Want to work as a developer? — how YOU can stand out from the crowd

Recently graduated and looking for a job? Or have 7 years IT experience and happy in your current position? Whether you're the first, the latter or in an entirely different stage in your career, you will always benefit from a good job profile.

We know it can be hard and unmotivating at times to set aside the time to prepare a good job profile, but we believe you will find it both easier and more rewarding as soon as you get on the right track. Further down the page you will find a short and simple list of 7 easy but effective tips for your job profile that may land you the dream job.

1. Use gitHub and upload hobby projects. If you don't already have a GitHub-account, create one now. GitHub is amazing to show off your projects and give you better control of your code. On GitHub you can upload both smaller and bigger projects, so you have it all stored on a user friendly platform. Employers will often look at your GitHub account when assessing you fit for the position. So use GitHub to your benefit and show off what you are good at!

2. Use your time on your pitch. Make your actions into words. Fetch pen and paper, create a mindmap with keywords about yourself that you want exposed to the employer. When you write for hand you remove unnecessary distractions, something that boosts creativity and the task at hand. Write the most important thing first in the pitch, make it personal and use writing tips online.

When it comes to pitch-writing, there’s no right answer. So write what you feel works best, and create many drafts. Remember, it will always be difficult to actually start writing. As Mark Twain said: “continued improvement is better than delayed perfection” Write as much as you can, then you improve underway. Tip: If you want a short introduction in pitch-writing, we created an article for that.

3. Don’t neglect good pictures. A picture says more than a 1000 words. No matter how cliche- there's truth to the phrase. An employer is always looking for a good impression of who the application is, and a well curated CV-picture will do most of the work. Drop the generic rustic CV picture and take time to take a picture that presents you both professionally and personally. There’s nothing wrong with using a cellphone to take pictures. Tip: We at WA.works have written a mini-guide that give you some “do’s and don’ts” when it comes to CV-pictures, which you can find here.

4. Connect expertise with experience. All experience is good experience, but remember that it can be useful for employers to see where and how you’ve learned what you can. If you learned React at work or Python at school, show it. This highlights how you’ve prepared and shows an ability to absorb learning. On WA.works WA.works we’ve made it easy for you to rank expertise from basic to expert. You can also connect expertise towards specific projects, education or jobs.

5. Take advantage of recruitment platforms. This is easy. One of the benefits with creating a job profile over a CV is that job profiles have clear and simple templates. If you take advantage of every feature that is available for your job profile on the plattform, you will increase your chances of success. On WA.works for example, your profile is especially designed and formed with one goal in mind: to make you more attractive in the IT-job market. Therefore create your profile as detailed and informative as possible.

6. All experience is good experience. It’s easy to get unmotivated if you lack the super-relevant experience for the jobs you most want to get. There are often long lists of requirements for certain experience or certain education in order to be qualified for the job, but these should not prevent you from applying. Motivation, willingness to learn and self-drive are just few traits that can equate to the desire for x number of years of experience.

All expertise you have - regardless of field - will substantiate yourself as a job seeker candidate. The expertise you have from other fields give you a completely unique approach to the problems you have to solve at work, which no one else has. Remember that no experiencers or skills are useless.

7. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Lastly: we at WA.works have much experience with recruitment for the IT-industry, and often know what will take your WA.works profile to new heights. Are you creating a WA.works profile, but struggle to find a design you’re happy with? Don’t be shy to make contact. We want you to succeed in the job search, and gladly give you tips on what you can do to stand out. Send a mail to arve@wa.works if you have any questions, and we’ll do our very best to help you.

Good luck in your job search! We are rooting for you!