No Gatekeepers. Straight To The Hiring Manager.

Nov 07, 2022

The job application system is floored.

 

We’ve all been out of work at some point in our lives. 

 

It’s a scary time. It’s incredibly tough. There’s nothing worse than waiting for weeks/months for companies to get back to you. 


90% of the time, there are no updates, there’s no communication and you’re just waiting for a company’s recruitment team to click yes/no on your profile. 

 

Most times you’ll get nothing. No feedback. Nada. 

 

Other times, you may just get a rejection email. But even then, there’s a strong chance that no one has read your resume. If they have, it’s been a 6 second scan at most. Or a Ctrl-F of your profile for keywords.

 

How do I know all of this? I was once a recruiter. This happens, day in and day out. 

 

This isn’t (always) the fault of the recruiters or talent teams, often job postings can get 1000+ applications and the person managing it has 10+ roles to recruit for. 

 

1000x10 = 10000. That’s a lot of resumes to sift through. 

 

How do you get past it as an applicant? 

 

You have to stand out. You must reach the hiring manager. 

 

I am here to help.

 

The following blueprint is tried and tested. 

 

It works, but you must follow it step by step for a 70% more likely chance that the hiring manager will see your resume and application.

 

No more lost resumes. No more endless time and energy posting 1000s of applications. Instead, spend that time prepping for your interviews:

 

Sunday: 

  1. Search for advertised jobs using a boolean search, in your area of expertise, i.e. Sales Development Representative in EdTech.
    1. (“Sales Development Representative” OR “SDR” OR “Business Development Representative” OR “BDR”) AND (“Edtech” OR “Ed tech” OR “Educational Tech” OR “Teaching” OR “Teacher”) 
  2. Find the hiring manager for the company (let’s call the fake business EduSaaS) on Linkedin, again using boolean search. 
    1. (“VP Sales” OR “VP of Sales” OR “Vice President of Sales” OR “Vice President Sales” OR “Sales Director” OR “Director of Sales” OR “Chief Revenue Officer” OR “CRO”) AND EduSaaS
  3. Look up email using one of the following intent data providers. Some provide a free trial:
    1. Apollo.io, ZoomInfo, Lusha, Seamless.AI, Cognism.
  4. Add all contacts to a simple Google Sheet with contact details. Create three columns:
    1. Contacted, Replied, Interviewed and Offered.

 

Monday: 

  1. Download Lavender, it's free if you’re looking for a job.
  2. Curate smart, personalized emails to each contact with Lavender.
  3. Do not mass email. Make sure the email has 1. personalization, 2. the problem you'd solve, 3. call to action.
  4. Send email at lunchtime. There's a high chance they've been in internal meetings all morning with upper management wondering when they're going to hire these roles.
  5. Hiring managers hate recruiting, so it helps to fall in their lap. Example email follows:

 

"Hi Kyle,

*Add personalization*

I wanted to reach out and see if there's interest in my profile.

You mentioned you’re looking for an SDR with education experience in the job advert. 

I have 10+ years as an educator and would plug and play into your sales team at EduSaaS. 

After teaching 15 year olds the importance of trigonometry, my skills in negotiation have never been better. 

Would you be interested in a chat on Wednesday at 2pm?

Best,

Hamish"

 

Tuesday:

  1. Download Vidyard, it’s free. Start recording personalized videos to each member of the spreadsheet from above.
  2. Identify a new problem that you'd solve in the role, make sure you can pitch yourself in less than 60 seconds.
  3. Add in a comment that directly relates to them, think podcasts, investor news, posting (try to stay away from university alumni/alumnus).

 

Wednesday:

  1. Start sending the Vidyards first thing in the morning.
  2. Find the hiring managers on Linkedin and engage on their posts.
  3. If they aren't posting on their own, comment on the posts they're commenting on.
  4. Don't try to connect with them (yet)

 

Thursday:

  1. The hardest day by far, the cold call day.
  2. Look up phone number using Apollo.io, ZoomInfo, Lusha, Seamless.AI.
  3. Leave voicemails if you can.

 

Friday:

  1. Send your final follow up email for the week.
  2. This email has to be concise and respectfully direct.
  3. Be clear of why you would be a fit for the role in one sentence.

 

Saturday:

  1. Send a personalized connection request between 9-10am.
  2. The chance of the hiring manager seeing it is much higher since they'll likely be hanging out with their kids, taking their kids to sports, working out, catching up on emails, walking the dog or on their way to breakfast.
  3. When they accept, send a voice note with similar content to your Vidyard.

 

Reach out if you need any help. I’m here to assist.

Shameless plug. 

We provide expert SaaS sales training and enablement for individuals and companies. Interested? 

Get in contact

Download our free framework!

We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.