How to beat 90% of your competition for interviews

Last week, I had a call with one of my clients who is interested in a Director-level role with a large self-development organization.

The job had over 1300 applicants.

How the hell are you supposed to get picked for an interview in a pool that large?

Even candidate pools of 100+ can seem daunting.

If you want even a remotely possible chance of landing an interview for a large, competitive applicant pool, you can’t rely on a cold application to get the job done.

I don’t care how great your resume is. There are just too many others in the crowd to truly stand out and get noticed.

Everyone is applying with a resume.

But I’ll give you a strategy that 90% (or more) of other applicants are not doing.

The only question is, will you be willing to invest the time and effort into this strategy to actually see it through to the finish line and reap the benefits?

First, it’s important to understand how companies decide who to interview and ultimately hire.

Simply put, companies care most about one thing:

What would you do for them if they hire you?

The problem with resumes is they only show what you’ve done in the past. You might have some excellent achievements, but at the end of the day, those achievements happened at a different organization, not the one you’re pursuing now.

We don’t want to leave it up to the new employer to connect the dots on their own and try to determine how your past success translates to the same success with their brand/product/service/customers/company/etc.

Let me give you an example. Who would you want to interview more:

Candidate A: This person submitted an application with a resume filled with quantified achievements about expanding the customer base and increasing account value at their previous company by 150%.

Candidate B: This person sent over a customized and detailed plan about how they would increase your company’s revenue by 30% in the next 12 months.

Both are impressive candidates, but Candidate B is showing me exactly what his/her value would be if I hired him/her. There is no guesswork about what kind of results I would see, because they’ve already outlined a strategy to achieve those results.

The only “problem” with this strategy is that it takes more time than 90% of applicants are willing to invest.

Most decide that the best use of their time is to simply apply to more positions and hope that someone will call them back for an interview.

You have the opportunity to put yourself ahead of 90% of the other applicants simply by investing more time and effort in the right areas.

Here are the steps:

1. Identify someone at the company you’re applying to that has the same (or similar) title to the one you want.

2. Research their LinkedIn profile to understand who they are and what their experience is within the company

3. Use an email finder tool (such as RocketReach) to find that person’s email.

4. Send them an email and break the ice with a warm intro and a question about their experience working for the company you’re interested in.

5. Ask questions about the team/department/function that align with the role you want. Identify pain points or objectives for the role.

6. Develop a creative value proposition (such as the example provided above) and deliver it with confidence to your contact or ask them to share it with their senior management team.

This all seems very simple, but 90% of people won’t do it because it takes time and effort.

But if you’re willing to invest the time into this strategy, you’ll gain internal visibility that most of your competition doesn’t have.

You’ll start landing more interviews.

And guess what?

You’ll lay a stronger foundation for your interviews that give you a greater chance of reaching offer stage from the very first minute of your very first interview.

Stop mindlessly cold applying. Increase effort in the right areas. Start landing interviews.

If you need more guidance on this process, my Powerhouse Networking system shows you exactly how to do this step-by-step.

We’ll have two one-hour call sessions together to develop a unique plan for you and make sure you’re landing interviews.

I’ll even find the email addresses FOR you and make your life easier.

If you want more information about this process, schedule a call with me!