Cold Applications, Worth it?

I get this question from my clients quite often.

“When can I just make the application?”

To be clear, we are talking about a cold or standard application in this scenario.

If you’ve been following Immigrant Spirit, as some of you have for years, you know how we feel about cold applications 😉❌

(Almost always, wasted time and effort.)

But are there any times at all, where you should just go ahead and send a standard cold application?

I’ll give you two exceptions.

1. If the job was posted in the last two days.

I would say if you are one of the first applicants to a position, then you have a decent chance of receiving an interview. The reason is because before the company is flooded with applicants for a new role, you have a chance to be one of the first ones that they can review. If you are a fit on the rest of the following (Below) then you can beat the crowd and be one of the first in line.

The rest is of course…

• Meeting nearly 100% of the requirements in the job advertisement. (Otherwise, don’t bother. Better to approach the hiring manager directly)
• Researched the company and understand their biggest challenge
• Ask HR in which form they want to receive your CV
• Customize your CV to reflect the requirements of the particular job
• Present your CV in the proper formatting (based on their answer)

2. The second exception is the following.

Only after you attempted a couple contacts, without any responses to your messages. Maybe you even tried a cold call to the HR department. The last resort then after exhausting all of these options, is to simply apply in the old fashioned way. You don’t want to forget about that job completely.

Kind regards,

Kevin