Applying for jobs and want to get into the top 10% of applicants immediately?
1. Is any of my experience (no matter how short - yes, side projects and internships count) directly relevant to the keywords in the job description?
2. Do I have any transferable skills (if from another industry or role) that are directly relevant to the responsibilities of the role that I'm applying to?
3. Is how I talk about myself on my resume and more importantly (yes, more) LinkedIn directly related to what would be asked of me on the first 30 days of the job if I get this role?
If the answer is no, move on to the next opportunity.
Every week I see someone post here on LinkedIn upset about the fact that they've applied to 300+ jobs and haven't heard back.
If you're in the same boat, ask yourself - what percentage of these opportunities are directly relevant to me specifically? For high volume applicants, the answer is usually less than 10%.
If you double or triple the effort that you put into your top 30 job applications, you can stop wasting your time on the other 270 irrelevant ones that have a near 0% chance of working out.
What does that effort look like?
Having different versions of your resume and cover letter depending on the job
Trying to figure out who the hiring manager is, and following up with them directly over LinkedIn or Email
Reaching out cold to people at your target company and asking for informational interviews, or just some time to learn about their experience and career
Following up with C Level people at your target companies if you're targeting smaller startups (5-30 people)
Everyone you're connected to on this platform that has the job you want has likely done a variation of what I covered above.
If you're looking for opportunities specifically in tech and feel stuck, we invite you to get some direct guidance from our team here at School16 - at no cost. We want to help you put your effort where it counts, and get the role that your talents deserves.
