Ask HN: Developers' jobs in Europe. Best cover-letter, cv practices.

Your CV matters a lot more, according to my experience, but it should be no longer than 1-2 pages.

Projects are what matters, so show them the code (e.g. with a GitHub profile).

However, living in London is expensive and basically sux after summer. If I were doing it again I would go to a city or town on or near the Mediterranean. For my weak and nerdy constitution, if it's not far southern Europe, it's too cold in the winter.

I did alright and had a few pages, I wouldn't worry too much about format. Remember being from the US you are going to tend to be subconsciously sterotyped as culturally ignorant, loud and egocentric so maybe try to consciously tone it down a bit.

PS. You perhaps should have mentioned up there you are in Berlin already.

If you're looking for a solid enterprise CV, I've had pretty good results with mine at http://michiel.trimpe.nl (the picture and recommendations section are optional.) For big companies LinkedIn is also key and recommendations there are very valuable.

For blanket applications (e.g. submit on website) cover letters are a must and you must show that you have read about the business and explain in a few sentences why you feel your profile would fit well with the (goals of the) employer. As for format, the body of your introductory email message is often considered synonymous with your cover letter.

(P.S. This is based on the Amsterdam market. Europe is big and every country is different so advice from a German would be better still if you were looking for a job in Berlin)

A cover letter shouldn't have their logo on it.

Cover letters are fine, don't worry about it too much though as they're normally just scanned over. If you're going for frontend have some work in a portfolio online they can view. Backend consider having some open source work on GitHub, even if it's just a few snippets of useful code you use every now and again.

I will say this: in most small to medium IT companies (in Berlin) a cover letter is not needed or even wanted in most cases -- speak with your work and your CV. The cover letter is just excess "stuff" that we have to read on top of everything else. Larger corporations may appreciate this more.

A CV should be kept VERY short and to the point (i.e. 1-2 pages). A "creative" CV is fine if you are applying for a creative position, but outside of that keep it simple and avoid being confusing. Note that Germany has its own CV format which often includes your picture, marital status, and so forth. Adhering to this is a plus in most cases!

Example projects you participated in (such as a URL to a site you developed) or code samples (i.e. GitHub) are an enormous plus that will put you at the front of the line (if it is good code, naturally).

If you are applying from outside the EU, it is important to stand out because of the extra cost and process (which is relatively quick and painless in Germany compared to some other countries, such as England) for your visa and residency. There is, however, a large shortage of talented IT professionals here and most companies regularly seek out candidates from outside Germany and even outside the EU.

In Berlin, you can likely get away with not speaking German, though it is a "plus." In many parts of Germany (i.e. Munich), the majority of positions will require/assume you speak German plus some level of English proficiency.

I just went through the process recently (in France), and what I know is true for sure in mainland Europe is :

* No more than 2 pages. Make it 1 if you can (I worked quite hard to make fit everything I wanted into 1 page, but if you really had a lot of projects showing a wide range of skills, it can be hard). If you have less than 5 years of XP, I'd say only 1 page.

* Picture : This depends per country. In Germany, it's practically mandatory (except maybe in some more "international" startups, don't know about that). In France, it is not, but the latest trend is to put one. Reading elsewhere in this thread, in the UK, it seems you should not put one.

* Cover letter : in France it is highly appreciated (especially if there is an HR person/department) and you should put good time into it and definitely tailor it to the company you are applying to (you can still have pattern though, that helps to write them much faster).

* Github profile can help but that really depends on which type of company you're applying to I think.

* Degrees : That really depends. I guess (hope) in the startup world it is less important, but in "normal company" in France and Germany, they value it a lot (one would say too much) but of course, you can't change that. You can try to counterbalance it in your cover letter though.

Hope this helps.

A 2 page CV is the norm, though you won't get dinged for a page either way - especially if the content is good. A cover letter can help, especially if it's focused on the company - why you want to work for them, what skills you can bring & why they're relevant, etc. It's also a chance to show off any side projects or Github accounts; if it was a front-end job you applied for, the logo in CSS3 sounds ideal. Don't worry too much about formality of language; polite but friendly is fine. Aim for 2-3 paragraphs. I wouldn't include a photo; that's a little weird in the UK job market, though it's generally understood to mean "Oh, the candidate's from another country."

1. Include a one to two paragraph cover letter that you wrote specifically for the opening you're applying for. Make the quality of English very high. Use simple letter-style formatting, address in the top right, company logo in the top left if you have a freelance brand that you're using.

2. Include a two page CV. Simple formatting please (I am going to print it and write on it). Mine has worked well for me (though in retrospect is too wordy!), http://hackerb.io/cantlin.pdf, you can get one from http://hackerb.io.

3. Make both documents PDFs. Anything else is a pain for me.

4. Include links to your web presence, if you want. They can be in the cover letter, CV or email. You'll be Googled anyway so it's best to be proactive, especially if you have stuff on Github, SO, etc.

5. Companies vary, but be mindful of potentially needing to get your application through an HR department who at best will be searching for keywords from the job post.

6. Startups are a different game. Your CSS3 logo is a good stab (though make sure you back it up with meat). If I were looking for a startup role today I would be focused on making connections through events, social media and the open source projects they use.

A professional looking portrait photo is essential here in Switzerland, and age based discrimination is legal? and the norm, so not disclosing your age may waste everyone's time.

Here they also send around a cover letter and a bunch of documents from past employers, but they don't seem to expect that from foreigners.

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ResumeRead.html

I have rewritten my CV according to this and it is working out fine!

Check this article : http://www.janrezab.com/prague-beats-berlin-with-its-tech-sc...

1. I always prepared (exactly) 2 page CV.

2. One thing, that paid off (I think) I always prepared CV for specific Job offer. Takes time, but exposes the best of you in paper for the position you are applying for.

3. I have a belief that "If text looks good on paper - it will look good on screen", not necessarily otherwise. Thus I print my CV, read it loudly, mark and correct bits and pieces with pencil, edit the electronic form, rinse & repeat until I don't have anything to edit.

4. I wrote cover letter twice in my life - basically it was among the lines of: "I would love to work at your company, because you are cool at something I am interested in working on and I think I have the skills you need (references to CV, showing my experience in what they needed)."

So far so good, through the years I applied to companies in Lithuania, Denmark, Sweden and UK (London) - I got offers from all of them. I applied for Software Engineer position in PHP or Python companies.

Sending your application If (bigger) startup has an internal recruitment/HR who will review you CV first. As sad as it may sound, make sure their 'keywords' match yours in the CV. Except for the internal recruiters with a technical background (close to none), they will just go through the list of keywords needed for the role. It's more or less a bulletproof approach to pass the first filter which is essential if you even want to be considered. It's a pity that persons who have almost zero knowledge about the technologies we use have so much impact and power on deciding whether or not you'll be good based on their criteria (again; keywords).

Most internal recruiters don't care about a cover letter at all, with a big part of them not even reading it. Therefore, keep it very short and rather invest time in a good CV.

You may need to adapt your CV specific to each role specifically (focussing on the role requirements), so be ready to have a CV that can easily be adapted to a specific role.

CV 2 pages is ideal (especially if you've held >2 roles), first block is your personal information, followed by your work experience (latest position first). Make some bullet points of what your tasks where at each role. Bullet points are always a win in a CV, always have readability in mind, no HR/Hiring Manager wants to get a long wall of text CV after having gone through 20 previous one's.

After that, you can always put your Github or SO accounts (more likely if startup), but I would rather talk about this with the Hiring Manager during the phone interview, and if they are curious ask them if you can send your account via email, this also gives you a good opportunity to add some extra details about you which can make you stand out better and get you 'remembered' longer and more positively if you are in their inbox. You would be surprised how many (older) technical managers still don't know SO or Github.

Then comes your education, just very short, only mention colleges/uni if so.

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Always print your CV and look at it skeptically and ask yourself "Would I like getting a CV like this?"

My experience with places I've worked London Quite hard to even get a response, I think companies in London have an easy time hiring with many good candidates. Also no relocation packages or anything like that.

Holland Many tech jobs available and good chances to get hired when not native. Dutch people are quite keen on international employees.

Spain Good supply/demand ratio in favor of demand. From what I've seen tech companies in Spain have hard time hiring quality employees. Also pretty international (Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga).

Other I understand the question is more about the first phase of applying, but when you secure an interview at a company, learn as much as you can about them, you might be asked for it.

Basic flow of an interview in Europe is: Company introduces itself -> you introduce yourself -> Q&A specific for the role -> question round where you are free to ask questions. When they ask you to ask questions, do so! Company owners/Hiring Managers/HR love to talk about their company and it's a good way to find out about the culture, and it makes you interested in the company which is an advantage. Startups usually don't give you any tests or tasks during the interview, they usually stick to asking technical questions. Last but not least, if you are very interested in working at a company and have a interview at their office, make a short presentation. Especially for technical roles this is highly appreciated. Put some effort in this (5-15hours) and use whatever you can or is related to your role. The presentation should match the "you introduce yourself " part of the interview and go a bit deeper into your knowledge. Present it w...