How to write an effective application under the 'standard' formula of Google

This special formula is written by Laszlo Bock - SVP senior vice president (SVP) HR - who is behind the entire Google recruitment process. With the experience of watching over 20,000 CV throughout his career, Bock offers a "standard" formula that can be applied to every CV and instantly makes it stand out from all other CVs.

Reinhold Niebuhr once wrote a very famous prayer: "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can't change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference" (Please give me the patience Ring to accept what I can't change, give me the courage to change what can change, and in the end, give me the intelligence to distinguish those two things.

What does this mean for job applicants? Everything.

During the job search process, you will find that there are many unfair things. As a candidate, you cannot control company requirements: whether they require you to have this certificate or some employers also have the most personal or biased views. Determination can make you doubt your ability.

In this article, I want to focus on one element that you can control completely, which is the job application. The purpose of the application is to help employers get the most accurate and accurate overview of you, including strengths, weaknesses, achievements, career goals and some other information. Rather, you have to write so that when you look at your application, they can "see" your beautiful past and orientation in the near future (even the distant future) if you are successful.

So how can you write an impressive job application that can make employers almost make a decision to invite you to interview? Please refer to the following formula of Google:

That formula is:

Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]

Complete [X] is measured by [Y] by making [Z]

In other words, always: start with an action you have done [X], measure the result you achieved compared to the standard number of the scale [Y], the last is described by Which [Z] you achieve the goal.

Let's analyze two descriptions for the same work below and answer for yourself what kind of writing would be more effective:

1. Research the financial performance of companies and make investment proposals.

2. Improve the efficiency of portfolio (Portfolio) by 12% (equivalent to 1.2 million USD) for more than 1 year by purifying the cost of investment capital for inadequate markets believe and adjust the portfolio funding for each Portfolio based on results reviews.

Let's analyze:

1. Adding "improved efficiency to 12%" information made the sentence much more impressive.
2. Additional 1.2 million USD will solve the readers' doubts: "will 12% create a large or small number" ? In addition, it is clear that you have also anticipated the employer's mind when deciding on this additional information: If the investment results are improved by 12% but if only increasing from USD 100 to USD 112, then there is no What meaning. But the 1.2 million USD added to the value of a portfolio originally invested 10 million USD is not bad at all.
3. Explaining how you have achieved this result has created trust and helped employers better understand your strengths: "by .".

Some of the examples below extracted from real job applications will help you better see the effectiveness of applying this formula. The first one is not too bad, but it is definitely not outstanding. The second is better and pay attention to the words that are italicized to notice the difference.

Example 1:

1. 3 years experience as Android developer (3 years experience in Android application development position).

2. I have 3-year experience of Android. Coded and launched 7 apps , 4 of which featured in Google Play Store with over 4,000 downloads , after self-teaching Android (I have 3 years of experience working with Android OS. After learning about this platform myself, I already code and run 7 applications, 4 of which are listed in the outstanding category on Google Play with more than 4,000 downloads.

Example 2:

1. Managed cloud systems (Cloud system management).

2. Achieved 100% reliability and high-quality retrieval files by integrating local servers and AWS cloud services (Achieving 100% reliability and recovery of highly scalable files by integrating servers and cloud services AWS).

Example 3:

1. Member of Management Leadership for Tomorrow - MLT (Member of Management Leadership for Tomorrow - MLT).

2. Selected as one của 230 đại diện viên cho chương trình này 18-tháng hành động phát triển cho cao-xác thực phụ thuộc vào trên chế độ sự phục vụ , Ability to contribute to this MLT cohort, and academic success participate in a 18-month professional development program to improve talents in many fields based on leadership potential, ability to contribute to MLT collective and high results in learning).

Example 4:

1. Excellent customer service skills. Friendly and positive attitude (Excellent customer care skills. Friendly and positive attitude).

2. Excellent customer skills service and positive attitude as a result of receiving employees of the month in four consecutive months in 2014 (Excellent customer care skills and positive attitudes are proved by becoming employees of the month in 4 consecutive months in 2014).

You may find it difficult to measure work performance. However, it is not difficult to point out some of your differences compared to other candidates.

Even if you do not feel impressed with what you have done, the employer is still very excited with the specific numbers: " Serving 85 customers every day with 100% accuracy and good feedback" It is also very interesting even if your task is only to charge the buyer. Adding data is useful and makes the information you make meaningful.

Niebuhr says change things you can control. I agree. You cannot change anyone's bias and attention when looking at your application. However, you can control things that lie before them. Use this formula skillfully and the employer will pay attention to you.