There are lots of places to find jobs: LinkedIn, Monster, Indeed are just a few. You can even look at company websites if there are specific companies in your sites. So how do you apply for a job?
Regardless of where you find the posting, the number one thing to do is to follow the instructions.
- If you are asked to send your resume with a cover letter including your salary expectations, do that.
- If you are asked to apply into their company site that is full of mandatory fields, do that.
- If you are asked to use a particular reference number, do that too.
The posting is providing the gateway to the recruitment person or people. They are not all robots even though sometimes it feels like they must be. I know it seems like you are putting your information into a big, black hole, but that is the most direct way of getting your resume into the pile for consideration.
You can help it get to the top part of the pile by making sure you have at least half of the requirements in the posting on your resume, preferably on the first page.
Feel free to be creative (but truthful). When a posting asks for a designation, you can say P.Eng (in process) or CHRL (will be complete in April). That allows you to rank high in the results even though you don’t exactly meet the requirement.
Similarly, if you are asked for salary information in your cover letter, you can provide a wide range with some commentary. For example, you could say “I am looking for 70-120k depending on the base, bonus, benefits and opportunities for growth”. You have answered the question without hemming yourself in.
People do actually get jobs by applying to a posting. It is an important part of the job seeking process.
There are many alternate ways to show your interest in a company/role/opportunity and those will be covered in the coming weeks.
For more articles on recruiting follow me on twitter @recruiterscouch