How to Apply to a Job Online-Lessons Learned from 237 Job Applications

Are you actively looking for a job online right now and you’re applying to dozens of roles online. And it’s like it’s going into an application black hole? 

Well, in today’s video, I am talking about how to apply to roles or jobs online. And these are my lessons learned from my own 237 job applications. 

I’m going to share the do’s and don’ts of applying to jobs online. And this is inspired from all the lessons that I learned when I was suddenly laid off and unemployed for several months, and doing this job application. 

And this is obviously before I became a career coach. And I learned a ton that I now help people with on how to go about applying to jobs online. 

So what I’m sharing today goes beyond the actions that you need to take. And my hope is that you learn from my mistakes, and that you’re able to have a much smoother process when you’re applying to jobs online. 

And of course, for you to get interviews and job offers as a result. 

If you’re new here, welcome to my channel. I’m Danielle and I’m a career coach and mentor for experienced professionals who are looking to get hired for their dream role. And before I became a career coach, I was a senior sales leader and a hiring manager, I was on both sides of the interview desk for dozens of job interviews. 

And I bring this knowledge to the table to help create these videos for you and to work with my clients. And if you haven’t subscribed to my channel yet, make sure you subscribe and hit the bell to be notified when I release a new video which I’m doing every single week. 

Okay, so let’s go back to my 237 job applications. I am not recommending that you do that. But this is what I did. Because I really didn’t know how to get a new job, I was suddenly laid off, I had no idea what to do. 

And I just started applying to all these roles online on job boards and on LinkedIn. And as I mentioned, I do not recommend this because it was not effective. Now I’m not saying you don’t apply to jobs online, I’m saying there is a way to do it, that is going to be more effective. 

And that is going to leverage your time in a much better way. And I know this for a fact, because only 3% of people get hired from applying to jobs online. And I saw this firsthand. 

My first six months of job search, I got one interview, and I was working hard at these job applications, some of them would take an hour to fill out something in the applicant tracking system. 

And the interview that I got wasn’t even from a job that I applied to it was from a referral from someone in my network. So let’s start with the three things I’m going to recommend you don’t do. 

Number one, don’t click and pray. right you know the feeling you hit that button and you spend the next few days probably just hoping for a callback for an interview. I know I’ve been in those shoes. 

And the click and pray method does not work, as I’m sure you have come to realize. And so you want to be much more strategic about what you do when you do apply to jobs online. And again, I’m not saying that’s the only thing we’ll do. We’ll cover that in a moment when I talk about the do’s. 

Number two, don’t put all your job search eggs in the same basket. What do I mean by that? Well, applying to roles online is just one method. And as we mentioned, not the most effective method to get access to roles that are open to open positions. So you want to spread your time in different activities for you to secure interviews for your dream role. So what does that mean? 

Well, we’ll talk about that and the do’s and I will have very specific ways that you can generate more interviews for yourself. By spreading the time that you’re spending on applications online, you want to very smartly spread that time into other strategies that are going to be more effective. 

Do number three is don’t always answer your phone. This is going to be pretty counterintuitive. I know it was for me when I was off work for all those months. 

Of course, I was answering my phone every time the phone rang. I thought this is it. They’re calling me in for an interview. And because I had applied for so many roles, I thought, you know very important to answer my phone as soon as it rings. 

But that was a huge mistake because sometimes what actually happened is people were calling me and wanting to do a on the spot job interview or a phone screen and I could be in the middle of making lasagna. So now I would have to switch my brain really quickly to go from the lasagna making to the job interview and Half the time I didn’t even know which job it was that I’d applied for, that they were calling about. So I looked foolish. 

And I know for a fact that I ruined my chances of making it to the next stage of the interviews with some of these calls. So don’t always answer your phone. And for sure, if they’re serious, if they’re a legitimate company, the HR person or the recruiter or the hiring manager, they will leave a message for you to call them back, or they will send you an email to schedule an appropriate time for you and for them, then you have a chance to actually prepare yourself mentally as well as do a bit more research on the company. 

And that is going to be so much more effective, and really push forward your application after you’ve applied to that job online, or if you’ve leveraged some other strategy to get that interview. 

Alright, I want you to tell me your stories. Have you done some of these don’ts and what was the result? Tell us in the comment below. So let’s get into the things that you want to do the three do’s for applying to roles online. Number one, you need to have a standout resume and cover letter. 

There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes or under the hood, as I like to say, of a resume that positions you as that perfect fit and that perfect person to hire for that role for that employer. So for help on creating a standout resume, I have a couple of resources for you. Number one is my free resume booster which you can download at coach with danielle.com/boost. 

And I also have a course called the standout resume workshop. And it’s a resume training, as well as a cover letter training. And I will put a link in the description below to that training if you’re interested. So do number two is you want to tap into the hidden job market. And you also want to tap into your network. And this works in conjunction with applying to roles online. 

And also outside of applying to roles online. That is how you get into the hidden job market, which is where 70 to 80% of the jobs are. They’re not advertised out there. They’re not advertised on postings on LinkedIn on job boards on the career sites of different companies, they are hidden. So why are rolls not posted? Well, a lot of companies just don’t have the time to sort through the hundreds of applications that they may receive from one single posting. 

And sometimes there’s also situations where companies might have a confidential search or when they’re very, very particular in exactly the type of skills and experience that they’re looking for. So in those cases, they will leverage the services of a professional recruiter, or they will go through the word of mouth route, which goes something like this, they’ll be asking people that are already work at the company, hey, do you know somebody who could be doing such and such a role. 

And that way, they get social proof that the person is actually good at what they do that they have the experience that they claim they have. And so social proof, this word of mouth is a huge deal. 

And this is why you need to nurture your network. And if you don’t have a large network, you want to build it as well, you really want to grow that so that you can tap into this market in addition to applying to roles online. And the other thing that this does for you, if you have applied to a role online, you want to tap into your network to see if you know someone who knows someone that works at the company, or maybe you know someone directly that you can contact and network with to get your resume and your application to the top of that pile. So the do number three is you need to manage your brain. I know that it can be painful when you’re looking for a job for so many months, even if you have one right now that maybe you’re not happy with. And it’s very easy to start to feel like this is exhausting. It’s really tiring. It’s so frustrating. But really having those thoughts is 100%. Natural. 

Of course, we’re all human. And it’s a natural part of life when you’re applying to all these roles online to tend to think that way. But how it makes you feel in your job search is not going to be helpful and delivering those results for you. 

This is something that I learned when I got certified as a life coach when I was off actually all those months, I decided to get that certification and it really helped me to manage my own brain and my own job search at the time. And this can take some practice, but I’ll give you an example of generating a new thought that might help you feel a bit more confident and a bit more proactive in your job search and in networking your way into some roles. This is taking some time, and I’m learning how to be more effective at it, it’s going to all be worth it when I land my ideal role. 

Let’s recap the three do’s and three don’ts that I covered today. Number one, don’t, don’t click and pray. Number two, don’t put all your eggs in the one job search basket. That is job applications. Number three, don’t always answer your phone. 

And now for the do’s, number one, make sure you have a standout resume and cover letter. Number two, tap into the hidden job market and leverage your network for those applications. Number three, you want to manage your brain and your mindset and that is how you are going to apply to jobs online and get hired into your dream role. 

These are the lessons that I learned through my 237 job applications. There were many more that I’m sure I will cover in other videos. Now if you haven’t already downloaded the resume booster, make sure you do that. I cover why your resume is failing you and four steps to quickly fix it and you can get it at coach with danielle.com/boost. 

And be sure to check this video next, which is resume advice for over 40 if this was helpful to you, hit the like button subscribe to my channel and hit the bell to be notified of future videos. Bye for now.