How to Beat 14,000 Applicants
Relaxation and power.
By Soozy G. Miller, CPRW, CDCC, CDP
A client told me that she saw a job posting that indicated 14,000 people had applied.
Yes, you read that right: 14,000 applicants!
I think that’s the highest I’ve ever seen.
I told her that the number could be 14, 140, or 14,000, it doesn’t really matter in terms of how it affects her job application.
True, she might not hear from the company for a while. They have a lot of keyword searches to do and a lot of resumes to review. And, yes, I feel very sorry for the recruiters and the hiring teams that have to go through all of those resumes.
But two things remain constant in job applications, whether you are fresh out of college or a CEO applying to a job. Or whether there are 4 applicants or 14,000 applicants.
You will stand out from all the applicants if your resume addresses the needs of the company and shows your leadership impact and value-add.
About 95% of those 14,000 job applications were from unrelated industries. This was a marketing leadership job posting, and I can tell you for sure that people from academia, manufacturing, IT, medicine, finance, and any other unrelated industries made up that 95%.
Why is that applicants number so high? My guess is LinkedIn Easy Apply. I’ve already written about the differences between LinkedIn and your resume. And I was in a meeting recently with some executive recruiters who agreed with me that LinkedIn Easy Apply is the worst invention in a long time.
While it appears easy to simply click Easy Apply and VOILA you have applied with almost no effort, you should know that when you employ LinkedIn Easy Apply, you have the option to do only one of two ineffective things:
Use previous/older resumes that were used for other job applications
Use the resume that LinkedIn’s AI program creates from your LinkedIn profile.
Both are horrible, ineffective ways to apply to a job. Please do not do this.
But also, don’t be put off by 14,000 applicants. Think of it as 140 or 14. Or even 4. The numbers don’t really matter. You will be noticed and contacted if you demonstrate that you can address the company’s needs and make the company better in the process.
There’s your VOILA!
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Better job. More pay. More control.
For a free resume review, please contact us at Control Your Career!