

Ask HN: Job application - astroguy

Hello all,<p>I have been trying to get into job from past 5 months.<p>After several trails of job applications I want to try this approach:<p>I am willing to work to any company for 3 months in any technical position like coding, system admin, security, research or ... foo. If you are willing to pay my apartment rent + food [which I promise not be more than 750$ per month], I am ready to start hacking the project! This step will definitely give an exposure to show my technical abilities.<p>If any manager wants to give a shot please email me at aliengeek4u at gmail dot com. I appreciate for taking some time to read this !!!<p>Note: I am 99.99..INF% sure I will be an asset to any company which hires me.<p>ps: All comments or suggestions are welcome :)<p>pps: Message has been chopped down after patio valuable thoughts!
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patio11
Hiya. Your English is pretty good, but non-native. You need to work on having
cultural fluency as well as having linguistic fluency. Americans and, in
particular, Americans with hiring authority _do not respond well_ to excessive
modesty. You should stop saying things like "I have to admit that I am not the
smartest person" and "My brain has been dumb for several years."

Saying things like this will make Americans with hiring authority think that
either you are being sincere and are stupid (no hire), that you have severe
personality issues which will make you difficult to work with (no hire), or
that you are culturally inept and will be difficult to work with (no hire).
There is a fairly easy way to avoid these difficulties: find a model of
culturally correct behavior and act like they do. Your model person would
likely a) be confident that they are well-qualified with regards to what they
want to be hired to do and b) not brag _excessively_ about their competence.
Don't worry about where the exact balancing point between confidence and
bragging is -- any attempt to move closer to it will make you more successful
at locating employment than you are currently.

Also, getting employed is a matter of selling something (selling your future
employers on the notion that they should employ you). Successful sales is more
about them and their needs than it is about you and your story. Your
relationship with your parents, your home culture, the laptop you bought, etc,
do not constitute reasons why a particular company should hire you. You should
not talk about them. Instead, you should figure out what the company needs and
point to specific, identifiable experiences which demonstrate that you will
successfully be able to meet that need.

~~~
astroguy
Hey Patrick, thank you very much for your thoughts! All are digested ;)

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twymer
Perhaps it would be beneficial to decide what specifically you most want to
do. If your 5 months spent job searching have been you informing employers
that you're willing to do anything and everything they don't take you serious
because you don't specifically want to do the thing they want to hire someone
to do. This is pretty much what Patrick said to some degree. If you know what
they want and revolve your resume/cover letter around this, it should help a
lot. You don't have to send everyone the same resume.

My other comment is your email address. I hope you're not putting
"aliengeek4u" on your resume. It's fine for normal personal use but perhaps
you should register a second email in some form of your name.

~~~
astroguy
"You don't have to send everyone the same resume" - As of curiosity isn't
kinda cheating? Nope, I am using my regular gmail id. Thank you for all your
comments.

~~~
twymer
Not cheating, I just mean that it's usually recommended you tailor your resume
(especially your objective, if you include this) to highlight your skills and
interests relevant to what you're applying for.

------
nl
Further suggestions:

You might want to state where you are currently located. For most companies
the costs of relocation outweigh any saving on salary you are offering.

What skills do you have? Have you ever done any coding, system administration,
security or research? Do you have a resume online you can point people at (or
linkedin)?

 _Note: I am 99.99..INF% sure I will be an asset to any company which hires
me._

Write this instead: _I am confident I will be an asset to any company which
gives me an opportunity._

~~~
astroguy
Hey nick, I tried checking in guidelines section on how to edit the article
but unable to find any info.

FYI: I was able to edit for few minutes after posting, but now I don't see
that option.

Any suggestions?

~~~
nl
I don't know, sorry. It probably has a time lock on it.

~~~
astroguy
Yep, sounds to me 60min time lock.

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andrewstuart
You should read this: [http://www.aaronboodman.com/2010/10/wherein-i-help-you-
get-g...](http://www.aaronboodman.com/2010/10/wherein-i-help-you-get-good-
job.html)

~~~
astroguy
Thank you for the link.

------
astroguy
update: I am willing to relocate to any place in USA. No expenses needed for
relocation.

skill set: Interested to program in c and python, worked in linux, solaris,
aix, and windows environments.

Experience: 3+ years in system admin, 3+ years in coding, 3+ year reading
security articles, didn't code anything related to security issues, 4+ year in
research.

