Finding a job during the COVID-19 crisis (Step-by-Step Tutorial)

Millions of people worldwide have been laid off due to the COVID-19 crisis. Nevertheless, a lot of companies are still hiring and we wanted to help all job seekers out there to find their new dream job. ❤️

Why do you need this guide?

1- Finding a job using the traditional Resume + cover letter will not work in a time of crisis

2- You need the right tools and processes to stand out in order to get interviews on autopilot

In this article, you’ll get the best step-by-step guide explaining how to get tons of interviews and find your new dream job in such a crisis.

Usually, applying this unique methodology is costly as you need to use several paid software, however, thanks to the help of our partners everything will be 100% for free if you’ve lost your job, no matter where you are in the world. 😇

Here is what I’ll show you:

1- how to find companies that are still hiring

2- how to find the email address of any decision-maker in the company and why it’s important to stand out in a time like this

3- how to write a compelling email to get tons of interviews for a new job on autopilot

Ready?

Let’s do this 🚀

If you prefer watching a video tutorial, here it is:

Step-by-Step video tutorial

Finding companies that are still hiring

The first step is to find companies that are hiring during the crisis.

1- Candor

Good news, Candor launched an amazing spreadsheet that allows you to see in real-time which companies are hiring during the crisis.

Candor Website

Thanks to this spreadsheet, you can easily filter the companies that are hiring and check their offers based on the link they put in the column “where to apply?”

You can select companies that are hiring here and fill in the first two columns of the following spreadsheet (simply make a copy of it).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PZ9SyTRfPzGRJJ_nBLQdBIJqSNSEsHya2xIaRIJiXRA/edit?usp=sharing

I’m going to give you an example.

Let’s imagine I was applying to a position at Zoom today.

Example on how to use the Google Sheet

For now, simply disregard other columns, we will fill them later in the tutorial. 😎

Pros & cons of using Candor

Pros:

• list a lot of companies that are currently hiring
• it’s updated regularly
• gives a status for each company (hiring VS hiring freeze)

Cons:

• it’s not always 100% accurate as of the list 100% user-generated
• non-exhaustive list

Side note: If you know companies that are hiring right now or if your company is actually hiring, make sure to put the names in the comments below 👇

EDIT: You can also check out https://www.levels.fyi/still-hiring/ to find more companies that are hiring

2- Indeed

Probably the most well-known platform for job seekers globally, Indeed is still a great place to look for companies that are still looking to add new employees.

As you can see on the screenshot below, you can easily spot the ones that are still hiring by skimming through posts and checking the date on which they posted the job offer.

Searching for the right position and in the right location

My advice here is to go to the advanced search and select only the offers that were posted recently. This way, you make sure the company is actually hiring and didn’t feeze recruiting during the crisis.

Filtering only the latest job offers in order to only apply to open positions

From there, you can check each offer and bookmark the companies where you want to apply to.

Pros & cons of using Indeed

Pros:

• known worldwide
• advanced filtering options

Cons:

• not always accurate for “older” job offers as people might have frozen hiring

3- LinkedIn

LinkedIn needs no introduction. In my opinion, it’s the best way to find a job out there.

The first step is to type “hiring” in the search section.

By doing so, you will see all the people who have changed their LinkedIn profile and added the word “hiring” in it. This is usually a great way to show your network and pretty much anyone who’s interacting with you that you are hiring.

Finding all the persons who are currently hiring

The good news here as we can see on the screenshot is that almost 3.5 million people have changed their job title to “hiring” 😎

So if you were worried about not finding a job, don’t worry — it’s gonna be fine 🚀

Next, you should add filters to your search. You can choose a specific location and industry to find companies that only match your preferences.

Filtering people who are hiring based on the location and industry

Once done, you will be able to spot the best matching companies. 🚀

Pros & cons LinkedIn

Pros:

• known worldwide
• advanced filtering options
• you can easily find contacts (cf next steps)

Cons:

• you’re not 100% sure if these companies froze hiring

Find decision-makers and their email address

Based on previous steps, you now have found companies that are hiring.

Chances are, you’re gonna head to LinkedIn and search for these companies.

For example, let’s say that I’m looking for a sales role and I’ve seen that Zoom, the video communication company, is hiring for that position.

Here’s what I’ll do:

Step 1: Go to Zoom’s company page on LinkedIn

Going to a LinkedIn company page

Step 2: Click on the employees' section to find the right decision-maker

Accessing the list of all employees in a company

Since Zoom is a big company, I’m gonna have to filter the results.

Step 3: Go to “All filters” and choose location and position (in our case “San Francisco” and “Sales”)

Advanced filters to find the right person to get in touch with

As you can see on the screenshot below, I now can see who’s working in Sales in San Fransisco and hence, find the person in charge.

Finding the right person to get in touch with thanks to filtering

Step 4: Go to the profile of a decision-maker and use coldCRM to find his/her email address

Finding anyone’s email address with coldCRM

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, all our partners are giving their tools for free until you find your new job and if you’ve been fired because of COVID-19.

For coldCRM, simply go to https://app.coldcrm.com/ and create your account. Once your account is created, simply say in the chat that you’ve lost your job during the COVID-19 and you’ll get some free credits to find emails.

Once you have their email you need to do two things:

1- copy/paste it the Google Sheet I mentioned at the beginning of the article

2- write a personalization sentence in the matching column (this will be key for next steps)

Example of a Google Sheet with all the columns you need for the perfect job application campaign

In the following example, the personalization sentence could be something like:

I really love what you guys are doing, especially in such times! I’ve been using Zoom for about 500 sales demos in the past two years and it has never let me down once!

Once you’ve done that for 20–30 companies and decision-makers, simply export this file as a csv and move to the next step.

Exporting a Google Sheet in csv

Sending cold emails to find a job using lemlist

For this part you’re gonna need 3 tools:

1- Loom

Loom is a free tool allowing you to record videos directly from a chrome extension. All videos are stored in the cloud which makes it easy for you to share.

The loom website

You simply need to go to https://www.loom.com/signup and download the chrome extension.

Once you’ve downloaded the chrome extension, the goal is to record a short video — less than one minute — in order to introduce yourself and get a meeting with the manager.

After clicking on the loom chrome extension, you should make sure to record only your camera and not your screen as well (as shown below on the screenshot)

Select “Cam only” from the settings

If you want to record a good video, you need it to be structured as such:

1- Briefly tell them who you are

2- Give context about why you’re reaching out

3- Explain WHY you’re interested in THEM

4- Explain WHY they should spend time on YOU

5- Always end with a clear Call to Action

Side note: Smiling is also a great way to show your energy and positivity

Here is the video I recorded to show you how I would do it if I wanted to apply as a sales representative for a software company:

Video example for a job application as a sales rep for a software company

It took me 2 minutes to do it so it’s far from perfect but it will give you a rough idea 😎

2- Calendly

Calendly is the simplest tool for people to book meetings with you. On top of that, it’s free 🎉

The calendly website

Simply go to https://calendly.com/signup and create your account.

3- lemlist

lemlist is the best sales automation platform ever created that allows you to add advanced personalization to your emails, book more meetings and get more replies (since I’m the CEO and co-founder, I admit that this description might have been a little biased 😅).

The beautiful lemlist website 😍

Now, you are probably wondering why do you need lemlist to send emails, so here are 3 reasons:

1- It will allow you to automate the sending of emails to multiple recipients while keeping each email super personalized

2- You’ll be able to create dynamic landing pages including your video and calendar (I made my grandmother do this tutorial and she made it so you have no excuse 😘)

3- With this approach, you’ll be able to stand out from the crowd of resumes that no one ever read and you’ll be able to get tons of interviews

Let’s get started!

Simply create your account here

You’ll have a 14-day free trial and if you don’t find a job within these 14 days, simply head over to the chat and we will extend your trial until you find one. ❤️

If you have any questions or if you need help, simply head over to our chat and ask your questions — our support is pretty cool, and Ena, who is in charge “rocks” (at least that’s what people say)

Ena rocks

After you create your account, it’s time to create your campaign.

If you prefer watching the step by step video tutorial for that part, you can watch it here

Step 1: Simply click on “Create a new campaign”

Starting a campaign from the home page

Step 2: Go to Buddies-to-be section and import your list

Use the list you’ve exported from the Google sheet you made in previous steps.

Selecting the csv import option

Your list should be structured so you have all the important information in there. Make sure to list the following:

• company name
• first name of the decision-maker
• email of the decision-maker
• personalization sentence

Click here to see how your list should look like.

Match each column with the correct variable (it should be done automatically) like on the screenshot below

Matching columns with the right variable during import

Step 3: Use the template with the video

Select from the template the one containing a video and replace the photo with your own. You can watch the tutorial here.

The goal of the subject is to be intriguing in order to have the person open your email. The personalized image will grab his/her attention 😍 leading to a much higher number of interviews.

Example of an email template with dynamic custom fields and dynamic image

Here’s the copy of the text so you can copy/paste.

Subject line: thought you’d be interested

Hey {{firstName}},

I hope you’re staying safe!

{{personalization sentence}}

I was checking your job offer and I thought I could reach out with a short video

INSERT YOU CLICKABLE IMAGE

or click here.

What do you think? 😊

Best,

Guillaume

Step 4: Set up your dynamic landing page

A dynamic landing page gives you more room to make your email even more unique. Plus it’s super easy to create them, without the need to write a single line of code.

With the loom video you’ve recorded, you can now make the image clickable and drive them to a dynamic landing page that will include both your video and calendly. (Click here for a video tutorial — it lasts 43 seconds 😇)

Example of dynamic landing page with video

Step 5: Schedule your campaign

Now it’s time to pick the timing when our emails will go out. Make sure to set the time frame and maximum emails to go out per day. Also, tick the days you want to send on.

Setting up your schedule

Step 6: Review emails and send your campaign

This is the final stage… where additional magic takes place.

The whole point of the review stage is to see how your emails look like and if everything is okay.

Review stage

But there’s one more thing. The review stage can be used to additionally personalize specific emails.

For example, imagine you’re applying to lemlist and you know Vuk, my Head of Growth. You can add a sentence and mention that in the email you’re sending to me.

To do that, simply click on the decision-maker on the left and edit the email. When you do, click on “Review 1” button in the upper right corner to send that particular email.

If you want to send all emails at once, just click the green “Review all” button and you’re set.

And that’s it! You will now start receiving tons of replies with people willing to interview you for your next dream job 🎉

To recap, here’s what we’ve seen in this article:

1- Why it’s ESSENTIAL to drop the traditional resume + cover letter in a time of crisis (way too many competition → YOU need to stand out)

2- How to find companies that are currently hiring for the position you’re looking for

3- How to find any decisions maker email address

4- How to set up a successful email campaign in order for you to get tons of interviews

So, what can YOU do to help?

The first step is to share this article with your network on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or even via private message 😇

The more you share this article, the more people who are currently unemployed will find their dream job and hence, the faster the economy will start kicking in again 🚀

Please, also make sure to give 50 claps so it will get more visibility on Medium as well!

Love you all and stay safe ❤️