Make These 3 Plays After Finishing the Application

We’re back.

After a brief hiatus, we’re back and talking about issues real people are dealing with in real life. In fact, I was literally having a conversation today with a friend about his job search and I realized exactly what I wanted to share with you - what you should do once you complete the application process. Seriously, far too many people complete the application and do what? They wait! They will literally sit, wait, and wait some more, and finally complain and say clearly the problem is the market or the company who seemingly rejected them. Now look, I’m not saying that some companies would share a portion of the blame, but candidates typically do far less than many realize they can, and that’s a problem for progress.

So, after giving it some thought and digging into my own recruiting brain, here’s a few ways you (the candidate) can stand out after the app is submitted.

1. Identify who’s in your network: There’s certainly nothing wrong with what we call “cold applying,” but simply doing that without identifying contacts can drastically limit your chances. Start with your physical contacts and then on your social media contacts, specifically LinkedIn. Find 2-5 folks who would be great to connect with and send messages.

2. Reach out to people outside your network: Your personal network is powerful, but I think there's some value in looking through the company website for emails and contacts to reach out to.

3. Add external people to your network: There’s so much value in bringing external people in, and developing relationships and credibility through posting content on LinkedIn. Targeted messages and meaningful content can do much to build your brand and advertise to your internal and external network that you’re knowledgeable and skilled.

When they say “stranger things have happened,” they’re not joking. Cold applying, reaching out, and building a strong brand with targeted content never promises success. However, it makes success more likely and builds long-term potential for other opportunities. In the meantime, if you’re still waiting, hang in there and start where you are.

Hang in there,

Mark