I’ve seen multiple posts about how applying for roles as a job seeker is often not a good use of your time.  It can even work against you for various reasons.  After this latest search I’m giving serious pause on how many outbound applications I’ll go through the effort to send should I have to look for a new opportunity again.  My experience has shown it was not worthwhile and I could have gone about it in a different manner.  In the end there are better ways to spend your time and I’d like to share a few I should have considered.

I’ve applied for many roles online in a wide range of technologies.  I knew there was a lot to learn about what was out there.  Both Compuware/Dynatrace and Fastly initially wouldn’t have been on my radar but both were life changing experiences.  For both of those roles recruiters found me and helped me understand the opportunity.  Since then, sites like LinkedIn and Glassdoor now make it very easy to apply for jobs.  It is critical that you work to organize tracking your activities.  To do so I have a OneNote document that has a page per opportunity that I’ve been in some sort of communication about.  I haven’t really kept track of how many are inbound or outbound, but there is some anecdotal data to show outbound has not been effective or worth the effort.

One of those was a cold Inmail from a recruiter.  Before responding I checked my notes and saw that I had already applied (with a cover letter) about 6 weeks ago and had heard nothing back.  For starters that was a red flag that the internal recruiter team was wasting effort not keeping tabs on the actual applications as well as not properly evaluating those applications.  I’m a big proponent of not joining a firm that can’t properly attract and retain talent.  I learned from Fastly – sure we worked hard, but we were never buried/swamped/overworked and headed for burnout.  The team was always growing, and the growing sales proved out that the hires were almost all worthwhile.  People like Blair Lewis and Shirin Parineh ran a top notch process that is hard to beat.

But as for this opportunity?  I replied back that I had already applied, but had concerns that the location was too far for me to be in the office regularly.  The recruiter?  No response.  A second red flag and I’m fine letting that one go.  For those that don’t know – I’ve got a track record of being very successful while working predominantly remote.

In this economy there is a shortage of skilled talent out there.  Any worthwhile recruiter sees the value of a long term relationship and will respond.  Especially in a conversation that they initiated.  Even if they aren’t going to move forward with you they might want to get in communication with one of your connections.  Are you inclined to help someone that ghosted you?  No.  I won’t recommend a job there to a friend or relay a message for a recruiter from a firm like that.

And if I hadn’t already applied, that opportunity would have started with a phone call with the recruiter.  I could have learned more, made my case and then broached the topic of how I’d need to be predominantly remote.

It has also been interesting to see how often I sat down and dug though the listings at Glassdoor and LinkedIn Jobs.   I’d have “saved” a dozen jobs during downtime on my phone at both sites.  When I take the extra time to review them closer from my laptop with my notes, I often saw that I’d already applied weeks (or even months) ago and have had no response or communications come my way.  This then had me wondering how much effort they are putting into learning more about the applicants by communicating with them.  (For so many job boards, the “Apply” button takes you to an external site that they don’t track.  And there is no way to make a note in the first site that you had already applied.)

This leads up to the third piece of anecdotal data.  LinkedIn Jobs shows a comment about how I’d be in the top “10% of 22 applicants” if I applied for the role.  The real eye opener here is the number of applicants for some of these jobs.  If I’m in the top 10% of 105 applicants, what are the odds of them even reaching out to me based on the current averages I’m seeing out there?  I tabbed through 10 pages that said I’d be in the 10% of anywhere from 13 to 748 applicants for 40 different jobs as a Sales Engineer.  How many other candidates are seeing data like this?  And how many “3 click” submissions are the hiring firms piling up?

So why do I think inbound is better?  In all of those situations some sort of recruiter reaches out to me, invariably this involves a phone conversation.  They’ll ask clearly defined questions looking for specific experience or training that is relevant.  If they are external their compensation is based on their success in finding a capable candidate.  So they are digging for details that make the case for an initial interview.  And if they are an internal recruiter they tend to have deep inside details on the existing employees that worked out and what their skills were coming in.

There were several times where the recruiter didn’t have a clear picture on the technology or the role.  I was able to explain my take and how my skills and experiences were relevant.  This got me onto the next interviews.  (In a few cases these conversations have not been worth the preparation or even the time of the phone call – but I’m not here to rant.)

Some of you might be thinking I’m giving up.  It’s far from that instead in the future I’ll redirect my energies into other areas.  Those could have included:

• More time doing edX courses.  There are technology spaces that I have serious interest in, but not enough experience or training to merit an opportunity.  Courses are a great way to add keywords to your profile.
• More time working on my modern reputation.  Yes, this article is part of my “personal brand” and that effort at creating a modern reputation.
• Giving some time to some purposeful learning.  Several opportunities have been looking for big data hands-on experience, which I don’t exactly have.  So I picked up a copy of Apache Spark in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself (book review coming.)  This gave me a reason to dust off some old workstations, load on Linux and put together a quick cluster.  The 7.5TB of space was enough for me to build a MVP (Minimally Viable Product) and have a real project to speak about when/if that opportunity came around.

In the future I’ll still watch LinkedIn Jobs and Glassdoor and I’ll apply if it seems like a good fit or very interesting.   Or I’ll try to get in touch with the recruiter and line up a phone call prior to applying.  If you’ve posted an article about how outbound applications just aren’t worth the effort, please comment with a link so I can learn more to support this opinion!