How to Apply Online for Jobs Without Wasting Time

How to Apply Online for Jobs Without Wasting Time How to Apply Online for Jobs Without Wasting Time Find My Profession offers the besttips on how to apply online for jobs without wasting time. We can offer these online job search tips because we spend time each day on the best ways to apply for job seekers. We save our clients the time from dealing with the energy-sucking, mojo-killing job forms that make job seekers feel like, “I must not be doing enough to find work!” The truth is, when you apply for jobs online you are only doing a small part of the job search. The real effort comes with networking, interviews, following up, and all the required preparation. So, do you want to learn how to apply online without wasting a ton of time? Try the following: 1. Apply through company websites and not job search portals When you register for one of the many job search portals, your personal information can be used for a variety of reasons outside of actually finding you a job. They can send you invites to classes, webinars, and send you automated emails to get you to purchase a premium membership in their database. Meanwhile, the actual job may live on the company website in the company database. That is where you want your data. You may get direct solicitations from employees within the company who found your resume in their database. Granted, company website online forms may not be as slick as speedy job search portals. So what? You want your info on the company website, not the spammy job search portal. 2. Trust in long-form applications Anytime you are told of ways “you can save time” in a job search process, these will be the most saturated processes with job seeker applications. Why? If you can apply to 100 jobs in one day by clicking on 100 links and attaching your resume, so can everyone else. Long-form applications weed out the people who get frustrated filling them out. Therefore, the people who move further in the job seeking process know how to apply online because they do what everyone else is NOT doing. 3. Read job requirements and do not spam job listings Any job seeker today can take a few words from a Google search, build a resume, and pretend to be great at something. We can all eventually be trained to perform certain tasks on the job. But to avoid wasting time applying for jobs online this requires “being picky”. Be honest with yourself. When you apply for things do so with the mindset of looking for work you can do “starting tomorrow”, not “after some job training”. Knowing how to apply online requires first understanding what you are willing to accept and what motivates you. If you “kinda think you want the job” or “can kinda do it”...skip it. 4. Bailout of any job application that starts to require TMI This mainly happens with shady job search portals. You are filling out a form and everything seems fine. They ask for your resume and a few questions about your favorite industries. Then, suddenly the questions go deeper. They start to ask for private information regarding credit cards, the last four digits of your social security number, salary history and more. Keep in mind, you are on a job search portal that is simply collecting data to know how to match you to jobs. They do not offer you “jobs”. They offer you “a way for job seekers to apply online.” If they want too much information, stop filling out the online form immediately. 5. Use LinkedIn for online job searches Experience has proven time and again that jobs posted on LinkedIn by a staff member (also on LinkedIn) are the most effective to apply for. A recent study of LinkedIn statistics shows that 94% of recruiters use LinkedIn to vet candidates. As an online job search tip, comparing LinkedIn to other sites like Indeed or ZipRecruiter, LinkedIn clearly has the most effective filters to find jobs you should be working in. Even though there are 10 million active job listings on LinkedIn, not every job is perfect for you. 6. Never trust auto-filling of online forms Without going into a crazy amount of technical detail, never trust the online job applications that allow for auto-filling of the forms. Why? They are never 100% perfect, NONE of them work perfectly because there are so many different resume formats. If you use it, double-checkand adjust all the info is in the right place. 7. The best tip for how to apply online Focus on job listings in which you can see who actually posted the job. It does not happen often for many reasons, but when it does, it is great to apply if you can eventually reach out to the job poster. Generally speaking, the best tip for how to apply online for jobs and not waste time: Stick to processes that involve more “people” than “technology”.