Frustrated with applying to environmental roles but not getting interviews? Letβs fix that. Part 2/3.
It’s time to stop applying to no end and start landing interviews.
Most job seekers find themselves getting “stuck” at one point or the other throughout the job search. From our experience, there are three specific spots: when first starting the job search, when applying to jobs but not landing interviews, or when interviewing but not securing offers. When diagnosing what you need to do to improve your job search, determining which one you’re at will help identify the steps you need to take next.
In Part 1 of this email series, we focused on the first area people get stuck - when they are just getting started. Check out that article here.
In this article, we’ll turn our attention to that second area that job seekers get stuck in - the miserable place between submitting applications and getting interviews. After a few weeks of sending out applications (maybe even a few months) and hearing crickets, it can feel demoralizing and many start to wonder what’s wrong with them. But not all hope is lost! Rest assured, there’s a lot more going on than just whether they like you or not. Let’s dive into why you might not be receiving interview requests and the steps you can take to shift the tide of the job search in your favor.
Step 1. Compare your experience to the roles you’ve been applying for: Does your experience meet the minimum criteria?
You might want to be the Chief Sustainability Officer at Google, but it could take a few decades before you’re qualified for the role.
If certain roles are rejecting you repeatedly, you might not be qualified for them. Although you don’t have to hit 100% of the qualifications listed in the job description, you should be reaching some of the major ones and/or be able to clearly explain how previous responsibilities translate into the right skills.
If you find yourself not having the qualifications for the roles you’re applying for, it’s time to take a step back and get qualified! It’s important to remember that there are many ways to learn new skills, not just from a job. If you’re in college, you can develop certain skills through clubs, on-campus jobs, or internships. Outside of college, you can volunteer or earn a certification to bolster your chances of being considered for certain roles. Sometimes, just showing that you’re enrolled in relevant courses can boost your credibility.
Step 2 - Reevaluate your resume: Is your resume optimized, customized, and personalized?
In our last article in this series, we discussed a few tips on how to update your resume. But, it’s still not getting you interviews. That might be because it’s not been optimized to meet the job requirements and is being rejected by an ATS, or applicant tracking system. Highly competitive jobs, and typically larger companies and governments, use an ATS to weed through the hundreds of applications they receive for each job that don’t match the job description. That way, when the resumes actually reach a human, the hiring managers are only reading resumes of potentially qualified candidates.
In reality, qualified resumes can often be passed over by an ATS for a slew of reasons — one common one being that your resume format is not compatible with the ATS software. ATSs have a hard time reading resumes with wacky fonts, charts, pictures, graphs, and messy formats. Stick to minimal colors, clear headers, and a clean resume to prevent that.
Secondly, the ATS is programmed to look for certain keywords that match the job description best. That’s why it’s imperative to customize your resume; treat it like a living, breathing document by tailoring it to that role’s required and preferred qualifications.
That absolutely does not mean that you need to write a resume from scratch for each application you send out. We recommend creating a master copy of your resume that lists all of your roles, responsibilities for each role, and skills. Then, when you start a new application, choose the bullet points under each role and skills that most closely match the job description, subbing in keywords from the job posting where possible. Be specific with keywords — if the job listing requires “an understanding of geographic information systems,” and you abbreviate that to “GIS” on your resume (or vice versa), it’s possible an ATS will miss it.
Finally, personalize your resume. Tailor the summary or objective so that it says something about your work ethic and shows that you know the role you’re applying for.
Pro-tip: Also don’t forget that a connection, no matter how small, can go miles. If the job posting lists the recruiter who posted it or if you’re able to find the recruiter for the role through LinkedIn, reach out to them! Not only does this help you build your network, but there is a high chance that they’ll recognize your name when reviewing your resume. They might even ask you to send them your resume directly while messaging.
Step 3: Double down on networking.
Having an “in” at a certain company, such as a referral or a connection to the hiring team, is a great way to secure an interview offer. Reach out to your network, former classmates and professors, old colleagues, and friends in the environmental industry to see if they know of any opportunities that you would be right for.
A few small things you can do:
The little things can go a long way in the job search. Although these final tips won’t make or break your job search, they could be the small push that helps flood your inbox with requests.
- Check your resume for grammatical errors. One job seeker we know he had misspelled his email on his resume. He only realized this after two months of applying to jobs. So, run your resume through Grammarly, have a friend read it over — whatever you need to do to make sure it’s perfect.
- Apply to roles as soon as they’re posted. Oftentimes, especially at large companies or highly competitive roles, applications will be rolling. This means the company reviews the applications as they come in and send out interview requests while still accepting applications. The earlier you apply, the less competition you have.
- Make sure your LinkedIn is viewable to recruiters. Having a LinkedIn is a must for job seekers; recruiters and hiring managers will often view a profile before deciding to send out an interview request as an additional form of screening. Make sure that your LinkedIn settings are set to public and that you are easily searchable.
- Increase the number of jobs you’re applying to. We discussed quality earlier: making sure you’re applying to jobs that fit your experience. But, to some degree, the job search is a numbers game too. The more you apply, the higher your chances of receiving an interview.
With these tools in hand, it’s time to iron your best suit or blouse, upload a Zoom background, and start interviewing! The beginning of the year is a great time to implement these tools and kick off your job search!
In our final article of this series, we will discuss the final sticking point and reach you how to ace those interviews to secure job offers.
