When you apply for a job, you are often just one of many.
All the better if your application attracts attention right from the start.
With these tricks you can convince every HR manager.
Stuttgart - If you want to make a change, broaden your horizons, pursue a career or simply want to earn more money - no matter what the reasons led you to apply: It takes a fraction of a minute to decide whether you will be invited to an interview at all.
Hundreds of applications land on HR managers' desks every week.
One cover letter often looks like the other.
In large companies in particular, you are just one of many.
Being invited to an interview at all often borders on a miracle.
However, if there are rows of rejections, it is not always due to ability and suitability, but to the letter of application itself. With a few tricks, however, as a job seeker you can get the attention of every employee.
Creative application: How unusual can an application be?
Curriculum vitae that always look the same, constantly repeated phrases in cover letters - it is understandable that HR managers often lose interest in the flood of applicants.
Especially if the application letters are not very varied, they quickly end up on the rejection pile.
After all, you only have a little time to convince.
As the online job exchange
StepStone
found out through a survey, HR managers take an average of 48 seconds to decide on an application.
So standing out is good in this case.
But how conspicuous can an application be?
The answer is easy: the more, the better.
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It starts with the cover letter.
Because degrees, doctorates, stays abroad - such points on the CV alone are by no means a free ticket to a job interview.
In order to be invited, the application for the job must be one thing above all else: creative.
You should do that in your cover letter.
Because phrases like “I have read your job advertisement with great interest” or “I hereby apply for a position as” only cause the HR manager to skim the cover letter – if it is read through to the end at all.
Therefore, the first sentence should have “pepper”, as the saying goes.
It's much better to fall into the house with the door.
Listing the strengths or starting with rhetorical questions makes you curious.
It is important not to exaggerate the wording and to remain authentic.
After all, in the case of a job interview, you have to reflect exactly what you announce to the recruiters that you are in the cover letter.
It is also received positively if you list not only strengths but also weaknesses.
But you can also turn something positive out of it: for example, you can tell the potential employer in which areas you would like to improve further.
Certain formulations should already be left out in the written application.
At the latest at work, some sentences can ruin your entire career.
Every application should include:
Write to
CV
Signature
Testimonies
A cliffhanger in the cover letter can help to build up a little more excitement.
You actually know him more from action films or crime novels.
But a cliffhanger can also help in the cover letter and letter of motivation so that the HR manager wants to find out more about the applicant.
A cliffhanger is particularly useful in a cover letter, where there is usually only little space available.
For example: "You want to know how I managed to make project XY a success?
You can find out more in my attached letter of motivation.” That may seem exaggerated to some, but such sentences can lead to getting one step further in the application process.
Here, too, it is easy to impress: With these ten questions you can score points with HR managers.
No run-of-the-mill application: initiative, creativity and commitment are convincing in applications
Anyone who was able to convince with the cover letter has to take the next hurdle with the CV.
Very important: Stay away from CV templates.
There is hardly a design that a staff has not yet seen.
That doesn't show much creativity and rather shows that you didn't bother to design something yourself.
You can really let off steam here.
For example, how about a timeline instead of the usual bullet points?
Or an infographic in which the previous stations are shown in style?
Especially in the creative industry, you can easily collect plus points when applying.
However, if you want to be absolutely sure that you have hit the right nerve, you can also add to the cover letter:
With this body language, the job interview goes wrong
With this body language, the job interview goes wrong
Also, what could convince a HR manager better than identifying with the company right from the start?
Corporate design can be used when designing the application.
This means that the application is designed similar to the company or its products.
For example, the cover sheet, the CV and the cover letter can be adapted to the appearance of the company's website.
It doesn't matter whether the company colors are used or the company slogan is coined for your own application, it shows the HR manager that the applicant has dealt intensively with the employer.
Another plus for not dropping out of the race for the job right at the start.
If you want to top it all off, you can show even more initiative.
We are not talking about an unsolicited application.
For example, you can submit your own project that matches the advertised position.
This is much more difficult with other professions: These five jobs are well paid, but nobody wants to do them.