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Application questions matter!

Plus a cool job in the sports industry, free job search resources, and double the networking chats!

Author

Bonnie Dilber
April 10, 2024

Find your dream remote job without the hassle!

Resources of the Week!

  1. Interested in working in sports? I’m partnering with the NJ Devils to get folks to check out this entry level sales role! They are prioritizing building a diverse pool - check this out or share it with your networks!!

  2. Curious what I’d do if I were laid off? Here you go! #3 and #9 are “hacks” to get more eyes on your post - don’t over use them, but these posts get pushed out hard by LinkedIn, and can be good ways to increase the chances of getting some support.

  3. And this post with free resources if you’re currently job searching might be helpful!

  4. Nervous about following up after an interview? I shared tips on this topic with Huffington Post!

  5. And sign up for a free networking chat - this is my birthday week so I’m DOUBLING the number of chats available for next week. 🙂 

I ignored resumes when reviewing applications this week!

One of the things we do at Zapier is make resumes optional. Instead, we ask a few questions aligned to key skills in the role - this is our attempt at:

  1. Removing the stressor of getting the perfect resume together.

  2. Allowing folks with less traditional backgrounds to have a better shot at the role.

But of course we often use the resumes because they are helpful and useful.

I’m working on a role for the first time in 2 years because we’re hiring so much, and I decided to focus first on application questions. I ignored the resume tab and just moved forward candidates who knocked those questions out of the part.

And then I looked at resumes - half were exactly what I would have wanted in a resume, but some were honestly not resumes I would have considered, and I might have rejected some of those candidates even though they had a lot of great skills.

I also rejected some top tier resumes that showed amazing experience.

Why?

Because they didn’t answer the questions. They said things like “see resume” or “NA”.

So what’s my point?

  1. If you work in recruiting, consider some other things you can screen for beyond resume - I think this can often help avoid bias and

  2. If you’re applying for jobs, remember that those questions are your chance to shine and stand out from the crowd - many folks aren’t going to take the time to do them.

Remotive is a free job board for remote jobs, but they also offer a paid accelerator that includes 30k+ remote roles that are curated and guaranteed to be active! The accelerator also includes a private Slack community and other resources to support you with your search for a remote job. If your goal is to land a remote role, check out Remotive.

🙋Answering Your Questions🙋

Each week, I’ll answer a few of your questions in this section. You can submit your questions here.

On job applications that require you to fill out an online template with that asks for a full employment history including job summary with position dates, titles and achievements and then give you an option to attach your resume, is there/should there be a difference in content?

I would use the same content in these situations! These are usually older systems and this makes it easier for them to categorize information, count up years of experience, etc. It’s annoying and fortunately more modern systems don’t ask for this unnecessary step but there’s no reason to try to come up with different content in these cases!


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