How to increase chances when looking for a job and get maximum invitations for promising interviews with minimum time

In this publication, I cite recommendations developed on the basis of the experience of finding both work and employees. All recommendations are verified by experience and formulated as concrete practical actions with short explanations. Recommendations are given on the example of one of the most popular job search sites.

Open Resume

Post your resume (at least one) in the public domain. So, companies that are looking for employees without a job posting will find out about your resume. Employers may not post vacancies for various reasons: they are looking for a replacement for a still working employee and do not want him to find out, or do not want competitors to find out about a vacancy, or not an account, or the organization simply prefers an independent search because it receives a large amount non-target responses that need to be processed.

Try to update your resume more often, at least daily (including weekends), preferably in the morning, since according to my observations this gives the largest number of views, recruiters will probably prefer to start the work day with a search. Currently, this can be done with one button on the main site, as well as on the mobile version for all of your resumes on one page.

If you do not want to be easily identified (for example, at the current place of work), then in the settings, check the company that should not have access to your resume. Check out the different names and legal entities of the company, as there is a possibility that your employer has several accounts. However, it does not give a 100% guarantee that your current employer will not see that you are looking for a job, so you can use other options additionally: do not use your last name, instead of the name of the company, designate the scope of activity, for example, the company is in the TOP- 10 Telecom, or the production of children's clothing, or an Internet agency.
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Job vacancies

Customize auto searches for different job title options. Respond several times to one vacancy if you do not receive a response (invitation or refusal). Between responses only, pause for a few days or a week. And for the most interesting vacancies for you, respond with the same name as indicated in the job description, you may have to create a separate resume for this, but this can be done in a couple of minutes, and perhaps the same resume will be useful for other interesting vacancies.

I will give a small explanation of why a large number of responses may have a low number of views of the resume. The fact is that due to the large number of untargeted responses, many recruiters do not view all resumes, they see responses in the form of a list that displays a minimum of information about the candidate, and, based on brief information, decide whether to view more detailed information.

In the same short list, you can open a cover letter, so cover letters are needed. To make it unconventional, you can take a few basic requirements from a job and indicate what is appropriate. For example: experience as a sales manager in telecom, fluent knowledge of English, sales experience for large branded customers. Or in a cover letter you can summarize your experience and indicate achievements: 5 years of work as a sales manager, 5 times became the best seller of the month over the last year, etc. I will not advise you to make a resume specifically for a particular vacancy, as is often recommended in a large number of articles on This topic, but I urge you to make changes to the cover letter template for those that are of particular interest to you, which will show that you have carefully read the requirements of the vacancy and are in line with them. This way you will facilitate the task of the HR specialist and increase your chances for an interview.

Try to be in touch by phone, as a number of recruiters prefer to start contacting the call, and in case of a callback, especially after several attempts, they will not try to contact you in another way.

Additional channels

If there are especially interesting vacancies, and all of the above measures have failed, then try to find this job on the company's website, or in its official offices on social networks or channels in instant messengers, and send your resume. Also, websites and social networks can be used to search for contacts of the HR-service or its employees and try to contact them directly. If you still do not receive a response to private messages, you can write openly in the comments that you are waiting for an answer to your resume (if you don’t hide the fact of finding a job). If in this case you do not receive a response, you can write to the heads of the relevant departments. Just do not do all this at the same time, it can cause a negative for recruiters, which definitely will not improve your chances.
If you are looking for a job in the open, you can indicate this in your profiles in social networks. Then there you need to place your resume (or mini-resume with posts, periods of work and names of companies in which you worked) and briefly describe what kind of job you are looking for.

Indication of desired income

You can specify in those cases if your salary expectations are in the average market range (taking into account your experience and skills), and you do not want to receive invitations for interviews in a company where the payment will be lower. But note that in this case, this parameter may also be a cutting factor.

Salary expectations below the market level can scare away serious companies and generate interest from unstable and dubious organizations, so I do not recommend them to indicate if there is enough time to look for work. But can be used for urgent cases.

The indication of income above the market level is acceptable for managers and high-level professionals who can afford to look for work for several months, as this is a very strong cutting factor.

Passing tests and performing test tasks

Sometimes a test or a small task is necessary to respond to the vacancy that interests you. If it takes a little time and does not require much effort from you, then I recommend it to be done, as it is often used to reduce the number of non-targeted responses to a job.

If the test is difficult for you or you need a lot of time, then estimate how interesting the vacancy is, whether it is worth spending time.

If we are talking about a test task that does not have standard solutions, but requires an individual approach, then, as a rule, to accomplish it, it is advisable to first meet with company representatives in order to better understand what is expected of you. But if the vacancy is really interesting and the company is serious, then perhaps it makes sense to do a test task, because, in my experience, the percentage of candidates who are really responsible for performing test tasks is quite low, which gives you a good chance to stand out against the general background .

I hope that this material will be useful and will help in finding a job, but do not forget that there are individual features and different circumstances, therefore, applying the above recommendations, treat them as possible, but not exhaustive options for action, and evaluate their effectiveness precisely his example.

I would be glad if you share the experience.