I’ve been helping a friend out with their job search for a couple of weeks, and got an email back from them the other day:
I applied for a few more with no response still. At this point it feels like throwing out a fishing line with no bait.
I wanted to share some of my responses to them, in case you are feeling the same way. A lot of it echos things I’ve posted in the past, and I will link back to those earlier blogs when appropriate.
First, to re-state what I said yesterday: Job hunting (especially these days) is a process that takes months, and your first response could take weeks, not days. I don’t like it, you don’t have to like it, but that’s the state of things irrespective of our feelings about it. The only way I’ve found to get past this is to just keep applying. The more things I shove into my end of the pipe, the more likely something comes out the end.
SECOND – and again this is one of those “especially these days” things – the effort you put into a job application can be (not “is”, it’s not guaranteed, but it definitely helps and certainly doesn’t hurt) directly proportional to the value of the result.
At one of the spectrum is LinkedIn’s “easy apply” button. It takes almost no effort at all, just a single click. And that’s just about the value you’ll get out of it: not much. You’re certainly not likely to get a callback, and even more likely the entire thing is just a process to feed the AI machines involved.
At the OTHER end of the spectrum is maximum effort: You find a job posting and you first research the company to see what they’re all about. Then you look through LinkedIn to see if you know someone who is there. Let’s say you don’t. You then dig deeper to see if you can find people at the company who have professional interests that match up with yours. You reach out to them and ask, not for a job, but for a conversation. You just want to hear what the company is about. The culture. The strengths and weaknesses. (assuming they agree) You use that conversation to get that person to know you – not as a resume, but as a person. After 1 or 2 conversations about the company, the work, etc you mention the job posting and see if that person is willing to make an internal referral. If they are, you have a solid leg up on the process. It’s STILL not a sure-thing, but it’s better than just sending in your resume and hoping for the best.
Now that (the second option) is A LOT of work. You can’t do that for every application. So how do you choose? You do some work. You look at the company (and the role) and see if it’s a place where you not only feel like you can do the work, but that you would WANT to be part of that organization. You believe in what they make, what they do, their mission in the world. And if those things are true, you make the extra effort and do everything you can to ensure your application has the best possible chance.
SO TO SUMMARIZE
- You probably won’t hear responses from any job application for 2-3 weeks (and sometimes 5-6 weeks).
- Having an inside contact at the company is a massive boost in the likelihood you’ll move to the next step
- This is a volume game – you have to throw 100 resumes into the pipe to hear back from 1 or 2.
- NONE of this is fun, nice, or enjoyable. It also isn’t the way tech has always worked. It’s also probably not the way it will always be
But it is the way it is now, and we have to work with what we’ve got.
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