Job Hunting during Covid-19: Cutting through the Noise

And so it begins. I’ve recently started applying to jobs again — half to assess my professional market value and the other half to actually test the waters and see if there is a good opportunity to change companies (as you should if you can every few years!).

And it is bad.

If you’ve read my tagline, you’ll know that I’ve submitted over 700 job applications in my lifetime (and if you didn’t, well now you do). There’s a couple of things that I keep statistics of to measure my own performance and find out how to improve. These are:

1. Application:Response Ratio
   Measured as how many applications until one of them at least results in an interview. The higher the number (closer to 1), the better. I’ve gone from about 1/50 after graduating college to about 1/8(referred)~1/30(cold) after my first job.
2. Average time of Application
   Time needed to actually apply for each application. If you take this number and divide it by the above (or multiply if you have it as a whole number instead of a fractional ratio), you have the average amount of time you invest to get one interview.
3. Split the above into “Referred” and “Cold”
   To get a delta and clear picture into how much of an improvement a referral gets you versus a pure online application. If your referral rate is also low, its a pretty clear indictment that the problem is actually with your resume rather than too many applicants or being late to apply.

So why is it bad now? Because even though I’ve only gone into 70+ applications so far (40ish if you count by company rather than post), then my stats have already dramatically deteriorated. I have gotten 0 responses back from the 30 postings I’ve been referred to and 0 responses back from the other 40+ cold applications.

All of us could have expected the impact to cold applications (although the fact that there is still 0 response means that it potentially has a long way to grow), but the impact to referrals is even more unnerving. This is while I’m in a better professional position than I’ve ever been in my previous job hunt phases:

• Am still employed
• More experience & accomplishments than before
• Referred by network now more senior than before

Now as a disclaimer, I feel like it has to be said that it can very well be that this situation is unique to myself only. It’s possible that the changes I’ve made to my resume are worse. That re-applies (since 700+ previous applications means I’ve most probably already applied to 90% of the big firms) are discounted against brand new applicants. Or that I just haven’t improved enough with respect to my peer applicants.

But those are unlikely, especially because I have had the fortune of hearing back from those hiring managers. And the main responses are not pretty:

• We’re looking at internal moves instead. Read as: Fortunately, this position can be filled by switching someone else, which inadvertently allows us to slim another team.
• We’re wrapping up the process. My note: These were for positions that were only 3 days old and not repeats. Likely that they were so flooded with high quality applicants they felt confident in stopping the search in record time.
• We’ve froze the hiring for this position. My note: Yeah. Time to move on.

Unfortunately there’s nothing we as applicants can do for situation #1 or #3, those are wholly out of our control. The resolution to #1 is only to people already employed, and it just means it may be better to search for another job within the company rather than jump. The solution to #3 is nothing other than, if that was your dream company: hope that they’re able to weather the recession.

So what we CAN focus on is #2: Wrapping up the process. And though we can’t stop others from applying to the position, we can incorporate this bit of information to adjust our process for these trying times:

1. More than ever, focus on the fresh postings. If you’re limited on time, apply to the posting thats 2 days old rather than a week.
2. Keep banging, progress even if you don’t hear back. I keep in touch with recruiters and interviewers, because oftentimes we end on great notes and they are great future referrers. Unfortunately, the ones I’ve messaged in hopes for a referral have not responded. Even after reminder/ping emails. Rather than sit back and wait for the posting to expire, hit up other referrers or just apply. If you do wait, make sure that they’re actually strong referrers who are willing to help you with #3.
3. Only the loud get heard, especially when the crowd is larger than ever. Try as much to get referred by a STRONG network connection, someone who will actually ping the hiring manager or recruiter for you. Recruiters are probably getting spammed by referrals too, which means there’s a whole new dimension behind the doors even with the referral game…

The lifecycle of a job posting has gotten much shorter. And the number of them are much less. To adapt to that, we also have to change away from what used to work:

1. Going the extra credit mile, a custom project or otherwise. If it’s going to take you 3 days to put together some super quality project to wow the hiring team for a posting thats already come out, that’s 3 days you’re risking the posting and interviewee list to close. Apply, projects work when there’s no current position that’s subject to expiration.
2. Apply and go away. If you really want the position, keep pinging. Don’t spam them, but the line between “comfortably professional” and “just a bit annoying” needs to be straddled more than ever. You need to make your needs heard. Best case they push you to the list anyway to quiet you down. Worst case? Well, if you weren’t going to get an interview anyway…
3. Pace yourself. This is a difficult one, because there’s a tie-in with your own mental health and stamina. If the lifecycles are shorter than ever, it means that opportunities disappear quicker than ever… and unfortunately in this time period, won’t replenish as fast. Either increase the number you’re applying to daily or at least make sure you’re applying to everything that’s new within the last 24 hours. Preferably both.

We’re only at the first few months of the job market post-Covid-19 and it’s already a momentously more difficult slog. Unfortunately, it’s also got nowhere to go but harder from here.

Good luck to those also in this, and thank you for reading. If you liked what you read and are interested in seeing more learnings as I go along in my progress, please share and leave a clap!