Job search in CV-19 times – and how to succeed
This is just one of many emails we have received in the past months. As it’s a very good example, we’d like to share with you our response to it.
“Dear Career Angels,
My job search is going very slow, the market is very poor. I had some interviews, but never got a final offer.
I was hoping to get an interview for a senior-level position, but unfortunately the company didn’t want me, as I don’t have any experience in their industry.
I followed your suggestions, re-made my CV and also tried to sell myself differently for the senior-level position, but it seems that I haven’t tried enough.
Do you have any advice?”.
Dear candidate, we hear you!
We know that the job market is very competitive, especially in CV-19 times. But: there’s no magic answer or piece of advice without knowing any details.
Let us now pick out fragments of the email, so we can comment on them directly.
How to (strategically) fix your job search – our advice
My job search is going very slow, the market is very poor. I had some interviews, but never got a final offer.
How many interviews did you have? How many companies have you contacted? And how many of them replied?
Based on our data, a candidate who wants to be successful needs to contact at least 90 companies. In CV-19 times, some of them need to extend it to 120. The reason for that: the more companies you contact, the higher the number of replies and interview requests you receive.
Important: although the market may seem very poor or even dead, recruitment processes for senior-level positions are still on.
Job searching on CV-19 job market – what not to do
I was hoping to get an interview for a senior-level position, but unfortunately the company didn’t want me, as I don’t have any experience in their industry.
We know that being unemployed or unhappy at your current job is difficult. We know that you probably want to find a new job as soon as possible. But remember that receiving a job offer from an industry you have no experience in requires a lot of planning and takes much more time (up to 24 months).
Applying to every job ad you see or contacting random companies is not a solution – there’s a very big chance that your efforts will misfire, leaving you dissatisfied and/or making you want to give up.
Searching for a job strategically
When searching for a new job, prepare a strategy. Think of what companies are in line with your goal (more on how to do that here → 14:46 to 26:15) and how you need to present yourself to stand out among many other candidates.
I followed your suggestions, re-made my CV and also tried to sell myself differently for the senior-level position, but it seems that I haven’t tried enough.
The only thing that we can recommend is to review your strategy and work the basics (click on the links!):
• CV for humans (14:53 to 53:06) – are you sure it presents fully how experienced you are? Will a recruiter want to read it for more than 30 seconds before deciding to reject it?
• CV for ATS (55:14 to 1:07:37) – is your CV compliant with Applicant Tracking System? Does it contain necessary key words and is formatted in the correct way? Read our step-by-step guide to find out how to improve it!
• LinkedIn profile – is it optimized for the algorithm? Are you visible among thousands of other candidates? Do you position yourself well?
Are you an experienced manager or executive who needs to review or improve their job search KPIs? Do you need help with your CV and/or LinkedIn profile? Send an email with your CV and a brief description of your situation to Bichl.Sandra@CareerAngels.eu with the subject: Free Career Consultation.
