If you focus on the inputs, the outputs will follow.

Read time: 6 mins

(This is a special series of my newsletter – the ninth in a series of posts sharing insights, tips, and actions that you can implement when you are searching for a job either to leave your current one, or due to a recent layoff. The principles in the following series can be largely applied to both situations and adapted to your specific scenario. Best of luck in your journey!)

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Sponsored by my favorite job app tracker

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Having an amazing resume and LinkedIn will not get you the job.

If we are following what gets you the biggest bang for your buck…

…sure working on those gets you 80% of the way there.

But the last 20% will be the hardest.

It takes time. 🕰️

It takes effort. 💪

It takes consistency. 🔁

Consistency.

As with any goal you are looking to achieve –

You need to show up time and time again.

This applies getting healthy with what you eat.

This applies getting fit by going to the gym.

This applies with getting a job.

Heck, this applies to this Thursday Trailblazer article.

You need to have the discipline to do the hard (& sometimes boring) work.

Before we dive in, let’s recap where we are at in the journey:

✅ You have a killer resume updated with the impact of your latest projects.

✅ You have polished your LinkedIn to shock and awe any recruiter that takes a look.

✅ You know how to tell compelling stories about your achievements.

Now we are going to focus on the inputs of the job applying machine…

…that will get your inbox filled with interviews.

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How to Get a Job Fast by Building Your Job App Machine

Applying for a job is a game of numbers.

The other day I was connecting with a friend that was laid off and has spent that last couple of months searching for a job.

Guess: How many jobs they had applied to over the span of those past 4 months?

10 job applications.

Did they hear back from any?

Nope.

Where did they go wrong?

There are two main things to consider when building your Job App Machine.

1. Setting your job criteria: the “perfect” job vs. getting a job

The first thing that they said they were looking for was the “perfect” job.

Perfect is subjective…

…and honestly comes down to the urgency of how quickly you need a job.

If you already have a job with the stability of income, then you can be a more selective.

But if you were recently laid off…

…you are racing time. ⏱️

When I was laid off the goal wasn’t to find the “perfect” job.

The goal was to find a job that aligned with my professional skills, paid adequate for my tenure, and had relatively interesting projects.

If I found a job that hit it out of the park with each of those…

…then great!

If they didn’t – it’s okay.

It’ll at least stop the layoff recovery scramble…

…and I can always restart the search in the future.

2. Understanding the Job App Funnel

Let’s get this part out of the way.

You will not hear back from a majority of the job applications that you submit.

Harsh?

Yes.

But since we now understand that…

…we can make a game plan the beat it!

The job application funnel outlines an example of the various stages that you will need to go through before reaching a job offer.

1,000 job applications to get 1 job offer.

Vastly different than the 10 job applications that my friend submitted over the past 4 months.

Is a 10% conversion rate unrealistic?

Not at all, especially if you are submitting low-quality job applications.

Next week I’ll dive into exactly how to submit high-quality job applications…

…but for now assume the following:

If it was an easy process for you to apply, then it was equally as easy for your competition to do as well. Yikes!

I’m looking at you LinkedIn EasyApply 👀

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Feeding the Job App Machine – Quantity (Part 1)

To quickly get a job…

…you will need to apply to at least 8 jobs per day.

Having an abundant number of job applications submitted is important because there are too many reasons that you might get filtered out.

The job posting might already be actively interviewing people in the final rounds.

The job posting might be out-of-date.

The application software the recruiters are using might have filtered you out.

The number of reasons to disqualify you are endless.

You might remember how I blocked off my calendar to focus on one task at a time…

But that is exactly how I was able to make my Job App Machine work.

Focus on one task at a time and execute it in bulk.

Step 1: Search and save jobs

I would add anything that I would remotely be interested to apply to within a job application tracker.

The goal here is to create a shortlist.

I found using Teal’s Free Application Tracker and Chrome extension made this super simple, but you can also use a spreadsheet.

To get around expired job listings, I would usually sort from newest to oldest.

I would spend a few hours and save 10 – 20 jobs before moving onto the next step.

Note: I used Teal because they also copied the job posting description. This was helpful to reference when I was interviewing and the company already had deleted the job posting.

Step 2: Evaluate the job postings

When I was quickly adding jobs to my Teal Tracker, I might have missed that some I didn’t qualify for…

…or didn’t meet some of the criteria I wanted in a job.

Teal made it easy to delete and get those out of the way.

Step 3: Apply for the jobs

Now it’s time to crank through those job applications.

Disclaimer: Not all job applications are equal.

Ideally of all the job applications you submit are of the highest quality.

But that isn’t always feasible.

Here’s a small preview into next week’s article…

…of how I rank the types of job applications from most valuable to the least:

1. Leadership or Hiring Manager Referral
2. Current Employee Referral
3. Direct Company Job Posting
4. Job Board Posting (LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.)

Step 4: Brain Drain with Instant Applications

Applying for jobs is tiring…

…and pushing through to submit those high-quality job applications later in the day can be hard.

I would usually end the day submitting LinkedIn’s EasyApply job applications.

These would usually be the jobs that I was either on the fence about apply to or just “shooting my shot” because I was a tad under-qualified.

Why save this towards the end?

Low effort for some potential upside.

But let’s be honest…

…we aren’t putting a ton of hope into these.

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Feeding the Job App Machine – Quality (Part 2)

We briefly went through the second part of what makes the Job App Machine work in the above Step 3.

But there are so many tactics to cover within each that I’ll cover that in the article next week.

Having high-quality job applications will enable you to skip the line…

…and ultimately have a significantly higher conversion rate.

No one actually wants to apply to 1,000+ jobs.

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💡 Action Steps

🚨 Define your urgency. Do you need these interviews and job offers within a month or 6 months? Here are some questions to ask yourself when deciding how fast you need to go.

• How much time do I have left to find a job? (i.e. emergency fund, unemployment, etc.)
• What am I looking for in a new role? (i.e. Salary, Work-life Balance, Projects, Size of Company)
• Am I willing to sacrifice other things to make the time for this? If so, how much?

Note: The faster you need to go, the more dedicated you’ll need to be.

🫡 Set realistic expectations. In the Job App Machine, I outline that outline you should aim for at least 8 high-quality job applications per day. But that might not be realistic if you are also balancing other responsibilities.

Set realistic expectations of what you think you can accomplish each day. Avoid setting this as a weekly goal as that will usually lead to procrastination and we don’t want that!

🗓️ Prep your calendar blocks. Block off dedicated time for each of the steps within the Job App Machine. You want to avoid switching between the various steps because that will slow you down. The more consistent you are with the time you spend, the faster you’ll hit your goals!

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📚 Other Notable Resources

• Last Week’s Post: The 10 Ways I Grow and Maintain My Network.
• Read the Full Guide: The ultimate 5-step guide how to get job interviews and job offers after being laid off
• Free Resource: Resume Templates
• Free Resource: Teal’s Job Application Tracker

Note: I only promote brands and products I know and trust – and as a Teal affiliate, I may earn a commission (at no cost to you) if you sign up with my link.