The Preferred Application Process

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter answers a question from someone about the preferred application process.

What Recruiters Know That You Don’t: They Aren’t Watching All Those Screening Videos

Hi! I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I’m referred to as The Big Game Hunter because I’ve been hunting down leaders and staff organizations for more than 40 years. Question on Quora today.

When applying to jobs, do you prefer filling out forms, one-click solutions like LinkedIn, you know, you automatically apply using your LinkedIn profile, or simple career specific email address? I have no idea what that is. So, let me just start by saying, the question has a flaw to it. And the flaw is, you know, it suggests, do you prefer the ease of doing something? And you’re looking at the question from the job hunter perspective.

And from the job hunter perspective, everyone wants the one-click solution because it involves no effort. But there’s a flaw. And the flaw is, what gets results? And frankly, one-click solutions, you know, that are just sending off your LinkedIn profile, fail more often than not, because the profile is not tailored to demonstrate what you can do for the organization.

It’s a generic thing like the same generic resume sent to job after job. And the result is, you’re thinking of ease of submission. I’m thinking of demonstrating the fit and employers are thinking of demonstrating the fit.

Now, if your profile happens to do it, great, but most don’t. So, don’t take the lazy way out of here. Submit a resume.

Should I Connect With People on LinkedIn Who Rejected Me for a Job?

Actually, try contacting the hiring manager, finding them using LinkedIn, seeing if you have a friend who can introduce you and going in that route, rather than just say, I’d rather just sit back and have someone else do all the work that they don’t do. So, at the end of the day, even recruiters want to see something that vaguely looks like what they’re trying to find for their clients. Again, don’t get lazy about this because you’re going to reap the consequences of that laziness.

Now, you may have the most wonderful skills on the planet, but eventually, it’s going to shift and they’re not going to be quite so dominant. Trust me, there are a lot of Java developers out there who one day were heroes and now are ordinary as the skills gotten commoditized. That’s going to happen to you, too, a Ruby professional, a PHP developer, a startup maven who has wound up ruling the roost.

Maybe you’ll never need another job again. Your firm will wind up cashing in and you’ll become a gazillionaire. But the question is, what do you prefer? And the answer should be, I prefer a submission that’s going to get the best results.

One click does not do it. I’m Jeff Altman. Hope you found this helpful.

Come over to TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a lot more there that you can watch, listen to or read to help you find work more quickly. And if we’re not already connected on LinkedIn, send a connection request to linkedin.com forward slash IN forward slash TheBigGameHunter.us. I accept connection requests from people as long as you’re not a recruiter or look like a spammer or scammer. Hope you have a great day.

Take care!

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