How Do You Get a Job (In A Market Like This)

Finding a job was pretty easy a few years ago. There was even something called “The Great Resignation” where people were quitting their jobs and applying for new roles to get salary bumps. But those days are past us now. A lot of roles are being pushed out as companies become more efficient due to automation. So jobs that used to be easy to work at now have more hiring barriers because they hire fewer people. In this post, we’ll talk about how you can get a job in a market where fewer job postings are going around making it more competitive for someone even as talented as you to land a role.

How Do You Get a Job? 15 Steps

1. Add Hiring Managers, Headhunters, and Recruiters on LinkedIn

The quality of your network on LinkedIn will dictate what kind of people engage with your posts. Before you start your job search on LinkedIn and before you even announce you’re looking for your next role, you should consider building an audience on LinkedIn first. Look to add hiring managers, headhunters, recruiters, and more from companies in your industry, in your field, or who are actively hiring and posting jobs online. Do your research by using LinkedIn’s search bar. But also, pay attention to your feed. Comment on posts for those who actively hire people like you. Start warming up your “leads” so when you’re ready to make an announcement, they’re already familiar with you. Asking them for a job directly might not work out. Build the network and let them come to you.

2. Post Your Job Search on LinkedIn

If you’re wondering “how do you get a job?” your best answer will be: from LinkedIn. You’ll optimize there, but of course there are a ton of platforms. LinkedIn is a great place for professionals to connect about their careers and career opportunities. Since you’ve already started connecting with hiring managers, headhunters, and recruiters on the platform, you’re ready to post about looking for a job. If you post that you’re actively looking for a job before adding the right connections on LinkedIn, you’ll only have your network of colleagues to count on. That might not be enough. However, if you’re connected with those who actively hire for roles, you’ve now got the right people and people who can vouch for you who will be commenting on your posts doubling your chances of finding a job fast.

3. Build Your Resume with AI

When you want to get a job, you’re going to have to build a resume. Nearly every job requires one, even if you have a connection at the company. Building your resume with AI can help you pass ATS filters so you can land an interview with ease. However, you don’t want people to notice that you’re using AI on your resume. That means, your entire resume shouldn’t be written with AI. Instead, you should edit and tweak your resume a bit and include your own personal touches to your resume that allow you to land an interview once a human starts reading it. The AI should help you add the right keywords to your resume. You can use a tool like Huntr’s AI resume builder to see areas where you can improve your resume, find relevant keywords and resume skills to add to your resume, and more.

4. Tailor Your Resume for Every Job

The most successful job applicants are those who tailor their resume for every job. Those who tailor their resume will be more likely to secure a job at a company. A resume tailor allows you to find the exact keywords you can add based on a job description allowing you to tailor your resume to the exact job posting you’re applying to. With the help of AI, it’s actually easy to tailor your resume quickly without having to exert your energy or spend too much time making tweaks for every application. Tailoring your resume allows you to show hiring managers how well you match the role. However, keep in mind tailoring your resume isn’t meant to connect someone with no experience to a role to something they’re not qualified for. It’s meant to draw close connections for roles you could easily do based on your previous experience but give you a slight bump up.

5. Apply to Multiple Jobs Each Day

You might’ve heard horror stories about people who apply to hundreds of jobs but don’t find anything. You want to make sure that even when you’re applying for jobs, that you’re applying for roles you’re qualified for. Don’t just apply to as many jobs as possible. But there is a sweet spot. Most people apply to between 10-20 jobs when they get an offer. That means that those who get offers for jobs are actually hand-picking relevant roles. They aren’t applying to every position online but instead they’re targeted roles they make sense for. When applying for jobs, it’s still a bit of a numbers game. So give yourself the best chance. Apply to new positions posted within the past 24 hours that you’re a good fit for. Do this practice every day, so you can find something that makes sense for you.

6. Practice Interview Questions for Hours

When I was interviewing for my current position here at Huntr, I practiced interview questions for 3-5 hours per day, every day. I would rehearse the answers to difficult questions. I wrote down notes and ideas to get my line of thinking in order so I would be as prepared as I could possibly be for whatever questions were thrown at me. You can find a selection of interview questions on Huntr tailored to your job posting so you can practice tailored questions you might be asked for your role. The more you over-prepare interview questions, the less likely you are to fumble or get caught off guard when asked a question you were hoping to avoid. Lean in to the difficult questions so you can answer them with confidence and grace.

7. Attend a Job Fair

If you’re curious as to how to get a job, you could consider attending a job fair. You might get a job directly from the job fair. Still, you could practice your conversation skills with hiring managers at the job fair. You can also practice different ways of presenting yourself at a job fair with minimal risk. That way, when you land an interview, you’ll know how to position your skills and experience so you can secure a job with ease. Use the job fair to get some practice in talking to someone about your qualifications. It’ll set you up for success for when an interview finally lands.

8. Apply to Jobs at Startups

Corporations are known to do annual layoffs every year at the end of the year or the start of the year. The layoffs are also common when there’s a financial downturn. While startups have risk as well, they’re more likely to hire and grow with time rather than to lay people off. By applying to startups, you’ll likely have more success in securing a role. Plus, you’ll be joining a company before it IPOs allowing you a chance to earn money if you have equity in the company. Being one of the first people to join a company means you’ll likely have room to grow and become a leader in your company if you have career goals that involve leadership.

9. Apply to Companies in Growing Industries

If you’re wondering “how do you get a job” especially in an industry that’s dying, you need to shift to an industry that’s growing in popularity. A career change doesn’t always have to be a title change, you can join up and coming industries too. For example, AI, green energy, hybrid and electrical car manufacturing, robotics, ecommerce, and video marketing are all growing industries that you could find work in more easily. These types of industries often hire more than traditional companies as there’s a greater demand for these industries. So, if you’ve been going through rounds and rounds of rejections, applying to industries that are having growth bursts are ideal to be able to secure a role faster. You can search keywords, such as “AI” and your job title to find roles at these kinds of companies.

10. Apply to Niche Job Sites and Boards

How do you get a job in a market like this one? Well, you could find one pretty easily if you apply to niche job sites and boards. While most people apply to jobs on LinkedIn because of its “Easy Apply” and abundance of job listings, you can find unique jobs on niche job sites too. In fact, people who apply via Welcome to The Jungle have more interviews with a 3.47% conversion rate. Then, it’s Wellfound converting at 3.15%, and Indeed converting at 2.51%. LinkedIn’s conversion rate is only 1.23%. While LinkedIn might be the most popular job board people apply through, you might have less competition by applying to other job search sites and job boards.

11. Take a Step Back to Leap Forward

If you’ve been unemployed for an extended period and can’t find a job at the salary you want, you might be better off taking a small step backwards to leap forward. A short term pay cut could help prevent you from having a big employment gap on your resume that makes it harder for you to secure a position. You don’t need to spend a ton of time at a company that doesn’t pay your expected range, even six to eight months could be enough to help you fill the gap so you can apply to your next role quickly. Having a job is the easiest way to get another position because there isn’t the added pressure of needing to find something, so you’re more relaxed in an interview. Don’t be self conscious about taking a step backwards, it could lead you to the right position down the road, trust the process.

12. Freelance or Build Interesting Things for Companies

If you’re looking to get into a specific company, you could either freelance, build interesting things, or promote the companies to stand out to them. For example, you could build a tool or feature for a company if you’re an engineer to showcase the cool things you could build for a company. If you’re a social media marketer, you could create social media posts or YouTube videos on how to use a company’s product to get their attention. If you’re a writer, you could apply for freelance opportunities or write articles about the company on your own blog. Basically, you would take your skills and apply them to talking about or highlighting a company in a cool way to capture their attention. If you’re interested in getting the attention of multiple companies, you could do this for multiple companies that frequently hire for your type of role.

13. Go Big In Self Promotion

If you’re trying to get a job in a competitive market, you need to make yourself stand out in a big way. If applying to jobs isn’t doing the trick, you need to think outside of the box. Some people stand on street corners handing out their resume to people passing by just in case someone passes by who might have an interesting opportunity. Others might do a billboard with their main qualifications that help them secure a position at top companies. Either way, you can take your resume and package it differently, whether it’s a pizza box for a pizza lunch for staff members or a cake with your resume on it. Sometimes, a little creativity goes a long way.

14. Look At Your Data and Optimize

When you have a Huntr account, you can access your data and job stats to help you understand how your progress is going. These insights can help unlock what the problem is. If you clearly see you’re not getting enough interviews, there’s likely something wrong with your resume. If you’re getting lots of interviews but no offers, there may be problems with how you present yourself in an interview. Having the clear data to see what the bottleneck really is will help you better optimize your performance in the job search so you don’t stay stuck. If your resume isn’t landing you enough interviews, you should probably make tweaks on it or get a second opinion on it. If you’re getting tons of interviews but it’s just not landing you a position, you’ll need to rethink how you approach your job search.

15. Complete a Bootcamp to Upskill

How do you get a job when your job is being phased out by industry trends or technology? Well, you could try a bootcamp or job training program so you could upskill. Learning a skill from a new field could help you build your skill set in a three month period, so you can change careers while building a portfolio so you can secure a new, high-paying job in a different industry. There are bootcamps for engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity roles, and more. If you’re looking to transition to a new technical role, you could complete a tech bootcamp for a fraction of the cost of a degree while securing a role much faster due to the practical element of the bootcamp.

Conclusion

So, how do you get a job? You could follow the tips and suggestions outlined above in combination or individually to help you inch closer to securing a position. When the market is competitive, you’ll need to think outside the box to come up with novel solutions that’ll bring you closer to the type of role you want. To use an AI resume builder to help you craft a tailored resume that lands you more positions, sign up for Huntr today.