Here are my 2 cents on it.

First thing to remember is getting your first job in Australia is the toughest thing. Once you have secured your first job, things will be easier for you.

# Points to consider when applying on seek or LinkedIn

1. Your profile on Seek and LinkedIn need to be accurate and should match with your CV. Make sure you don’t leave any discrepancies. In my career in the software field, in the last 15 years, I have not come across a single recruiter who is forgiving of the mistakes in Cover Letter or CV.
2. Search the technologies that you are looking for. If you know only Angular and C#, look for a front end developer role or a back-end developer role and mold your cover letter accordingly. If you know all the technologies or at-least 90% of the technologies then only proceed to apply to that job. The point is — if you do not know the technologies recruiter has posted in the job description, you would be wasting your and his time, applying for that job.
3. Remember your cover letter is the most important document that your recruiter is going to look into. He will send your CV to the potential employer only if your cover letter has all the right ingredients (read technologies, projects and modules and what you achieved). A recruiter is not interested in what project did you work in. He\She is more interested in knowing what you did and what you achieved. Remember to use STAR approach in all the projects that you are listing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situation,_task,_action,_result
4. A cover letter should include — a) Header — Name, LinkedIn Profile, GitHub profile (if available), Phone number, Visa you are holding. b) Introduction — Where did you find the job? What role are you applying for? Describe your background in a couple of lines. c) Highlight your role — Description about the project and your role in it. This is what makes your Cover Letter interesting to the Recruiter. d) Add details why do you find yourself fit for the role and why are you applying for it. It could be anything, Technology, Job Description, Industry, or the Company itself. Make it sound interesting. e) Highlight the additional skills that you bring to the table. It could be your team management, your problem solving approach, your technical skills, any rewards or recognition that you received in your previous roles
5. Your CV needs to be up-to date and should match your LinkedIn and seek profiles. If you are good at writing CV, then do it yourself otherwise look out for a professional who can help you out be detailing out everything and highlighting your achievements.
6. Answer all questions carefully when applying on the job. Some jobs have the questions listed out by the clients specifically to know your skills. Provide answers and make sure they are in sync with your CV and Cover Letter. Any lies will be quickly uncovered and you will lose your chances to be called for the interviews.

# Points to make positive impact during interview

1. Be relaxed
2. Read about the organization. Take out 10–15 minutes and know which domain and what products is the company offering. The interviewer will appreciate the fact that you took out time to know about the organization. Also, you should be clear if you really want to work in that organization.
3. Try to answer as many answers as you can. If you don’t know the answer, tell the interviewer you don’t know. There is no point fretting over something you don’t know or if you fail to answer because you forgot. A bad interview doesn’t make you a failure. Try to remember the question and prepare well for the next interview.
4. Be Precise and then Ask. Don’t answer everything you know. Try to answer in short and concise way. I have personally experienced in Australia that not all interviewers like the long answers but that doesn’t mean you don’t tell them. Ask them if you should elaborate more on your answer. This will help you leave a positive impact on the interviewer.
5. Ask right questions (See below)

# Ask Right Questions to your potential employers — Please note that the following questions are just a few examples and should not be treated as the actual questions to be asked. Every right question will leave a positive impact on your potential employers mind (But this will only happen if you clear the interviews)

1. Whats the company’s biggest challenge this year and how will this job help overcome it? You will get to how challenging your job is going to get and what expectations do the employer have from you and your profile. This will also help you to learn if the job requirement aligns with your dream job.
2. How will I measure my own performance so I know I am having a positive impact on this challenge? This may help you to know how are you going to be evaluated in your job. What KRAs are in place to evaluate performance.
3. What additional skills or experience do you wish I had that would make me a better fit for this job? Don’t expect the interviewer to tell you if you cleared the interview or not but at-least you will get to know if they are looking for skills that you have or if you fit into their cafeterias.
4. What are the next steps in the process? From my personal experience, by asking this question, I got to know if I cleared the interview 80% of the time. If you have done well in the interview, the interviewer will not be vague in his answers and will try to be very specific about the next steps and when can you expect a phone call for the further rounds or processes.
5. What do you love the most about working here? How would you know, hows the actual working experience in the company. Ask this question and be prepared to be surprised.
6. Who’s the most successful recent hire and why? You want to know if you did well in the interview, ask this question and know what made the interviewer choose the last successful candidate and if your interview went according to those expectations.
7. Who didn’t succeed as a new hire and why? Again, if someone failed to clear the interview, get to know the reasons and compare it against your interview.

Wrap-up

Thanks for reading. Share to give this post some love if you found it helpful.

Jatinder