More and more sites offer what is called “one click apply” to make it easy for you to apply for a job but does that make it good for you to use?
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More and more sites use the feature of one-click apply to make it easy for you to apply for a position.… But should you actually use it? Is one click apply actually a useful tool for you as the job hunter? Let me explain what happens with one click apply and the two ways that is offered.
First, when you are on a job board like Indeed, and they say, “you’ve uploaded a resume to us and we will forward it on to the employer.” Here’s what happens behind the scenes. They are sending that same generic resumes to every job. It’s like the broken watch that is right twice a day; that resume may or may not actually demonstrate the fit for the job and you haven’t done anything to customize your resume. That can be a problem for you, costing you an opportunity.
In addition, when they send a resume, they don’t have your address there. They have city, state but no ZIP Code. You may think, “What is the big problem?” The issue is they submit the resume for you and even uploaded to a database or applicant tracking system that is on the recipient’s side. Without the ZIP Code, no one will ever find you again when other positions open up at that firm.
“Huh?”
No one will ever find you. Let me give you a perspective.
Let’s say, you apply to a position of mine and the resume doesn’t have your ZIP Code. How my going to find you in my system?
“You search by skills.”
No. I search by skills and location. Without a ZIP Code, I don’t have your location.
“Why can’t you look me up by city?”
Databases don’t work that way. They are set up to search by a certain radius of a particular location as defined by ZIP Code. The result is you are lost forever and become invisible to me.
“I have submitted to a local recruiter!”
They do the same thing. I will use New York as an example. I have a job in Manhattan and if I search for people within a 50 mile radius of Manhattan, the databases all search by ZIP Code. How will I find you?
“They will search everything.”
But they won’t do that. They search by ZIP Code. So, you are lost to them. They won’t find you.
Another way sites do it is by taking your LinkedIn profile and submitting it for the job. Take a look at your LinkedIn profile. That’s thinner than your resume. It certainly isn’t customized to the job. The result is that you are basically dumping spam on people.
For most job hunters, one click apply is a convenience that isn’t effective. It isn’t something that will get you more interviews; it will allow you to submit more resumes and give you the feeling like you’re doing “stuff,” but it’s not going to give you the results that you want.
So I want to discourage you from using one click apply and, instead, take note of the job, submit a customized resume for it and go from there. It will be far more effective.
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Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.
The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.
JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.