Kunjan Zaveri reckons he's applied for more than 1,000 jobs online since being made redundant earlier this year. But, he said, he heard back from exactly… none.
For some job seekers, hitting the “submit” button on an online job application feels like launching a CV into a black hole, never to be seen or heard from again. For Zaveri, a former human resources analyst for Cisco, it sure feels that way.
“I haven't heard anything from anyone,” said Zaveri in an email.
Zaveri, who grew up in London and now lives in Lithuania, said he wouldn’t mind it so much if the rejection came after an interview. “It at least would give me a sense of satisfaction and present me with the idea of weaknesses and areas to improve.”
The lack of any response at all — even a polite rejection form letter — is jarring and frustrating. So, what should you do if you’re constantly hitting a wall of silence? You won’t likely be able to seek feedback from the black hole of applications, but you can do a few things to improve the odds of your CV being noticed, and getting a call for an interview.
Before You Hit Send
Seven key questions to ask yourself before applying for a job.
1. Can I learn more about the job requirements and the needs of the organisation?
2. Do I meet at least 70% of the selection criteria?
3. What key words and phrases are used in the position description?
4. Can I enhance my resume to make it through the applicant tracking system?
5. Have I made it clear how I differentiate myself from other similar candidates?
6. Does my CV clearly show how I can solve the problem and add value to the organisation?
7. Have I folllowed the application instructions specified in the ad?
Source: Mary Goldsmith
Quality over quantity
For starters — and this might seem counterintuitive when you’re feeling desperate to land a job — be selective.
“No one should be applying for ‘thousands’ of jobs. Or even hundreds,” said Mary Ellen Slayter, a career expert at online job-search website Monster.com, in an email. “It's simply unlikely that someone would be qualified for that many positions to begin with. You're setting yourself up for disappointment.”
Instead, focus on whether you have the right skills and training for the jobs you actually want.
“If not, it's time to find ways to develop them, even if it's through more education or volunteer activities,” said Slayter. “No (resume) formatting tricks can overcome a lack of provable skill.”
Peppering doesn’t work
Many people make the mistake of simply peppering their CV or resume with keywords, thinking that will be enough to get them through the applicant tracking system (ATS) software that 75% of large companies use to screen applicants.
But keywords alone won’t work, according to Matt Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass, a Boston-based job market and career analytics company. ATS software has become much more sophisticated over the past few years – and applicants need to adapt their applications to that. Newer search technology offers a more “holistic evaluation” of your resume or CV than in the past, according to Sigelman. Therefore, your resume should not be a list of facts but rather a narrative that tells a story.
"A narrative resume is essentially what every resume should aspire to be, that is, something that tells the story of your professional life in such a way that it’s clear that this new job — the job to which you are applying — is the next chapter in that story," Sigelman said.
Instead of writing a generic job description for each of your work experiences and leaving it unchanged no matter what job you are applying for, a well-written narrative would adapt each job description (and other sections too) so as to emphasize the specific experiences, skills, and vocabulary that the employer is looking for, Sigelman said.
“Really your resume is an elevator pitch: why you are a great for this [particular] job,” he said. If you have been working as the director of sales and marketing, for instance, and you want to apply for a position as vice president of sales, describe the work you have been doing in a way that emphasizes the sales experience that the vice president job demands instead of the experience you have accrued. “Similarly, you may want to reshuffle what you include in any skill lists on your resume based on what you think would be of value to this employer,” Sigelman added.
Do your homework
Mary Goldsmith’s biggest pet peeve when she was an executive recruitment consultant was applicants “who didn’t bother to edit their resume to reflect the needs of the organisation, or role requirements, even when a comprehensive position description was available.”
Not taking the time to customize your resume gives a really bad first impression.
“It looked like sheer laziness, which can appear disrespectful to the person screening your application at the other end,” said Goldsmith, now a Melbourne, Australia-based executive career coach.
Research the company before you complete your application. Check to see if the organization has a company page on business networking site LinkedIn. If it does, look for clues about how to develop your application, suggested Goldsmith. See if you know anyone working there. If you do, ask them about the company and what they look for in people. Check employee profiles to get an understanding of the type of people they recruit and what they value. “Use this information to modify your application and decide if you're a likely fit and if the application is worth pursuing,” said Goldsmith.
Name dropping
If you have experience at a well-known company (in the case of Zaveri: Cisco), take advantage of it, suggested Steven Yeong, a recruiter coach at Hof Consulting in Singapore. "Continue to highlight your experience [there] in your CV,” he said in an email. And send your CV to all of the direct competitors of the company where you worked.
“Most companies have a tendency to want to hire people who have worked for competitors,” he said.
Always a better way
No matter how well you craft your resume or CV, it still can’t beat a personal contact who can recommend you to a hiring manager or recruiter. “As everything changes in job search, some things remain the same,” said Wendy Enelow, founder and director of Virginia-based Resume Writing Academy, in an email. “Networking is still the number one way to find a new position."
自从库简·扎弗里（Kunjan Zaveri）今年早些时候被解雇后，他网申了大概有一千多份工作。但，他说，他收到的回复是……零。
对一些求职者来说，网申时按下“提交”键，就像把简历发射到了黑洞，再也没有回音。对思科（Cisco）前人力资源分析师扎弗里来说，他太懂其中滋味了。
“我还没收到任何回复。”扎弗里在邮件中说道。成长于伦敦，现居住在立陶宛的扎弗里说，面试之后如果能给封拒信，他也不会这么介意。“这至少给我一种满足感，让我知道自己不足在哪，哪里还需要改进。”
一点回应都没有——就连一封礼貌的模板拒信都没有——这真是又难受又沮丧。那么，如果你的申请总是石沉大海，应该做些什么呢？想从“大黑洞”里听点回声是不太可能了，但你可以下点功夫，让简历通过筛选，并接到面试通知。
在你“发送”之前
求职前，先问问自己下面七个问题。
1.我能否再多了解一些工作要求及企业需要？
2.我是否满足了选拔标准的70%？
3.职位描述都用了哪些关键字、关键词？
4.我能否再把简历改一改，让自己顺利通过求职者跟踪系统？
5.我是否明确说明了自己比起条件相近的求职者有何优势？
6.我的简历是否一目了然地反映了我是如何解决问题，为企业增加价值的？
7.我是否按照应聘广告里说的申请流程做了？ （来源：玛丽·戈德史密斯）
“质”大于“量”
首先——这看上去可能和你急着找工作的焦虑情绪南辕北辙——就是，要有所选择。
“谁都不该申请‘上千份’工作。上百份其实也没必要，”美国在线人力资源企业巨兽公司（Monster.com）的职场专家玛丽·艾伦·斯莱特（Mary Ellen Slayter）在邮件里说道。“根本不可能有人能胜任那么多工作。你就是自找苦吃。”
你该做的，是看看自己是否具备了心仪工作的技术和培训。
“如果没有，那要花些时间提高自己这方面能力了，即使这意味着提升学历，或是参加志愿者活动，”斯莱特说道。“没有（简历）格式化技巧可以弥补你在技术上的缺乏。”
简单的美化技巧？过时了！
现在75%的大公司都用求职者追踪系统（applicant tracking system，简称ATS）软件来筛选人才。因此，很多人想当然地以为，只要用关键词美化一下简历，就可以让自己通过求职者追踪系统。
就像波士顿人才市场和职业分析公司Burning Glass的首席执行官马修·希格曼（Matt Sigelman）所言，光有关键词还不够。ATS软件在过去几年已经得到优化，更加复杂——而求职者也要顺应这一改变。希格曼表示，比起以往，进步的搜索技术让你的简历受到“全面评估”。因此，你的简历不应该只是陈述一列事实，而是要化身成一个说故事的叙述人。
“每份简历都该朝着叙述式简历的方向迈进。以这种方式陈述自己的职业生涯，清晰明了。而这份新工作——你正申请的这个职位——就是故事的下一章，”希格曼说道。
希格曼说道，不要每个工作经历的职位介绍都千篇一律，不管申请什么，都丝毫不改地提交。一份好的叙述式简历是能根据不同的职位描述（及其他部分），做出相应的调整，突出自己的特殊经历、技巧，以及雇主希望看到的“特殊词汇”。
“你的简历其实就是一个电梯游说：为什么你是这份工作的不二人选，”希格曼说道，比如，如果你之前一直都是销售和市场营销主管，你现在想应聘一个销售副董事长，在描述工作经历时，你应该着重于副董事长这份工作所需要的销售经历，而不是自己过去的经验。“同样的，你可能要根据公司的价值需求，把简历上的技能重新编排一下，”希格曼说道。
工作要做足
当还是行政招聘咨询师时，玛丽·戈德史密斯最受不了的，就是有的求职者“连简历都懒得编辑，也不费心让自己的简历反映出企业需求，或职位要求，即使详细的职位描述就摆在那儿。”
不花点时间根据需要修改简历给人的印象真的很差。
“看上去就觉得这个人很懒，不尊重筛选你简历的人员，”现为墨尔本行政职业教练的戈德·史密斯说道。
戈德·史密斯建议，在提交申请前，先搜索一下该公司。看看这家公司在商务社交网络领英(LinkedIn)上有没有公司网页。如果有，看看你的申请还有没有什么地方可以改进的。看看有没有自己认识的人在该公司上班。如果有，像他们询问该公司情况，以及公司的雇佣标准是什么。看看雇员简历，了解一下用人类型是怎么样的，以及公司看重什么。“通过这些信息来美化你的简历，估计一下自己的胜算多大，以及这个岗位到底值不值得申请，”戈德·史密斯说道。
知名公司从业经历能加分
如果你有在知名公司的从业经历（以扎弗里为例：思科），要好好利用。新加坡霍夫咨询公司（Hof Consulting）的招聘教练史蒂文·杨（Steven Yeong）建议道。“在你的简历里重点突出你在知名企业的工作经历，”他在邮件里说道。然后把你的简历发送到这家企业的直接竞争对手那儿。
“大部分公司都倾向于雇佣曾就职于竞争公司的求职者，”他说。
人脉仍是上上策
无论你怎么美化你的简历，都抵不过内部有熟人能直接向雇佣经理或招聘人员推荐的。“求职方式变来变去，有些东西还是一样的，”弗吉尼亚州简历撰写学院（Resume Writing Academy）的创始人兼主管温迪·恩尼洛（Wendy Enelow）在邮件中说道。“人脉仍是求职的首选途径。”
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