Sometimes you go for a job and never hear back. It sucks, but it happens. In fact for many, it’s the norm.
If you send a video pitch directly to the hiring manager, instead of (or in addition to) submitting a standard application, it happens a lot less. Crash users have an 80% response rate to pitches sent.
So the first thing to do is not submit a resume, copy/paste cover letter, or generic app. Do a bit of research on a role you’re genuinely interested in, create a custom pitch with video, and email it to the right person(s).
Doing this takes your odds of landing an interview from around 0.4% to around 33%. That’s nearly a 100x improvement.
But you won’t get every job you pitch. What happens when you don’t? Here are a few good outcomes you’ll get even if you don’t get the job:
1.You’ll probably get some kind of response, even if you don’t get the job
Many who send a video get thoughtful responses on pitches even if the role has already been filled. Sometimes these result in interviews for other roles, or referrals to other companies, or valuable feedback. Even the hiring manager who says no can be a valuable addition to your network. Sometimes just hearing a kind word about your pitch is a huge morale boost on the job hunt.
2. You’ll learn about industries and roles, even if you don’t get the job
A good pitch takes a little research on the company and role. That research is incredibly valuable even if you don’t win that job! It helps you get a feel for an industry, the players, the way different products and companies operate. Your ability to gather info and connect it to your own interests and abilities is sharpened, which moves you forward on the job hunt.
3. You’ll learn about yourself
Putting together a solid pitch to a company forces you to frame up your interests and abilities in a short narrative and connect it to a company. That process makes you learn a ton about how you tick – stuff you never really knew because no one asked. The pitching process is awesome for generating self-knowledge, which is the most important component of finding work you love!
4. You’ll gain transferable skills
Making a project, video, or unique pitch teaches you how to do it better and faster and easier the next time. Learning to find a hiring manager’s email address, send a good email, and follow up. Running your job hunt like a sales process. All of these are skills that will help you land another job, and they are valuable in other areas of your career.
5. You’ll still build confidence
Creating a pitch and sending it is a little scary at first. But once you’ve done it, you feel proud and confident. Even if you don’t win the job, the process of doing something unique builds you up. You become more valuable and more attractive to other employers simply by running the process.
6. You might even have fun
Once you burn your resume and break out of the box, the job hunt becomes a creative challenge. It’s a game. Part treasure hunt (finding jobs that interest you), part investigative work (researching), part hunting expedition (pitching). You can actually enjoy the process, get goofy, get interesting, be playful.
If you don’t get the job, you win if you choose to
The bottom line is that if you run your job hunt in the standard way – scan jobs boards mindlessly and click “apply” with the same generic resume 100 times – you gain absolutely nothing from all the offers you don’t get.
But if you pick a few cool companies and pitch them with something special, you gain even if you don’t get an offer. The hunting and pitching process itself is valuable and can catapult you ahead.
