How to get into your first tech role

How to get into your first tech role 

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As part of the Teach Her mentorship programme we partnered up with government DDAT recruitment specialist to host a workshop on how to apply for your first role in tech.

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It can be daunting applying for your first role, but there are many things you can do to increase your chances of landing the role.

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On average, employers look at CVs for six to seven seconds. This makes it vital to create a CV with impact! 

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Creating a CV with impact 

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1. Understand the employers needs- you can do this 
2. Have a clear message- make sure each section is relevant and use key terms from the job advert
3. Provide evidence- evidence gives your message impact and credibility 
4. Presentation- having an organised set up to make it easy to read. Click here for some examples.

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What skills do recruiters look for? 

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For an entry level position, recruiters understand that you may not have specific skills e.g. product management, so they tend to focus on transferable skills. Make sure to highlight how you have these skills by linking them with previous experience. This can be from school projects, volunteering or even from a hobby. 

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Some top skills include:

• Communications skills 
• Analytical 
• Social media 
• Technical skills 
• Quick learner 

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What are the skills tech recruiters look for?

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Tech recruiters often take a deeper look at the projects you've worked on to see how you have built solutions with the available tools.

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Overall they look for:

• Work history
• Technical match
• Educational background

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They hire for technical roles such as engineers, data scientists and architects. As well as non technical roles like delivery and product managers.

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Public sector DDAT roles

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In the Civil Service, success profiles are the recruitment framework used in the Civil Service. This can focus on strengths, experience, ability, behaviours and technical skills. For DDAT roles the capability framework can also be used, which describes the job roles in the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Profession and provides details of the skills needed to work at each role level.

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Applying for a role

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The digital world is growing fast and has tonnes of exciting career prospects, before applying to a digital/technical role, you need to have a think about the following:

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• Make sure you have done your research - there are so many career options and so many different routes into a digital career, make sure you have researched into what opportunities are out there.

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• Attend events/open days/ job trials - gives you a real insight into the world of technology and gives you the opportunity to ask other technical professionals about their career journey.

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• More research! - research about the organisation you are applying to, most organisations have a great source of information on their careers page, even have videos or blogs from current employees talking about their role and what it is like to work there.

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• Read the job descriptions - roles can differ depending on the organisation you apply to so make sure you have read the role properly so you understand what the requirements are.

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• Use LinkedIn- why not head to LinkedIn and see if you could reach out to someone from the digital department you want to join and see if they would be willing to have a chat with you to give you a glimpse into working at that organisation

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• Apply through the organisation’s website - organisations have career pages for you to apply through, it’s very rare for an organisation to review a CV if you email it to them (GDPR issues)

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• CV and application form - make sure you tailor your CV, it may feel like more admin but it is very much noticed.

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Lastly, don’t hold yourself back! Women tend to apply for jobs when they meet 100% of the qualifications, but men apply for a job when they meet 60% of the qualifications. You may not think you meet all the criteria, but if you highlight your strengths and follow the advice from this article- you can land the role!

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