A Reverse Engineering approach(Principle of Inversion) to Job search in times of AI - How to get the interview

Why, What, How, Where & When - A Reverse Engineering approach to Job search in ever changing times of AI

- Presentation given at the First Friday Meetup in Berlin, Germany: https://www.meetup.com/firstfriday-curated-network/events/313783103/?
- Youtube video of the talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0hRHM4toTg&t=5350s

Transcript

1. Applying Principle of Inversion(make it easier) to Job Search - Part 1(How to get the Interview) Why, What, How, Where & When - A Reverse Engineering approach to Job search in ever changing times of AI
2. man muss immer umkehren(Invert, always invert) “[Jacobi] knew that it is in the nature of things that many hard problems are best solved when they are addressed backward,” - Charlie Munger Credit: Charlie Munger Quote above taken from: https://fs.blog/inversion/ German Mathematician
3. Who am I? - One among you • Software Developer(Ruby on Rails, Hotwire) & Consultant - 12+ year of overall work experience • 6+ years in Germany - employee & freelancer in Germany | EU PR in Dec 2024 • Tried building a startup earlier & decided to pause it • Landed a role after 9 months of job search
4. What is more important in life - Journey or the Destination? It’s the company, Why? • The Team you have build is the company you have built - Vinod Khosla • ‘Most of all Team Chemistry’(Miracle Movie)
5. • Principle: A players hire A players • An A Player is: A candidate who has at least a 90% chance of delivering results that only the top 10% of candidates could achieve. What are the companies looking for? - A players(Top performers)
6. Why companies look for A players? - The Who mistakes are pricey Credits: All the above quotes are from the book: “Who - A method of Hiring” Who refers to the people you put in place to make the what decisions. Average hiring mistake costs fifteen times an employee’s base salary in hard costs and productivity loss
7. What is the A method of Hiring - Scorecard, Mission, Outcome, Competencies Credits: ‘Who - A Method of Hiring’ • Scorecard - describes exactly what you want a person to accomplish in a role. ◦ Mission - why you need to hire someone into an open role. ◦ Outcome - what a person needs to do to accomplish in a role. ◦ Competency - ensures behavior fit
8. • Tech ◦ Presentation ◦ Technical decisions & Architecture ◦ Performance & Scalability ◦ Code Quality & Clarity • Fit ◦ Collaboration & Communication ◦ Behavior ◦ … A Typical Scorecard Example - For a Software Engineer role
9. 1. Personal Experience with a German company: First round Cultural Add Interview (Mohnish Jadwani) What companies look for? - When hiring look for values fit, but culture add 2. When hiring, look for values fit, but culture add. - Meri Williams, CTO Credits: (Skiller Whale blog) 3. Catawiki is an Amsterdam based company
10. Culure Add focuses on: • Different experiences and ways of thinking to take the company forward • Supports diversity, adaptability and long-term resilience What does Culture Add mean? - Contribution & What Unique value do you bring? Credit: 1. Picture taken from this blog by tietalent 2. https://www.peridotpartners.co.uk/culture-add-vs-culture-fit/
11. What are the companies looking for in times of AI? - High Agency & Systems minded As mentioned in this link - Senior Engineer who is High Agency, Systems minded
12. What are the companies looking for in times of AI? - Systems Minded/Systems Thinking “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” - Atomic Habits author James Clear
13. Two Time Nobel Prize Winner Marie Curie Applied Systems Thinking to build her Learning System German Company Lanes & Planes - Connection Between Why 3 times(Marie C) & Solving for root causes
14. What are the companies looking for in times of AI? - Humble Bundle Sale Systems Minded Engineer and the timing why now
15. What are the companies looking for in times of AI? - High Agency
16. What are the companies looking for in times of AI? - Specialists with Depth, Superpowers • Your superpower is your niche and it is what makes you unique • Why Specialists? - Intel Story ◦ “It was all about having the right people in the right spots at the right time in the case of Intel. ◦ Bob Noyce was the inventor and promoter, then Gordon Moore was the technologist, and then Andy Grove was the driver. ◦ All three brought something different to the table along the way ◦ skills were optimized for each phase of the company’s growth.
17. How to Get the Interview - Where to find jobs? - Challenge - Solution - Slack Communities - Making Genuine Connections through Meetups, Job Fairs etc., - Tech Meetups - How to Stand out? - Resume - Cover Letter - Vet-my-resume - Rands Leadership Slack Group - Personal User Manual
18. How to Get the Interview - Challenge? Credits: This Youtube video around 17:54 from Jobwunder 2025 & Rouven Sperling (from Berlin Partner)
19. How to find jobs - Slack Communities in Berlin - Other Slack communities - Data Berlin - Berlin Techs - Rands Leadership Slack Group - Invite Links(30 day expiry) to above in shared google doc here
20. Resume Tips Part 1 - When in Rome, do as the Romans do • Be culturally aware & follow local customs ◦ Weniger ist Mehr(German saying) - Less is More • Customise resume based on every job description + relevant skills • Use bullet points in summary section and for each work experience • Make your Linkedin URL in your resume clickable Telekom Careers Page
21. Resume Tips Part 2 - Request Other Hiring managers vet your resume(Inversion Principle) How?: Via the #vet-my-resume channel on Rands Leadership Slack Group
22. Resume Tips Part 3 - Turn a situation or problem upside down.(Inversion, Munger) Request Similar Hiring Mangers on Mentoring Club To Review Resume + Practice Interviews Mentoring-club.com - Personalized guidance through free community sessions or paid coaching
23. Strategise Job Preparation by proactively keeping blindspots in check Periodical check in with a mentor who is also a hiring manager Mentoring-club.com - Personalized guidance through free community sessions or paid coaching My Personal Story - • Originally found my mentor on mentoring-club.com • Very Helpful when I became a first time expat freelancer in Germany • Made a regular habit to stay connected & respectful to their preferences • Till today he’s my mentor even though not actively mentoring on mentoring-club Career Tip - Build Goodwill, Cultivate a Relationship & Aim to find a Mentor for long term
24. Resume Tips Part 4 - Focus on Impact & Metrics(Real numbers) - What is measured is what is managed - Metrics/Numbers are measurable & specific - Impact talks about - Your actual contribution with regards to give a task - The positive value you bring to a company Advice shared by a German hiring manager on Rands Leadership Slack on #vet-my-resume channel
25. Resume - Common Mistakes/Things to Avoid + FAQ(Photo) • Common Mistakes ◦ Not using bullet points - keep it concise & well structured as mentioned here ◦ Not having an overall Summary/About + Not making it bulleted ◦ Not using PDFs - It’s important to preserve formatting ◦ Highlighting too many things in bold - Keep it to a few things ◦ Too many points per job description ◦ Focus on specifying task without specifyic the impact of the task • Avoid ◦ Specifying Address • FAQ - Photo ◦ It’s optional as mentioned here
26. Cover Letter, Do I even need one ? - Intrinsic Motivation + Showcase Personality German company(Lanes & Planes) - values intrinsic motivation
27. Cover Letter - What should it normally have ? https://careers.telekom.com/en/early-car eers/application-tips - Things you can’t specify in CV - Examples - Your additional contributions - Open source(public) work etc., - Specific Things you’d want to bring to their attention
28. Cover Letter part 1 - Intro + Why I’d love to join? • Introduction - Total + relevant years(to job skills) of experience • Why I’d love to the company and for a given position? ◦ Simon Sinek & his Start With Why book ◦ Alignment with the company mission/vision/purpose ◦ Radiate empathy for the end users of a product ◦ How do you align with the company values ◦ Authentically call out benefits you appreciate
29. Cover Letter part 2 - Self made indepth video + Cover letter Sample • • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I_lxETiG3A&t=6s
30. Cover Letter 3 - part 2 • How I intend to be of service and add Value? ◦ Elaborate on those things that are aligned with the JD ◦ Open source contributions(developers) ◦ Transferable skills ◦ Can also specify Volunteering, Coaching, mentoring work too
31. Cover Letter, GetSafe Principles - Radiate Customer Empathy - https://job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/getsafe/jobs/4534171101
32. Cover Letter - An actual example
33. How did I get the interview at the company which gave me the contract? - Going above & beyond - Share your passion & energy for wanting to contribute/serve - Job ask: Only apply for the role with your resume(via email) - Applied for the role via email - with Resume - Also answered: How do I intend to be of service and add value to the company as a Senior Software Engineer? - Signal: Genuinely always give more(in the right amount of moderation) to one’s application - Community Contribution counts: Gave a 5 min lightning talk at a European Ruby conf(Euruko) in 2024 - The hiring manager remembered my talk - Skills were a match to what they were looking for - I was shortlisted because of all the above
34. How to Stand Out in One’s Job application - part 1 - My Personal User Manual - Appreciated by a Hiring Manager + Recruiter at 2 different companies - They wanted to make their own personal user manual
35. How to Stand Out in One’s Job application - part 2 - Submit a cover letter even when going through a referral - You are your brand and biggest advocate - Give a lightning talk(this helped me) or a conference talk - Blog regularly - How you connect authentically via LinkedIn & in General & how to make that even better - Consciously Choose Building ‘Genuine Connections’ over Building One’s Network Hi Mohnish, I'm name of person . I'll be moving to country name soon for my their reason, and I'd rather build my network before I build IKEA furniture. Would love to connect and have you in my network!
36. Thank you for holding the space to listen 🙂 Any feedback is much appreciated :) Mohnish, a fellow human from Mother Earth Github boddhisattva Work As Senior Programmer(Rails, Hotwire) | Software Consultant & Coach | Facilitator Blog https://awellroundedengineer.substack.com/ Email mail4mohnishj@gmail.com Personal User Manual http://bit.ly/personal_user_manual_mohnishgj LinkedIn https://de.linkedin.com/in/mohnish-jadwani-9a924619