Christian Little

Today’s blog posting to is teach you some valuable lessons about job hunting, specifically for you web designers out there as this situation applies mostly to you. I’m going to walk you through an example scenario that I am currently facing, and hopefully you’ll see why some of you don’t get calls for interviews after applying for jobs.

I posted the same ad on craigslist in 2 cities for a flash developer/designer that can help us fix a major problem we’ve run into. If you want, you can see the two ads here and here. But I’ll get right to the meat of the postings, specifically:

That’s pretty straight forward, it’s not a job, it’s a freelance contract. Most people should get that.

The other important part is what I posted about how to apply for the job:

Now to me that’s a pretty blunt posting, but it gets right to the point and it gives very clear directions on how to apply. This is where you will fail in your application – READ THE PART ABOUT WHAT YOUR POTENTIAL EMPLOYER WANTS IN YOUR APPLICATION.

I posted that job yesterday afternoon, and this morning I’ve received over 90 applications. Here’s some interesting responses:

Example 1 – Using a Bot

To whom it may concern:

I am submitting my portfolio and resume in response to your craigslist ad. I’ve also attached two examples of my recent work.

You can view more of my work with prices and turnaround times on my portfolio at {url removed}.

Sincerely,
Myles {removed}
{contact details removed}

Ok, that’s not exactly what I asked for but I checked the guy’s portfolio anyways. First off, the URL he provided is a click-track program (I’ll get into this in a minute). Secondly, the page he sent me to is just a bunch of website templates he’s built, with no mention at all about flash or anything even close to being related to this project.

He’s also click-tracking the link, which he is tracking if I went to his site or not (which means I can expect him to call me in the next day or two about this…). After I check the email some more, it becomes obvious he’s using a bot to send applications out, as I get the exact same reply to the 2nd posting, with a different click-tracking URL. The make things worse, I immediately get sent spam about a webmaster freelance job site…I don’t have to even check the IP addresses in the email to know where that came from.

Example 2 – Lack of Details

Dear Sir or Madam,

I’m responding to your ad for a Flash Designer.

I have 8 years experience and I’m looking for freelance/telecommuting work. My hourly rate is $30/hour.

You can view my portfolio at

{url removed}

Thank you for your consideration,
Paolo

This guy was good enough to use “Flash” at least in his reply…but he didn’t mention any experience with Omniture ActionSource which I specifically stated in the job posting. But I give him a chance and check his website, only to find a bunch of flash banners…again it’s not what I’m looking for but it’s one step ahead of the last guy.

Example 3 – What the Heck Are You Smoking?

Hello Chris,

I am Soniya and wanted to introduce our company {name removed}. We are catering to our clients using the same technological peripheral as your requirement posted in the Craigslist. To explain further, we have done projects similar to your requirement and will be glad to assist you with your requirement. Our Hourly rates are 12 USD. Please provide more information about your requirements and your official contact details for a Quote. You can reach me through my messenger Id’s mentioned in the email signature or just email me with your queries.

Your Requirement : Web Flash Developer –
• will provide you with the most updated documentation from Omniture on setting up their ActionSource tracking codes.
• You will be given copies of our flash videos and insert the coding into the videos.
• Our sites use the JW FLV player, and we can provide you with the FLA source (player homepage: http://www.jeroenwijering.com/?item=JW_FLV_Media_Player)
• You will be paid upon the successful integration of the ActionSource coding – which means we must be able to see the data in Site Catalyst.
• You will report to me, but may be contacted by a few other people without our company (specifically the Director of Marketing, and one of our Web Designers that tried to make this work but was unable to)
• Initially we are looking at 5-10 flash videos to get this setup with. If you are successful, we have several others that we may send your way for the same work.
Projects similar to your requirement :
PHP
1) http://hill-co.com/home/index.php
2) http://www.sqprojekt.com (PHP & Wordpress) Original Design!
3) http://www.nirbhaycapital.com (PHP and CMS)
4) http://www.aptbelts.com (PHP CMS for 100 page website)
5) http://www.betterlifehomes.com/ (Real Estate Portal)
6) http://www.dearenterprise.com/ ( Php and CMS)

Joomla

1) http://qovf.org/
2) http://dev.ceomeetings.com/
3) http://www.kohnstamm.com/
4) http://www.ilchi.com/
5) http://www.ore-events.co.uk/pages/
6) http://www.betterlifehomes.com/ (Real Estate Portal)
7) http://www.wesleycurtin.com.au/ (Football Club)
Drupal
1) http://www.vitalifefitness.com/ (Drupal Community Portal)
2) http://michael.greenfieldstech.com/
3) http://www.doctorflix.com/
4) http://www.caci.co.nz/
Os Commerce
1) http://www.leicestercarradio.co.uk/ ( OS Commerce with online catalogues and search option)
2) http://www.mykidsarena.com/ ( Os commerce PHP BB Forum Design & Integration, CC Avanuel Payment Gateway Integration)
3) http://www.younganddriven.com ( Os Commerce and paypal payment integration
Flash
1) www.birdinthesky.com ( Flash)
2) http://www.water-lily.com/ ( CMS for flash web site with upload images and product details.)
3) www.mmkrupa.com/nightclub ( Action Script 3.0 )
4) www.rockbandent.com (Flash/CSS & Joomla)
5) http://www.fitnessstar.ca/( Action Script

WordPress
1. http://www.prohibitioningujarat.com
2. http://www.sqprojekt.com (PHP & Wordpress) Original Design!

Others:
1) http://www.youngbodymind.com/ ROR ( blogs, forums, video digg.com-like news)
2) http://www.whosout.com/ (Community Portal)
3) www.royalauctions.com (Auction Site)
4) http://www.wesleycurtin.com.au/ (Football Club)
5) www.anadvantageglobal.com (CSS)
6) https://www.erenovate.com/index.php (Ecommerce)

ADD On’s We have worked On :

1) Blogs and forums
2) Mailing lists and Newsletters
3) Polls, quiz and surveys
4) Help desk
5) Wiki
6) Search
7) Shopping cart
Payment gateway
9) Billing and Invoice generation
10) Booking and Reservations.
11) Multiple site integration
12) Banner management.
13) Classified Advertisements
14) E-cards
15) Podcasting and Radio
16) Audio players and gallery
17) Articles listing
18) News Flash and news scrollers
19) Content restriction and access control
20) Group access
21) Multi lingual content
22) Doc man Plug-in
Pricing Modules:
Hourly rate : Designing – 10 USD , Programming 12-15 USD , Flash and Action scripting 15 USD respectively
Man Month Rate :1600 USD for 180 HRS/month for hiring a dedicated offshore Programmer (3 years of experience)
1200 for 180 HRS/month for hiring a dedicated offshore designer( 3 years of experience)
1500 for 180 Hrs/Month for hiring a dedicated offshore Flash programmer (2 years of experience)
Project Basis : A quote is prepared as per the requirement of the client. So please send us more information on the requirement for a ballpark estimate.

The skill sets of the developers that can start work on immediate basis are:

Programming/Scripting Languages: ASP.NET, VB.NET, PHP, Joomla, Drupal, Smarty, X-Cart, Zen Cart, OSCommerce, Typo3 CMS, Cold Fusion, Ruby on Rail, C#, HTML, DHTML, Java Script, Perl, XHTML/CSS, CGI-Perl
RIA Technologies: Ajax Adobe FLEX, Flash AS2, Flash AS3
Databases: MS SQL Server, My SQL, MS Access, Oracle Provides
Interactive Design Tools: (Adobe>>) Photoshop, Illustrator, PageMaker, Corel DRAW (including Graphic Tools), Flash with Action Scripting, 3D STUDIO MAX
Corel PhotoPaint, MS FrontPage, (Macromedia>>) Dreamweaver,

Brief Introduction about {name removed}: We are a multi-interest consulting group operating in areas like Software Development, Web Development, SEO, Design & Multimedia, BPO and Onsite/Offshore Staff Augmentation. Our core expertises are Rich Internet Applications, Advanced Flash Programming & Action Scripting, Object Oriented Programming, Microsoft Technologies, OpenSource Customization (Joomla, Drupal, Typo3, and PHP 5) and Search Engine Marketing Services.
The aim of our establishment is to offer fresh, fast and out of the box approach through simple business models and flexible working relationships

For detailed information about our capabilities & pricing models please review the attached profile or visit our website {removed} offshore mitigation process.
Please let me know your availability for a quick telecom for further discussion. Thank You.

Regards,
Soniya

I’ve tried to figure out what they were thinking when they sent that to me. Sure it’s great that they have a huge list of previous projects, but I don’t give a shit about their ecommerce programming projects, I was strictly interested in Flash work.

So Let’s See Some Good Applications

I figured since I’m posting some really stupid ones, I’ll post a few good ones I found and actually replied to. Let these serve as good examples to the rest of you on how to actually read a job posting, and reply properly.

Hi my name is Justin {removed}. I am a Flash/Web Developer. This is my company – {url removed}

I specialize in Flash RIAs, and have worked building assessments and marketing demos for Borland, among others, over the last several years. Recently they switched to Site Catalyst so I have some experience with integrating the AS.

Question: Are you using the Omniture ActionSource?

I have never tried to integrate tracking into an FLV. I would think it can be done but adding cue points that trigger the ActionSource component.

I am open to discussing your exact requirements further. My rate is 65/ hour and I have some availability now.

Please feel free to call for more details – {phone number removed}

Best regards,
Justin {removed}

Very nice. He admits he hasn’t done exactly what I’m looking for, but tries to discuss the options a bit without knowing the details of how it works. That’s what I was looking for!

Dear Sir or Madam,

I’m writing about your post “Short term contract Flash designer” on craigslist on October 27th.

I’m a software developer. Though I never work on Omniture’s ActionSource, I do have experience on Flex, FLV player, ActionScript. In my most recent project, we have built an online video advertising system, which is consisted of management system, analytic tool and ads delivery system. The management system and analytic tool are Flex applications. Publishers and advertisers define their content publishing rules and campaign details respectively in management system and use analytic tool to view statistic charts about their contents/ads delivery status. Ads delivery system is actually an Adobe Flash Player that can track user operations in additional to playing videos.

If you could send me the documentation from Omniture, the ActionSource code and JW FLV player related FLA source, I think that I can understand it well and provide a solution.

Here is my contact information:
{contact details removed}

Same as above, they admitted that they haven’t done exactly what I’m looking for, but they’ve shown some knowledge of the specific job and didn’t send me a bunch of useless garbage in their response. Shortlisted.

Hello,

Hmm, I am not completely certain that I understand the exact nature of your problem but I am fairly confident I can help. I haven’t worked with Omniture before, but I work with actionscript quite a bit – especially object oriented AS3. From what I can tell, you’re having problems with ‘hooking into’ your player yes? I would need a bit more information to get a better idea as to exactly what issues you’re having.

Anyway, my name is Francis and I live here in Victoria. If you would like to see some examples of some of my more recent personal projects, visit my website at {url removed}. If you would like to get a hold of me, I can be reached by at {phone number removed}.

Cheers.

Cool, like above he hasn’t done exactly what I’m hoping for but he admits it and has done work on similar projects.

So let’s do the math here – I received 90 applications, and I’ve only responded to the 3 shown above. For your web designers out there that are desperate for work, here’s some things you really should be getting out of this posting:

1. If the job posting calls for specific information in your reply, be sure to include it (you’ll notice that I’ve only replied to the three people above that actually mentioned their Flash experience)
2. ALWAYS read the entire posting. If the job posting says “Don’t send your resume”, then don’t. I know this is hard to accept, but some people like me really don’t give a damn about your skills at formatting a Word document. I size people up by talking to them and seeing how they respond to direction, if you can’t follow 3 simple directions in a job posting then how the hell should I trust you with an important project?
3. NEVER use a bot to find jobs and have it automatically apply on your behalf, people posting jobs aren’t that stupid.
4. NEVER send a 2,000+ word application when it was clearly asked for you to be brief.
5. ALWAYS personalize your response to the specific posting. If you are too lazy to spend 10 minutes writing up a reply specific to an individual posting, then I’m too lazy to spend 10 minutes reviewing it. People like me that recruit other people for work can recognize a template email faster than you can send it.