This is a modified version of some words of wisdom I shared with the February 2022 Los Angeles Hack Reactor graduating cohort.

** 1. Your resume is your best tool. ** Put as much effort as possible into it. Follow a template or a guide, tell a story about yourself and your "experience" (in this case, you don't have any, so talk about your projects). Request as much feedback as possible from your mentors, follow that advice, and then revise it again.

Update it regularly. Anytime you learn a new tool, complete a noteworthy project, or anything changes, record that change.

** 2. Quality over Quantity.** Most people say that getting your first job in tech is a numbers game, and to some extent, that may be true—you’re likely to get a lot of rejections before you get an offer.

But just spamming out a hundred LinkedIn Quick Applys isn’t the best way either. Anecdotally, I applied to over 30 jobs Quick Apply and got nary a response from any of them. On the other hand, I did find a few other strategies that yielded interviews:

• Responding to recruiter messages. Though there is a wide range of quality when it comes to recruiters (more on this soon), it gives you a chance to pitch yourself as a potential candidate for a real job. You don’t have to deal with beating an Applicant Screening system—so if you’re even somewhat interested in the job they’re pitching, it’s worth responding. Even if that particular role doesn't end up being a good fit, you now have a contact who may consider you for a more appropriate role.

• Following up. Maybe this goes without saying, but if you DO get an interview, make sure to follow up with your contacts. Write thank you emails to interviewers no more than 48 hours after the interview. Reach out to recruiters if you haven’t heard back after a few days. They’re busy people, and are more likely to remember you (and thus prioritize and advocate for you, assuming they have a positive opinion of you) if you gently and politely remind them you exist. Also, companies want to hire people who are interested in them, and usually prefer to extend offers to candidates who they expect to accept. Reminding them you’re interested boosts your chances.

• Only apply to jobs you want. Don’t waste your time applying to companies you aren’t interested in, or wouldn’t accept offers from. Find companies you’re interested in working for and see if they’re hiring. If they’re small companies, write good cover letters to let them know why you’re interested in working there.

• Network, and use that network. Getting job referrals is another way to jump to the top of the pile of applicants, and has a much higher success rate. If you have friends/coworkers/acquaintances who work at a company you’re applying for (or interested in), reach out to them BEFORE applying so they can send you a specific referral. Once you’ve already applied, it’s usually too late for them to recommend you.

It’s also worth posting requests for referrals in networking groups you’re a part of. Maybe you went to school with someone who works there, or even a stranger who’s interested in networking. Most companies pay a referral bonus to the referrer, so they usually have a vested interest in referring you (so long as they think you have a decent chance of getting hired).

3. Understand Recruitment Contract Types. If you’ve dealt with more than a few recruiters, you may start to notice that some recruiters put in a lot of effort, while others put in very little. Ever have someone write you a message in broken English that starts with “Greetings, <<candidate>>!”, and then won’t respond to any emails you send them? Pretty different from other recruiters you may have met who write thoughtful messages, have a good pitch, and are highly responsive.

Recruitment contracts generally fall into two categories: contingent and retained.

• Contingent recruitment means that the recruiter only gets paid when a candidate they represent is hired. No hire, no payout. This incentivizes them to maximize their returns using some… less than pleasant methods. This may include spamming out the same listing to hundreds of people (regardless of qualifications) in a “throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks” approach. It also means that they have less incentive to follow up with candidates who don’t make the cut—so they may refer you, then just ghost you when the hiring manager passes on you (or even just if the recruiter has “better” candidates).

Usually companies utilizing contingent recruiting contracts will have multiple agencies hiring for the same position, so for the recruiters it’s literally a race to fill the position without any guarantee that you’ll win. Recruiters working contingent contracts also usually have a high number of positions they're working to fill simultaneously, which also usually lowers the quality of their work.

• Retained recruitment means that the recruiter gets paid for more of a “full service” approach (I think they get paid whether or not they’re the one to fill the position? If you know the answer, please comment). Because of this, they have a vested interest in budgeting their time more towards finding fewer (but higher-quality) candidates. Spamming out messages or referring too many candidates is counter-productive, since the low-quality candidates take up valuable limited time for hiring managers to review candidates.

In-house recruiters are effectively the same as retained recruiters, but have to rely less on cold-contacting candidates to generate leads. There are also probably other differences, but I can’t speak much to them.

I’ve worked with both types of recruiters and had both good and bad experiences with both, but overall I’ve found the experience of working with retained recruiters to be, on average, significantly higher than working with retained recruiters. Keep these differences in mind when budgeting how much time/energy to spend on recruiters.

James Hornick gave one of the best explanations here.

Thanks for reading! Please comment below if you have any questions, comments, or corrections.