Are you on the lookout for a Job?
Are you on the lookout for a new job? It’s a good time to hunt for work: The labor market is tight right now, so there are lots of great opportunities!
But because it’s easier than ever to apply for a job online, hiring managers consistently report that they’re overwhelmed with applications. Many openings receive hundreds or even thousands of applicants. How can you stand out from the crowd?
You’ll need a good strategy if you want to get the best jobs. With the right tactics, you’ll make a lasting impression, get through the selection process, and be in a good position to negotiate a high salary.
There’s good news here: Most of your competitors submit ineffective job applications. Resume spamming is common. Applicants from out-of-country rarely make it past initial screening.
It’s not hard to make an impact, but it does require a little bit of work.
Here are some common blunders people make when applying for jobs:
Generic applications Not following clear instructions Poorly preparing for job interviews Making obviously false claims Spelling and grammar errors Poor or absent cover letters Unprofessionalism communications The list of things you shouldn’t do is probably endless. So let’s focus on where to put most of your energy:
Top 3 Job Hunting Tactics You Need To Know
- TARGET YOUR APPLICATIONS A very common piece of bad job hunting advice is that “you should apply for as many jobs as possible.” While you definitely don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket, scattershot approaches to job hunting don’t really work.
Who do you think is a more effective hunter?
A patient naturalist, hiding under camouflage, with a baited trap, an animal call, and a long-range scope, OR A screaming person alone in the woods with a machine gun Recruiters can smell under-qualified and inappropriate job applications. And when they see them, they run away.
Resume spamming is a byproduct of the internet. It’s become almost robotic to apply for jobs online. You can literally put your resume into an online service, and it will automatically match you to hundreds of jobs at a time, and apply on your behalf. But it won’t get you anywhere good.
Companies that are looking to hire hundreds of people at once usually do it because they’ve optimized the job tasks such that literally anyone can do it. And when anyone can do the job, wages are incredibly low.
Resume spamming can absolutely land you a job in a warehouse, on an assembly line, or in a scripted call center. But it won’t get you a high-skill high-salary job working at an employee-friendly company.
Did you know that recruiters only spend about 7 seconds reviewing each resume?
You should aim for quality over quantity.
Surprisingly, research suggests that just 56 percent of job seekers write out targeted applications. So when you do, you’re already in the top-half of the candidate pool.
The hardest part of applying for a job isn’t filling out a form. It’s picking the best opportunities, positioning your skills and experiences to align with the company’s needs, and staying organized and engaged throughout the recruiting process.
Targeted applications take a little bit longer, and might mean that you get fewer interviews overall. But they’re far more likely to land you a great long-term opportunity.
PERSONALIZE YOUR OUTREACH If you’ve worked in sales before, you should already know how to excel at personalized outreach. But did you know that personalized outreach is a great job-hunting tactic, too?
Your job application doesn’t start and end with a single online form. You can and should engage with a company before you submit any forms, and follow-up with them after you do. This is an especially effective tactic for sales jobs — it says that you are committed, organized, and know that you won’t always get a “yes” in the first conversation.
This does not mean you should harass hiring managers or recruiters.
Do your research. Showcase your knowledge. Avoid clichés. Explain how you can add value. Identify common interests. Ask good questions. Give people time to reply. Accept feedback and criticisms respectfully.
Ultimately, a large part of applying for jobs is showing people that they can work with you. If you’re annoying, difficult, or create problems for them, you’ve already lost the battle.