In recent times you have sent hundreds, if not thousands, of resumes in response to the most diverse job advertisements. But you begin to believe that it is useless: you have not received a single reply to any of the shipments made! It is at these moments when your doubts begin to surface. Will you be doing something wrong?
Have you ever applied for dozens of jobs online only to receive no news, or even a hint of interest? You are not alone. Job seekers often say that applying for a job online is like throwing their resume into a black hole. It seems that this is not far from the truth. Almost only 2% of candidates who apply for a job online manage to get an interview. For those of you who aren’t great at math, that barely equates to 1 in 50 candidates getting an interview!
Are you aiming at the right target?
Surely you think that this is a very obvious and not very logical question. You know better than anyone what kind of job you are looking for, right? We do not doubt it, but if you are not called for an interview after sending many resumes, perhaps it is because, despite your good will, you are not on the right track. Stop for a moment and reflect before continuing with your extensive investigation. And it is not the same to pretend to work as a waiter than as an electrician, no matter how much you have had a relationship with both professions.
Therefore, before applying for a job or submitting your spontaneous application to a company, you should analyze what your most outstanding skills and professional goals are. If you manage to be very clear about these points, you will be able to know which are your most suitable jobs and you will save a lot of time and useless effort by sending CV without rhyme or reason.
A professional image, something essential
Never forget that a curriculum vitae is the best tool you have at your disposal to “sell” your candidacy as the ideal one for a job. Therefore, it is important that you do your best to get a resume with a professional image whose reading generates positive responses and, therefore, avoids you being unemployed for months. Without a doubt, this will be your best investment for the future. If you want to get more than one company to respond to your job applications, it is essential that you personalize your resume. Make an effort to write a specific CV for each position, adapting it 100% to its characteristics and you will see how effective you can be in your job search.
We propose a little trick that summarizes what has been said so far: if you can’t get an appointment for any job interview, try to put yourself in the place of the selector of each process and write your resume according to what he wants to read. You will be able to stand out above the rest. And do not forget that your success depends on it!
Stand out above the rest
It is very common for a job offer to bring together more than 500 applicants. How can you ensure that your resume does not get lost in the tide of papers from all of them? If you want to make sure that the recruiters read it, and therefore give you the opportunity for an interview, you have to be very clear that the key is in the difference. Try to get out of the stipulated channels of sending resumes and try to reach the company in a more original way than the others. Why not, for example, publish your CV on the Internet and send the address of your website to the human resources managers of the company where you want to work? Today you have at your fingertips numerous possibilities that can make your creativity and desire to excel evident.
Your resume is too long or too short
Well yes, there is a middle ground that recruiters look for when it comes to resume length. With a CV of 1 or 2 pages, you will not go wrong. If it’s only half a page, it means you have little to brag about or just haven’t bothered to write a detailed account of your work history. If you stretch your resume to 3-4 pages, it reveals that you have no filters and lack the all-important ability to focus on the most important skills. Some will tell you that a resume should ideally be a single page, but most recruiters will still be fine with going through a 2-page resume.
Your skills do not match the job description
Any recruiter will tell you that a resume that reflects the job description will have a much better chance of being selected. Too many people prioritize quantity over quality by applying for hundreds of jobs from the same CV, hoping to find a match. Rather than wasting your time applying for lots of jobs you’re not even sure you want (or maybe didn’t even know about!), focus a little more on the jobs you want.. Look for positions that give you some heart palpitations and that match your skills and professional expectations. Then spend the time it takes to make sure your resume is tailored to reflect the skills and requirements of the job description. Hiring managers usually list the skills and qualifications they ideally want in their job description (they don’t always expect candidates to have them all!).
Read More: Why should we hire you?
So if you can demonstrate that you possess several of these ideal qualities, you could naturally place yourself as the ideal candidate for the position. Hiring managers usually list the skills and qualifications they ideally want in their job description (they don’t always expect candidates to have them all!). So if you can demonstrate that you possess several of these ideal qualities, you could naturally place yourself as the ideal candidate for the position. Hiring managers usually list the skills and qualifications they ideally want in their job description (they don’t always expect candidates to have them all!). So if you can demonstrate that you possess several of these ideal qualities, you could naturally place yourself as the ideal candidate for the position.
Your resume doesn’t stand out in any way
Each position posted online receives an average of over 100 applications. This means that you are in competition with many people! If your resume blends in and looks like the other 99 applications the recruiter has received, chances are your resume is going unnoticed. Make sure it reflects your personality a bit. We’re not asking you to overdo it by using weird colors and fonts (please refrain!) to grab attention, but a unique and tasteful concept or a bit of personality or humor could go a long way to make your resume a little different from the norm. This is especially the case if you are in a creative field. When you’re competing with so many people, as with online job applications, it’s crucial that you grab some attention. Just be sure, once you’ve caught a recruiter’s attention, to follow up with a resume that contains all the necessary information.
Review your resume until exhaustion
Now we are not going to tell you again what the characteristics of a perfect resume are, but we do want to make you notice that it is very easy to make absurd mistakes when writing it. Never stop reviewing your CV before sending it to avoid slips that will later be impossible to solve.
Think that an error in any of the factors mentioned in this article may be key to your application being rejected even before you are scheduled for an interview. Before thinking that your professional experience is not good enough to get a job, analyze all these points. You will see that they are key for you to succeed in sending your resume!