Jobs: applying, and hiring
What a job posting here can tell you that a job board cannot - which of your skills are missing and who you already know at the company - plus how to post a role and run the pipeline behind it.
What you will learn
- How to see what you are missing before you apply
- How to find a warm introduction instead of applying cold
- What each stage of an application actually means
- How to post a role, screen for it, and move people through
Two things you get here that a job board cannot give you#
A job board can only show you the posting. This one sits on top of a network, so it can also tell you where you stand against the role and who you already know inside it.
- Skill gap - the posting's required skills, checked against the ones on your profile, so you can see what is missing before you spend an hour on an application
- Who you know - the people in your network already at that company. An application that starts as an introduction is a different application
Tip
Both read from the skills on your profile. If they look wrong or empty, that is the profile talking, not the job - and it is ten minutes to fix.
Finding roles#
Roles are ranked against the skills you list, and roles at companies you already follow are pushed up. Search and filters do the rest.
- Search by title, skill, company or keyword
- Filter by employment type, location, work mode, salary range and experience level
- Bookmark anything you are not ready to apply to yet
- Open a posting and see similar roles, so one good match leads to others
Job alerts, so you stop checking#
Save a search as an alert and it runs for you. An alert can be as specific as you like - keywords, skills, locations, salary floor, remote-only, experience level, industry - and you choose how often you hear about it.
| Frequency | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Instant | A narrow alert you would genuinely drop things for. |
| Daily | The default, and the right answer for most searches. |
| Weekly | A broad alert you want to skim rather than react to. |
Tip
An instant alert on a broad search becomes noise in about two days and you will mute it. Narrow the search first, then make it instant.
Applying#
- Your profile is the application - you are not retyping your history into a form
- Add a note to the hiring manager, and attach anything else that helps
- Answer the employer's screening questions, if they set any
- Follow the status on your applications page, and withdraw if you change your mind
Where a candidate is in the process#
Employers move candidates through these stages. Candidates see the same stage on their own applications page, so it is worth keeping it current.
| Stage | What it means |
|---|---|
| Applied | The application arrived. Nobody has opened it. |
| Viewed | Someone on the hiring side has read it. Set automatically. |
| Screening | Being checked against the role's requirements. |
| Interviewing | In the interview process. |
| Offered | An offer has gone out. |
| Hired | The offer was accepted. |
| Rejected | Not taken forward. Can happen at any stage. |
| Withdrawn | The candidate pulled out. Only they can set this. |
Posting a role#
Roles are posted by a company page rather than by a person, so the posting belongs to the company and survives whoever wrote it.
- Title, level and department; employment type and work mode; location
- Salary range, and equity if the role carries it
- Required and preferred skills - these are what the matching and the skill gap read, so they are worth getting right
- Screening questions, in the order you want them asked
- A deadline and a start date
Duplicate rather than retype
Hiring two of the same role, or reopening one next quarter? Duplicate the posting and change what differs. It keeps the screening questions and the skills with it.
Running the pipeline#
- Read applications with the candidate's full profile attached, not just a CV
- Rate a candidate and leave notes your colleagues can see
- Move several people at once when a round closes, rather than one at a time
- Export the list when someone outside the platform needs it
- Close the posting when it is filled - an open role nobody is reading is worse than no role
Referrals#
Anyone can refer someone for an open role - from their own connections, or by sharing a referral link with a person who is not on the platform yet. The referral is tracked through the pipeline, so whoever made the introduction can see what happened to it.
Good to know
Referrals are tracked, not rewarded. There is no referral bonus and nothing pays out - if your company runs a referral scheme, that stays your own arrangement.
