Consider the best job that you've had recently.
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I know the feeling of CV help feeling pointless.
But I've also had a glimpse from the other side. Almost all hires at my company are strangers applying through the process. How much CVs matter varies wildly.
Yup, a lot of people I've hired have gone through a process, submitted a CV, been interviewed, and so on. It's just that I've never done that from a cold start. I've applied for two jobs like that, I was rejected for one and declined the other (both with the same employer).
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird 13 years ago I was working at a specific sub-organization (org1) within a larger employer (main). Main handles common benefits, but employment is with a sub-organization.
I took a temporary developmental position at a different sub-organization (org2) within main for a few years. As part of my job at org2, I had a working lunch with someone from a third sub-organization (org3) and mentioned that I was rotating back to my original position with org1 and looking for projects to work on when I got back.
They mentioned me to someone who reached out asking whether I wanted to extend my temporary rotation and work at org3's site for a couple of years. I said yes, and my permanent boss at org1 said yes, but my permanent boss's boss said no. Org3 offered me a permanent position and I took it.
Very much the result of serendipity, since I didn't know the people offering me the job at all, and my acquaintance with the person who connected me to them was just meeting that one day.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird my option is more : I applied cold but both companies didn’t (at the time) have those stupid recruiting platforms that look for keywords and throw out candidates randomly, so I got the job on experience
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Yup, a lot of people I've hired have gone through a process, submitted a CV, been interviewed, and so on. It's just that I've never done that from a cold start. I've applied for two jobs like that, I was rejected for one and declined the other (both with the same employer).
Thanks for the clarification. I slightly misread your post.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird I already worked for the company when I got my best job. The QA manager, who needed someone reasonably fluent with a computer, headed up a continuing improvement team. I built an interactive website that accepted, parsed and monitored "suggestion tickets" on line. He liked my work and brought me off the production floor to QA. That's the job I retired from last year.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird I got recruited.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird My last job (17 years) was due to a recruiter cold calling me. I've worked with recruiters for most of my career and often have been contacted with opportunities being presented to me.
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Recently, my girlfriend applied for another job at the org she's been working for as a freelancer for years. She got not chosen for the first round of interviews because she wrote her department head recommended her to apply for the position. (My idea, to show she has the backing of higher-ups inside the orgs.) This was read as lack of initiative on her part.
That sounds like a weird reason.
At small and medium organizations “hiring” is extra work pawned off on already busy people and simply being the easiest to locate person who those tasked with the hire can trust won’t cause them embarrassment is the process rather than reading 100 CVs
Calls to previous employers matter a great deal.
This is because smaller orgs don’t budget any time to do this work.
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I know the feeling of CV help feeling pointless.
But I've also had a glimpse from the other side. Almost all hires at my company are strangers applying through the process. How much CVs matter varies wildly.
CVs matter since it’s what the hiring committee will squint at while they try to figure out what to do.
Introduction letters are not as important in my limited experience with small companies colleges and schools.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird My last job was from talking to a guy at a bar. He was the brother of someone I used to work with at a different job. That job I got through my brother in law.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird Half the third option and half the last one, basically in Brasil we do a selective processes by doing some tests for public jobs. I got first place in mine and got the job.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird
At the time I was known to be actively volunteering within the community and had contacts with the local people*. Someone asked me if I knew anyone local who would be interested in a particular part time job. I decided to apply for it myself. I have been there for 11 years now.*I didn't know many people really, but everyone seems to think I know everyone, but in reality everyone seems to know me. I am not sure that is a good thing or not. I have been referred to as 'a local character'!
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That sounds like a weird reason.
At small and medium organizations “hiring” is extra work pawned off on already busy people and simply being the easiest to locate person who those tasked with the hire can trust won’t cause them embarrassment is the process rather than reading 100 CVs
Calls to previous employers matter a great deal.
This is because smaller orgs don’t budget any time to do this work.
I totally agree it sounds weird.
She was applying from a freelance museum educator to a low ranking museum admin position. And apparently it was read as "not being enthusiastic enough about getting this position".
A good friend of hers was actually involved in the hiring process, and could correct the impression.
The museum overlooked her already when she was applying for a job in customer requests. And now she might do some of it as extra hours to her new job.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird I got my current job, literally the best job I've ever had, by working as a contractor for about a year and a half. They finally decided to hire me on permanentl in June 2024. Since I graduated from college in 2012 (and got married in 2013), I've not had a job that pays this much or offers this many benefits before. We were pretty poor before this job, often going to food pantries.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird
In the middle of 2019 I flipped a toggle on LinkedIn saying I was looking for a new position.
Recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn based on my then-current position (I literally flipped the switch and sat there, didn't apply to anything)
Few interview rounds later I was hired, moved cross country.
Still work there.Probably could never happen that way again.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird am still working my best job (in IT) after 20 years and I was contacted by a recruiter to apply for it. I gather the job market has changed somewhat in the intervening years.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird I've *never* got the job through the "cold process" in my career except for my very first job out of college - which I didn't like and only stayed at for four months.
I'm currently unemployed, and in my state a condition of unemployment insurance is to record three 'search activities' each week, which usually means applications.
Over nearly sixteen weeks, exactly one cold application has received a *reply* (that one at least I'm optimistic about right now) -
CVs matter since it’s what the hiring committee will squint at while they try to figure out what to do.
Introduction letters are not as important in my limited experience with small companies colleges and schools.
Absolutely.
And there's an obvious part to it: Showing how you fit the requirements of the job and how the company would profit from having you.
There's a less obvious part in adressing worries and risks the employer might have. (Unless you are applying for a large international company, speaking German is one such aspect.)
And then there's the voodoo stuff. Appearing highly motivated, but not desperate. Appearing very capable, but not out of reach. Etc.
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Consider the best job that you've had recently.
Let's call "recently" in the past 10 years. (What makes a job "best" is up to you.)
Regardless of how you applied, online, in person, etc. did you:
@futurebird @JeniParsons In my vase it was starting my own company. We grew by personal recommendations and have transitioned to being employee owned
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Absolutely.
And there's an obvious part to it: Showing how you fit the requirements of the job and how the company would profit from having you.
There's a less obvious part in adressing worries and risks the employer might have. (Unless you are applying for a large international company, speaking German is one such aspect.)
And then there's the voodoo stuff. Appearing highly motivated, but not desperate. Appearing very capable, but not out of reach. Etc.
In a lot of cases, "knowing someone at the company" doesn't give the person a higher score in competence.
But it's seen as a protection against "We missed that this person is a lazy jerk".
