Let us introduce you to the ‘Job Board Blackhole’. It’s when you apply to a seemingly exciting opportunity, and your CV goes into an endless void, never to be found again. Job boards convert less than 0.5% of the time for candidates, especially for senior candidates.
Applying through job boards is time-consuming, and the process is demoralizing as you get excited about a role – you get emotionally invested and then hear nothing back.
Company career pages are slightly better, but many companies don’t have the resources to assess hundreds of applications properly.
So go through headhunters and recruiters?
The good ones may give you some advice, but the conversion will be low. Don’t expect them to be out looking for you.
Most agency recruiters have 6-12 live opportunities, and headhunters have >5 at any time.
They are working on tight briefs and looking for targeted and narrow skills and experiences. Most don’t have efficient CRM or candidate databases, so your CV is in the cloud.
To solve this problem, Alex Van Klaveren, Kandidate CEO & Founder, introduces a simple yet incredibly effective 10-step process that lands you in your next role as a Senior Candidate.
The process revolves around focusing on ten companies in 2-week sprints.
1. Draw up a list of 10 exciting companies.
Drawing up a list of 10 companies will give you a direction to follow during the upcoming two weeks.
You would speak to them on holiday/weekends.
2. Check their careers page.
Check if they have a role that excites you or fits your skills/background.
If they don’t have an opening that excites you, move to step number three because companies often don’t announce senior positions.
3. Don’t give up.
Most candidates give up at this point if they don’t find the openings on the careers page.
They likely have someone great already in the position you want.
Do not be disheartened by this (tenure at scale-ups for senior roles is 13 months for the senior positions, so leadership changes are frequent).
4. Connect on Linkedin with the key people.
Head of Talent, CEO, and the VC who sits on their board – these are the people you should be looking after to connect on LinkedIn.
VC Partner referrals are very effective.
When you connect on Linkedin, use the “Add Note” feature and be direct “I have just finished my role as COO at a Series B Saas Company X – and I wanted to speak to you about the GM EMEA role. Can we chat?”
5. Start “stalking” the company.
Read every social media post, press release, bio, and comment on the Posts of the people you are trying to reach.
That’s a great way to find opportunities of interacting and show off your skills/expertise.
6. If they connect and don’t reply
You are trying to connect with the most important people at startups/scale-ups.
They might be reluctant to start a conversation with someone they don’t know with a quick ‘note’.
If they connect and don’t reply, write them a slightly longer message explaining:
- a) Your background and what you achieved using metrics
- b) Why do you think you are a good fit for the role
- c) Why do you think what they are building excites you
7. Look for a way to get a warm introduction.
You will be amazed who knows who!
Click on the company on Linkedin and see who in your network is connected to them.
Getting a warm introduction will send you ahead and can easily be considered the most crucial aspect of the process.
8. Use Loom Video
Find their work email (using any email finder) and send them a short intro and a 60-second Loom video – you will see if they have opened it or not.
A short video intro is a great way to establish a personal connection and present your skills/experience to the company.
9. If two weeks later, you have no reply.
While the chances of this are low, if you don’t have any reply even after two weeks, email them on their email.
10. Repeat
If the process did not yield any results, start again from step one – and repeat this process every two weeks with ten new companies.
This process stops the job board “Black Hole” and will put you in charge of finding a role at a company you like.
It is exciting and converts >40% of the time based on the results of hundreds of candidates our Founder Alex Van Klaveren has helped in the last six years.
