Job Hunting as a Software Engineering Student (Part 2)

Beginning the Search

Once you're ready to venture forth into the job market, it's time to put all of your hard work to use. Before worrying about which companies you would like to apply for, the first thing you should do is to make yourself discoverable.

Standard Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert in any way. This article is based on what I personally experienced, heard from other people and what I wished I had done. Your experiences will more than likely differ from mine but I hope this will at least provide you with a few things to think about.

Making yourself discoverable

What good is it to have work that people can't find? Just as important that you have quality work to show people, you need to be able to get your name out there. Prepare your resume and get on recruiting platforms like LinkedIn, Seek and Indeed and make sure to link your GitHub, blog and/or anything that has your work on. Your biggest hurdle at this point isn't even in the interview or test, it's about getting recruiters to notice you.

Although applying directly for positions is most definitely something you should be doing, it isn't the only place companies are looking. There are many recruiters out there who are actively looking for candidates online all the time and they will reach out to you if you can appeal to them.

Marketing yourself

To be more successful online, you need to know how to market yourself. On your profile, don't be afraid to stretch your abilities a bit. Even if you are only mildly familiar with a framework, put it down. The idea is to put as many keywords as you can so that you start to appear in search results. This isn't to say that you should be blatantly lying however, you need to find the balance between bluffing and being able to really hook the recruiters in once they land on your profile. Focus on giving people a reason to talk to you.

Keep in mind that recruiters are likely to be looking for people who can do more than just writing code. For sure, list out all the languages, frameworks and services you are familiar with but make sure you also include other skills. If you can speak multiple languages, you should definitely try to push recruiters' attention to it. Although your competition right now is more than likely local, eventually the people you will work with and compete against are people from all around the world. If you're knowledgeable in any other fields, put it down. Software engineering positions are so widely desired that you can almost be guaranteed to find an overlap.

Making the most out of recruitment agencies

Another option that you may not have thought very much about of is getting in contact with recruitment agencies. Many companies do not have the resources to be able to go search for candidates themselves so they outsource that job to agencies. These agencies usually hold many different offers at any time and will be able to filter through the ones that are suitable for you. There are only so many listings you can look through and apply to so why not have someone else do it for you for free?

Finding the right position

Now that you have leads to go off, it's time to start to really think what sort of company you would like to work for. This is likely to be extremely difficult for many as the lack of experience and knowledge of the types of jobs means that you don't really know what you're looking for. Some questions you can ask yourself to get started are:

• Do I want to go more into industry or research?
• Do I want to work for a large established company or a startup?
• Do I want to work with people more like me or with people from all over the world?
• Do you want to be told exactly what to do or have the freedom to explore?

Whether you have answers to these questions or not, it is best not to lock yourself to them and be open to all opportunities. You might even ask yourself what your long-term goal is and when you get an offer, ask yourself if this opportunity will help you get there. In general, as I'm sure you've heard, larger companies tend to be strict and the variations in your work will be lower while smaller companies will tend to give you the opportunity to wear multiple hats. One thing that you might keep in mind is that getting a new job at a small company when you're working at a large company is generally easier than the other way round.

Once you're in contact

Regardless if you're hearing back from a place you applied to or have a recruiter reach out to you, always respond. Even if the position isn't something you are particularly interested in, see it through as see how far you can go. In general, you will start off with a series of programming test(s) followed by an interview. If you get yourself into an interview for a position that you don't really want, use it as practice as you likely won't have many chances at the ones you're actually interested in. Every company is unique so when you're in there, try to get a feel for the company. Ask as many questions as you can to see if you should keep them as a prospective company to join. After all, you're evaluating them as much as they are evaluating you.

Know your worth

When talking about finding a job, you can't ignore the elephant in the room that is salary. I don't particularly have much to say about this topic expect that you should do some research in the general ballpark so you know if you're getting a reasonable deal. Some companies start salaries low but will rapidly increase it once you start working while others will start off high but don't expect it to increase much if you can't deliver the results. Try to evaluate yourself as objectively as possible but definitely aim for as high as you can. Just don't be too stubborn about it since the people giving you the offer can often see what you can't.

The best of luck

I hope that I was able to give you a few things to think about if you're in the process of finding a job. I know that a lot of the things I've said is pretty generic and you've probably heard before but in my experience, not a lot of people actually put it into practice. In the end, what you decide to do is up to you and I wish you the best of luck.