How to get a job without applying for one

Ever wonder why people get job offers, even though they never applied for a job? It can be quite frustrating to see your colleagues surrounded by job opportunities without ever sending in an application while you are still pounding the job pavement.

The secret: They use creative methods to put their skills out there, and get noticed by people who can help them build their careers.

If you are tired of constantly sending out resumes and waiting for something to break, the following approaches will help you get noticed by the people that matter.

Get noticed by doing something different

While you may have the right skills, qualifications and personality for a job role, there are many more equally or highly qualified people interested in the same opening. You need to do a bit more than the others in order to get noticed. While every other person is sending in the regular old resume, you can do better by creating a video resume. A video resume allows you to showcase not just your skills and qualifications, but also your winning personality to prospective employers. A winning video resume has the potential to go viral and hit the screens of people looking for your skills.

Use your network

Most major companies don’t immediately publicize their job opening; they circulate it internally via memos and job boards. This creates a hidden job market that you cannot access unless you have the right contacts. To improve your chances of clinching job offers without even applying, you need to build and cultivate the kind of contacts that would recommend you for the job role. Having someone refer or recommend you for job openings put you in the fast track of the recruitment process while regular applications find themselves at the bottom of the barrel.

Your network knows job openings that fit your qualifications, and they can put your name up for consideration even before you send in an application.

Join the right organizations

As pointed out in the previous tip, companies sometimes don’t publicize job openings. Instead, recruiters’ sometimes source for suitable candidates by going through the member list of professional organizations, sorting out names based on location, qualification and position. If you are a fit, you may get a call or email asking you if you would be interested in a particular position or if you are willing to partake in a search. The right response; and you are off with a head start in the races.

Intern

Sometimes, if you cannot get in through the front door, you can use the side door. If you do very well as an intern, you stand a very high chance of securing a full employment with your employers. Interning also gives you the opportunity to learn what the job entails while doing your best to get recognized. If you work hard, and maintain good relationship with your employers and colleagues, you could turn your internship into a full time employment without going through the application and recruitment process.

Stay visible

Many companies and recruiters now go to social media platforms like Twitter and Linkedin to look for suitable candidates that fit a job role. In order to improve your chances of a quick hire, it is important that you clean up your social media act and put up information that shows your career accomplishments and skills in a good light. Maintain a visible social media presence so that it is easy for recruiters and prospective employers to find you.