The Pros And Cons Of One-Click Apply

For job seekers, technology can be a wonderful thing. You can apply to jobs almost anywhere from the comfort of your home, you can stay in touch with your network easily through social media, and, thanks to the rise in remote work, you can even do a job from home.

But because of the ease of access, it can be much harder to stand out thanks to the high levels of competition. Experts say it can take 100-200 applications to get just one job offer, and your average job search could take up to nine weeks. To get a job in the traditional way, you’ll need to send a high volume of resumes.

That’s why job search websites like LinkedIn, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter offer “easy” or “one-click” apply options. For someone looking to get as many resumes out as possible, these features are a massive boon!

Or are they? Despite the convenience, using these features may not make you stand out from the crowd. We’ll cover what easy apply systems actually do, their faults, and when they can help your search.

What do they do?

The name sells the basic function well enough—an easy or one-click apply skips through much of the traditional application process to quickly get your documents into the hands of recruiters. They may or may not offer the chance to attach relevant documents like a copy of your resume or cover letter.

In most cases, this allows you to quickly submit a generic, multi-use resume. In LinkedIn’s case, you’ll instead be submitting your LinkedIn profile. This allows you to quickly scroll through online job boards and apply to anything that strikes your fancy.

The problem

Bypassing the conventional application process, which is often time-consuming and tedious, is an amazing idea, but it has its drawbacks.

“As with all quick fixes, the easier option has its drawbacks. Primarily, you’re trading customization for simplicity.” – Jaclyn Westlake, The Muse

This convenience leads to a lot of applications being submitted. In spite of this volume, you may think having the right keywords will get your generic resume picked by the applicant tracking system, but Mac’s List says that may not be the case. Around 40% of companies don’t use ATS, and if your resume isn’t tailored it will struggle to get noticed by the person reading it.

Data shows using one-click apply methods doesn’t have an impact on whether or not you’ll hear back from the employer, according to SmartRecruiters. Your resume will be added to a large pile of applicants regardless, and your content will have to speak for itself.

In LinkedIn’s case, the Easy Apply puts a lot of pressure on your profile. Regardless of whether you attached a resume and cover letter, your profile is the first thing the hiring manager will see. If you’ve been neglecting your profile or hoping your resume will carry you, you may be disappointed when your application is quickly discarded.

You can help alleviate this by having a well-developed LinkedIn profile, which is good to have regardless. Lewis Parrott says having a professional photo, strong headline, relevant details in your job history, and interesting personal details can help alleviate some of the issues with using Easy Apply.

When can it help?

While network connections and carefully customized resumes are a superior job search strategy, one-click applying does have its place and can help lead to a well-rounded search.

Volume does matter in your job search, especially for entry-level roles. The application process is often tedious, and constant rejection after spending significant time applying is discouraging. Quick applies can help you cast a wide net. You may not always bring in the best jobs this way, but it can help build momentum. Career Sidekick does recommend at least tailoring your resume for a specific industry if you choose this route.

If you’ve already tapped your network and carefully applied to your dream companies, then using easy apply functions can be a way to supplement that search. Use them to compliment your job search, not to be the heart of it.

Relying on one-click apply is NOT recommended if you’re looking for your dream job, but sometimes you just need a job. Whether you need a source of income, you need to learn a skill, or you’re just looking to get your foot in the door, these functions are a great tool to find a low-stakes job.

Kindra Cooper believes if you have a top-notch LinkedIn profile already their method can work. In fact, if you’ve spent time adding URLs, displaying endorsements, highlighting your skills, and you have a strong summary, your profile may be even better than your resume. But this requires you to have done all the work beforehand, and it’s best not to put all your eggs in one basket.

Wrap up

Job searching can be a long and arduous process, and any tool that can make the journey easier is appealing. But while they offer additional assistance, it’s imperative to understand the pros and cons of using one-click apply methods. There are times to use these features, and they can complement a thorough job search, but they shouldn’t be relied upon as your only job-searching strategy. For more in-depth job search strategies, check out our other great articles!

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Defining and Presenting Your Personal Brand

Branding is a powerful tool that allows consumers to anthropomorphize different companies. Some of the most successful companies stay in the public eye because of their strong branding and iconic imagery. But this isn’t limited to large companies. With some careful planning, you can create a curated digital presence through personal branding.

Using technology, potential employers and customers can learn all about you without ever meeting you. With that in mind, it’s better to control that image yourself. How do you want to be viewed? No matter where you’re at in your career, controlling your own narrative can be the key to living the life you desire. We’ll explore why it’s so important to build your brand and what you can do to present yourself in the best possible way.

Why does it matter?

Think of a celebrity, whether you like them or not. Think about the traits you associate with them. You’ve likely never met this person, but you have an opinion of them based on these perceived traits. That’s the power of personal branding, and it’s reasonable to assume you’d rather have people thinking positively about you.

Harrison Monarth sees the difference between reputation and personal brand as intentionality. Your reputation is based on first impressions and the relationships you’ve formed. Personal branding is about creating your narrative and deciding what you want to present.

Renderforest lists three keys benefits of having a well-defined personal brand:

Raising self-awareness: Taking a look inward will give you a deeper understanding of your strengths and weakness and the value you can bring to others. Once you understand this yourself, you can better market what you have to offer.

Build trust and credibility: If you’re putting forth a consistent and accurate message, you’ll appear much more credible. With the traits you’ve chosen to define you at the front, people will look to you as an expert where it matters.

Grow your network: If you’ve built trust and credibility, you’ll come to be viewed as an expert in your niche. This will lead to others reaching out to you and looking for your expertise.

Finally, according to Medium, as of 2020, 43% of the workforce in the US is made of freelancers and contract workers. If your name is your business, it’s crucial to have a strong personal brand to keep growing.

How to build your personal brand

You already have a personal brand whether you realize it or not, but it’ll take some self-scouting to craft the image you want. Mac Prichard suggests doing a self-audit and asking others for objective feedback. Do a deep dive on search engines to see what pops up when you search for yourself and make sure your social media pages are “clean.” Then, talk to people you know and see what you’re known for. You can use anonymous tools to make sure you get honest feedback.

“You may be tagged in a video on Facebook where you’re singing Happy Birthday offkey. Funny and harmless—except if that’s the first thing an employer sees when searching for a serious, competent business leader.” -Mac Prichard

Next, decide how you want to be defined and what your goals are. How do you want to be known? Whether you’re a charismatic salesperson, a master of a specific technology, or an expert in handling conflict resolution, you want to have a clearly defined niche. The more specific that niche, the better. We recently covered the idea of the elevator pitch—a short summary of who you are and what you can offer. This is the core of your personal brand.

After these steps, you should have an idea of how you’re currently viewed and how you’d like to be viewed. The next step, according to Anders Hjorth, is to build your assets. What resources do you need to increase your visibility and your credibility?

You can not like social media, but it pays (sometimes literally) to have the right profiles. Depending on your industry, you may also want your own website to showcase your work or a portfolio filled with previous projects.

Make sure those profiles are working for you through careful design. Make sure your profiles will get noticed and make people want to contact you.

At the end of this process, Mac Prichard says to go all out. Once you’ve built a brand you’re happy with, steer into it. Exude confidence and don’t be afraid to show off your personality.

“You’ve done the work to know who you are and what you bring to the workplace. When you are clear and convinced that you’re a valuable and effective contributor, that message shines through. Your professional brand should convince others that you think you’re the best candidate for the job, and they should too!” -Mac Prichard

Wrap up

Standing out for the right reasons is the key to succeeding in the business world. Creating a clearly defined niche and becoming an expert will grow your network, help build great relationships, and assist you in finding your dream career. Playing an active role in crafting your personal brand is the first step, and the benefits are endless!

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How To Heat Up Your Summer Job Search

The weather is starting to heat up, but what about your job search? Summer is associated with many things, but new career beginnings usually aren’t one of them.

Despite this, job searching continues, especially for fresh college graduates entering the workforce. If you need a job, you need a job. We’ll brave the heat and look into the pros and cons of a summer job search and provide tips on how to make this your most productive summer yet.

Is summer a good time to search?

Just as with the holiday season, experts are mixed on whether summer is a good time to apply or not. With less seasonal work available in most industries and many employees taking summer vacations, Valerie Streif, senior content at Pramp, viewed summer as one of the two worst times to seek employment.

“During the middle of summer, the least amount of vacancies are posted, not only for seasonal jobs but also regular positions, since teams are usually juggling many different employees taking time off for summer vacation. It’s also an awkward time to get started – right in the middle of the year.” – Valerie Streif

Meanwhile, The Muse’s Kat Boogaard suggests that summer is a good time to keep the search moving despite what others may say. Hiring managers have a full-year job and will always be looking to fill open positions. There may be less competition as others slow down their search, and hiring managers may be less busy as a result.

According to NACE, employers are expected to hire 27% more recent graduates this year compared to 2021. So even if summer is often viewed as a poor job to search, the market is currently in your favor.

Your mileage will vary based on the industry and type of position you seek. But if you need a new job, there’s no reason you have to wait until fall. So how can you make the most of your search?

Start strong

Summer means more daylight and an earlier start, and your search should follow suit. If others believe this is the time to slow down their search, zig while they zag. Before you start getting your applications out, however, you’ll want to come up with a plan.

Research the companies you’re interested in working for to start getting an idea of what they are looking for. You will never regret doing too much research. This allows you to prepare your documents accordingly.

Many fresh graduates or athletes transitioning to the business world will commonly use a “one size fits all” methodology with their resume and cover letter, but a set of documents tailored to the position you are applying for is much more likely to catch a recruiter’s attention. Margaret Steen of Stanford Report acknowledges that recent grads will need to send out more applications than someone established in an industry, so it may not be practical to start from scratch with every application. She says a hybrid approach, creating one main resume and tweaking it as needed, is a helpful strategy.

Don’t forget about networking

No matter if you’re newly entering the workforce or you’re a seasoned veteran, networking is always crucial to career development. With warm weather, people are looking to make the most of it by going to social events, and this applies to the professional world as well.

If you’re a recent graduate, your school or department may have alumni events that can be the perfect opportunity to get your name out there. CNBC’s Katie Hopsicker suggests using any resources your college can offer to your advantage.

“Most universities and colleges have career centers, and these centers are there to help you. Resources like resume workshops, job hunt seminars and even email newsletters detailing job openings may open the door for you to find your next opportunity.” –Katie Hopsicker

But networking doesn’t have to be completely formal, and opportunities aren’t limited to graduates. Take time to reach out to those you already know for a cold beverage to check-in. Go out of your way to interact with new people at any barbeques or other fun events you attend. Networking happens all year, but summertime often puts people in a social mood.

Enhance your skills

Your growth doesn’t have to be put on hold while you search. There are many avenues available to increase your skills while expanding your network.

For example, you’re never too cool for summer school! Harvard University suggests summer classes can teach or hone new skills in a controlled, often more relaxed environment. These classes don’t have to be official, and you don’t have to take out loans. Search for free, online options or audit classes on sites like MasterClass or Coursera.

Volunteering is another underutilized way to grow your network and your skill-set. Just because you aren’t getting paid doesn’t mean the skills you learn don’t have value, and you’ll have a chance to connect with others you may not meet otherwise.

Wrap up

Many will use the summertime to focus on vacations, but that doesn’t mean employment opportunities aren’t out there. With a good strategy in place, you can take advantage of the slower hiring cycle. No matter where you’re at in your career, it always pays to keep networking and honing your skills while you search. Most of all, be patient! Communication may be slower due to managers on vacation, but if you put in the work and stay cool, you should get results!

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Stand Out Digitally With These LinkedIn Summary Tips

In any sort of persuasive speech, your attention-getter sets the tone of the entire performance. An engaging introduction reels your audience in, while a boring one sends them looking elsewhere. Imagine walking into a hotel lobby and finding it unpleasant. No matter how good your room may be, that initial entrance soured the experience.

Your LinkedIn profile is the same way. Using LinkedIn is vital for the modern job search, and your summary is your introduction to recruiters. The website itself declares the summary as one of the most important pieces of information you can describe.

“Your summary or About section is the one place you define yourself in your own words, free of start dates and titles. Whether you use it to put career choices in context, highlight your biggest achievements, or show off your personality, the summary is your chance to put your best self out there. It strengthens your first impression in a way no other Profile section can.” –LinkedIn

If you’re doing some spring cleaning with your profile, we’ll go teach you how to craft an exceptional summary that shows the real you.

Prioritize the first few sentences

If your summary is the introduction to your profile, the first few words are the introduction to your introduction. Laura Smith-Proulx reveals that your full summary isn’t immediately displayed until someone clicks on “see more” (on both mobile and desktop versions).

That means your summary needs to “pop” immediately to catch the eyes of the looker. You want to hook your audience immediately by getting directly into your brand and making your objective clear right away.

Use keywords

The modern job search is all about appeasing the search engine. Realizing this is the key to making sure you’ll show up in a recruiter’s search at all. To do that, LinkedIn experts recommend using keywords throughout your profile.

Executive resume writer Jessica Hernandez simply defines these keywords as “Keywords are a list of words and phrases that are related to your work—they are the words that a prospective employer would search for when trying to find someone like you.”

Find words relevant to your industry and use them often. This will make sure you show up in searches AND make it easier for a prospective employer to get an idea of what you’re all about. While you should use keywords, make sure to avoid making your profile a jumbled mess of jargon.

Showcase your personality

A recruiter isn’t just getting an automaton worker when they look at your profile; they are looking at a complex human being. At the end of the day, not only does a recruiter want a qualified worker, but they want someone that is a good cultural fit for the organization.

Because of the nature of LinkedIn, you still want to be professional, but don’t be afraid to let a little flair or humor out. If you followed the above advice, your audience will get a view of you as a worker and you as a person. Having this insight allows the reader to have a more detailed picture of how you will fit in with the company.

Find a format that works for you

In keeping with the above advice, you can craft the style of your summary in a manner that best describes you. There isn’t a single cookie-cutter approach to take. SocialTalent reminds us that the summary is your chance to tell your story as you see it. Just like in an elevator pitch, you’re using that short space to say who you are and what you bring to the table.

The Muse’s Aja Frost analyzes different strategies for telling that story, including the mission-based strategy, the personal strategy, the short-and-sweet summary, the blended summary, and the accomplishment summary. These five example methods allow you to decide what’s important for you and the best way to summarize yourself. All five are great starting points, and you can click the above link for more details.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn itself goes over 14 well-designed and radically different summary styles and provides reasons why they work. All 14 off an excellent place to start and can serve as a template for your own story. It’s all about finding the best way to represent you!

Avoid third-person

Your LinkedIn summary is a summary of you as a worker, told by you. This is a chance for you to be yourself, and ideally, you don’t talk in third person in real life. Avoid this common pitfall!

Example

Aja Frost provides us with a great example of a short, detailed summary that follows all of the above advice.

“I’m a sales rep dedicated to helping local Oklahoma City services businesses grow their customer base and decrease customer churn. I have 6 years of experience in local sales and I’ve consistently met and exceeded my quota throughout my career. Within the last year, I’ve topped our leaderboard six out of 10 months. On average, I close business 10% faster than my peers.”

Wrap up

If you aren’t using LinkedIn as part of your job search strategy, you need to do so immediately! And a successful LinkedIn summary is the welcome mat to the rest of your profile. Make sure it’s clear, direct, and a good summary of you, the writer. There isn’t one successful must-use template, so do some research and some tweaking and find what works for you!

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Three Keys To A Rewarding Informational Interview

The key to a successful interview is preparation. Your skills and experience level don’t mean much if you go into an interview without doing your homework. Researching the company, the industry, and conducting a mock interview are all beneficial, but if you really want to do a deep dive, consider conducting an informational interview.

An informational interview isn’t the same as a job interview. Rather, it is an informal meeting or conversation with someone in your target industry/company to get a deep dive into that line of work. Indeed found a host of potential benefits of this type of interview, including:

  • Learning how to research or screen careers, positions or employers
  • Preparing for future job interviews
  • Learning how to ask direct and follow-up questions
  • Increasing network contacts
  • Learning steps to pursue a potential career
  • Recognizing your strengths and weaknesses for a potential role

An informational interview gets you something you can’t find from an online resource: a real person’s experiences and advice. If you think your job search could benefit from an informational interview or you’re looking to move into a new industry, we’ve done a little information gathering ourselves to help. Learn how to prepare for and conduct the most efficient fact-finding mission with these tenets.

Find the right contact

You’ve recognized that an informational interview will be advantageous, but where to start? Whether you’re a network novice or seasoned web-builder, chances are you can start with your own inner circle. If you already know someone in the industry or at your target company, excellent! Send them a message. If no one you know fits the bill, look to your friends, family, and professional contacts to see if they know a good fit. They may know the right person to assist and can introduce you.

If your network comes up empty, a good old-fashioned cold call (but actually email or direct message) can help! Look for someone in that company on LinkedIn or try searching in an alumni or professional group. LiveCarrer suggests being sincere and considerate when asking for a conversation. Remember, you’re asking this person for a favor. Be upfront and direct with your request. Make it clear you’re asking for help, but don’t ask for a job. You’re looking for information, and you’re hoping to learn from this person’s experience.

Pre-research research

While the purpose of your interview is to gain knowledge, you can’t go into an informational interview completely clueless. Compile enough background information to sound credible. You want this informational interview to support the information you’re able to find on your own, and merely asking someone the basics you could easily find online is a waste of both parties’ time. Mac Prichard suggests coming up with one clear objective you’d like to gain from the conversation and tailoring your preparation to it.

“What’s the #1 thing I can learn from this connection to help me on my career path?” -Mac Prichard

As Jennifer Winter of The Muse reminds, your contact is taking time out of their day to talk with you free of charge. Respect their time by doing your homework beforehand. Research their history and find common ground with them. Not only will you look prepared and professional, but they’ll feel honored you’re familiar with their work. A bit of flattery is always nice.

Ask useful questions

An informational interview shouldn’t be long—maybe about 15-30 minutes at most. You want to get as much useful info as possible, so it’s important to maximize your time by asking great questions. Have a specific list of questions prepared beforehand and keep them organized.

Harvard Business Review cited author Dorie Clark, who suggested approaching the interview like a journalist. “Gently probe through curiosity, then listen.” You don’t want to feel like a cross-examiner or be pushy. You’re asking the questions, but let your contact determine how they answer. You’re there for their expertise, so whatever they choose to answer with is probably what they view as important information.

The Balance Careers’ Alison Doyle has a magnificent list of questions you can ask your contact, divided into occupational and functional questions. A blend of both will give you a superb look at both the big picture aspects of the role and what the day-to-day looks like.

Wrap up

An informational interview can be an invaluable tool to assist in your job search, especially if you’re breaking into a new industry. These conversations are a great way to use the network you’ve created to get insider information you wouldn’t find in traditional research. Remember to find the right contact, do your homework beforehand, and make the most of your limited time by asking useful questions. There are so many resources out there for networking and learning about your chosen industry. Don’t be afraid to use them!

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