Job Preparedness Workshop Session 2: How to Really Read Developer Job Postings and Cover Letters

In this session, we will learn how to “read between the lines” of developer job postings, and discover that many postings are written by an HR person who might not entirely understand the job they are writing about. You’ll also get a better idea of how to write a cover letter for the web industry, and a template to do so!

Transcript

1. APPRENTICESHIP
   JOB PREPAREDNESS
   

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2. APPRENTICESHIP JOB PREPAREDNESS
   SESSION 2:
   JOB POSTINGS & COVER LETTERS
   

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3. READING JOB POSTINGS
   

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6. SESSION 2: JOB POSTINGS & COVER LETTERS
   Developer Job Postings for Unicorns
   ‣ Let’s look at one of those very frequent
   examples of a job posting looking for a
   unicorn developer
   ‣ Google Front End Engineer
   ‣ Blink Front End Engineer vs Blink Senior Back End Engineer
   

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7. SESSION 2: JOB POSTINGS & COVER LETTERS
   This is all to say…
   ‣ Don’t let years of experience, certain
   “necessary skills,” or degrees stop you from
   applying somewhere
   ‣ Job postings often aren’t written well
   ‣ Can use postings to learn about a company’s
   culture
   

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8. SESSION 2: JOB POSTINGS & COVER LETTERS
   And Soft Skills Are Important!
   ‣ Companies don’t often list out the soft skills
   they require — which are generally more
   important to working on a team!
   ‣ Soft skills include:
   -communication
   -writing
   -self-motivated
   -humility, ….
   

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9. If you have the curiosity, the
   communication skills, the interest, the
   enthusiasm, the tenacity, and you
   actually care, you can learn just about
   any front-end dev language you want.
   ~ Zoe Rooney
   

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10. The soft skills are the ones that will
    keep you progressing as the
    technology changes and will make you
    enjoyable to work with. They’re the
    ones that will keep the clients happy
    and will help ensure you don’t burn
    out.
    ~ Zoe Rooney
    If you have the curiosity, the communication skills, the interest, the enthusiasm, the tenacity, and you actually care, you can learn just about any front-end dev language you want.
    

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11. COVER LETTERS
    

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12. SESSION 2: JOB POSTINGS & COVER LETTERS
    Cover Letters: The Basics
    ‣ Do not recycle cover letters
    ‣ Learn about the company
    ‣ Try to find out who
    o
    you should be addressing
    cover letter to
    ‣ Spell/grammar check
    ‣ Don’t swear/use colloquialisms
    

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13. SESSION 2: JOB POSTINGS & COVER LETTERS
    Cover Letters: How You Can Stand Out
    ‣ It’s not about you, but about what you can
    do for the company
    -How are you a good fit for the role?
    -What skills do you have that will be an asset
    to them?
    

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14. SESSION 2: JOB POSTINGS & COVER LETTERS
    Cover Letters: Sections
    ‣ Why are you a good fit for job?
    -qualifications: hard AND soft skills
    ‣ What do you like about company?
    -Can show you researched company,
    understand values
    ‣ Conclude it looking towards further
    opportunity to chat
    

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15. SESSION 2: JOB POSTINGS & COVER LETTERS
    Cover Letters: Highlight YOUR Strengths
    ‣ So.. we shouldn’t recycle cover letters, but
    we can work on sections you can re-use
    about:
    -Your strengths
    -Your passions
    -What makes you special
    - Your background and experiences
    

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16. So.. Let’s Workshop Your Cover Letter
    Strengths Sections Now!
    Your strengths
    Your passions
    What makes you special
    Your background and experiences
    

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17. SESSION 2: JOB POSTINGS & COVER LETTERS
    Resources For Cover Letter Writing
    ‣ https://mattstauffer.com/blog/how-to-apply-
    for-a-web-developer-job-at-tighten-and-how
    -not-to
    ‣ Job Scan Tool:
    https://www.jobscan.co/cover-letter
    

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18. THANKS!
    

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