Everything you need to know about…

Getting interviews

So, you’re not getting enough interviews?

Well, you can never really have too many. More options, means more power, more choice, and a better place to negotiate from. Not to mention you’ll get more practice in the art of interviewing.

There are two main factors that determine how many interviews you are going to get. Firstly, is your CV good enough. The right CV needs to jump out of the screen and grab the reader and get them excited to speak to you. If your CV is only “good” and doesn’t get hiring managers ringing you up as soon as it lands on their desk, start here and learn How to write a perfect CV.

Once your CV is an attention grabbing, HR exciting, high performance document, we’re left with the second factor that determines how many interviews you get. How many people see your CV.

Get your CV in front of the right people

People make a few mistakes in this phase:

1. They spam their CV out to anyone and everyone

2. They send their CV to the wrong people

3. They don’t have a strategy when sending their CV

4. They don’t follow up after sending their CV

5. They are sending out a low quality CV (even if they think it’s good!)

Luckily, in this guide, I’ll tell you exactly how to fix these mistakes, I will give you the strategy you need, as well as the message templates to accompany your CV to ramp up your number of interviews allowing you to pick which job is best for you (rather than hoping you get offered just one job and taking it whether you like it or not).

Follow this plan to maximise your results and get your phone ringing off the hook:

1. Volume, Volume, Volume

You probably fall into one of two camps- you send too many applications randomly (and then think, “I’ve applied for 1000s of jobs and never hear back!”) or you send off your CV to a couple of opportunities here and there, to dream jobs, an sit refreshing your emails waiting for them to contact you.

Let’s shift our mindset a little.

Firstly, it is important to recognise that in many cases, it is a numbers game. You must be getting your CV in front of as many relevant people as possible.

Click here to download your Interview Booster Pack [XXXX] containing all the templates you need for this guide, including the best outbound messages to include with your CV, a custom Interview Tracker to keep track of your progress, and bonus tips and tricks on getting more interviews.

Once you’ve downloaded the pack, open your Interview Tracker and fill it in, making a list of all the target companies that are in the area. Don’t worry at this stage if they are hiring or not.

2. Coming in hot

Even once we have a stand out, top of the market CV, we need a little something extra to stand out from the crowd. Hiring managers and HR get 1000s upon 1000s of CVs, so there’s a good chance it won’t even be opened (unless we take a couple of extra tactical steps).

You may have heard the phrase “warm lead” or “cold lead”. It’s sales terminology that means that whoever you’re contacting already knows about you (warm lead) or has never heard of you (cold lead- think “cold callers” who knock on your house’s front door and try to sell you something random). When was the last time you bought something from a cold caller knocking on your house?

When you send your CV, you’re essentially sending a cold message to HR or the hiring manager. Sure, they might be hiring for the role, but if we want to stand out, and maximise our salary, we can turn our cold CV into a warm CV. Let’s get the hiring manager excited to open our CV before they even see it.

Check out the “Coming in Hot” pdf document in the Interview Booster Pack for the best ways to go from a cold CV buried in the pile to a hot CV that sits on the top of the hiring manager’s stack.

Even better, if you already know the person or they are in your network. Don’t have a big network (or want to expand it?)- We tell you how to quickly scale up a network here[XXXXX].

3. CVs should go HR/Recruitment and the hiring manager (if possible)

HR, Recruitment, and the hiring manager, are often different people, in different departments, with different goals, experience, and ideas about the job. The hiring manager is the most important person to impress, but without HR and recruitment liking your CV, you’ll never get that far. Ideally, you want to get your CV in front of both HR/Recruitment, and the hiring manager.

Have a look at the “Who’s who” section in the Interview Booster Pack for more information about who to contact and what to message them.

4. Following up = success

People are busy. You’re busy. Just because someone hasn’t responded, doesn’t mean that they aren’t interested. Like I mentioned- they probably haven’t even gotten around to seeing your CV yet.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told someone to send a follow up message and the hiring manager thanked them for the reminder. If you know your value (and you should- click here to build your value) then there’s nothing wrong with a gentle reminder that you’re interested. Sometimes, it’s not that they don’t want you, it’s just not the right time. We want to follow up in the right way, so that you are the first person they have in mind when a new job becomes live.

5. Give them a reason to want you

Make sure you’re giving HR/Recruitment or the hiring manager a reason to be interested. Just saying, “here I am!” is not enough- there’s already 1000s of other candidates out there. What makes you different? Check out the Interview Booster Pack to look at our messaging templates that not only tell you what/how to write to different people, but it tells you exactly how to highlight who you are. We’re all about standing out from the crowd, so get your messages right, use the Interview Booster Pack to find your unique selling points, and you will have way more success.

6. Use a perfect CV

All this effort is wasted unless you’ve got the basics right. Start off with a strong impression with a powerful CV. A good CV will open the door as well as set the benchmark for how much you are worth- and your final salary. A good CV can give you a 10% - 30% increase in salary (sometimes doubling your salary!).

Start the Write a Perfect CV course by clicking the link below: