Whether you are studying, graduating soon or already working, you will face the same challenge before embarking on a new professional adventure: the job search. Despite having the right qualifications, the right skills or the right motivation, finding a job can be a real obstacle course.
In this article, I will walk you through the typical stages of a job search and offer you my best advice, particularly with regard to following up on applications, with the aim to make things easier for you in the future. Let’s go !
JOB SEARCHING: WHERE TO FIND THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU?
Wondering where to start? If you already have a career plan or a job you’ve been dreaming about, you may start browsing specialised websites and job aggregators to find out what opportunities are available to you. Here is a non-exhaustive list of these sites:
1. Job boards: These are platforms where companies share their job offers. In this category you will find Step, Monster, Welcome to the Jungle, Manpower, etc.
2. Aggregators: the algorithms of these sites scan job boards and compile all job offers. Indeed and Adzuna are examples of aggregators.
3. Professional networks: I am not talking about social networks but professional networks such as Linkedin or My Job Glasses, where the main objective is to find out about jobs and companies, to connect with professionals, and of course, to be kept up to date on professional opportunities.
4. Company career sites: If you have a specific project in mind and would like to join a specific organisation, don’t hesitate to visit their careers website!
5. Speculative applications: if no job offer corresponds to your criteria or if the company you are interested in does not have any opportunities at the moment, you can always send a speculative application in the hope of being contacted as soon as positions corresponding to your profile become available.
Do not neglect your own personal network (friends, alumni, professional network, etc.)! Indeed, 100% of the offers on the market are not visible (this is the so-called hidden job market but your network can help you to access them. Sometimes companies use their employees or candidate base to find their new nugget. This allows them both to meet candidates recommended by trusted colleagues (if the candidate has been co-opted by an employee), and to avoid investing resources (time and money) in publishing the vacancy on several platforms.
WRITING A COVER LETTER: HOW SHALL YOU STRUCTURE IT?
Let’s imagine that browsing the websites mentioned above, you have identified one or more offers that interest you. In addition to your CV, it is highly likely that the company will require a cover letter to better understand your approach. In order to best meet the recruiter’s expectations, I advise you to structure the letter as follows, in three paragraphs YOU-ME-WE :
You: why the company interests you
Me: what you can bring to the table
We: what you and the company can reach if you work together
Please be extremely careful if you decide to copy-paste your cover letter. It is possible that certain sentences in your cover letter are valid for several offers, but it is rare that the same letter can be used in its entirety. It is better to take a little more time to write a pertinent cover letter from scratch than to let your application go unnoticed because of an overly generic or incomplete message. Be original, stand out and show why you are the person they need!
HOW TO MANAGE YOUR APPLICATION TRACKING FOR A SUCCESSFUL JOB SEARCH?
If you are planning to send out several applications (which is normally the case), you will need to organise yourself to follow up on the multiple replies. In addition to saving time, this is also a step that allows you to prove your commitment and thoroughness to the companies you are applying to.
THE ESSENTIAL TOOLS FOR MONITORING YOUR APPLICATIONS DURING A JOB SEARCH
Personally, I’m a fan of the old good Excel spreadsheet but you can also use more practical tools such as Trello. They will allow you to list all the offers you have applied for in a very visual and logical way.
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN THE FOLLOW-UP OF APPLICATIONS
In my case, here are the details I usually list (you are free to include the fields that feel most important toi you, of course!):
- The name of the company
- The position I applied for
- The date I applied on
- The status of the process (application sent, telephone interview, physical interview, offer received)
- The date of the update of this status
- The salary associated with the offer
- The location / travel time from my home
- The type of contract offered
- A link to the job offer (or a screenshot) to remember the key tasks or required skills
- Employee reviews (you can find them on the internet but you can also ask former employees via Linkedin, for example. If, in addition, they have previously held the position you are applying to, you won the jackpot!)
- Your opinion on the process, the calls, etc.
Personally, I always put the name of the company first because I like to arrange my Excel spreadsheet in alphabetical order. You can also have fun with a colour code to follow the status of your processes at a glance: green for ongoing process, red for refusal, etc.
FOLLOWING UP WITH A RECRUITER: CHECK OU THESE GOOD PRACTICES
Once your CV has been forwarded to the right person, you can contact them and ask about the progress of your application as well as ask for some details about the position if necessary. However, I recommend that you don’t rush and wait a couple of weeks before this first follow-up.
To this end, sites such as APEC sometimes display the contact details of the recruitment manager. Alternatively, LinkedIn allows you to find the list of employees of each company (provided they have a public profile on this network, of course), which helps identify the person or persons likely to be in charge of recruitment within each organisation.
After the first reminder and without a response from the recruiter, you can try to contact them again the following week. When you follow up by email, consider tools such as Mailtrack, Mixmax and SalesHandy which allow you to check whether your email has been opened, when it was opened and how many times it was viewed. Handy, isn’t it?
Want to know if Luciole has more job search tips for you?
