First Impressions of Some Software Engineering Resumes from a 31 Year Old Hiring Manager
Quick post here folks and the motivation for this came recently from a 31 year old Hiring Manager that I respect very much. He's currently a Technical Lead with a startup here in Austin and while all of the pasted words reference his decline of some candidates that I had recently sent over to him, I feel like there could be some really good value to my reading audience regarding the critical importance of first impressions.
It could be at a High Tech Happy Hour or submitting our resume to a company; please never forget the first impressions that other parties can have about us. I am continuing to hear stories from scores of software engineering candidates that they are submitting their resumes to companies and getting no feedback at all. Below are four examples of the "first impression" this 31 year old Hiring Manager had regarding some resumes that I had sent over to him. And as you can tell in his tone, his observations to me were "non-negotiable" and given how direct his words are below, all I could do was thank him for the closure.
I tried my best to make sure that the four "declines" below were all distinct in nature. If you are currently on an active job search, if your schedule allows, play around with reviewing your resume and seeing if another party, namely a hiring manager or internal recruiter, would have such impressions towards your background? Here you go,
Candidate #1 -
We’ll pass.
Not much ambition or progression from start to finish (which limits the leader/influencer element we want)
a few familiar former employers but not necessarily commercial winners
Initial impression is that the Hiring Manager didn't get the sense that this engineer had functioned in any leadership or Influencer capacity at all. And did that observation contribute to the additional opinion that this engineer lacked ambition? I honestly do not have a valid response to these words but I have to think that if this engineer had a couple of bullets in their resume where they had "led" a project or "advised" other engineers on their team, perhaps that could have made a more positive impression?
Candidate #2 -
I'd like to see more coding/software language experience. The Ops and 3rd party tools are good, but need a stronger foundation in software development
I am also not too fond of government employees/contractors/vendors; not a high bar (I know, I was one)
the recent AWS job is more powerpoint than engineering
Initial impression is that this engineer lacked the software engineering foundation needed for this position and some previous employers gave the impression of technically not hiring high bar software engineers. Just like in athletics, a hard, quiet truth is that hiring managers will pass judgment on your current and previous employers. A running back at University of Alabama will immediately get more respect and interest than a running back from Amherst College. This 31 year old hiring manager is clearly not fond of government contractors but damn, there are a couple of startups here in Austin that have secured quite a few government contracts and the engineers working at those companies are top 1%. As much as I respect this hiring manager, his immediate judgment here was a bit misguided.
Candidate #3 -
We’re going to pass. Too much academia and not enough real-world engineering. I tip my hat to anyone who secures a Computer Science degree but this resume is lacking any sort of practical experience. Some internships would have been nice.
Ouch...My junior software engineers/recent grads need to be mindful of the impression that some hiring managers will immediately have of your resume. While they respect the degree that has been earned, how much practical/real world experience do you have? For recent graduates, if at all possible, can you try to put 1-2 bullets on your resume of applications you developed while you were securing your Computer Science/Computer Engineering degree? And please make it clear what languages and tech stacks you used? And if you started programming while in high school, yes, definitely get that on your resume as well. What can you do on your end to give the impression that even while you were in college, you were doing a significant volume of "real-world" engineering. This is definitely where Internships can be of value!
Candidate #4 -
We’ll pass on Joshua. Looks like an all around solid engineer, but not seeing any of the specialization and depth we want for any of the three roles we have. In addition to candidates matching up well with our job descriptions, I also need to see significant depth in their experience.
Yes, hiring managers will look at your resume and reach a conclusion regarding the "depth" of your experience. Like with everything, there is incredible value in the detail of your professional function. That said, there is a delicate balance here because you do not want to overdo it to the point that your resume stretches out to 4-5 pages. Overdoing things always brings a lot of risk to the table. So please find that careful balance where your resume is a solid two-pager but at the same time, you reflect your specialization and depth in a very good manner.
In closing, no matter the environments, all of us can be at the mercy of immediate impressions from another party and it might not always be positive. But for my software engineering community, I simply wanted to share these immediate impressions (and dare I say judgements) from a very talented 31 year old Hiring Manager. If you are starting a job search soon, digest some of this feedback and do whatever you can to make sure these kind of initial impressions are not applied to you. And please remember that securing the services of a resume writer can definitely help tackle some of these issues.
Thanks,
Mark Cunningham
Technical Recruiter
512-699-5719
http://thebiddingnetwork.com
Senior IT Project Manager experienced in Agile & Waterfall Methodologies, specializing in Enterprise Software Development Projects
2wWhat's crazy is all of these rejections speak to a basic lack of experience. Experience that comes with time in the role, but guess what? They don't want mature employees either. Guys who have lived through numerous cycles of layoffs and hiring frenzies. The guys that have the depth, the maturity and experience to calmly weather the crisis. Once you are over 50, they don't want you either. the rejections will be something like "They don't have current experience", "They don't have training in the latest technology", even though they have become proficient in a dozen already ... the list is endless
Senior Software Engineer | Smart and laid back
3wJudging a lack of ambition from a resume seems like mind-reading to me. And disliking government workers when he was one himself sounds like hypocrisy. Wanting a lot of real-world experience from a recent grad seems odd, unless you were submitting someone for a role that wasn't meant for recent grads, which I doubt, knowing you. Maybe there's more to that story.
Talent Connector & Workforce Development Advocate
3wThank you for sharing this. I like to think of myself as a "candidate's recruiter" even though I work for a corporation. I think wherever possible, this is when recruiters should strive to partner with hiring leaders to advise against having first impression bias and perhaps use the initial phone screen to get greater detail about the candidate's experience rather than making assumptions about depth of skills. On the other hand, some hiring leaders have struggled to articulate why they "pass" on candidates so I appreciate him sharing his thoughts which I'm sure is helpful to you in fine-tuning the next slate of candidates you send his way.
Keynote Speaker + Recruiting Expert
3wI so appreciate you making this and giving folks a look at what's happening behind the scenes. I know people are struggling with feeling rejected, but sometimes it is just a preference like you showed here and this insight might help someone's brain. THank you!