Online Applicants?
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- qbner
When a job is posted online for a major city, and it's picked up by indeed.com or another site like that, how many applications do they get on average? 20, 100, 500?
For a normal job, not director or management, how many applicants are actually qualified?
Anyone ever been on the other side and have any tips to stand out?
- omahadesigns0
Snail mail? I hate that some postings say "no calls please".
- Because the ridiculous and stupid calls you get are a time suck!ETM
- pixellette0
I would say about 60-100 applicants, and about 5% are possibly qualified. The things that are a must from my experience, surprisingly,
1. Accessible contact info
2. Accessible Portfolio
3. Interactive resume - it's a nice detail to have your portfolio to link out- Interactive resume?qbner
- like hyperlinks to sources?mrswilson
- Isn't hyperlink in .pdf standard?qbner
- How lazy are you that you cant just highligjt the text and paste into browsercannonball1978
- when you are looking at 200 applicants, it is just a nice touch.pixellette
- You are also asking the person to do extra work to get to your portfolio. It should be accessible.pixellette
- qbner0
5%? That's crazy.
- qbner0
What do you do with all the emails you get and resumes?
Do you delete them all?
- fourth0
at my last studio when we were hiring I was amazed at 1) How many people apply and 2) How less than 5% were actually possibly qualified. Even then their work was sub par.
I decided to raise my salary requirements dramatically.
One thing you can do is find the job listing on linkedin. It tells you the number of people who have applied (only through linkedin though) but its still interesting to see.
- melq0
qbner said, "Anyone ever been on the other side and have any tips to stand out?"
1) Read the posting closely and follow the instructions to a tee. If you can't get this part right, how well will you do on a day-to-day basis?
2) Have nice work in your online portfolio.
Okay, those are easy, but a surprising number of people mess them up. The next one is the one that can really help you stand out from the other candidates.
3) Use the comments area to let the screener know why you are a good fit for their company. Look at the requirements of the position and list how you meet them and how your career path has positioned you specifically for this role.
For example, here's an opening found at random:
http://jobview.monster.com/graph…A solid response will be something like:
Hello. I was excited to see your opening for a graphic designer advertised on monster.com. I graduated in 2008 with a BA in graphic design and have been working in the industry for the past 8 years, specializing in branding, front end web design and other related creative disciplines.
I believe I would be a great fit for this position. I have experience working in the current web development environment creating beautiful responsive websites. I use Adobe's creative tools daily and am an integral part of our creative team.
To see some of the projects I'm most proud of, please visit www.melqisawesome.com and take a look at the work posted there. I'd love the opportunity to speak with you about this opening, so please let me know a day and time that would be convenient for you and we can schedule a call or a face-to-face meeting.
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1st para: Introduction plus how requirements are met
2nd para: Addressing technical skills and experience
3rd para: Link to portfolio and a good ol' fashioned call to actionEven someone without industry knowledge can easily see that you should at least be put into the "deserves a closer look" pile, because you spelled it out for them. Good luck!