Submiting 500 Job Applications
Bruce Hurwitz, Ph.D.
My candidates don't leave ● My career counseling clients get job offers ● My professional writing services clients impress ● I promote the hiring of veterans & first responders ● International Top 20 Career Counselor
One of the nice things about having considerate career counseling clients is that they share with me articles they have found. One of the not nice things about having considerate clients is that they share with me articles they have found!
The problem is that some spend most of their time reading, and sharing with me, articles about resumes and cover letters. Once, it got so bad that I asked my client, "Do you want to be an expert on resumes and cover letters or do you want to get a job?" He said he wanted a job. I told him to stop researching resumes and cover letters, both of which he had paid me to prepare for him and which he said were more than satisfactory, and to start looking for a job!
He didn't. He became so obsessed about having a resume and cover letter that all the "experts" would like, that, eventually, he retired.
Ask 10 career counselors what they think of your resume and cover letter and you'll be lucky if you only get 10 contradictory opinions. The only thing that matters is results. If you are getting interviews, your resume and cover letter are fine. It is not a numbers game when it comes to the resume and cover letter, but it is when it comes to applying for jobs.
One of my considerate clients shared with me an article about persons who applied for 500 jobs and secured, in round figures, none. Of all the individuals who focused on quantity not quality of applications, only one actually got hired.
It is absolutely correct that applying for a job is a numbers game. But it is always quality over quantity. These people applied for jobs that were on-site, remote, local, in their state of residence, in another state, in their industry, not in their industry, in their field, not in their field. In other words, they applied for anything that they thought they might have a chance securing. (One, apparently, even turned his job search over to AI!) If I may be permitted a poker analogy, they went all-in when they only had an ace as a high card. Not smart in poker; not smart in conducting an effective job search.
Instead of setting a quota for the number of applications you are going to submit, add the word "quality" to the mix. Don't waste your time applying for jobs for which the employer does not want you. You can tell simply by reading the job description. Employers are not being rude, a complaint mentioned in the article, when they don't respond to an application. The applicants are being rude by wasting their time. Don't be rude!
In addition to a quota of quality applications/submissions, applicants should also have quotas, meaning targets, for the number of contributions they make on LinkedIn and other social media sites. One can never know what will appeal to someone, but they can be certain that if they become a valuable voice in their profession or industry, they will appeal to employers. As I have said before, it is better to have employers running after you than you running after them.
Submitting 500 job applications may or may not lead to employment, but it will definitely lead to frustration, anxiety, backache, and eye strain!
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11moGreat advice Bruce! Get specific in your job search and focus on sending your best resume to secure an interview! Focus on a perfect match before you apply! Increase your odds of getting invited for an interview!