all important professional information, but make sure the profile fits on two A4 pages. Add keywords to your summary to better appear in search results. Choose skills - on them HR will evaluate skills and competencies.
- Resumes in Russia and the USA are different. For states, you do not need to specify the gender, date and place of birth, as well as insert a photo, but you must add a link to LinkedIn and information about achievements.
- Prepare for the interview in advance - find out information about the employer, prepare answers to tricky questions and write your own for interviewers. Dress carefully, be polite and friendly.
And finally, a brief video instruction on how to get into the top companies in the USA: