Smartest ways to apply for a job

Applying for a job can take effort, and it can take time.

It is incredibly important that you use these skills as correctly as possible. If you apply carelessly, you risk losing your enthusiasm and motivation. You risk turning and twirling in your job search, much like a hamster in a wheel.

You must avoid that.

Fortunately, it’s a good time to be a job seeker, and the world is full of opportunities.

Here are the three best things I think you can do to apply well, correctly and smartly.

1: Do a Good Search

Perhaps it speaks for itself. But this is the number one recipe for success. One of the most under communicated aspects of job searching is the degree of coincidence at stake. I often meet job seekers who have taken it quite seriously that they were not called – at the same time as there may be a dozen reasons for it, and that most often has nothing to do with them.

To even out the game of chance, one must position the risk. 5-10 applications are simply not enough to know if you could get a type of job or not.

When I have interviewed store owners and other employers in Oslo, they have been in unison that the most important characteristic is not “experience” or “competence” – but timing. If you had come a week before, I could have used you, they say. The same degree of coincidence applies in many industries, and for many types of job seekers. You may have applied for 5 jobs in a row where they were looking for a girl instead of a boy. You may have applied for three jobs in a row that were actually promised to a temp.

This does not mean that you have to send out standard applications. In some industries, you should spend a lot of time getting to know the job and applying specifically for it – but the trick is to become so good at writing CVs and applications (as you eventually become) that it costs less effort each time .

One must not believe anything else – applying a lot, often and continuously really sets the good job seeker apart from the rest.

Morality: Search as much as you can. Do not give up. Be a patient turtle. Not a hare who bets everything on one asked.

2: Seek out jobs

Without knowing you, I would say that it is likely that your main strategy for applying for a job is this: You compile your CV, you read job search pages, you search through finn.no or nav.no for positions, and apply for the interesting ones that you see coming your way.

There is nothing wrong with the strategy. It’s incredibly common, which’s why I guess you have it. But it is not perfect. The problem is that a maximum of 50% of all positions appear online (some think fewer) – and there are a plethora of job seekers waiting for the positions to come. The result is an excessively large competition for the jobs you see on finn.no and nav.no.

The rest of the positions are given to:

• People who apply for jobs before the job need to advertise the position
• people who are hired through references and networks
• internal hiring and hiring of temps

And these are jobs you can not afford to miss. There is such a large share of the job market that you should consider doing one of these things:

Listen to your entire network

Networking is not just for slick business people – in practice, it means letting people you know know that you are looking for a job and that you are either tipped off about jobs or recommended. Even a loose connection to the job you are applying for can help you, and many job seekers inquire less than they should. I recommend you take it around. Send mail. Use social media. Ask people you meet. Remember that people like to help.

Send open applications

Pick a handful of jobs that you find interesting and that suit your background – and contact them. Read up on the website, see what they are looking for, and send a nice email with a CV and application where you offer your expertise. You can also call or drop by. You will be amazed at how well most people will receive this contact. And this is a prime way to get a job for many.

Check companies’ websites

I include this because you need to be aware that many sites no longer feel they have to post on Nav or Finn. And although databases often pick up jobs, they do not always do so. Especially large chains and companies have their own search instructions on their site. Sit down, Google places you would like to work and see how they will respond to your application.

Seek out things like career days and industry seminars

There are gathering places for industries and people. The career hub at UiO has one for you who are relatively young. NAV has one. And most industries gather for seminars and open meetings. Bring your CV and application in hand, smile and show up.

Each of these can be exactly what your job search needs.

The longer it has gone and the more you have stumbled into the search process, the more I recommend it. You will appear very motivated, and you will often have far less competition. The downside is that it is not certain the company needs someone right now. However, these are strategies you should consider incorporating – and which with a little luck can make your chances really increase.

Morality: Seek out jobs that are not advertised. Lean forward. Become part of the open market. A new world may open up for you.

Demonstrate what you can do

This is the new society we live in, for better or worse. Now you have a way to demonstrate what you can do that our predecessor job seekers could look far for. This is more than a long-term strategy when it comes to finding a job quickly – but perhaps the best if you eventually want to break into a difficult or new industry.

Create a blog

Not a blog about what you ate for breakfast and how the vegetable juice always mixes so whimsically in the blender after exercise. But a blog where you show that you know things. Where you write about what you are interested in and teach your knowledge. It is a very good way to establish yourself and show what you can do. This blog you are reading is in a way meant as such a blog.

Contribute to a LinkedIn group

LinkedIn is not for all industries. But for people in eg media, organizational life, HR, IT and business, it has really started to grow as the number one networking site. Forget Twitter and Facebook for a moment – and check LinkedIn. Sign up, treat your own profile as your CV, and get in touch with open-ended questions in the various groups where your professional environment discusses things. Great way to both think and market yourself as an interested person.

Organize or join profit projects.

Join an interest group. A union. Help in a voluntary organization. Everywhere people run cultural meetings and other activities, and you are incredibly welcome to join. You should not show up and cynically rub your hands because you think it will be a job offer. But meeting new, interesting environments very often provides opportunities you did not think of – and often ends up in job opportunities. This is not a direct job search method, but I mention it since it is something I think can give fresh air to job seekers who feel that they are stuck.

Morality: You have completely new ways of showing off that you can take advantage of. Curiosity, initiative and interest almost always pay off in the long run.

Bonus tip: Get a CV and an application that sparkles

I include this bonus tip since it’s the closest I get to a tab thing.

I do not mean that it must sparkle from your background or skills. It is what it is. I just think that it seems very good if you have spent time and effort on your application or not.

The last common “mistake” I see people make is that they send away an application that is sloppy and a resume that is confusing.

Go through your background for yourself. Think carefully about what things you have done that is important and why you should be chosen. Why, out of 40 job seekers, should they CHOOSE you? If you find the answer to it yourself, it is much easier for the boss to see the answer to it as well.

An excellent resume is not just a list of job titles. An excellent CV shows carefully selected information that the employer needs to know, and dampens what is less important.

And an excellent application shows that it understands what the job’s sore point is – why someone spends money on advertising this job and is willing to pay to get people to show up there – and launches itself as a nice, interesting solution to job problem.

Morality: No special morality. But it pays to spend time on CV and application.

They may seem unfamiliar, they may seem whimsical, but they may all be worth a try for you. It often takes no more than small adjustments in strategy before you can go from frustration and stinging to becoming an offensive job seeker with a tight handshake and a fixed gaze.

Look at your own strategy and do what you can to complement it best.

Best of Luck…

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