The „Magic“ of „Initiativbewerbungen“

Many companies offer you to send your job application – even if you can’t find a fitting job opening at their website right now. In German these applications are called “Initiativbewerbung”.

Anne subscribes to my premium “Letters from Chris”.

She asked:

“Can you give me any tips on how Initiativbewerbungen best work?”

Here is the problem:

HR departments are super busy. That’s why they focus their energy and attention on the jobs that they are advertising.
Everything that is less urgent is seen as a nuisance. It forces them to divert attention from the task at hand. Recruiters try to get rid of these distractions as fast as possible.

My feeling is:

The page for “Initiativbewerbungen” on a company’s career page serves exactly one purpose:

To keep you from writing emails or calling HR if you are not a perfect fit.

In other words: I believe that the “Initiativbewerbung” form leads directly to the spam folder:
“To be ignored.”

What can you do?

If you are interested in a specific employer, then it is better to find people who are working there. Talk to them about their jobs and specifically about the (job related) problems that keep them awake at night.
Often you will find that you have something to contribute to that specific problem.
Then approach the manager with your solution.

Here is a truth you need to hear:

The number one truth that jobseekers don’t seem to understand is this:
A job is about the pain of the employer.
Only about the pain of the employer.

If the employer is not hurting – then you can offer whatever you want: He is not interested.

Find the pain. Then you find the job.

Chris Pyak has been guiding international professionals to their next job in Germany for ten years. More than 150 expats got a job offer in Germany with his help. Chris has been featured by news outlets like the “BBC”, “Deutsche Welle”, “Handelsblatt”, “Welt” and many others.

You can find Chris Pyak’s services here.