I will apply for a Global Talent Visa in the Exceptional Promise category. I would appreciate your feedback to point out the strengths and weaknesses of my application documents.
Here is a summary of my qualifications and documents.
CV: I’m currently working as an AI Engineer (Technical Lead) in the UK branch of top 5 biotechnology company in the world, producing precision microscopes. I completed my master’s degree in artificial intelligence in the UK, and now I have a total of nearly 3 years of work experience as an AI Engineer, they are all product based company.
RL 1: from CEO of my first company that I worked 1.5 year in Turkey. It clearly explains the projects that I’ve done, and my contributions to the company.
RL 2: from my master’s thesis supervisor which is a Professor in Data Science. It highlights the outcomes of a course I took from him, and my thesis, and talks about the possible contribution of my work during university to the digital sector.
I can replace the RL2 with the another one which is from my ex-manager in UK but I’ve worked only 5 months in there, he is CTO in start up company
RL 3: from VP, Director of R&D of my current company. It explains the my contributions to our products’ AI features. It talks about the internal and external developments I have made, and clearly explains the impact of my projects on the industry.
MC1
Reference Letter from Engineering Manager of my department. Points the each projects that I’ve worked on, tells about my significant and innovative contributions.
3 news clippings from biotechnology newsletter websites about big companies using our products. In these news clippings, the names of some of the projects I have implemented are also mentioned.
(I can add some pictures and slides of the conferences that our sales team. These conferences are about introducing AI features that I have been working on and developing. I can back it up with a letter from the person who has done the conference.)
Sales report of our company and a letter from sales director which points to my contributions to these sales.
Employment contract + bonus (my salary is average in UK for same position)
OC1.1 (Innovation)
A feedback letter from one of our customer who uses one of my projects (*x AI feature). It explains, how this AI feature reduced their workload, and mention about the how innovative this AI feature. The letter has some example images of the output of this AI feature.
Proof of my contribution to this project - Screenshots of commits in private Github, and private release note for this project. (all the commits were done by me, there’s a tag on the release note saying it was created by me.)
A letter from a Product Manager showing potential customers for this *x AI feature, and opening new markets for the company.
OC1.3 (significant contribution)
Validation reports of two different versions I developed for an *y AI feature, which is actively used by many of our customers and is the main feature of our products.
These validation reports clearly show that model success (%30) and model speed (by %20) have increased compared to previous versions with the numbers and graphs.
Proof of my contribution to this project - Screenshots of commits in private Github, and private release note for this project. (all the commits were done by me, there’s a tag on the release note saying it was created by me.)
In a customer demo using *y AI feature (previous model), a report comparing the demo results and the new model results I developed and highlighting the success of the new model, and a letter, supported by the Product Manager, to the customer who declined to purchase the product, expressing renewed interest in the new development.
Any feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of my application would be extremely valuable.
RL:
You need to make sure that they know your details of work for at least 12 months. Therefore your RL2 backup will not be sufficient. And the master’s thesis supervisor
MC: = Weak. You will need to highlight more on what make you different to the other person in the similar roles. #1 reference letter and #2 news clipping are good for supporting the main evidence. #3 Sales report. Did you lead the growth of the company’s project? #4 You need to compare your salary to the current market (country) you are in. Include the salary benchmark in the evidence too. Equal to the average benchmark will not be sufficient evidence.
OC1 = You can still make this with a few adjustments.
Your #1 could be the main evidence here, while your #2 and #3 could be the supporting evidence to make #1 stronger, relevant and authority.
OC3 = seems ok.
Ensure to highlight the business impact in term of presentation, report, tables, figures, graphs and etc. Make sure that some of the referee talk about your contribution to the project success.
Overall, you still need to adjust things around and ensure that you will have at least 1 strong evidence to meet the criteria of promising talent route.
Thank you for detail feedback, I really appreciate it.
For RL: The professor I received the letter from was not only my thesis advisor, but also the professor of a course on artificial intelligence that I took during my master’s degree. In other words, it corresponds to a period of about a year for him to know my work. I thought it would be useful for me to use my professor’s letter because he has a great reputation in the field of artificial intelligence, and I also could not find another expert in this field, with whom I have worked for more than 1 year for recommendation letter.
I think I’m going to take a risk on this and hope it’s recognised
For MC:
3# The sales reports show the sales figures of the projects I am working on, especially those mentioned by my manager in the reference letter. In addition, this sales report is supported with explanations by the senior officials responsible for sales.
4# I have a master’s degree in artificial intelligence from a UK university, graduating with distinction. Since the fact that my salary is close to the average will not help me much, do you think I should replace this evidence with my master’s certificate? It can be a proof compatible with the recommendation letter I received from my teacher.
For OC1: I’m kind of happy with this #1 The referee is CEO of the biotechnology company based in UK. She has PHD, and solid background in this area.
For OC3: #4 The demo report has, comparison metrics, numbers, graphs that clearly shows the improvements for this AI Feature. And also this report is backed up by our Global Product Manager letter, which talks about my contributions on that feature, and how we saved this sale.
These were really helpful feedback, thank you so much for this help.
I’ll carefully read your feedbacks again and again. I’ll adjust my documents based on your feedback.
@yunuskalkan I suggest not putting your salary and the benchmark, as they are not a piece of strong evidence. You can try to add the master with distinction, but it will just take up a maximum of 1 page of your available 3-page limit. Use the rest of the space wisely.
You can also use this evidence on something else, ie: new RL from your ex-manager in UK, business performance similar to OC3, promotion, etc. to demonstrate your exceptional talent compared to the other persons.
In my opinion OC1 is very weak. OC3 is ok
MC - need adjustment, good recommendations from the members above.
OC1: it’s not enough to just work with AI. Today every 2nd person in IT declares that. You need to prove that your technology is outstanding. You need to leave no doubts in innovativeness.
Sales report would be better to put here. Also you need to show that this technology is on the market. Show it through the articles / news.
MC - remember it should be your direct leadership , not sales department, not team. You need to show everything from the point “what I have done”. Not “We”.
