How to increase the chances of finding a job and get maximum invitations to prospective interviews with a minimum of time
In this publication I give recommendations based on the experience of searching for both work and employees. All recommendations are tested by experience and formulated in the form of specific practical actions with short explanations. The recommendations are given as an example of one of the most popular job search sites.
Post your resume (at least one) in the public domain. So your resume will be found out by companies that are looking for employees without a vacancy. Employers can not post vacancies for various reasons: they are looking for a replacement for an employee who is still working and do not want them to find out about the vacancy, or they do not want competitors to know about the vacancy, or there is no account, or the organization simply prefers an independent search, because it receives a large number of postings untargeted responses to be processed.
Try to update your resume more often, at least daily (including on weekends), preferably in the morning, since according to my observations this gives the largest number of views, it is likely that recruiters prefer to start the working day with a search. Currently, this can be done with one button, both on the main site and on the mobile version for all your resumes on one page.
If you do not want to be able to easily identify you (for example, at your current place of work), then in the settings check the company that should not have access to your resume. Check the different names and legal entities of the company, as it is likely that your employer has several accounts. However, this does not provide a 100% guarantee that your current employer will not see that you are looking for work, so you can use other options in addition: do not use your last name, instead of the name, indicate the field of activity, for example, the company is in the TOP- 10 telecom, or the production of children's clothing, or an online agency.
Set up auto searches for different job title options. Respond several times to one vacancy if you do not receive a response (invitation or refusal). Only pause for a few days or a week between responses. And respond to the most interesting vacancies for you with the same name as indicated in the job description, you may need to create a separate resume for this, but this can be done in a couple of minutes, and perhaps this same resume will come in handy for other interesting vacancies.
I’ll give a small explanation of why there can be a low number of resume views due to a large number of responses. The fact is that due to the large number of inappropriate responses, many recruiters do not view all resumes, they see the responses in the form of a list in which the minimum information about the candidate is displayed, and based on the brief information they decide whether to view more detailed information.
In the same short list, you can open a cover letter, so cover letters are needed. To make it unconventional, you can take a few basic requirements from the vacancy and indicate that you meet. For example: experience as a sales manager in telecom, fluent knowledge of English, sales experience to large branded customers. Or in a cover letter you can summarize your experience and indicate achievements: 5 years of work as a sales manager, 5 times became the best seller of the month for the last year, etc. I will not advise you to do a resume specifically for a particular vacancy, as is often recommended in a large number of articles on this topic, but I urge you to make changes to the cover letter template for vacancies that are especially interesting for you, which will show that you have carefully read the vacancy requirements and comply with them.
Try to be in touch by phone, as a number of recruiters prefer to start contact from a call, and in the event of a phone call, especially after several attempts, they will not try to contact you in another way.
If there are particularly interesting vacancies, and all of the above measures have not yielded results, then try to find this vacancy on the company’s website, or in its official representations in social networks or channels in messengers, and send your resume. You can also use sites and social networks to search for contacts of the HR service or its employees and try to contact them directly. If you still don’t get an answer to private messages, you can write openly in the comments that you are waiting for an answer to your resume (if you do not hide the fact of a job search). If even in this case you do not receive an answer, then you can write to the heads of the respective departments. Just do not do all this at the same time, it can cause a negative for recruiters, which certainly will not improve your chances.
If you are looking for a job in the open, you can indicate this in your profiles on social networks. Then you need to place your resume (or a mini-resume with positions, periods of work and the names of the companies in which you worked) and briefly describe what kind of work you are looking for.
You can specify in cases where your salary expectations are in the mid-market range (taking into account your experience and skills), and you do not want to receive invitations for interviews in companies where the pay will be lower. But note that in this case, this parameter can also be a cutting factor.
Salary expectations below the market level can scare off serious companies and cause interest from unstable and doubtful organizations, so I do not recommend indicating them if there is enough time to look for a job. But can be used for urgent cases.
Indication of income above the market level is acceptable for managers and high-level specialists who can afford to look for work for several months, as this is a very strong cut-off factor.
Sometimes a test or a small task is necessary to respond to a vacancy that interests you. If this takes a little time and does not require a lot of effort from you, then I recommend that you complete it, as it is often used to reduce the number of inappropriate responses to a vacancy.
If the test is difficult for you or you need a lot of time, then evaluate how interesting the vacancy is for you, whether it is worth the time.
If we are talking about a test task that does not have standard solutions, but requires an individual approach, then, as a rule, it is advisable to first meet with company representatives to better understand what exactly is expected of you. But if the vacancy is really interesting and the company is serious, then perhaps it makes sense to do a test task, since, in my experience, the percentage of candidates who are truly responsible for completing test tasks is quite low, which gives you a good chance to stand out against the general background .
I hope that this material will be useful and will help in finding a job, but do not forget that there are individual characteristics and different circumstances, therefore, applying the above recommendations, treat them as possible, but not exhaustive options for action, and evaluate their effectiveness precisely on your example.
I would be glad if share your experience.
Open Resume
Post your resume (at least one) in the public domain. So your resume will be found out by companies that are looking for employees without a vacancy. Employers can not post vacancies for various reasons: they are looking for a replacement for an employee who is still working and do not want them to find out about the vacancy, or they do not want competitors to know about the vacancy, or there is no account, or the organization simply prefers an independent search, because it receives a large number of postings untargeted responses to be processed.
Try to update your resume more often, at least daily (including on weekends), preferably in the morning, since according to my observations this gives the largest number of views, it is likely that recruiters prefer to start the working day with a search. Currently, this can be done with one button, both on the main site and on the mobile version for all your resumes on one page.
If you do not want to be able to easily identify you (for example, at your current place of work), then in the settings check the company that should not have access to your resume. Check the different names and legal entities of the company, as it is likely that your employer has several accounts. However, this does not provide a 100% guarantee that your current employer will not see that you are looking for work, so you can use other options in addition: do not use your last name, instead of the name, indicate the field of activity, for example, the company is in the TOP- 10 telecom, or the production of children's clothing, or an online agency.
Job Postings
Set up auto searches for different job title options. Respond several times to one vacancy if you do not receive a response (invitation or refusal). Only pause for a few days or a week between responses. And respond to the most interesting vacancies for you with the same name as indicated in the job description, you may need to create a separate resume for this, but this can be done in a couple of minutes, and perhaps this same resume will come in handy for other interesting vacancies.
I’ll give a small explanation of why there can be a low number of resume views due to a large number of responses. The fact is that due to the large number of inappropriate responses, many recruiters do not view all resumes, they see the responses in the form of a list in which the minimum information about the candidate is displayed, and based on the brief information they decide whether to view more detailed information.
In the same short list, you can open a cover letter, so cover letters are needed. To make it unconventional, you can take a few basic requirements from the vacancy and indicate that you meet. For example: experience as a sales manager in telecom, fluent knowledge of English, sales experience to large branded customers. Or in a cover letter you can summarize your experience and indicate achievements: 5 years of work as a sales manager, 5 times became the best seller of the month for the last year, etc. I will not advise you to do a resume specifically for a particular vacancy, as is often recommended in a large number of articles on this topic, but I urge you to make changes to the cover letter template for vacancies that are especially interesting for you, which will show that you have carefully read the vacancy requirements and comply with them.
Try to be in touch by phone, as a number of recruiters prefer to start contact from a call, and in the event of a phone call, especially after several attempts, they will not try to contact you in another way.
Additional channels
If there are particularly interesting vacancies, and all of the above measures have not yielded results, then try to find this vacancy on the company’s website, or in its official representations in social networks or channels in messengers, and send your resume. You can also use sites and social networks to search for contacts of the HR service or its employees and try to contact them directly. If you still don’t get an answer to private messages, you can write openly in the comments that you are waiting for an answer to your resume (if you do not hide the fact of a job search). If even in this case you do not receive an answer, then you can write to the heads of the respective departments. Just do not do all this at the same time, it can cause a negative for recruiters, which certainly will not improve your chances.
If you are looking for a job in the open, you can indicate this in your profiles on social networks. Then you need to place your resume (or a mini-resume with positions, periods of work and the names of the companies in which you worked) and briefly describe what kind of work you are looking for.
Indication of the desired income
You can specify in cases where your salary expectations are in the mid-market range (taking into account your experience and skills), and you do not want to receive invitations for interviews in companies where the pay will be lower. But note that in this case, this parameter can also be a cutting factor.
Salary expectations below the market level can scare off serious companies and cause interest from unstable and doubtful organizations, so I do not recommend indicating them if there is enough time to look for a job. But can be used for urgent cases.
Indication of income above the market level is acceptable for managers and high-level specialists who can afford to look for work for several months, as this is a very strong cut-off factor.
Passing tests and completing test tasks
Sometimes a test or a small task is necessary to respond to a vacancy that interests you. If this takes a little time and does not require a lot of effort from you, then I recommend that you complete it, as it is often used to reduce the number of inappropriate responses to a vacancy.
If the test is difficult for you or you need a lot of time, then evaluate how interesting the vacancy is for you, whether it is worth the time.
If we are talking about a test task that does not have standard solutions, but requires an individual approach, then, as a rule, it is advisable to first meet with company representatives to better understand what exactly is expected of you. But if the vacancy is really interesting and the company is serious, then perhaps it makes sense to do a test task, since, in my experience, the percentage of candidates who are truly responsible for completing test tasks is quite low, which gives you a good chance to stand out against the general background .
I hope that this material will be useful and will help in finding a job, but do not forget that there are individual characteristics and different circumstances, therefore, applying the above recommendations, treat them as possible, but not exhaustive options for action, and evaluate their effectiveness precisely on your example.
I would be glad if share your experience.