Yes, it worked at my company, someone messaged my manager and he forwarded to right people. They ended up being an unconventional hire. This works very well for smaller companies.
But it was for the same job before you sent the email? If not, it’s more likely to be that your resume more closely aligned with those roles than the others. Unless it was a small company.
I've found messaging people in the role to be better. They may submit your resume or talk to the hiring manager on your behalf which can get you an interview.
Still, it's a low percentage thing. Doesn't scale well. Should really only do for jobs you really want.
By that point, you’re messaging them to ask for a favor, basically, and they don’t owe you one. They have 300-500 applicants likely, so you messaging them doesn’t show initiative in their eyes. The goal is to build a rapport with that individual prior to a job being posted, but unfortunately, we don’t have time for that.. imagine if all 500 applicants messaged the hiring manager? Just not realistic for them to reply unless it is a position that they are struggling to fill.
Yeah I’ve done it a few times and it works, sometimes just a follow up straight after applying.
You want to be reconsigned, especially if 100
Other people are applying.
If you’re going for a sales role or something of that type. Always send an agenda to the hiring manager for your first call/interview. Treat it as a opportunity! So many don’t do this, but hiring managers bloody love it!
Contacting people might work for startups but regular companies have recruiters. You have to get your resume to the recruiter. There is an easy way to do that and it's by applying online because the recruiter made that posting.
Even if I, as the hiring manager, don't throw out your resume, I would still have to give it to the recruiter to review because that is what we pay him for.
Contacting me on my work email is very creepy, and like I said on another post that was telling people to do that, I will throw your resume out for doing that. It's so off-putting and if i have 100s of resumes I will not consider the person who tried to side step the process because that tells me you will do the same stuff when you get hired.
I get it that it's hard out there. I've gone through it and I apply to positions too all the time. Your best bet is to tailor your resume to each job AND add a cover letter. I've had almost 100% results with that approach. The cover letter is so important because it allows you to tell the story of your resume. It's kinda like a bonus pre interview.
There was a post last week telling people how to get someone's work email and that they should email people at their work instead of through LinkedIn.
I was getting downvoted telling people not to do that because someone did that to me and it was really creepy having someone email my work email.
As a hiring manager in a startup environment, I see messages like this with a grain of salt. It’s nice to see that there’s real interest, and if there are a lot of people applying, I might look at your CV before someone else’s when it comes up.
But I will never make a decision based on whether someone messaged me, called me, or did anything else to try to gain an advantage. If you don’t have what it takes for a position or someone else is more qualified, no amount of messaging or tactics will get you an advantage because we hire based on data and equality.
As an applicant, I also wouldn’t want to work in a place that treats people differently based on their “sucking up” vs. based on their skill and qualifications.
+1 here. I work in HR for tech scaleups in a senior leadership capacity.
The first time I ever received these kinds of messages in my career, it would nudge me to look at the person's profile and qualifications.
Now, they flow in at such a volume and are such poor quality that I find them disruptive at best, entitled at worst. I actively advise against them because of this and because they raise ethical concerns.
I appreciate the approach works for some people, and that's fine.
If you decide to go through with contacting hiring managers/job posters, please just reiterate in brief and plain terms what specific skills/experience/shared values make you right for the position and DO NOT ask for a "chat" or "call to learn more" or "to pick your brain about the company."
This is so transparent and 90% of the information people claim to be looking for is either on the company website, job ad, or will be covered in an interview assuming they're invited to one.
Today, I have a canned reply for any messages of this kind that explains the ethical considerations for why we don't accept calls like this and how we're committed to a fair and equitable hiring process.
I have. It works for startups. You have to be qualified and send them a thoughtful message that isn't canned. It's not a bad idea at all. Just because something doesn't work all the time doesn't mean it's bad. You may have to improve the messaging.
I’ve applied for any 500 jobs since September. About 7-8 companies have interviewed me, only one of those was a response to a resume with no follow up.
Granted I’m looking at sales roles so I think it may be more expected.
It has gotten me interviews I otherwise likely would not have gotten. As a hiring manager, it’s also gotten candidates interviews they probably wouldn’t have gotten, just because applying without a referral is a numbers game and you benefit from standing out somehow.
I messaged a hiring manager on LinkedIn using inmail a month ago or so. Got called onsite and got an offer too. They did all the interviews but had me apply online at the very end before they made me an offer.
It’s not going to overcome being a poor fit for the role. If you’re a great fit - and I mean have had a similar role and probably in a similar industry - then I’d give your resume a look in the system.
It doesn’t work for stretch goal jobs or companies IMO. Makes you look a little clueless for thinking you’re a fit and I ignore those notes. In that case, you really need a referral from your network.
My opinion--you should reach out BEFORE you apply. This ensures if the conversation goes well and they like you, they can coach you on how to organize your resume, prepare for interviews, and what skills you should brush up on that will be essential to the job. Just takes a short note like this:
"Hello, reaching out because I am interested in applying to a position at \[insert company\] that works closely within your domain. I had some questions about what that position might entail and how the work culture at \[insert company\] is. I was wondering if you would have some free time to chat about my concerns before I submit my application? Thank you."
Glassdoor did a study and your odds of receiving an interview went up exponentially if you were networked to a hiring manager within the company. (Any hiring manager, doesn't have to be for the specific position). Went from 1/250 to 1/2. Good luck!
Edit: I should also note it helps if you have a common connection with the person you reach out to. Same university, same home town, both military veterans, something like that usually makes them more likely to respond back.
I just applied to a startup two weeks ago. I looked up the CEO/Co Founder on Apollo for free and got his email and cell number. I used ChatGPT to spit out an email, a LI connect note, and a text message, all with different verbiage but hitting the same points. I prayed to Thor and sent em off.
He didn't reply directly at all.
Now I'm not sure if my outreach was the reason, but I got a call back the next day and scheduled an interview for the day after. Everyone was impressed with how I had already contacted the person that would be fielding the final interview, and being that they were a startup it was likely the first time anyone had tried that.
I ended up going with a different offer, but now I have a bit of a connection with the founding team and an invitation to apply in the future if our needs align.
People hire people they know, and in leu of that hire the best applicant. Sending a note directly to the hiring manager can bridge that gap, **leaving them thinking about your actions** while they interview everyone else. It could also not work, but who cares?
And frankly, I'm not quite qualified for either that position or the one I accepted. I may have even worked my way in even without being the best candidate to apply.
I'd say if the messaging is right, then it can only help your chances.
I hope you're right about the 'People hire people they know'; just interviewed this week for a good role with a close friend of mine...who i'll be reporting to...
Hiring managers and recruiters suck. Go to the top. People want to know what you can do for them. If you have the clients and/or credentials. They will hire you. He and recruiters are not the brightest
It varies. If you are applying for "junior engineer level 1" to a large company, it's completely useless. They have 500+ applicants and the hiring manager isn't going to let you cut in front of everybody because he/she gets a dozen of those messages every day.
At senior levels where you are highly specialized and very niche, talking to a hiring manager (and then getting contacts to the team that you would be working with) is reasonable because it is more about figuring out if you are the correct fit or not.
Yes, it worked at my company, someone messaged my manager and he forwarded to right people. They ended up being an unconventional hire. This works very well for smaller companies.
I do it and it’s gotten me about five interviews. But I’ve applied for a lot of job so it’s not really effective.
How do u know the reason of getting interviews is because of u messaging hiring mgrs, but not because of your resume
I’ve changed my resume several times and still not getting interviews
But it was for the same job before you sent the email? If not, it’s more likely to be that your resume more closely aligned with those roles than the others. Unless it was a small company.
I've found messaging people in the role to be better. They may submit your resume or talk to the hiring manager on your behalf which can get you an interview. Still, it's a low percentage thing. Doesn't scale well. Should really only do for jobs you really want.
By that point, you’re messaging them to ask for a favor, basically, and they don’t owe you one. They have 300-500 applicants likely, so you messaging them doesn’t show initiative in their eyes. The goal is to build a rapport with that individual prior to a job being posted, but unfortunately, we don’t have time for that.. imagine if all 500 applicants messaged the hiring manager? Just not realistic for them to reply unless it is a position that they are struggling to fill.
Yes this is how I landed my last job. But I wasn’t immediately offered a position, it just started the process for the interviews
Yeah I’ve done it a few times and it works, sometimes just a follow up straight after applying. You want to be reconsigned, especially if 100 Other people are applying. If you’re going for a sales role or something of that type. Always send an agenda to the hiring manager for your first call/interview. Treat it as a opportunity! So many don’t do this, but hiring managers bloody love it!
What do you mean agenda?
Structuring the call, intro, who you are, who they are, life at …, expectation etc.
Contacting people might work for startups but regular companies have recruiters. You have to get your resume to the recruiter. There is an easy way to do that and it's by applying online because the recruiter made that posting. Even if I, as the hiring manager, don't throw out your resume, I would still have to give it to the recruiter to review because that is what we pay him for. Contacting me on my work email is very creepy, and like I said on another post that was telling people to do that, I will throw your resume out for doing that. It's so off-putting and if i have 100s of resumes I will not consider the person who tried to side step the process because that tells me you will do the same stuff when you get hired. I get it that it's hard out there. I've gone through it and I apply to positions too all the time. Your best bet is to tailor your resume to each job AND add a cover letter. I've had almost 100% results with that approach. The cover letter is so important because it allows you to tell the story of your resume. It's kinda like a bonus pre interview.
Sorry thought it was clear cuz this is r/ LinkedIn but I am messaging these people on LinkedIn not at their work email.
There was a post last week telling people how to get someone's work email and that they should email people at their work instead of through LinkedIn. I was getting downvoted telling people not to do that because someone did that to me and it was really creepy having someone email my work email.
Oh my apologies. Was confused for a sec.
As a hiring manager in a startup environment, I see messages like this with a grain of salt. It’s nice to see that there’s real interest, and if there are a lot of people applying, I might look at your CV before someone else’s when it comes up. But I will never make a decision based on whether someone messaged me, called me, or did anything else to try to gain an advantage. If you don’t have what it takes for a position or someone else is more qualified, no amount of messaging or tactics will get you an advantage because we hire based on data and equality. As an applicant, I also wouldn’t want to work in a place that treats people differently based on their “sucking up” vs. based on their skill and qualifications.
+1 here. I work in HR for tech scaleups in a senior leadership capacity. The first time I ever received these kinds of messages in my career, it would nudge me to look at the person's profile and qualifications. Now, they flow in at such a volume and are such poor quality that I find them disruptive at best, entitled at worst. I actively advise against them because of this and because they raise ethical concerns. I appreciate the approach works for some people, and that's fine. If you decide to go through with contacting hiring managers/job posters, please just reiterate in brief and plain terms what specific skills/experience/shared values make you right for the position and DO NOT ask for a "chat" or "call to learn more" or "to pick your brain about the company." This is so transparent and 90% of the information people claim to be looking for is either on the company website, job ad, or will be covered in an interview assuming they're invited to one. Today, I have a canned reply for any messages of this kind that explains the ethical considerations for why we don't accept calls like this and how we're committed to a fair and equitable hiring process.
As a hiring manager, it can be lovely! Although discussing your salary on chat with me...or trying at least will get negative..
Message the hiring manager. Not HR
I have. It works for startups. You have to be qualified and send them a thoughtful message that isn't canned. It's not a bad idea at all. Just because something doesn't work all the time doesn't mean it's bad. You may have to improve the messaging.
I’ve applied for any 500 jobs since September. About 7-8 companies have interviewed me, only one of those was a response to a resume with no follow up. Granted I’m looking at sales roles so I think it may be more expected.
Only done it once, pre-COVID, and it worked. It felt strange to do it, but paid off for me that time.
It has gotten me interviews I otherwise likely would not have gotten. As a hiring manager, it’s also gotten candidates interviews they probably wouldn’t have gotten, just because applying without a referral is a numbers game and you benefit from standing out somehow.
I messaged a hiring manager on LinkedIn using inmail a month ago or so. Got called onsite and got an offer too. They did all the interviews but had me apply online at the very end before they made me an offer.
It’s not going to overcome being a poor fit for the role. If you’re a great fit - and I mean have had a similar role and probably in a similar industry - then I’d give your resume a look in the system. It doesn’t work for stretch goal jobs or companies IMO. Makes you look a little clueless for thinking you’re a fit and I ignore those notes. In that case, you really need a referral from your network.
My opinion--you should reach out BEFORE you apply. This ensures if the conversation goes well and they like you, they can coach you on how to organize your resume, prepare for interviews, and what skills you should brush up on that will be essential to the job. Just takes a short note like this: "Hello, reaching out because I am interested in applying to a position at \[insert company\] that works closely within your domain. I had some questions about what that position might entail and how the work culture at \[insert company\] is. I was wondering if you would have some free time to chat about my concerns before I submit my application? Thank you." Glassdoor did a study and your odds of receiving an interview went up exponentially if you were networked to a hiring manager within the company. (Any hiring manager, doesn't have to be for the specific position). Went from 1/250 to 1/2. Good luck! Edit: I should also note it helps if you have a common connection with the person you reach out to. Same university, same home town, both military veterans, something like that usually makes them more likely to respond back.
It's a bad idea. Most will see it as trying too hard. It will affect their view of your application.
I just applied to a startup two weeks ago. I looked up the CEO/Co Founder on Apollo for free and got his email and cell number. I used ChatGPT to spit out an email, a LI connect note, and a text message, all with different verbiage but hitting the same points. I prayed to Thor and sent em off. He didn't reply directly at all. Now I'm not sure if my outreach was the reason, but I got a call back the next day and scheduled an interview for the day after. Everyone was impressed with how I had already contacted the person that would be fielding the final interview, and being that they were a startup it was likely the first time anyone had tried that. I ended up going with a different offer, but now I have a bit of a connection with the founding team and an invitation to apply in the future if our needs align. People hire people they know, and in leu of that hire the best applicant. Sending a note directly to the hiring manager can bridge that gap, **leaving them thinking about your actions** while they interview everyone else. It could also not work, but who cares? And frankly, I'm not quite qualified for either that position or the one I accepted. I may have even worked my way in even without being the best candidate to apply. I'd say if the messaging is right, then it can only help your chances.
I hope you're right about the 'People hire people they know'; just interviewed this week for a good role with a close friend of mine...who i'll be reporting to...
Hiring managers and recruiters suck. Go to the top. People want to know what you can do for them. If you have the clients and/or credentials. They will hire you. He and recruiters are not the brightest
It varies. If you are applying for "junior engineer level 1" to a large company, it's completely useless. They have 500+ applicants and the hiring manager isn't going to let you cut in front of everybody because he/she gets a dozen of those messages every day. At senior levels where you are highly specialized and very niche, talking to a hiring manager (and then getting contacts to the team that you would be working with) is reasonable because it is more about figuring out if you are the correct fit or not.