Your profile is your greeting to employers, so be sure to set your best foot forward!
The following recommendations are key areas to focus on improving your profile strength and attracting more interview requests on Hired.
Role
We recommend that you select the closest fit to your target job, based on the roles in our list. You can select up to 3 specialties that you’re looking for in your target job. Should you wish to change your role while you are on the platform, please reach out to our Support team.
Skills
Make sure your top 5 skills accurately represent your experience IN ORDER OF PRIORITY. This affects how you show up in search queries based on our matching algorithm and employers’ search criteria. Whenever possible, include skills that have wide appeal, rather than overly niche skills. Be sure to use the ‘Additional Skills’ section, located beneath ‘Primary Areas of Expertise’, to highlight 5-10 other skills or technologies you have experience with, again in order of priority. Avoid lengthy lists and test out a certain role and set of relevant skills at a time rather than marketing yourself as everything all at one.
Hybrid/in office and fully remote
Hired offers hybrid/in office work in major tech hub cities in addition to global remote work. While the office landscape is rapidly changing, we do still see our highest demand for hybrid/in office. Considering hybrid/in office can help your profile get more attention from our companies.
When selecting hybrid/in office and picking locations, we recommend limiting yourself to 5-7 cities in order of priority. You do not need to include all neighborhoods within each city as you'll be matched based on a radius within each market. You can also select the number of days per week you are willing to work in office, from as rarely as "occasionally" to as often as "every day".
You may also indicate you are looking for a fully remote role. If so, set the hours you are willing to work daily (assuming an 8 hour work day) and pick which timezone you will be working from.
If you are open to hybrid/in office and fully remote, you will be asked your preference. You may select one or the other, or you can select "no preference" to indicate both are equally desirable.
Work history
Make sure to list 2-3 bullet points from your resume underneath each past role. You should be highlighting what you achieved, and which technology or tools were used. This is crucial, as employers want to see what skills/technology were used at each role to get a sense of your experience with each. If you have a long work history, you should primarily focus on your most recent 2-3 jobs; it’s okay to have shorter/more brief descriptions for your older jobs.
Profile photo
Include a profile photo, ideally of yourself. If that makes you uncomfortable at all, no problem. You can add an alternative such as an image of a hobby, your hometown or anything that best represents you to ensure your profile looks complete. Show some personality but keep it professional.
Salary
Explore our salary calculator to ensure you are setting your minimum base salary expectation (or minimum hourly rate) to remain competitive in the market. Be mindful not to undervalue yourself as it may communicate a lack of competency or confidence in your abilities to perform. Learn more about setting salary expectations on Hired.
Headline
This is important real estate as it's the first item employers see in their search. Rather than listing your current job title, feel free to get creative with an appealing one-liner about who you are as a professional. Make sure it speaks to where you're headed next; here is a great resource for inspiration.
Links
Including a resume and your LinkedIn url can make a huge impact on attracting interview requests. Many employers use these to learn more about your experience before reaching out. Optional, though highly encouraged: GitHub, Dribble, etc. If you include a personal website or portfolio that’s password-protected, be sure to include your password on your profile (in your headline).
Assessments
If you are a programmer, be sure to dedicate some time to earning Hired Assessments Badges to show off your skills. This is also great practice for technical interviews. You are 2x more likely to receive an interview as a programmer when you are badged. It’s one of the most valuable signals of great talent that employers look for on a profile.
Preferences
Leverage this section to attract your dream company culture, company size, technologies you want to work with or other priorities. When we suggest your profile to our companies, your Preferences section items will appear to them as "Matches" and "Mismatches". In theory, you will receive more interview requests from companies with "Matches" and fewer from those with "Mismatches" as the latter will give companies pause before sending you an interview request. However, it's important to keep in mind your Preferences section acts more as a suggestion than a filter and some companies with "Mismatches" may still reach out.
Education
Be sure to add your degrees or certifications, especially those relevant to the field you are targeting. Computer Science degrees are an advantage so be sure to highlight your CS Degree if you have it!
If you are self-taught, rest assured companies are becoming more relaxed about this requirement but may probe harder on your CS Fundamentals during an interview. You can list ‘Self-Taught’ or ‘Did Not Finish'’ if you started a degree and left in between. You may also decline to specify your graduation year by listing 'Decline to Specify'.
Want more tips?
Learn how employers discover candidates on Hired by watching the webinar recording here.
.