To start with, this article is a sequel to my first article titled Receiving 100s of Rejections To Your Applications? Read This! It’s only been about a week since publishing that article and it reached over 800 shares in such a short span of time. I doubt it had anything to do with the catchy title.
OK, maybe Just a little…
In that post, I talked about the fact that you are using wrong methods to reach out to employers, the fake job posts, and the real recruitment cycle.
Today, I will talk about the importance of the Letter of Interest and show you how it actually works! In my next article, I will then talk about how to craft the perfect letter of interest and which tools to use to distribute the letter of interest.
So, go ahead and quickly read that article I linked above and come back here because I am still going to be here waiting for you.
This is my second post at Work It Daily so I have to exceed the already very high expectations. I’ll sure try. But if you find value in this post at the end, please feel free to share.
Very well… Let’s get started already. Letter of Interest is one tool that can absolutely land your dream job. Yes, I just used that cliché phrase; land your dream job… Don’t hold that against me but I couldn’t find another phrase in my English vocabulary to emphasize the power of this tool.
Maybe visuals will work better:
Let’s say you want to work for my employer PwC Consulting as a consultant. Assuming that you possess all the required experiences, skills, education, and determination, the usual recruitment process looks something like this for you.
See, the problem with this structure is that all those stages in pink with HR are;
Extremely competitive
Sometimes very lengthy
Just a frustrating process really…
If you started your process in this funnel from the top left corner, I’d say you have about 0.001 chance to make it to Hiring Manager interviews. Once you reach hiring manager interviews, your chances are significantly higher. As in, around 100 times better. I’d say, as a hiring manager, me and the partner for our business unit hire about 1 out of 5 applicants whom we interview. Sometimes it so happens that we just hire anyone who is lucky enough to pass the HR stages.
One of the reasons you will always have a higher passing ratio with Hiring Manager as opposed to HR is because we speak the same language.
HR and Hiring Managers look for completely different things. HR looks for certain character types, like ENTJ or ENTP to determine whether you are suitable for management consulting, whereas hiring managers are usually too busy to even know what those character types are. Also, my personal view, I don’t really believe in finding certain character types for consulting. If it was entirely up to me, I’d be looking at getting all the character types in alphabet to create the diversity. If we all possess the same perspective then we wouldn’t be able to get creative and move fast.
I will give you a weird analogy here. A horse cart with ten horses pulling it will go as fast as a cart with 200 horses pulling it. Every team needs a “that person.” What I mean by “that person” is; a certain member of the team must be the strongest in a certain area. For example, I am the presentation guy in our team. I am also pretty creative. I love presenting in front of an audience, to our clients, in general I just like presenting and I am pretty good at it. If you think I am being side-tracked here, then let me just tie this back to the content flow. This “that-person” can hardly be known by HR.
HR wouldn’t really know what kind of character that we are missing in our small business unit. In addition to usual skills, we may need the next excel master in our team or the next presentation master. We may need a proposal person or client pleaser. We may need a completely radical thinker with incredible creativity or we may need a business developer. See, in this short paragraph I must have mentioned at least ten different Myer’s Briggs character types.
Alright, so what am I suggesting?
I am suggesting that certain rules are meant to be broken, pushed, stretched…
Will you go to jail if you entirely skip the pink stages above and get in touch with the hiring manager? What is the worst that can happen? Will they blacklist you for having contacted the hiring manager directly?
Absolutely not.
If anything, I usually get quite impressed when I see a really well-written letter of interest sent to me through LinkedIn or an e-mail. I even get phone calls from potential candidates from time to time. A person who has the guts to call me on my mobile just to pitch her background definitely is worthy of a shot. She will still take the analytical tests but at least we hiring managers can pull some strings to completely eliminate the pink stages for her.
So, that’s why the Letter of Interest sent directly to Hiring Managers can just be the best bypass operation you take. Wow, this was a nice punch-line, wasn’t it?
Finally, before you go, I have one more awesomeness for you. If you want to take your career to the next level and achieve a thriving career with multinational companies then I strongly recommend you join my free 3-day video training series at Landing Interviews Guaranteed. It already transformed the lives of over 1,400 people…
See you there.
P.S. Please stay tuned. The next article will be about how to craft the best Letter of Interest. Until then, I’d really appreciate if you share this article with your friends.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert. You can learn more about expert posts here.Photo Credit: Bigstock
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.