With this post I want to share with many people who have asked me about my experience with Talently and if what they promise really works.
my experience
My experience began in 2020, in the city of Bogotá. I was a junior developer in a software factory. I didn’t feel like the best developer or the least experienced. Just one among many. I didn’t have good English and I felt like my professional life was already resolved. In short, I had no aspirations.
I don’t remember exactly where I first saw Talently’s ad, but I was struck by their offer to “double your current salary.” I am always curious and very cautious with these types of offers. So I half-heartedly scheduled an interview with them.
Interview
The first impression was pleasant. The person who interviewed me said that my profile fit perfectly with what they were looking for and mentioned the price: $300 initial to enter the program and 50% of my new salary once I had a new job. I did the math and decided to take a chance. After all, if I could double my salary, paying 50% wouldn’t be so painful.
Once I made the $20 payment to secure my spot and split the $300 into 3 payments, I gained access to the platform. My first impression was of a young team, all full of energy, motivating each other to find work. I was assigned a mentor and started the course.
The program
The course was very complete and suitable for beginners. I had templates to simply copy and paste to network on LinkedIn, create bios for job boards, and explain my experience to recruiters in a way that sounded better and more.
In a matter of 2 weeks, I completed the course and had my LinkedIn, CV and cover letter highly optimized for my job search.
Something they told me several times was that I needed a goal.
“When you don’t know where you are sailing, no wind is favorable.”
This quote made me think and define exactly what I wanted: a great company with a solid and substantial project where I could learn a lot, and would be a valuable addition to my CV, allowing me to take the next step, internationalizing my work. SPOILER: Today, 3 years later, I can say that it was achieved.
With that in mind, my job search began. The changes I made and the motivation of the program pushed me to submit up to 10 applications per day. I had the texts ready and it was just copy and paste to communicate with the recruiters. According to the statistics they provided, of 100 applications, only 15 went to a second stage, 5 to a third stage and only ONE led to a job offer.
Something important, and a topic of debate, is that Talently did not apply on my behalf. They gave me the tools, but the applications were my responsibility.
Recruiters began reaching out almost immediately. I had focused my search on my country of origin, Colombia. I ruled out small businesses, startups, and small businesses. Some large companies contacted me, but when I asked them for information about the project they did not convince me. I remember a small business that tried really hard and offered stock and a good salary (double what I was making at the time, a point for Talently), but I wasn’t excited about the project. I was heavily dependent on investors and couldn’t leave the company for 3 years without losing the shares.
In the end I had two offers on the table, Global Hitss/Claro Colombia and a bank. Both offers were similar, but Claro’s project was much more interesting and significantly larger. The decision was easy.
I worked at that company for about 2 years and learned a lot, enough to take the step of working in Canada, but that’s another story.
Summary
The program worked for me; It helped me focus and improve the way I presented myself to recruiters.
But it’s not magic; you have to work hard