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https://github.com/jamezmca/the-ultimate-guide-to-getting-hired

This comprehensive guide tells you everything you need to know to have the ultimate job application and be the best canidadate for the job 🔥
https://github.com/jamezmca/the-ultimate-guide-to-getting-hired

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This comprehensive guide tells you everything you need to know to have the ultimate job application and be the best canidadate for the job 🔥

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README 

        
[[!hyr-sh-banner](/hyrsh_banner%20v2.png)](https://www.hyr.sh)



# How to Accelerate your Job Hunt and Get Hired Faster



By James McArthur | Founder & CEO of Hyr.sh | Software Engineer 



This comprehensive guide will teach you everything you need to know to master the job application process, become the best candidate for the job, and get hired ✅



At the core of landing a job, there are three main steps that a majority of people fail to execute successfully. When I recruit for technical roles, nearly 95% of candidates are rejected as their application falls victim to one or more of the common mistakes discussed in this guide. This leads to a longer job search and results in missing out on great opportunities, even when the competition (other candidates) might be less qualified.



If you follow this guide, you will become one of the top candidates every single time.



#### Table of Contents



1. What You Need to Know About Job Hunting

2. Getting Prepared - Are You Ready to Apply for Jobs?

3. How to Job Hunt the Smart Way

4. The Final Step - The Secret No One Tells You



## What You Need to Know About Job Hunting



Before we get into the nitty gritty of creating an exceptional job application, there's a few things you should understand about the job hunting process from a recruiters perspective.



When I create a job ad, it might receive 200 applications within a day, and boy is it an eye opening experience. 



**Here is a statistical breakdown of an average job posting:**



Of the 200 applications, 10 - 15% of them will be abhorrent and egregiously bad - it's rather shocking and these applications are immediately dismissed, if not earlier rejected by the ATS (which we'll cover shortly).



Another near 85% of applications are classed as mediocre, unremarkable, and ultimately average. A lot of these candidates *could* have a great job application, but they generally make a number of the common mistakes discussed below. 



The unfortunate reality for these candidates is that they miss out on a number of great opportunities as recruiters will discard their resumes in favor of the 5 - 7% of applicants with an exceptional application, a great resume and an appealing cover letter.



Your goal is to be one of the top 5 - 7% of applicants every single time. Let's find out how...



## Getting Prepared - Are You Ready to Apply for Jobs?



The first step to becoming a hireable candidate is to prepare yourself for a successful job hunt. There are two primary elements to this part of the job hunt, with some extra parts that are industry specific.



### The Resume - Build One That Stands Out



The resume is element number one, and in many instances it's all the information a recruiter has to go on - candidates live and die by their resume.



Worth noting here is that the people who get interviewed and as an direct consequence, hired, are those with the best resumes (even when they might not actually be the most experience or qualified candidated).



The secret to making a brilliant resume is simple - don't make a bad resume. This is done by created a resume that is flawless in it's literal sense.



*It's not a hard process, but it's critical that it is done correctly.*



Nowadays a lot of people get rejected from a job application before a recruiter has even read their resume - the reason is called ATS or the Applicant Tracking System.



The ATS is essentially an AI that reads through the resume and determines how compatible your resume is with the needs of the company.



It's also where a lot of candidates make their first few major mistakes:



* **They don't use an ATS friendly resume template** This means that the ATS cannot effectively parse through their resume and it rejects them based off the premise that it couldn't determine whether or not they are a good candidate. This is often the case for resume templates with any elements of graphic design or irregular content format.



*It's important to note that a resume should be as bland and predictable as possible. Recruiters only take around 30 seconds to glance at your resume and a simple resume means allows them easily to find the information they need to decide that you are worth an interview.*



* **Their resume is bloated** - this means that the candidate is unable to succinctly describe their experience.



* **Their resume is non-descriptive** - this means that the candidate is unable to effectively articulate their experience and contribution to previous employers.



* **The order / content is incorrect or irrelevant** - this results in the resume often becoming unremarkable as a resume needs to make a quick impression, and the content presented first does not effectively communicate why the candidate might be the best for the job.



* **It's an inappropriate length** - this means that the candidate has struggled to achieve an optimal content density, making the resume unremarkable.



#### Here are some golden rules you **NEED** to follow for a good resume (remember this could be the different between landing a job or missing out):



* **One page** - there is an etiqette to creating an effective resume, and the rule of thumb for a good resume is that if you have less than 10 YOE (Years of Experience), then your resume must fit on one page.



* **Sentence Structure** - when you are describing your experience, there is a certain sentence structure proven to most effectively tell the story of your experience (within 1 - 2 lines):



*What did you do, how did you do it, and to what effect?*



* **Resume Template** - the simplest structure is often best, yet even simple resumes can look either good or bad. [This free resume template](https://www.hyr.sh) is proven to be effective and is timeless.



* **Language, grammar and keywords** - it is critical that your language and grammar is optimized and professional as any error or mistake will immediately red flag you when compared to candidates that do not make these mistakes. Keywords are important for quickly informing the ATS and recruiters that you have the key skills they are looking for.



* **Use the active voice** - using the active voice makes your resume more engaging to read (start your sentences using an engaging adjective such as *develeped, implemented, spearheaded...*).



If you want to achieve all of this very easily, I recommend trying out the enhance feature with [hyr.sh](https://www.hyr.sh). You can easily either enhance an existing [hyr.sh](https://www.hyr.sh) resume, or upload your own and have it enhanced and converted to the [hyr.sh](https://www.hyr.sh) resume template within about 1 minute.



**Once you've**  built your resume, be sure to get it reviewed for free by an ex-recruiter - see the instructions [here](https://www.hyr.sh/feedback).



### A Guide to LinkedIn



Sure, here's a succinct Markdown guide for creating a simple yet effective LinkedIn page:



1. **Choose a Professional Photo**: Use a high-quality, professional headshot with a plain background.



2. **Craft a Clear Headline**: Summarize your professional identity. Example: `Software Engineer | Cloud Computing Enthusiast | AWS Certified`.



3. **Write a Compelling Summary**: Highlight your key skills, experiences, and career goals in 3-5 short paragraphs.



For example - *Results-driven IT professional with 5+ years of experience in cloud computing and software development. Passionate about leveraging technology to solve complex problems and improve business processes. Seeking opportunities to contribute to innovative projects and collaborate with dynamic teams.*



4. **Detail Your Work Experience**: Use bullet points to describe your key responsibilities and achievements for each role. 



For example:

  

**Software Engineer at TechCorp**

- Developed and deployed scalable web applications using Java and Spring Boot.

- Improved system performance by 30% through code optimization and efficient algorithms.



5. **Showcase Your Skills**: List your top skills relevant to your industry. Endorsements can add credibility.



6. **Include Your Education**: Mention your degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework.



7. **Highlight Key Projects**: Describe significant projects you've worked on, including the technologies used and your role.



By following these steps, you can create a LinkedIn page that effectively showcases your professional experience and helps you stand out in your industry.



*Obviously, if you're in tech then you'll need a web portfolio and/or a GitHub profile, and likewise for many other industries*.



## How to Job Hunt the Smart Way



In the modern age, where many jobs end up with well over 200+ job applicants, it's very natural for candidates to feel overwhelmed by the job hunting process. The average candidate might end up submitting a few hundred job applications just to secure one interview, which is absolutely savage when you consider the mental and emotional toll this can have on the candidate.



To make matters worse, from a recruiters standpoint, when a candidate is rejected they are extremely unlikely to receive any specific or objective feedback as to why they were rejected, where they went wrong, and what they can do to improve. This stands to protect the decision of the recruiter, but at the same time is it a brutal experience for the candidate who has to experience countless instances of baseless rejection.



**So what do we do?**



Most people fall into the trap of printing off their one resume, and having a cover letter template where they swap out the company name for every application. And it's easy to understand why - as the volume of applications is forced to go up, there is a sacrifice in the quality of every application as a natural consequence.



Unfortunately, to attract the attention of the recruiter and the ATS screening system, it is however **ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL** that every application is tailored to the job posting, especially when most people aren't doing this.



*Now you might say - "James, that sounds like an incredible amount of work just to land a job!".*



And you would almost be right. Let me introduce you to the effortless system that I use to created a high quality and highly tailored resume and cover letter for every job I apply for.



### The Secret to a Fast & Effective Tailored Application



Tailoring your application, which includes creating an edited resume and cover letter that is specific to the job posting, is critical if you want avoid the uncertainty of a long and draining job hunt. There are myriad ways you can do this, and the following is my personal recommendation:



1. The first step to the process is to complete the [free resume template](https://www.hyr.sh) as suggested above within [hyr.sh](https://www.hyr.sh).



2. Once we have completed our resume, Hyr.sh allows us to create a job application where we can very easily copy and paste in the job posting or the job ad, and use the [hyr.sh](https://www.hyr.sh) AI to write us a job specific cover letter that matches our work experience from the resume with the requirements of the job role.



3. Finally, using the same job ad, we can once again use the [hyr.sh](https://www.hyr.sh) AI to generate us a tailored version of our resume that modifies the original version, to create a subversion that is customised to better meet the requirements of the job ad.



4. Print both the tailored resume and cover letter to PDF and you're ready to submit your job application within minutes.



## The Final Step - The Secret No One Tells You



Of all the steps you need to be doing, this is the one that can have the single biggest effect on your employment prospects and job hunt.



And it all comes down to cheating the interview process by getting free interviews and referrals.



**The first way** is to find people who work for companies you like, in roles that you desire; this might be done on LinkedIn. I had a fair amount of success sending connection requests to people with a small note attached that said something like:



*Hi [name],* 

*I hope this message finds you well.* 

*I am reaching out as your professional experience really caught my eye. I was wondering if you might be open to having a short informational interview with me? I would love to hear more about your story.* 

*Cheers,* 

*[your_name]* 



These informational interviews are amazing as they can help you understand what skills are needed for the jobs you want, perhaps they can offer some feedback on your projects, and help you build connections with important people (if they like you, they might offer you a referral). It's basically a free interview.



**The second piece** is equally critical and should be part of your Job Application process. The strategy is, for every job application you submit, you want to find either the job poster or someone working for that company in a related role (the more senior the better, and I often find LinkedIn good for this search), and send them the following message:



*Hi [name],* 

*I hope this message finds you well.* 

*I just noticed your job posting for a [insert_job_posting_title] and as an experienced [insert_your_relevant_experience], I feel I would be a great fit for the role.* 

*I'd love to connect and chat about the opportunity.* 

*Cheers,* 

*[your_name]*



Once again, if they respond, it's basically a free interview. A lot of the application process is just getting the hiring team to meet you and see more than just a resume on a screen.



And that's it - do these things and you'll land your dream job in no time. 



Thanks for reading.



Cheers,



James McArthur



Founder & CEO of Hyr.sh â‹… Connect with me @ [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamezmcarthur/) â‹… [Hyr.sh LinkedIn Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyr-sh)