Applications: Introducing Yourself for a Job

Applying for a job is usually the point at which you introduce yourself to a prospective employer in hopes of getting to work there. It’s how you try to make an organization aware of you and your desire to contribute. Your application is the gateway to getting the right people at your target organization to review your cover letter, your resume, and your LinkedIn profile. While information on your application will generally reflect what you have on those three items, your application is the “tip of the spear” that makes the first impression with those considering you as a possible next employee. Take note of three important points about completing job applications that will be explained in this post:

-            Consult sources that can help you submit the best application possible

-            Emphasize quality by filling out your application completely and correctly

-            Two reasons to line up references before submitting your application

Consult sources that can help you submit the best application possible

Before starting any job applications, review at least one source of guidance that can help you make the most of any time and effort focused on applying to your next better paying job. CareerForce provides good job application guidance that shows completing a strong application isn’t rocket science, it just takes careful diligence and patience as you work through providing all the requested information. Having your LinkedIn profile handy, as well as your resume and cover letter for the job opening, can make it easier to collect the information you’ll need. Filling out a job application isn’t technically complex, but consulting other sources gives you a good reminder to be thoughtful and thorough about it, so that you’re putting your best foot forward when you submit the application.

Emphasize quality by filling out your application completely and correctly

Take care to make every field of your job application work for you. Every request an employer makes for information from you on an application is an opportunity to convince them that you’re the best person they can hire for the job. Of course, ensure anything entered into your application is consistent with the rest of your professional portfolio. If the information requested is already listed in a different part of your portfolio, repeat it on the application anyhow as it’s more convenient for the reviewer to see your answer right there instead of having to hunt for it elsewhere. CareerForce makes a great point about this for the two reasons given below:

Among other points, don’t make more work for the person reviewing your job application.

If you need more time to finish your application so that you can find these answers, take that time for the sake of putting quality first. Remember that part of leaving a good first impression with a prospective employer is to think of them as a sort of client with you as the server; your goal is to make it as easy as possible for them to get what they want, which is enough information to determine if they should be calling you for an interview. Providing good “customer service” in this way will help you stand out from any other candidate who doesn’t go this extra mile.

Two reasons to line up references before submitting your application

Including references as part of your application can help a prospective employer to learn more about you and get a better feel for your fit in a role. References should be people who can honestly give a glowing review about you, so very carefully choose two or three people who can best do this. A reference person may be able to attest to your technical abilities, but it will probably be easier for most people to emphasize your soft skills and how they can bring value to your target organization. When asking someone to be an employment reference for you, give thought to how you can make that role as easy as possible for them; they are doing you a favor if agreeing to be one of your references, so help them to help you.

Letting your references know of an application for which they may receive a phone call does a few things. First, it alerts them to be ready to receive an inquiry about you from the person reviewing your application. Second, if they know the organization you applied to, they have an opportunity to gather information about it from the Internet or from others they know who have some kind of relationship with that organization. In addition, if they know someone close to the role you’ve applied to, your reference may even be able to put in a good word for you proactively to give your application a boost.

The other reason to line up references ahead of time is simply to engage in proactive cultivation of professional relationships. Even aside from applying to specific jobs, building or sustaining a professional relationship with your references gives you and them an opportunity to network for each other. This will be explored further in the Networking post as one of the next few topics to come, but know for now that proactively developing relationships before you need them is an important part of networking.

Conclusion

Submitting a job application for an opening is usually the first time you introduce yourself to an organization where you want to work. Even if you are networked into applying for a role and one or two people from the target organization meet you beforehand, your application will still introduce you in writing to many people who will be involved in the decision about whether to hire you. Make it count. Get advice from trustworthy sources to make sure you’re covering all your job application bases. Remember that quality here is just as important as in the rest of your professional portfolio and that this is what makes a lot of people’s first impression of you as a professional. Use references to strengthen your application by coordinating with people who will vouch for what an asset you would be to the organization you’re applying to. Give your target organization every reason to want to talk to you!

Find a better paying job that looks like a good fit for you and apply today!

The next post on the roadmap: Picking a Job to Pursue