5 things to know when applying for a job

Interview tips & tricks

You may have noticed that we recently hired a new member to our lovely dev team. The process of hiring is always a rollercoaster of emotions and decisions. Hopefully it has a happy ending for us and whoever the successful candidate was. I’d like to think it can be a learning curve for the unsuccessful applicants too.

On that note, I thought it would be good to offer some advice to anyone applying for a job here (or anywhere for that matter) based on what we have learnt over the years.

1. Make our lives as easy as possible

I don’t want to sound like we are being lazy. We aren’t. We typically get 50+ applications through for a job and any steps you can take to make looking through your application easier is brownie points for you!

For example, every time we open an application, we tend to do a quick skim read and we will likely want to click on the link to see your portfolio. If the link isn’t clickable, then you have made this process harder for us. I know this sounds like a small insignificant detail, but this is a negative reflection on you and your attention to detail. This leads me nicely to point number 2…

2. Examples, examples, examples

We want to see your work – quickly and easily. No problem how it comes through — links to projects in your CV, a portfolio site, PDF, zip files, videos…whatever is relevant to the position you are applying for. This is a visual industry. We want to be wowed by your work and have it easily found and accessible (see point 1).

If you worked on part of a project, be clear what you did and what your contributions were. If you are a developer, tell us if it was front end or back end, what codIng languages you used. Designers, did you work on a brand? Break down your contributions.

(I’ll come back to this later)

Don’t be afraid to send us a few select examples that you can really dig into and showcase your skills, rather than dozens of pieces that you had a hand in. Show us awesome shit and be enthusiastic telling why it is.

3. Do your research

“To whom it may concern…”

I know this was a formal way to start a letter, but you are probably sending an email to a real person! Our names are on the website — be personal. It shows you’ve taken some time to look at our website and find out who we are.

On the subject of our website, it holds a metric crap tonne of information about us. Projects we’ve worked on, clients we’ve worked with, the kind of work we do and countless blogs just like this. Read a few blogs, take note of a few things and don’t be afraid to mention them or take advice from posts just like this. If you’ve read this, then you should smash point 1 & 2!

Don’t try and bullshit your way through this, it’s worth taking half an hour to get to know us. We want you to fit in with the team, the more you know, the better.

4. Ask questions

Have you done your research? Then you should have questions.

It feels weird pointing this out, but as an applicant, you are being judged from the moment you click send/submit. A friendly email with some questions can start a dialogue with the team ahead of any interviews. You never know, those first points of contact could be the decider between you and someone else getting hired.

Show you are interested and that you care. It is endearing.

5. Know your place/ be f***ing humble

No one likes an egomaniac. It doesn’t matter what position you are applying for or the skill/experience level, be honest about your strengths and your weaknesses.

If you are applying for a junior role, you will be interviewed by someone like me, with nearly 15 years in the industry. If you try to hide a weakness, I’ll know. I’m not being arrogant, those 15 years represent (roughly) 30,000 hours on the job. Buzzwords will fly with someone who doesn’t know, they won’t get by someone with experience.

Humility is a powerful quality (says the guy bragging about his 15 years on the job). Let your skill and knowledge do the talking, not your opinion of yourself or your work.

Bonus…

6. We know how to use google

It’s the 21st century, we leave a digital footprint dotted around the internet, have you considered what yours looks like?

I’m never going to tell anyone how to live their lives, but if I Google your name because you didn’t include a portfolio link (see point 1) and discover a social media account full of racism/homophobia/videos of criminal behaviour…that’s not a path to getting hired.

If you look hard enough down the rabbit hole you will find out I used to be in a hardcore punk band called The Slowdance, but you might have to dig through MySpace for that one… Do people remember MySpace?

–

This list isn’t a one way ticket to getting hired, you’ve still got to work your magic. You will still need to impress the boss and the team. However, if you follow these simple steps, you are certainly off to a strong start.