Cricket Killer: How to make your application matter.

 “What am I supposed to do after I submit the application?” My coaching client sounded so irritated I thought he needed an antihistamine. “No matter what I do on the application, all I get is crickets. Then I second guess myself and keep checking my email. Like they are going to send me a job offer right away. It’s making me crazy.”

 I could see that. As a certified career coach, I can teach you everything you need to know about getting a job, but I can’t make it easy. What I can do is give you all the insider insights you need so you can kill all those crickets and hear back from every hiring manager you approach.

 Based on countless interviews with hiring managers, recruiters and hiring teams, here is what you should do after you submit your application.

1. Congratulate yourself.

In a market that is flooded with applicants, getting your checklist resume and required materials submitted as early as possible is the first step in your success.

 I know you are probably second guessing yourself that you should have reached out to your contact before you pushed send. That is only required if you had to list their name on the application itself. Otherwise, you need to be first in the bucket of applicants. Well done, you.

2.  Reach out to anyone you know who works there.

The internal referral is your best bet in getting your resume read by a real person. Many companies rely heavily on internal referrals to find new employees. Some have a policy that if an applicant is referred by an employee that resume must be included in the packet submitted to the hiring manager.

 Go ahead and shoot them an email now. Believe me: If someone told you in your informational interviews that they would be happy to submit for you on the employee portal, they meant it. After all, if you get hired, there might be something in it for them.

3. Identify another contact at the company on LinkedIn.

To find out if you know anyone else at the company, go to LinkedIn. From your profile page, click “My Network.” Then click “Connections.” Click “Current Company” and type in the name of the company where the job is. You might be surprised with who you already know. Shoot them a message and tell them you found a listing.

4. Capture the job title and the listing in a document.

I know you think you will remember the name of this perfect job and the description and when you applied. This is not how brains work. Brains drop any information they aren’t going to need immediately pretty quickly—especially during military transition.

You cannot rely on going back to find the listing when the interview request comes in. Copy and paste the listing into a document so it is available when you get the call for interview. It is so much easier to be an Interview Genius when you know what the questions about the job are likely to be.

5. Make an alert for that job title.

Now that you know the name of a job that suits your skills, capture that job title and make an alert on LinkedIn. You can make up to 20 job alerts on LinkedIn at any one time.

6. Follow the company on Linkedin.

While you are on LinkedIn, go ahead and follow the company. It saves time when you are preparing for interview

7. STOP CHECKING YOUR EMAIL.

I know you are perfect for that job. And I know you really really really want that invite to come so you can get a job and stop worrying about this all the time. That said, a watched email account never boils.

 Watching it takes up valuable time you need to engage in the actions that actually lead to a job. Like networking with past colleagues. Go to industry breakfasts and talking to people at your table or in your row. Attending ball games and your wife’s company picnic and donut morning at church and volleyball practice at the gym. All those rando things matter.

8. Apply to something else.

When you get right down to it, getting a job is a numbers game. It is a very tedious, exasperating, enervating, exhilarating numbers game. After you have done all the things on this list, tell yourself you have, in fact, done all you can and release your expectations. Turn back to the work and apply to something else. You are going to be thrilled when the interview request start rolling in.

A version of this was previously published here: https://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/military-civilian-what-do-after-you-submit-your-job-application.html