Apply Apply -- No Reply

The original was published here: http://www.thecareermuse.co.in/2013/01/22/apply-apply-reply/

This was it:

How many of you are frustrated, that you do not hear anything after you have applied for a job?

Some of you might have received a response and then the employer or the consultant would have reverted back to you with a set of questions and more details about the job. After you promptly reply, there is a silence and no communication what so ever.

Initially you hope that your reply would have landed in the Junk mail folder or got lost in the innumerable email replies the recipient would have got. You send another follow-up mail, but there is no reply to that as well. What could have gone wrong?

This is a typical scenario and millions of people would vouch for this. After responding to this job alert, the scene described above plays out. How is that over 95 % of the applications get rejected? Here is the trade secret.

Many recruiters have become smart. They embed a lot of subtle queries in the original body of the email. If the position is for a Quality or Testing Engineer, they would expect you to be detail oriented. What I mean is that you must have patience to read a long email and be able to follow simple instructions. Your temperament gets assessed, when you reply to these mails. As an example, they might ask you to elaborate on your specific experience of using a certain tool or domain on a cover note. This request might be embedded within the body of a long email. Many respondents, who just scan through the emails, might miss this aspect, and would just revert back with a standard reply template. It is very easy to conclude, if the applicant has read the email thoroughly or not. The other glaring example is when the recruiter asks for the current postal address, and the respondent many just mention the current location ( just the city). This goes to prove that the applicant does not know the difference between postal address and location.

Many times the applicants use canned replies to queries or even furnish details that are not even asked for. At other times, they avoid furnishing some parts of the details sought for. Examples of these are: Current compensation, expectation, reason for seeking change etc.

The general job seeker approach is – throw as many stones as possible and definitely some mangoes will fall – real wishful thinking !

The advice is: Apply selectively and take time to formulate an appropriate cover note. You might be able to apply for only 2-3 positions a week and definitely, you would get a reply to at least one. Your efficiency is higher than 40 %, whereas if you apply in bulk, by responding to all and sundry opportunity, you may not get even a single reply in a month, which means your conversion efficiency is less than 1 %. All this goes with a rider that you have substance in your CV and relevant experience to back you up for the position applied.

Good Luck !