I feel your job | Chris Pyak Coaching | Your Career in a Borderless World
Yesterday I spoke to a candidate who has sent over 1.000 job applications to companies in Germany – and who got only rejections. He was devastated – so much time and effort without any results.
I did not feel sorry.
Basically the candidate spammed. He sent out standard applications without ever bothering to learn anything about the company. Without ever trying to figure out what the company wants to achieve. He acted without empathy.
The odds that this is successful are as high as the chance that I send money to a Nigerian prince, helping him to bring his oil millions abroad…
What would have helped him?
1. Search the complete market. Find all the companies that hire people like you. Not just the “Top 10″ where everybody applies.
2. Pick the 5-10 companies that you really want to work for. Rank them from top choice to #10 choice.
3. For each company: Write down 10 reasons why you want to work for this company. Rank them 1-10.
4. Research each company: What do they want to achieve? What is the most important task for the position that you apply for? Who is the head of the department? (Your future boss), Who are colleagues who work in the same department? Who is the HR person in charge?
5. Research the people that you want to approach. You would be surprised how much you can learn about professionals on LinkedIn, xing and Facebook. Limit your search to maximal five minutes per person. Your goal: Find one thing that you really like about this person. Formulate why you like this.
6. Formulate your offer. What can you contribute to the concrete goals of the company in this position? How exactly can you help them get ahead? Edit your CV to highlight all your achievements that are related to the companies goals.
7. Choose your target. Whenever possible: Avoid HR and get in touch with the hiring manager directly. For HR you are just another 7-12 seconds glance at a random CV – but your future boss feels the pain: He/She has work to do!
8. Getting a job is an easy calculation: Risk versus profit. Reduce risk, increase profit = get a job.
You have two goals:
Show them the goods!
Ask your target person which concrete results you have to achieve to be considered successful in this position. Compare this to your research and adjust if neccessary.
Then explain how you will help your future boss to achieve this goal. Give short examples from your previous jobs that are relevant to the task.
Explain why you want to work for this company. (See #3) Give your honest reasons – that’s the best compliment you can make your future employer.
Overcome the fear.
Realize that you ask a lot of faith from your future employer: You are a foreigner, possibly from a different cultural background. The quality of your university is unknown – and maybe you are not even in Germany yet. It takes a lot of “good will” to oversee all this obstacles.
You need to adress this concerns – and make it “safe” to hire you: Offer freelance work or a free internship. So that they can see the quality of your work and get to know you. If you achieve this – then you are a big step ahead to full employment!
(At the same time: Don’t let them exploit you. A “free trial” should be reasonable. Agreeing to everything will not get you a job – they will loose respect for you!)
As a jobseeker you already have a job: You work in sales.
I wish you success!
Chris Pyak is managing director of Immigrant Spirit GmbH. Chris has been working abroad for ten years and let teams in four different cultures.
Have you made the same experience?
You are well educated, you have professional experience and most important: You have drive and ambition. You want to make a contribution and build a good career.
But German employers don't value your talent. You apply for job after job. You spent hours editing your CV and cover letter to fit perfectly. And then: You don't even get an answer.
There is a way forward! Chris Pyak and the rest of us at Immigrant Spirit GmbH: We want you to succeed.
Comments are closed.