The trick to landing an interview.
Job hunting is never easy. I spent 9 months applying with little success before I finally figured out how to play the game. I landed my dream job 2 weeks later! Here’s how I did it.
This story is about my experience job hunting for entry level developer roles, but in a world of “easy apply” and online applications, I think the advice at the end could help anyone struggling to land an interview.
In 2020 I started a coding bootcamp, and thus began my journey into my new career as a Front End Developer. After graduating from the program 10 months later, I thought the hard part was over. Gee was I wrong. The job hunt was so much worse.
I thought I did all the right things:
- I built a portfolio and had a project I was proud of to show off.
- I wrote, and rewrote, my cover letter and resume (too many times to count).
- I applied for internships, apprenticeships, part-time jobs, full-time jobs, from startups to Google.
- I catered every cover letter and resume submission to fit the role I was applying for.
Still no luck! Every application just started to feel like a shot in the dark. Most companies just ghosted me, or sent a generic “Thanks for applying, but no” email 3 months later. The few that I did land an interview with just weren’t a good fit, either for me or the company.
It’s discouraging, putting all this time and effort into something, and getting nothing back; no feedback to learn from and apply to the next attempt, nothing. So you just keep rewriting your resume and cover letter, redoing your portfolio, joining more hackathons, thinking you must be doing something wrong. Sound familiar? Well here’s what I learned about 9 months in:
Most of the jobs I landed an interview for I either had an internal referral or I had spoken to someone in the company. Most of my friends who were working in the industry landed their first job because they knew someone who knew someone. Most of the people I spoke to had similar experiences to me, and hadn’t gotten anywhere after months of applying and a handful of interviews. So I switched up my strategy.
Instead of sending out as many applications as I could every day. I started doing some digging, and really using LinkedIn to my advantage. I would only apply to job postings that either included the name of the recruiter, or where I could find a recruiter to reach out to through their company’s LinkedIn page. After applying to a role I was interested, I would immediately follow up with a message along the lines of:
Hi {recruiter or someone in close proximity to the role},
I just submitted my application for the {role you just applied to} position at {the company} and was wondering if you might be able to connect me with someone I could speak with to learn a bit more about the role and the company.
Thank you so much,
Claire
and guess what? It worked! I went from blasting out hundreds of applications with little response, to probably 8/10 messages being responded to within 24 hours. It was a game changer. Within 2 weeks I had accepted an offer from a company that checked all my boxes, and I was being SUPER picky. More on that next time.
So stop it with the spray-and-pray applications. It’ll only get you down! Do a little research, and take the time to try to make a human connection with the recruiter or someone on the inside. It’ll show that you have initiative, genuine interest in the role, and hopefully get you one step closer to your next (or first) job!
Happy hunting!
What are some of the biggest struggles you’ve faced in the job hunt, or some of the tools that have worked best for you? Share in the comments :)