Video Transcript

So once you have a resume that you’re excited about and you’re ready to send out, there’s still one more thing to focus on and and it’s how you apply for jobs. How do you get your resume scene? Because the best resume in the world is not gonna help you if it’s not being read by the right people or not being read at all. So let’s talk a little bit about this. How to stop getting ignored. How to start getting actual interviews consistently and reliably. Quickly, easily from your effort and from your time applying for jobs. So. Step number one, stop relying on job boards talking about monster.com, indeed Linkedin’s job search function. These are all OK for 10 to 20% of your effort, but I see a lot of job seekers doing eighty 9100% of their time here. And the problem is the competition is highest here. This is where everyone goes. So your odds of getting noticed are really, really tiny, even if you do send out 100 applications in a week, which you probably could do on job boards like this.

And I think that’s why it attracts so many people, because you feel like you’re doing a lot. You’re like, OK, I sent 79 applications, but the point is to get interviews and if you’re not getting interviews. Then it doesn’t matter if you sent those 79 applications. A lot of the jobs on job boards have already been filled and employers left them up. You don’t know if your resume is even getting seen when you send it in there, so it’s not the best place to start. Step number two, stop relying on recruiters. Recruiters can really only help a small portion of job seekers. I wrote an article here. You can type in this URL if you want. I apologize. It’s kind of an odd URL to type. I think I wrote it back when I was newer to blogging and it’s not the easiest.

Careersidekick.com/should Dash I dash use Dash recruiter dash job dash search? That’s really painful for me to even read, but that’s how to get there. Type that in. Or if you just search Google for career sidekick, should I use a recruiter in my job search? It’ll come up first. Just make sure career career Sidekick is in the search that you type into Google.

But yeah, check that out if you’re interested in in how recruiters really work, how they really get paid, and who they can help. But if you’re unemployed, they’re unlikely to be able to help you. If you’re entry level, they’re very unlikely to be able to help you. If you’re changing careers at all, or changing the path you’re on, or changing industries, they’re very unlikely to be able to help you. So don’t rely on them. It’s certainly talk to them and and if they’re able to help you it’ll be a pleasant surprise. But I always say expect nothing or expect very little because then if they don’t come through and they don’t deliver any any good opportunities on your on your doorstep you’re not disappointed. It’s a big mistake to talk to 1 recruiter and assume they’re gonna do everything for you and think good. I can relax now. They’ve got me covered this week. I can take off. Don’t have to apply for any jobs myself because now I have a recruiter helping me. You’re gonna be disappointed.

And you’re going to set yourself back a week in your job search. So those are the two things to avoid relying on recruiters applying mainly on job boards. So what should you do? Let’s get into that. One, networking. Networking is incredible. It’s the fastest way to get a job, potentially, because if you come recommended to an employer, if somebody goes up to a hiring manager and says, hey, you’ve got to interview this person, she’s absolutely great. I’ve known her for a couple of years. I think she’d be perfect for this new job. You’ve just opened up on your team, that hiring manager is going to interview you. Not only that, you’re gonna skip the line and be the first person they speak with. You might even skip like a phone interview with HR.

For those initial administrative steps, the hiring manager not always, but might just bring you into their office and talk with you if you come recommended. So networking is super, super powerful. Talking to your existing network and also making new connections. Connecting to new people on LinkedIn who you think could help you or who work at the companies you’re interested in, things like that? Super super powerful.

#2 researching companies that interest you in applying directly on their website or emailing a hiring manager if you’re able to find their name. Connecting with the hiring manager on LinkedIn, that’s kind of networking though these areas merge, but even if you’re just applying on the company’s website, on their careers page through their form on their website, that’s a lot better than job boards usually. Let’s talk a bit more about these two things. So networking I already explained it has the potential to be the fastest, easiest, most pain free way to find a high paying, awesome job. It can be done even if you have no existing network. You can still do outreach on LinkedIn, make new contacts and start building it.

And this network that you build, it’s going to continue to benefit you for your whole career. The people who who cultivate a strong network in their career and keep it going, not just when they need it for one job search, but really put effort into keeping their network alive and having discussions with people and helping others instead of just trying to get help themselves. They have the easiest job searches and eventually they don’t have to apply for any jobs like quote UN quote cold. They’ve just talked to their network and say, hey, who do you know that’s hiring and that’s their whole. Web search now.

So it’s gonna benefit you for your whole career. Every time you go back on the job market, you’re going to hear about the better opportunities, the highest paying jobs, and you’ll be able to get in there really quickly for an interview without any of the painful process of applying for jobs online. However, if you’re not at that point yet, like I said, applying directly is also highly effective. Your application is more likely to be seen, it’s often faster and easier as well. Just as far as submitting your information, a lot of company websites these days, especially modern companies like technology companies and whatnot, are pretty easy to apply to on their website. So to do this, you want to find companies that interest you. You could search Google for things like technology startups in San Diego or.

Best healthcare companies in Boston or marketing companies in Southern Florida in search all types of things on Google and find a list of companies and start making a list in Excel or word or whatever you use and then you can apply on the company websites. You can e-mail the hiring manager or department head or VP if you’re able to find out their name and e-mail. Or you can message a few of their employees, employees on LinkedIn and start a conversation. This kind of merges into networking now, so I personally like to find people in the industry I’m interested in or who work at employers I’m interested in or used to work at employers I’m interested in. And you can search all of this on LinkedIn with the advanced search tools. And I’d like to ask how’s the work environment? That’s the way to break the ice.

And start a conversation. And so my message might sound like this. It might be like, hey Beth, thanks for thanks for accepting my invitation to connect. I noticed that for the past year. I noticed you’ve been on the marketing team at Microsoft now for two years. I’m in an active job search myself, and Microsoft is actually one of the companies on my list.

How have you found the work environment since joining? I always, I’ve read some good reviews online, but I always like to ask somebody first hand what it’s like to work in an organization. Is there anything you can share? And then that’s your message. So really short like that.

And it’s just a really non threatening way to break the ice with somebody. You’re not asking, hey, can you get me a job? Can you introduce me to a hiring manager? If you do that, they’re not going to to help you. You’re asking for too much upfront. But this is a really casual way to start a discussion and then maybe after a few back and forth messages they will be willing to introduce you to the hiring manager. They might even offer without you asking. If you just sound really appreciative of what they say, thank them, ask a follow-up question, and really build a quick relationship over one or two days and maybe four or five.

Messages in total. Before asking for anything big. If you want more help with all of this, I teach absolutely all of this in my new course. You can see it at careersidekick.com course. It is 50% off right now as we speak. I don’t know how long that will last, but at the time of recording this video, it’s 50% off of the list price. If you have questions about any of this, you can e-mail me as well. It’s Byron’s careersidekick.com. Happy to answer any questions you have.

Or if you just want to let me know what you thought of all this, please do. I’d love to hear if it helps you hear what could be better about it and everything like that.