A few weeks ago, I mentioned that only a small percentage of applicants get a chance to speak to someone from the company they apply for. Out of 200 applicants, only a handful of people get through the interview stage. Current circumstances (COVID19) increase the competition as Scrum Masters lost their job and need to apply again. To grab the recruiter’s attention, follow these four tips to stand out and get noticed: Meet the basic requirements Use bolding for key information Add achievements to your work experience Use measurable language Meet the Basic Requirements. To raise your chances o ..read more

Resume template sites provide hundreds of templates with unique designs to stand out.  Do fancy designs make the difference between getting to the interview stage or rejected? No, not for Scrum Masters. It is true: Your template can make a difference, and it will help to get recognized. Not by fancy designs, but by supporting the content of your Scrum Master resume for your audience. Remember Your Audience In some earlier articles, I mentioned that you need to write your Scrum Master resume for people who decide to get to the next stage of the hiring process. Those people are your audienc ..read more

When applying for a Scrum Master position, you need a professional resume as the Scrum Master role is a leadership role. But you don’t need to hire a resume writer. You can create a compelling, professional Scrum Master resume by yourself. Avoid the five common mistakes to prove your professionalism: 1. Poor Formatting Poor formatting makes your good, and relevant experience as a Scrum Master look bad on your resume. I can’t stress this enough: The recruiter scans your resume within 10-30 seconds. Multi-column resume formats are more problematic to scan than one-column layouts. You may be prou ..read more

Work experience is the bread and butter for getting hired as a Scrum Master. Most companies look for experienced Scrum Masters. But does this mean you need to have worked with dozens of teams? No! The key to getting an interview for a Scrum Master position is to lay out your experience as a Scrum Master in a way, the recruiter and hiring manager understands what you have done in the past. Follow these tips to simplify the review of your resume. 1. Work Experience Near the Top of the Page The recruiter and hiring manager is interested in your work experience the most. Add your current title, co ..read more

You don’t learn how to apply for a new position. Nobody does. You do not learn it in school or university. Even your parents or friends can not help you get your dream job. After you hit the “Apply” button on a job posting, everything that happens seems to be a black hole. The missing knowledge about how recruiters work, what tools they use, and who decides about getting rejected or to the next stage of the hiring process leads to myths and misunderstandings. Resume writing services use those myths to sell their services without getting you a step closer to your dream job. They advertise their ..read more

From the previous article, you already know that the hiring process can be quite extensive. A typical hiring process involves the following people: The hiring manager, the recruiter, the inbound sourcer, and the interview panel. Depending on the company size, one person might execute several roles, especially in smaller companies. We will have a look at each person’s tasks, goals, and constraints. The Hiring Manager The hiring manager is THE most important person during the hiring process for you. This person asks for new positions, defines the requirements, and writes the job description. The ..read more

This article has an in-depth look at the complete process your Scrum Master application takes after you clicked the “Apply” button on a job description. The hiring process may differ from company to company, but they all have a similar approach. This process is a kind of a funnel where all applications go into that funnel. At every stage, the hiring process and the people involved filter applications for the next step. There are always more applications than available positions, so HR departments have to choose which resumes make it to the next round and which ones will be rejected. Nearly eve ..read more

Do you have trouble getting a job as a Scrum Master despite there are so many open positions? Yes, there is a high demand for Scrum Masters in nearly every industry around the globe. However, getting hired as a Scrum Master seems to be a tedious process. Many applicants do not make it to the interview stage. They apply for nearly all positions in their area, but they are not called for interviews. Does this feel like you?  More often than not, you get a generic response where they thank you for your application, but you didn’t make it to the next round. This kind of feedback does not help ..read more

A strong and well written WHY will help you to stand out from the crowd when applying for Scrum Master jobs. The reason why you want to work as a Scrum Master will guide you in difficult situations to stay motivated and overcome challenging hurdles as a Scrum Master.  There is a high demand for Scrum Masters in nearly every industry. Yet many (aspiring) Scrum Masters have hard times landing a job as a Scrum Master. There is a common understanding that you need a certificate and experience as a Scrum Master to get hired. But despite being certified and at least a little work experience, yo ..read more

By the end of this article, you can decline requests from stakeholders to keep your backlog clean and manageable. Your stakeholders will understand why you reject their requests without being annoyed or pissed off. That will strengthen your role as a Product Owner, and you gain respect and trust. Why You Sometimes Have to Turn Down Requests Do you get a lot of requests from your stakeholders and customers? A new idea here, which could increase the ROI of your product, a must-have feature there to stand out from the competition, or maybe a change request to existing functionality. As a Product ..read more