You've been browsing major job boards and LinkedIn in search of hot, delicious, and juicy offers that would send your career to the moon. After some digging, you found a job ad that offers more benefits than most Fortune 100 companies would struggle to provide. 

You dive into writing your application with a rage-fueled focus making sure your CV is dragon-slaying.

Five weeks later, you’re still stuck with your current job waiting for the callback. Argh.

What could have possibly gone wrong?! Don’t stress. 

You’re about to learn some earth-shattering strategies that will help you land your dream job in a heartbeat.

Set up a Linkedin Profile

Did you know?

A mind-boggling 87 per cent of recruiters and hiring managers lookup candidates on LinkedIn before scheduling a phone interview. If they can’t find you online, it might push your application success rate off a cliff.

But—

A blank LinkedIn profile won’t help tip the scales in your favour. If you want recruiters to throw job offers at your feet like rose petals, you need to take your profile to the max.

Below are three quick-and-dirty tips to help improve your online presence:

• Get yourself a custom LinkedIn profile URL. It’ll look good in your CV's contact information section. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a random string of characters that look everything but neat.
• Put your best face forward. Pair up with a professional photographer to take your profile photo. Also, make sure you don’t use the generic LinkedIn background picture. Instead, choose a pic that’s related to your industry.
• Ask for several recommendations.  Recommendations are valuable because they help validate your skillsets. So, reach out to people who know you professionally to pen a recommendation for you.

Make a Lip-Smacking CV

Meet Michelle—nice clear eyeglass frames. Like most hiring managers, she sifts through 250 CVs on average. Finally, she picks yours. A glance here, a glance there, and in the bin, you go.

Why?

In short, you didn’t write a good CV. But—you can flip things around. First, learn how to write an entry-level CV that rolls off the tongue. 

Next, get a pro CV template. My advice? Use Google Doc’s template. It’s free and looks delicious.

Pro tip: Always tailor your CV to a job description. Recruiters use ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to pre-screen candidates. ATS rips through CVs, compares them against the job description, and scores them for relevance. If you fail to tweak your CV, Michelle might never even see your application.

Always Provide a Cover Letter

It’s 2019. No one reads cover letters these days. They are DEAD. Stick a fork in them and twist it around, right? But—

A staggering 49 per cent of recruiters and hiring managers would disagree. 

In fact, headhunters argue that cover letters are the second-best thing you can do to improve your chances of getting the callback and ultimately, landing a job (tweaking your CV to the job ad being the first one.) So—

Always send a cover letter along with your CV unless the job description states explicitly you shouldn't do it. 

Send Just Enough Applications

Here’s the thing:

Looking for a job is a lot like a lottery. The more ballots you got, the higher the likelihood of winning. So—

If you want to land your dream job at a breakneck pace, make your application target 10-15+ per week. Want a pro tip?

Apply on Mondays and skip Fridays and Saturdays to boost your hirability by a whopping 46+ per cent.

Don’t Let Things Fall Through the Cracks

So far so good.

You now have a killer LinkedIn profile, a stellar CV, and a cover letter that kicks off shoes. You even went ahead and applied for a job that might be promising. But—

There’s nothing in your inbox. Zilch.

Solution? Follow up with Michelle in one-two weeks. She’s snowed under with applications and needs a nudge. 

Now—

If you send 10-15 applications per week, it’ll be hard to stay on top things.

That’s why you need to track job hunt metrics: Check this Zapier guide for more info (you’ll thank me later.)

Stacking It All Up

There you have it. Five tips that are as simple as Netscape and 56k modems. But—they work.

So set your best foot forward and get that dream job you’ve always wanted.

 

Max Woolf is a writer at ResumeLab. He’s passionate about helping people land their dream jobs through the expert career industry coverage. In his spare time, Max enjoys biking and traveling to European countries. You can hit him up on LinkedIn.