Employed through a single job application?

Job seekers frequently ask me if it’s possible to land a job after submitting only one job application. Although the answer is unquestionably affirmative, it isn’t easy to maintain the consistency of that positive and, consequently, employed result.

However, it is possible to find employment in far fewer job applications than the current statistics for the average job-seeker, who submits 200 applications over four months. This is because there are far superior and more effective job application techniques that can easily land you a job in less than 30 days if you use them correctly.

A job interview is the same as dating.

When predicting the outcome of a job interview, as any experienced recruiter or employer knows, it is impossible to predict the development of a job search. I, like many recruiters and human resource professionals, consider this stage to be more of a dating exercise than a set of outcomes that can be predicted or controlled. Even though I may believe that candidate A is superior, the employer’s hiring manager may prefer the equally qualified candidate B – it’s all a matter of human chemistry!

Because of these considerations, while good recruiters can achieve a 65 percent or slightly higher mix and prediction ratio with proper interview technique and pre-interview briefing, I have rarely seen many achieve consistently better results.

Therefore, it is the interview stage that poses the most significant risk when applying for multiple jobs simultaneously, and it all comes down to personal chemistry. That is not something that can be controlled, but it can be predicted.

Interview conducted over the phone

As with any job application, passing a telephone interview is simple if you have read the job advertisement and possess the necessary competencies – a Human Resources term that refers to skills, qualifications, and experience – for the advertised position (SQE).

One of the most significant differences between a job application and a telephone interview is how the communication is delivered. The information sought by the employer is no different and, in many cases, is even more detailed than the information requested in the job application. The only additional test is whether or not what you stated in your job application can be substantiated with confidence during the phone interview.

What are the requirements for the position?

I have always maintained, and continue to believe, that the job advertisement contains all of the essential requirements for a desirable suitable job applicant, including salary requirements. Indeed, researching and reading about your potential employer can significantly increase your chances of landing a job. In addition, reading about the organization’s broader interests can increase your chances of landing a job by as much as 200 percent. However, the job advertisement contains all of the information you need to know about the ideal job applicant’s qualifications.

Despite this, job applicants consistently fail to read job advertisements. I had assumed that this was due to job applicants’ inability to read and that this was a poor reflection on our country’s educational system. I was wrong. Because it affects all job applications, I believe that this problem stems in part from a candidate’s motivation, giving them what could be referred to as “beer goggles”!

For the most part, the desire to be employed and to land that dream job obviates and replaces an individual’s ability to comprehend and read a job advertisement. Instead, they read the job description, consider the compensation, and, because job boards make it so simple, they click to apply.

Communication and Relationships

One of the areas in which I have concentrated my efforts over the last five years is the most efficient method of finding work. But unfortunately, my final piece of the puzzle of understanding why this process worked in the context of communication, and thus a successful job application, was only recently put into place after conversing with an acquaintance who is a professional coach.

I told her that I was now convinced that I had tracked down the most effective process for any job seeker to get hired, and I went on to describe some of the critical tactics and decision points that I had discovered along the way. I intended to tell her that I understood that this resulted in improved communication and engagement with the potential employer and hiring manager. Still, I was curious if another factor at play could be used to explain what was happening.

As a trained engineer, I had focused my attention on the efficiency of the manufacturing process. Overall, the job-seeking system helps job seekers get ahead of the competition and closer to the hiring manager, which is essentially the same thing that a good recruiter does to win new business. Nonetheless, as an NLP-trained coach, she recognized right away what the process was producing: both the appropriate communication at the proper time and, as a result, the appropriate rapport with the employer and hiring manager. As a result, it is not only about what you communicate but also about when you communicate, resulting in the development of the appropriate rapport and, ultimately, employment.

In one job application, I was employed.

We were recently approached by a potential client who requested that we write her a Cover Letter, which is a service that we no longer offer as a stand-alone service. As a result of my conversation with her, the office staff asked if I could speak with her directly, as she was a long-term job seeker who needed a great deal of assistance.

A poor set of statistics, as well as long-term unemployment exceeding 90 days, were being scrutinized by this lady and many other long-term job seekers at a time when the average job seeker’s success rate has dropped by two-thirds. Nevertheless, she had found a job that she wanted and was fully qualified for, and now that she had written her CV, all she needed was the Perfect Cover Letter to complete the package. Could we be of assistance?

She and I talked about the job in detail. Then, because she had the supporting evidence of both the job advertisement and the job description, I thoroughly analyzed the job with just this information. The hiring manager’s biography profile was found after a bit of searching – okay, 5 minutes in total using some very quickly learned boolean search techniques around Google, LinkedIn, and the employer’s website – and I contacted the hiring manager.

How to get hired according to a system

I created an SQE priority sheet based on all three of the pieces of information I had – the job advertisement, the job description, and the hiring manager’s biography. Some of these were technical factors directly related to the job description, whereas others were soft factors primarily associated with the hiring manager’s characteristics. Then, to ensure that the match between the employer’s requirements and my job application was as perfect as possible, I put together the priority sheet and checked it using a simple technique to ensure that it was as perfect as possible. Using this later technique in job markets where few jobs or employers have proven to be highly effective in increasing the number of job applications received in a given period.

I then used the checked sheet to compile the required Cover Letter, and I checked the output using the check technique on both the Cover Letter and her draught CV to ensure that everything was correct. Both were then re-adjusted as a result. My next step was to persuade the job applicant to look over the priority list, which I accomplished using a straightforward technique that follows and breaks the defined employer application process. This technique is in no way unethical or risky; instead, it serves to advance the candidate’s advantage while also confirming the priority sheet.

Job application for a hiring manager

Interestingly, something happened that I had not anticipated but was not surprised by: the employer offered our job seeker customer the opportunity to participate in an Informational Interview! When she reached this point, after such a long period of unemployment, I had to temper her enthusiasm by telling her that this was just an informational interview outside of the formal HR employment process, which she would still have to go through later on. You should gather as much information as possible about the position at this point, but you should also treat it as a formal interview.

The fact that she called me two hours after the designated time slot that she had been assigned gave me confidence that the Informational Interview had gone well. It was announced in the first piece of news that the formal interview process would take place two days later, and in the second piece of information, they had requested that she consent to a standard background check. Should she agree to this? I asked her to think for five minutes about the most critical issues she wanted to be addressed, and if there were any open questions left on the Informational Interview table, I asked her to tell me about them. Consequently, we put together a follow-up thank-you letter, in which we accepted the interview date and confirmed our ability to begin background checks. She began working at her new job seven days later!

Employed in a single job application is possible but not recommended…

As I stated at the outset of this piece, I do not believe that a predetermined set of outcomes can be controlled entirely to obtain employment in a specific job. The job interview result is determined by human chemistry, which means that there is a 65 percent chance of success at the very best.

Nonetheless, when properly learned and applied in conjunction with the most successful strategies, I believe that the job application technique makes it possible to obtain employment quickly and in a timely fashion. A lack of proper job search techniques is the primary reason why the average job-seeker currently receives one telephone interview for every twenty job applications and spends four months looking for work. If any of them realized that it was costing them on average nearly £10,000 in lost income and additional expenses, they would act much more quickly and decisively to remedy the situation.

For the most part, if you can find 50 suitable jobs for which you are skilled and qualified, there is no reason for you to be unemployed. It’s that simple if you know how to use the proper job application strategy. Furthermore, if you are well-versed in the subject and have access to relevant information, it is possible to land a job with just one job application.