Day60 guide
500 applications and no interviews? Change the channel
Hundreds of applications and no interviews says the channel isn’t working, not that you can’t do the job. What to check first, and what to send instead.
The short answer
Direct answer
Hundreds of applications with no interviews says the way you’re applying isn’t working. It doesn’t say you can’t do the job. Check three things, in this order: the jobs you pick, how your application reaches a person, and your resume. Then change the channel: pick a few jobs you fit, identify the four people closest to each hire, and send each one a short note yourself.
Start with your own numbers
Before you change anything, count. How many applications did you send, and how many brought a reply from a person: a screen, an interview, even a no?
Any reply from a person counts, even a no. It means your application reached someone. Silence tells you much less.
If hundreds of applications brought back nothing, look at the channel before you blame yourself. Sending a hundred more the same way is a test you’ve already run.
Check three things, in this order
It’s tempting to start with the resume. Check it last. A better resume can’t fix a job you don’t fit, or an application that never reaches a person.
- The jobs you pick. Read the must-haves in your last ten postings. If you meet most of them, your targeting is fine. If you’re applying to anything that’s hiring, narrow your list to jobs where you clearly fit.
- The channel. Look at where each application went. A careers-page form or a job-board button puts it in a queue that someone screens later, and nobody there knows your name yet. If every application went that way, the channel is what to change.
- The resume. Make sure the top third says what you do and shows one result. Use the posting’s words where they’re true for you. Fix it once, then stop rewriting it and start writing to people.
Why sending more won’t change the channel
Tools that apply for you can send more applications, faster. Each one still goes through the same channel and joins the others for that job.
An application asks someone to compare you with everyone else who applied. A short note asks one person one question, and a person can answer it.
Keep applying through the posting, too. The company may need your application in its system before it can interview you. The note goes alongside it, not instead of it.
Change the channel: the Day60 method
Day60 is built around one way of working. You can follow it with or without Day60.
- Pick a few jobs. Choose jobs where you meet most of the must-haves. Fewer jobs leave time to research each one.
- Identify the four people closest to the hire. The hiring manager, their boss, an internal champion on the team and the recruiter. Look in the posting, on the company’s own pages and in a LinkedIn search you run yourself.
- Send each one a short note. One dated detail about their team or company, one result from your work and one easy question. Use the same result for everyone at the company, with a different first line for each person.
- Three messages, then stop. Each person gets at most three: the first note, a second channel two days later (a LinkedIn request after an email, for example), and one follow-up seven days after the first note if nobody has replied. Then put your time into the next job.
An example first note to a hiring manager
This note is illustrative: the company, people, dates and experience are invented. Replace every detail with one that’s true for you. It passes Day60’s message checker.
It’s a LinkedIn connection note, so it stays under 300 characters with no sign-off. The shorter version is under 200 characters for free accounts.
Illustrative LinkedIn note to a hiring manager
The company, people, dates, and experience in this example are invented.
Message
Dana, Quillon’s October 14 post says your support team now covers weekend chat. At Cedarline, I set up a weekend rota that kept first replies under an hour. Could we connect so I can ask one question about the support lead role?
Shorter version
Dana, Quillon’s October 14 weekend chat post stood out. At Cedarline, I kept weekend first replies under an hour. Open to connecting about the support lead role?
Send it yourself
Open LinkedIn yourself and check the person’s current role. Choose Connect, add a note, paste your message and send it. If the note box is shorter on your account, use the shorter version.
Day60 never logs in to LinkedIn and never sends anything for you. You send every message, and you decide when.
Where Day60 fits
Day60 helps you identify the four people closest to the hire: the hiring manager, their boss, an internal champion and the recruiter.
It reads the posting for clues, gives you the titles to search on LinkedIn, and ranks the people you find. Check each person's current role before you add them.
Then it drafts a message to each person in your voice and tells you what to send today.
Related guides
Next step:How to find the hiring manager for a job
See how Day60 works Read Day60’s methodMake one thoughtful message feel manageable.
Day60 helps you work through your job search while keeping every message in your hands.