Submitting applications¶
Submitting a job application is something to take seriously. Give it your attention. Resist the temptation to spray applications at the job market; it’s rarely a successful strategy.
Automatic application services¶
There are services that will apply, on your behalf, to dozens of roles at a time, usually “powered by AI”.
Temptation¶
It’s true that they save a lot of time and effort. Instead of painstakingly finding open jobs, thinking about them and how you might fit, deciding on what you want to do and then carefully doing it, which takes real time, you can get a machine to do twenty of them for you in a few seconds.
It’s very tempting, especially when you read that an average person needs tens of applications just to get a first interview.
Reality¶
The reality is: many of these services are literally worse than junk. Not only will they fail to help you get a job, they will harm your future chances.
For example, some will make up answers to questions on application forms, often answers that are obviously false, or otherwise guarantee you will not be selected to go to the next step in the process.
For the company that’s hiring, applications are often quite recognisable - they all look the same - and can lead to your name ending up on a company’s blacklist.
Employers strongly dislike applications that come in this way, and many take active steps to weed them out. Many job advertisements ask candidates to confirm that they are not using AI to make their applications.
Don’t risk starting your attempt to get a job by doing something that the prospective employer doesn’t want you to do.
Before submitting an application¶
When you find something that looks right, help yourself by digging a little further.
Read what they give you¶
When a company offers you information about the way they see things, it’s a free gift.
For example, if there is a link in a job advertisement for a documentation author to “Our documentation strategy”, read it, attentively. A single thing they say could be enough of a clue for you to decide to reword something in your CV. Or you might notice that they emphasise something that was barely mentioned in the advertisement itself. You can also spot red flags this way, signs that the company or role might not work for you so well.
Do some basic research¶
Look them up online. What do they say about themselves, and what do others say about them?
If you use a company review site like Glassdoor always take what you read with a pinch of salt.
Is there someone who can tell you more?¶
For example, use LinkedIn or a similar site to discover whether anyone you know works there, or anyone in your country. Does the company employ Africans at all, and in what sort of roles?
If you’re lucky enough that someone you know works there, get their advice. Don’t ask them to give you a referral - referrals are essentially useless. Their knowledge and insight will be far more valuable. You might discover that at this company, they will quiz you at length about your education, or that they always ask for references, or that they are very impressed with people who have made open source software contributions. Ask specific, concrete things like:
For you, what was the most unexpected thing about the application process?
What do you think really made the difference in your case?
What do you like best about working there?
How to apply¶
Where to submit the application¶
You might find a job on a site like LinkedIn, that allows you to apply directly from there (usually with some added convenience, like having your details filled in automatically), but always submit a job directly from the company’s own job page. Why?
It shows that you were on the company’s website, a sign - however small - of your interest.
On their website, you will see hints of their values and ways of thinking - understanding that you need to have right from the start.
You may see valuable information that doesn’t appear on the advertisements posted to other job sites.
Everything has a context, and seeing a job advertisement in the company’s context can tell you a lot - for example, you can see other similar jobs they are advertising, and have a sense of how many jobs are being advertised.
Information, and forms, on the company’s website will be more up-to-date than anywhere else.
Pay attention to detail¶
Take your time making the application, and do it carefully. It looks stupid if you misspell your own name in an application. Make sure that you have uploaded the right CV, not an old one.
Beyond the basics, an application form often has some questions for you related to the job itself. Those questions are your first chance to show how you fit the description, or stand out amongst other candidates (this is why the “services” that claim to apply for you going to let you down). Take them as seriously as if they were being asked by an interviewer in front of you.
Consider customising your CV.
A covering letter¶
Is it worth the effort?¶
There is no consensus on whether a covering letter will give you an advantage. Some hiring managers appreciate them and consider a covering letter a very positive sign of a candidate’s professionalism/seriousness/politeness, and others will never even look at them.
Some application forms prevent you from uploading anything other than a CV - obviously, they don’t want a covering letter. If they have a field that says Introduce yourself, use that.
At least a covering letter is unlikely to do you harm, though the sad fact is that most candidates write covering letters that add nothing at all of value to their applications.
What and what not to put in a covering letter¶
Consider this:
I’m excited to apply for the “Flask, Django and frontend technologies developer” role at <company>. With over four years of professional experience building web applications using Django and Flask, and a solid frontend skill set including React and JavaScript, I’m confident I can contribute effectively to your team from day one.
I work across the full stack to design and implement scalable, user-focused applications with intuitive frontends. I’ve become deeply familiar with cloud-based deployment using AWS, Docker, and Kubernetes. I’m not only comfortable navigating these environments, but I genuinely enjoy learning and optimising within them.
What sets me apart is my work ethic and mindset. I’m hard-working, passionate about building great software, and a quick learner who adapts quickly to new technologies and challenges. I thrive in collaborative environments, and I’m always eager to contribute wherever I can add the most value.
Almost every sentence in this is worthless junk.
four years of professional experience building web applications using Django and Flask […] frontend skill set including React and JavaScript - That should be immediately obvious in the CV; what is the value of repeating it here?
I can contribute effectively to your team from day one - This is meaningless and irritating. It’s not up to the candidate to make those judgements.
full stack […] cloud-based deployment using AWS, Docker, and Kubernetes - This should be demonstrated in the CV.
scalable, user-focused applications with intuitive frontends - As opposed to all those other candidates, who like to make unscalable applications with unusable interfaces?
What sets me apart… - This whole paragraph says absolutely nothing of value. Everybody thinks they’re a hard-working quick learner and wants others to think that. It’s not something you can tell someone, you can only show it.
Usually a covering letter won’t hurt you, but this one actually might, partly because it is so obviously composed by ChatGPT and partly because it is a complete waste of the reader’s time.
The covering letter is where you make yourself stand out, as an individual, with your own personality and characteristics. It should say things that are not in the CV. That doesn’t mean things that you already decided didn’t deserve to be in the CV, but different kinds of things altogether.
Think about:
your motivation - what is it about this job that appeals to you?
your relationship to the company or its mission
how you feel about work you’ve done and hope to do
your ambitions and hopes - where do you want to find yourself in the future?
For example:
I’m excited to apply for the “Flask, Django and frontend technologies developer” role at <company>. It’s just what have I been looking for. I read that your <product xxx> uses Django, and that is exactly the kind of thing I would like to be working on. In fact we use <product xxx> at <my current company>. I love the way it handles <problem yyy> but I have often thought about how <zzz> could be improved.
A month or so ago, I read <technical blog post by someone at the company about the product> which is actually what inspired me to make this application. I love the idea of being part of a team that’s trying to solve those problems.
I’ve known about <company> for a few years, but earlier this year I was at <some conference> in Lagos and <company> was the only European company represented there. What really impressed me was learning about <xxx from yyy> at the sponsor booth. It would be my dream to contribute to that.
This shows real engagement with the company and its products. It’s specific and concrete. It doesn’t claim that the author is passionate or thoughtful, it demonstrates it. It shows that they take notice of things and respond to them.
How much time to spend on an application¶
By the time you have filled in an application form, written a covering letter and possibly even tweaked your CV, you may have spent a significant amount of time on just one application. The bitter joke that looking for work is a full-time job is not wrong.
You will get better and faster at it, but you will still need to manage that time, and sometimes make some compromises between getting a reasonable number of job applications submitted and maintaining high quality.
Next¶
As soon as you have submitted the application, note the date in your spreadsheet. You will typically get an automated acknowledgement straight away.
It would seem like a common courtesy to inform a job application when their application has been rejected, but a surprising number of companies don’t even do that. They’ll say: “If we decide to proceed with your application we will contact you to discuss the next step.”
Unfortunately as a candidate you must get used to all kinds of disrespectful behaviour. Candidates also behave in increasingly disrespectful ways.
It’s like an arms race of discourtesy. Companies get so many applications that they use automated systems and AI to do some of the work of assessing them. In turn candidates use automated systems to create their applications and submit them in vast numbers. The automated systems don’t care if the jobs they’re applying for are completely unsuitable. Candidates let LLMs make up lies on their behalf. Hiring managers will engage an application in earnest conversation by email before cancelling an interview at a moment’s notice and then never again replying to the bewildered candidate’s messages.
You can’t avoid it, but don’t be a part of it. And don’t take it personally, but do keep notes in your record of how other people behaved. One day you might just be on the other side of the table.