Achieve a 10-to-1 Application to Interview Ratio

Are you applying for hundreds of jobs and not hearing anything back? If so, this newsletter edition is for you.

When we apply for jobs, there are now automated screening tools in place that weed the "non-qualified" applicants out. This reduces the number of applicants an actual human recruiter has to sift through before choosing who interviews. When someone approaches me about job search help, I always ask them where they're getting stuck in the process. That can tell a lot about what part of their strategy they need to tweak. Here's how my thought process goes:

• If you're applying to jobs and getting automated email rejections or worse, ghosted...your resume is the problem.
• If you're applying to jobs and getting invited to an initial phone screen with a recruiter, but not getting invited to a second round...your interview skills are the problem.
• If you're applying, getting past the phone screen, and interviewing with the hiring manager, but not getting a job offer from the company...you're not doing a good enough job of convincing them you're a good ROI (return on investment...aka the juice isn't worth the squeeze).

In all my experience helping thousands of job seekers, 90% of you are in the first category. The good news is, it's an easy problem to fix. Problems one and two are a bit more tricky. This article addresses a few things you can do to make it to the phone screen stage.

The first rule of job searching is: you MUST be networking with at least 3 people per company you apply to.

Think about it. All the layoffs happening right now is like dumping a bunch of big fish into a pond. A lot of highly qualified people are competing with you for that one job. You have to do things to stand out. One way to stand out is to show the hiring team (recruiter + hiring manager) that you're REALLY interested in the job after applying. I'd say 85% of applicants (just a guess) just apply and then move on to the next job application. Recruiters want to hire someone who will be excited about the role. That will increase their chances of staying at the company longer, making it worthwhile to spend all that time training and onboarding you as a new employee. Alternatively, if someone is applying to hundreds of jobs, and takes the first one offered, they may not like it and leave within a year. (this is what my TedX talk was about, watch it here).

So what can you say to network with a recruiter or hiring manager? Here's an example script:

Hi, I've just applied for job 234 at your company and I wanted to introduce myself. With my 10+ years of project management experience, plus my affinity for thriving in a fast paced work environment, I'd be a great fit for this role. I'm attaching my resume and I can make myself available for an intro call if the recruiter is open to it. Best, Allison.

Send this to a recruiter or a hiring manager on LinkedIn.

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Don't know who the recruiter is, doesn't matter. Send it to any recruiter at the company in the department you've applied to (do some research on Google). This recruiter may forward this message and your resume to the appropriate recruiter. I've seen it happen.

That's how you set yourself apart when networking.

Let's say you've networked and you're getting a 10% response rate from these people (that's typical from what I've seen). Now one of them has invited you to an initial phone screen interview.

CONGRATULATIONS, you've made it past the first screen point.

To prepare for the phone screen, look the recruiter up on LinkedIn. Notice any hobbies? Do you have any connections in common? Did you go to the same college? Are you from the same city? Get to know them as well as you can.

Next, play around with Chat GPT (or Gemini) and prep your answer to the question: tell me about yourself. This is most likely the first question you'll be asked in the phone call. Tell Chat GPT it's a career coach, give it the company name you're applying to, give it the job description, and give it your resume, ask it to help you come up with an answer to the 'tell me about yourself question'. The prompt might look something like this:

Chat GPT prompt for 'tell me about yourself' question prep: You're an interview prep coach. I have an initial phone screen coming up with Apple and your task is to help me prep for it, specifically the question 'tell me about yourself'. I'm going to give you two things one at a time, when prompted by you: my resume and the job description. Ready?

Practice answering this interview question in the mirror 20 times until it seems natural. DO NOT READ IT OFF YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN DURING THE INTERVIEW. We can all tell when you're reading a rehearsed answer. This will probably disqualify you from the application process. We want to see the real you, the authentic you. Practice will help you polish up your answers.

Now you're beginning to develop a strategy that gets you at least a 10-to-1 application-to-interview ratio. To learn more about unique things you can do to stand out as a job seeker, join my job search mentorship group. We have a 14-day money-back guarantee so you can try it risk-free and check out what types of support I offer.

Join me here: https://www.skool.com/career-catalyst/about