Where to look for vacancies as a beginner

The main channels

Large job boards. The main flow. Many postings, many competitors: a junior developer opening draws hundreds of applications and yours is one of them.

It works, but it requires volume.

Industry chats and channels. Competition is lower here and vacancies often appear before they reach the big boards. Look for channels for your field and region.

Company websites. The careers page. Fewer people go there, which is a benefit.

Through people you know. The fastest route. An application arriving via an employee always gets read.

Internships. Programmes at larger companies, usually recruiting once or twice a year. The only channel where lacking experience is the norm rather than an obstacle.

On searching through people

Many never use this channel because "it's awkward to ask". In fact there's nothing to ask for.

It's enough to tell the people around you that you're looking and in what direction: former colleagues, coursemates, people from chats, tutors from your course. Some of them know about openings.

Many companies pay a bonus for an employee referral — so you aren't asking a favour, you're giving someone a reason.

A second approach: write to people already working where you'd like to. Not "hire me" but a substantive question: how is the work organised, what should someone like me strengthen? Some will reply, and some of those will later point you at an opening.

How to read a posting

The requirements list is a wish list. It's written with margin, and people are hired who meet half of it. The rule: if you match seventy per cent, apply.

Distinguish essential from desirable. Usually visible in the wording: "required" versus "a plus".

Look at the description of the work, not the technology list. Technologies are learnable; whether the work itself interests you matters more.

Warning signs: ten technologies required for a junior post, "ability to multitask", "a young, friendly team" with no description of the work, no salary range where everything else is stated.

How many applications it takes

Prepare for roughly these proportions: out of a hundred applications, ten replies; of those, three to five conversations; of those, one or two offers.

The figures are approximate but the order of magnitude holds. The practical conclusion: ten applications won't do it. People often send fifteen, hear nothing, and conclude they're unsuitable.

What's unsuitable isn't the person but the volume.

Running the search

Keep a list. Where you applied, when, what came back. In a month you won't remember, and you'll write to the same company twice.

Apply regularly. Five a day beats fifty once a month.

Send in the first days. An application to a fresh posting is read more carefully.

Don't wait on a reply before continuing. Waiting on one company costs weeks.

Don't stop at the first offer. If you can wait a week and attend two more conversations, do.

About silence

No reply is the market's norm, not a judgement of you. An application may not arrive, a vacancy may be filled internally, and the flow may be such that the first fifty covered the need.

Taking it personally isn't warranted, though it's hard not to. The only remedy is not to rest the outcome of the whole search on one application.