Before applying for a job, you need to prepare, prepare, prepare. The work you do upfront will improve your results significantly. Read about three things you can do to get yourself ready.
3 Things You Should Do Before Applying to Any Job Posting
By Lou Adler
I recently spoke with a senior executive of one of the largest staffing firms in the world. She said something that blew me away – “Less than 5% of her firm’s thousands of placements per year came from people responding to job postings.” Most were people who followed the company and were already in its database of screened and qualified candidates.
In the last six months, I’ve met with hundreds of recruiters from small to mid-size external staffing firms. All of them said only 10-15% of their hires came from people who responded to a job posting. The rest were either already known by them or proactively sought out via referrals of qualified passive people.
In the past year, my firm has trained over 500 recruiters who work directly for corporations. They indicate that about 15-20% of their hires come from job postings and mostly for lower level or staff positions. The rest are already in their database of followers or employee referrals.
For job-hunters, this suggests that no more than 20% of your efforts should be put towards responding to job postings. Most of it should be focused on getting referred to these open jobs. With this idea in mind, here are three things you can do, starting right now, to find a new job.