The Layoff Lady: Prioritizing Job Applications

Prioritizing Job Applications

5/9/2023

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

So Many Openings!

Depending on your chosen field, and your desired work arrangements, there are a lot of jobs for which you could apply. While remote work availability gives us many more work options, figuring out how to prioritize open positions can be overwhelming.

Here is my process for evaluating open roles and prioritizing those which I will submit an application.

Searching for Available Jobs

As of this article's original publication date, I just searched on Indeed.com for the job title Training Specialist. This search generated these results:

43 jobs listed within 25 miles of Omaha, NE.
588 jobs categorized as remote.

By any stretch of the imagination, I cannot apply for 631 jobs this week.

Time to Apply and Available Time

Once I decide to apply for a given role, I take about 30 minutes to research the company, customize my resume, and complete my formal application. In a given week, there are 7 days, which is 168 hours. There are not enough hours in a week for me to apply for that many jobs.

Even if I somehow managed not to eat, sleep, or do even the most basic self-care, I could only apply for 336 jobs.

Closer to the realm of feasibility, if I decided to dedicate a full 40 hours per week solely to applying for jobs, I could apply for 80 jobs—but definitely not well. There are also so many other valuable activities (meeting people and professional development being two of the most important) to be done during job searching that this is probably not the best way to spend 40 hours. Working this long and this hard can also put you on the fast track to burnout.

Even dedicating 20 hours solely to applying for jobs, possibly meaning you could apply for 40 jobs in a given week, is most likely overkill.

More Is Not Necessarily Better

The more jobs I try to apply for in rapid succession, the less effective I am. While applying for jobs is in some respects, a numbers game, it’s not as easy as applying to all the jobs and knowing that one will work out. This strategy often causes people to waste time applying for roles where they are not very qualified.

A better strategy is to prioritize jobs that are the best match for your skills and what you want and focus on applying for those well. Instead of solely applying for jobs, spend time building your skills, making new connections, and planning for contingencies.

In any given week, my goal is usually to apply for three jobs. However, if I see several great opportunities or have not searched for a job in a while, I may apply for as many as six. Beyond that, though, my application quality suffers.

Prioritizing Applications

To apply for jobs well, you need to determine the best way to prioritize your applications. Instead of the “spray and pray” approach, think through what you want and apply with more purpose. This approach favors quality over quantity and will help you focus your efforts on where you can get better overall results for your time investment.

Step 1: Know Key Characteristics of What You Want

Early in your job search, it’s essential to do at least a little soul-searching and be able to articulate what you want. This may include revisiting your values, identifying your strengths, and thinking about the work you want to do.

For example, earlier career Brenda would have a list something like this on what she wanted from a role:

Training specialist or related position.
Within 25 miles of home or 100% remote with up to 25% travel.
Full-time role with benefits and within my established salary range.
Opportunities for promotion and advancement.
Working in the software, finance, healthcare, or insurance industry.
I would rather focus on training design and delivery than only delivering training that other people have designed.
I would prefer not to have my main focus be compliance training, developing eLearning, LMS administration, resolving help desk tickets, writing technical documentation, dealing with customer complaints, or recordkeeping.

Having a stated list of preferences, and continuing to hone it as you learn more, is your first step in determining which jobs to target.

Step 2: Narrowing Your Search

Let's go back to those 631 search results from my Training Specialist searches. By adding additional search parameters, we can narrow our results to jobs that more specifically meet our specified criteria:

Starting with those 43 roles in Omaha:

Specifying a full-time role takes me down to 37 jobs
Putting quotes around "Training Specialist" (to specify those actual words need to be in my results) takes me down to 19 jobs
Showing only jobs posted within the last two weeks takes me down to 12 jobs

Starting with those 588 remote jobs:

Specifying a full-time role takes me down to 391 jobs
Putting quotes around "Training Specialist" (to specify those actual words need to be in my results) takes me down to 102 jobs
Showing only jobs posted within the last two weeks takes me down to 45 jobs

Step 3: Quick Job Listing Review

Now that I have a more reasonable number of jobs to go through (12 and 45--57 total), I start to do a cursory review of the short descriptions of each role.

No

I rule out these jobs because the job titles show the roles are outside of my area of focus: Cement Manufacturing Safety Training Coordinator, Auto Glass Repair Specialist (Paid Training), and Clinical Training Specialist (for a registered nurse).
I rule out one because it is a longer commute than I want, one requires a license I do not have (or want to pursue) and one in a field that doesn't interest me.
I rule out a few because the stated salary is significantly outside of my target salary range.

Yes

Those that appeal to me at a glance, I add to TealHQ. Teal is a free service to track jobs, note progress on applications, and make notes on interactions. One feature I especially like with Teal is that when you add a job, it notes keywords included in the job descriptions and any listed salary range.
I add jobs including Technical Training Specialist I-III (remote/Hybrid), Commercial Lines Training Specialist, and a few Training Specialist roles.
For now, I add jobs that interest me into TealHQ. However, I err on the side of adding something for further consideration.

I have now reduced the number of jobs that interest me to 31 roles.

Step 4: More Detailed Job Listing Review

Now that I have those 31 jobs in Teal, I look more closely at the following:

Identifying the work arrangements (onsite, hybrid, remote) and comments about these within the job description.
Ensuring I have the required and many top skills listed.
Assessing if the roles look like a good overall fit.
Noting any information about salary range.

I remove jobs where I am not eligible. This includes the following:

A required credential I don't currently possess or want to pursue.
A hybrid role in a state where I do not live.
An organization who can not hire someone who lives in my current state of residence.

I remove jobs with anything that might be a dealbreaker for me. This includes the following:

A focus area that doesn't appeal to me.
A commute that I won't be happy with longer term.
A job description that asks for a wide variety of skills with a low salary.

For the remaining jobs, I give them an initial rating of 1-5 stars and make notes on any areas I might want to explore further.

I now have 18 jobs in Teal.

Step 5: A Little More Research

Next, I investigate a few things outside of the immediate job descriptions.

I visit LinkedIn and see if I know anyone with a specific company who could give me additional information, put in a good word for me, or refer me for a role.
For a remote role that doesn't include a list of eligible states, I search LinkedIn to see if a remote company has people currently living in my state of residence. This may indicate if they can hire people in my state.
I follow the company on LinkedIn and follow anyone involved in the hiring process.
I click the apply link to ensure it works, the position is still open, and they are still accepting applications.
I do a quick Google News search on the organization to see if and how they show up in the news.

Now, I have 13 jobs In Teal.

Step 6: Customize a Resume and Prepare to Apply

From the 13 jobs I have listed, I will apply for the jobs I'm most excited about and continue to reassess other openings listed. I will also add, remove, reprioritize, and take notes on specific roles as needed.

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