You see a job ad for a role you really care for, and you are midway through submitting your application through the company’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS), when you get to the section requesting that you upload a cover letter. What should you do?

If you already have one written, no problem. Go ahead and send it in. But what if you don’t? Well worry not. We speak to our network of internal recruiters in Malaysia who hire hundreds of strong candidates into their organizations every year. Turns out nobody – not HR, nor hiring managers – read cover letters anymore.

But why not read a cover letter and take that into consideration as part of a candidate’s application, you ask? Well, the sheer volume of applications that come through for each vacancy makes it extremely time-consuming for recruiters and hiring teams to filter if they have to peruse cover letters in addition to resumes.

Secondly, ATSs are designed to assign a job match score to every resume and automatically eliminate resumes that don’t have sufficient relevant keywords to what the hiring team is looking for in a particular role. In other words, all that matters in every application you submit is how solid of a CV or resume you have in relation to relevant keywords.

Now what if there were more to your resume that you wanted to show and explain to potential employers? Our best advice is to get professional help doing so in your resume itself.

Our second best advice is to supplement a traditional application by actively reaching out to the decision-makers through non-conventional channels such as employee referrals, LinkedIn or emails. Repurpose your cover letter into impactful messages that you can use to target the hiring team and stand out effectively.

So the next time you find yourself worrying over a cover letter, just stop already. It doesn’t matter whether you actually have one or not. Focus instead on perfecting the resume and actively networking to dramatically increase your odds of landing an interview.

My boyfriend made a similar daring switch 2 years from corporate finance into coding, and got his first software developer (frontend) job in Malaysia (requiring an employment pass) less than 2 months after he quit his job in Seoul, which is why I think what your friend intends to do is totally doable.

Several things that worked:

- He quit his job and spent a month doing intensive courses on Udemy and Coursera, which has some super good introductory courses in web development. So it's definitely a full-time commitment unless you are insanely hardworking and can spend your 6pm-12am evenings doing this while keeping a 9-5 full time job. Next Academy is one of the biggest coding bootcamps in Malaysia, not sure if they are any good but could be worth checking out their reviews.

- You want to start building your profile on Github to showcase your projects. And yes have lots of projects, eg. open source contributions, building your own mobile app, web app, etc. Recruiters are known to find top talent there. Helps you look good on both Github and also your resume.

- While learning to code, also check out what jobs are being posted on LinkedIn, Tech In Asia, Stack Overflow, Jobstreet to get a clearer sense of what specific skill sets / languages potential employers are looking for.

- There are several start ups in Malaysia that organise monthly hackathons so be on the lookout for those, join coder meetups / facebook groups to meet as many developers as you can while doing some important networking.

- Finally, the thing to do is to keep applying to jobs and familiarising yourself with technical tests, hackathons, etc. which every tech company and start up use as a first filter for suitable tech talent. This book might be useful: https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Inte...s/dp/0984782850

They are also insanely difficult and competitive to get into though. Back in my days as an external recruiter we'd help clients (consulting, banking, FMCG, O&G, manufacturing, etc.) with their graduate trainee programs and the success / acceptance rate can be as low as 1%.

Long interview processes (panel, group, problem solving-type interview scenarios), psychometric testing, strict requirements for English skills, and just companies looking to hire the cream of every university's crop (heavy focus on CGPA) tends to make it very difficult to get in.

But yes these trainees start at RM 4.5k and go as high as RM 6k (Shell).

Given how competitive these programs are, I always encourage final-year students (or younger) to apply aggressively to internship programs during their semester breaks. Always easier to get your foot through the door later on if the company already has a positive impression of you.

Also if you're a fresh graduate, you really want to do more than just submit applications the standard way. Check your AIESEC or MUN alumni network to see if you know any seniors currently working there, or for that matter any other employees there who might be able to refer you. They get a referral bonus, your application gets highlighted to HR faster than the other 300 fresh grad applications - it's a win-win situation.

And definitely apply to more than just management or graduate trainee programs. Try out entry-level roles, internships, or contract positions at other companies that might not have the resources to have an official program but might be reputable and established or offer you excellent learning opportunities while you figure life out.

Malaysia has one of the highest youth / fresh grad unemployment rate (3x national rate) in Asia and that's a scary thought!

GXFC everybody!!! I've been recruiting for the past 7 years in Malaysia and later on, the APAC region (both agency-side and in-house), and recently started a resume editing and interview coaching side hustle for fun.

Every single day I see poorly written resumes/CVs, or sparse LinkedIn profiles that do little to highlight why a recruiter should even write to you, and realised - nobody really teaches any of us how to game the job application process, how to stand out from hundreds of applicants to a Jobstreet or LI ad, how to write high-impact resumes, or how to crush an interview, or why you should never take the first offer you're given (and how playing your cards right could result in a 50% improvement on your first offer that compounds over a lifetime).

Covid has also meant that we now get double or triple the number of applications for every role or vacancy available. Standing out has never been harder...

I've been compiling job application, resume / LI writing, interview, and salary negotiation tricks here for free so go check it out for tips and advice that might help! https://www.careersifu.com/

Aaaaand so here's a deal for you, if you've been covid-hit / jobless for the past couple of months, or a fresh grad entering the worst possible job market in the past decade, or just want to supercharge your resume / LinkedIn profile, or you've been applying to countless jobs and not hearing back from anyone, hit me up!

Send your LI url to me, or email over your resume, and I'll do a free 10-min diagnosis of 3 things you're doing wrong right now and how to make it better. Hope to hear from you at careersifus@gmail.com