We see thousands of applications every month at Landing.jobs.
And we’ve seen everything.
People submitting 40 job apps in half an hour? Check!
UX Designers applying to DevOps positions? Uh huh!
Application letters that make a tweet look like a novel? You got it!
Thankfully, we see way more good-to-great ones than not (you guys rock!), but even great candidates can let themselves down with a lack of effort (there’s almost always a direct correlation with an application letter a couple of sentences’ in length and a rejection), or failing to see that their cover letter is actually just part of the application process.
There are three big areas you need to consider when you open yourself up for review in a hiring process:
1. Application Letter
This is your one and only opportunity to share WHY YOU’RE THE PERFECT FIT for that job opening before getting an interview.
What does “This opportunity is perfect for me”, “I’ve have the required skills” or “10+ years of experience in IT” say about you? Because not only does it stand out, it feels like a copy-pasted template from a linkbait article you found on the first page of Google when you write.
The more unique and interesting, the better the attempt to match your skills, experience and life story to the job offer in question, the more likely you are to not get immediately rejected, and noticed for further review.
2. Curriculum Vitae
This is (still) the most used tool to describe your professional experience. Make an effort to squeeze your 20 years of professional experience in something no longer than 3 pages, please. If you have a great application letter, this is the next representation of you that’s checked out.
Depending where you are in your career, you either need to be able to tell a lot about a little, or a little about a lot. It’s a skill in itself, but one which has parallels in the work you’ll inevitably be doing. Can you ingest, integrate, interpret and execute your own history into a compelling couple of pages?
You will very rarely get past this stage if you don’t learn how to.
3. Social Networks
Guess what? When CVs are right-clicked into a new browser tab, quickly behind it are clicks on your available social profiles, and searches to find where else you might be. Your LinkedIn, GitHub, Behance, Twitter and Facebook are all up for review, so ensure that where possible, you’ve been astute about how you present yourself in the digital world.
It’s not just a playground divorced from reality — it’s a digital representation of different facets of you, and all are game when it comes to figuring out if you’re going to be a good match for the roles you’re going for. They’re not just “look at me” tools, they show an ability to interact in the world you’re building in your profession, to connect with colleagues, coworkers and other connections, and a chance to connect to new opportunities.
If you don’t have a social profile yet, go create one, and don’t forget to update your confidential Landing.jobs profile while you’re at it! At least you won’t get this kind of thing happening to you through us!
My dad just sent me an email saying that a recruiter reached out to him on LinkedIn to ask if I was receiving his messages.
— Alex Sexton (@SlexAxton) September 15, 2015
With this trio of considerations out of the way, and this might seem obvious now that you’re reading it, but if you’re going to bother putting your hat in the ring for a job, then you really do need to do your research.
Read the job description carefully
Are you a senior pro actually applying for a junior level position? Uh oh. Entirely missing prerequisite skills or experience? A Java Developer throwing their hat in the ring for a JavaScript role?
You really need read, re-read and then read again to make sure you have fully understood the job offer before you go any further. You don’t want to waste your valuable time on pushing a square peg into a circular hole.
Study the company, explore why that job opening exists
What’s their mission, their vision? Who’s behind all that? What products and services does it provide? Who are its customers? What’s the business model? Where do they operate? How many people do they employ? What’s the company culture like? What do they value? What department will you be working in and who leads that? What piece of the puzzle is this role you’re considering?
And are you a good fit?
Find mutual connections with the employer
Ah, the power of referrals.
It can make all the difference being mutually or even directly connected. Knowledge of your existence, and your professional worth can help you get much further down the funnel for consideration. Don’t be afraid to ask for more information from those you know in order find out more behind the scenes.
Likewise don’t be afraid to ask for a referral for the job through us! Did you know that 40% of successful hiring processes are based on recommendations? So go ahead and ask for one, it will added tremendous value to your application (don’t ask your mother, she thinks you’re the best no matter what!).
Identify keywords and tailor your CV
The job offer title may be a “Back-End Developer”, but read closer and you’ll see you can’t afford to have a CV as generic. Are you a Ruby on Rails master? Then come out and say it. Specify the core technologies you have the most experience and fluency in. Add the additional ones you know you can pass off knowledge of if pushed further.
Let the world know what it is you did at university, and what projects you’ve worked on on the side. Describing all this in some detail will provide the keywords necessary for your application to get through the initial filters in any hiring process. So dig deep and reflect that in your CV!
Go back and review EVERYTHING!
Double-check you haven’t missed out entire words in the middle of sentences. Correct those typos when you started your draft in a late-night surge of passion and concentration. Make sure you really do know how to spell onomatopoeia (not sure how you’d relevantly fit that into an application, but try us! :P).
We’re always trying to help candidates increase their odds of getting hired for every job they go for on Landing.jobs. Hopefully the above will help you nail that dream job. Do the best you can and we’ll do what we can to make it a reality.
Let’s do it!
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