The #1 mistake job seekers make when applying online

As an undergrad at The Ohio State University, I was a marketing major and was forced to take 15-20 credits in science – and even calculus! I have never used these courses, but I took an astronomy class so am familiar with black holes. A black hole is a region of space from which NOTHING, including light, can escape.

Many job seekers refer to applying for jobs online as sending their resume into a “black hole” – because the fear they will never hear back after submitting an application.

The biggest mistake job seekers make when applying online is to just apply and move on - without tracking down the hiring manager or finding a person they know on the inside of the company to go to bat for them.

While one remedy to hearing back when applying for jobs is to ensure the resume is written properly with the correct keywords, I’m about to share a technique that can greatly improve your chances of receiving an interview after applying for a job. 

The #1 way to improve your chances of getting an interview after applying is to track down the hiring manager and send him or her a stellar resume and cover letter

After you apply for the job, track down the hiring manager, and his or her email, and directly send this person your resume and cover letter. Your objective is just to alert them that you applied for the job and share your information. That’s it. Do not call, do not pester – just inform. 

Secondly, try to find people you know at the company. See if they will put in a good word for you or write a letter of recommendation for you. 

You can accomplish this without a LinkedIn premium sales navigator account which has the advanced search. You can find these people through the search bar that comes with a free LinkedIn account:

How to reach out to the hiring manager:

1.       Determine the person’s title.

2.      Find the person’s name.

3.      Find the person’s email address

4.      Make contact, inform, and get out of the way.

Let’s break each of these down in a step-by-step fashion. You may want to bookmark this page for future reference.

1.      Determine the title of the hiring manager.

For this step, put on your thinking cap. In your last role, what was the title of your boss? For example, a marketing analyst might report to the Director of Marketing or possibly the VP of Marketing. This is the title of the hiring manager. Put this together with the name of the company, and you have the hiring manager for that position.

2.      Find the name of the hiring manager.

This step is a bit more complex. Assuming this person is on LinkedIn, you can search for the title of the person (Director of Marketing or VP of Marketing in our previous example).

LinkedIn used to have an advanced search function but took this away. For a great tutorial on how to find specific people and companies read my previous article:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-search-linkedin-free-rebecca-bosl-mba-mls

This is a tremendous resource for finding hiring managers, companies and topics of interest. You’ll want to bookmark this search tutorial for future reference.

3.      Find the email address of the hiring manager.

You don’t want to use LinkedIn inmail to contact the hiring manager, as you can’t attach your resume and cover letter. Also, tracking down the person’s actual email tells the person you took initiative and invested time in trying to find them. A good resource to find a contact’s email is this:

https://hunter.io/

You are able to purchase free or advanced accounts.

4.      Make contact, inform, and get out of the way.

When you contact the hiring manager, be brief. Simply send them a resume and a cover letter addressed to that person and state that you wanted to let them know that you applied for the position through the online job posting. Share that you look forward to having a future conversation to determine if you’re a good fit for the organization. Just a few sentences and attach the resume and cover letter in PDF format.

Note – do not email the person a second time. Do not call them unless they call you first. Because you’re going beyond the normal channel of applying online, you want to fly under the radar and be understated – you’re just letting them know you applied and you’re not asking for anything. Period. Anything more and you could come across in a negative light.

If you take these steps for every job you apply for, you have a much better chance of “escaping the black hole” of the computer that reads your online resume, and you are more likely to land an interview.

After you send in your resume and cover letter, you are given a shot at having the hiring manager open up the attachment to see if you measure up and are worth interviewing.

You’ll want to have a stellar resume and cover letter that makes the person want to pick up the phone and call you to offer an interview…..a stellar resume will have a clear job title, a great summary, and accomplishments that communicate how you create value. Also, a great resume will communicate your brand – or what makes you unique and different and why someone would want to hire you.

While you still want to spend a great deal of your job search time networking, reaching out to the hiring manager can make applying to jobs a worthwhile endeavor.

#resume #jobsearch #jobseeker #LinkedIn

Rebecca Bosl is a Career Strategist and Executive Resume Writer at www.dreamlifeteam.com – Stunning, top-tier Executive resumes that land job offers in as little as 4 weeks!