1. Referrals First, Every Time
You've heard this before. It's still true, and right now it matters more than it ever has.
When you apply cold, you are CV number 417 in a pile that a recruiter has approximately eight seconds to scan before moving on. When someone inside the company refers you, you arrive differently. You're not an anonymous document — you're a person that someone the hiring team trusts has already vouched for. That changes how your application is weighted before anyone has read a single bullet point.
Referrals don't guarantee the job. They do get you past the initial filter that stops most candidates from ever being seen.
How to actually do this:
Go through your LinkedIn connections and former colleagues methodically — not just the people you're close with. Think about everyone you worked with at previous companies, people you went to school with who are now in your field, former managers, former direct reports, people you met at industry events. The connection doesn't have to be deep. A genuine shared history is enough to send a message.
Keep the ask simple and specific: "I saw [Company] is hiring for [Role], I'd love to apply and I'm wondering if you'd be comfortable passing my name along or giving me a sense of the team. No pressure either way."
Most people are willing to help if the ask is low-effort and you make it easy for them. The worst outcome is they say no or don't respond. The best outcome is your application goes from invisible to prioritized.
2. Apply in the First Two Hours
Speed is a competitive advantage most job seekers don't treat seriously enough.
Many hiring teams shortlist early, reviewing the first 50 to 100 applications before the pile becomes unmanageable and never meaningfully engage with what arrives after that. If you're applying two days after a posting goes live, you're not competing for the same opportunity as someone who applied two hours in. You're often just sending a resume into a queue that won't get read.
Set up job alerts on every platform you use starting with LinkedIn, Indeed, and the lower-competition boards like Remotive and treat them as time-sensitive notifications rather than a weekly digest. When something relevant appears, apply before you overthink it.
The tension here is real: applying fast and tailoring your resume properly are both important, and doing both well takes time. The solution is to maintain a strong base resume and a clear tailoring process so you can move quickly without sacrificing quality. The 15-minute tailoring method (pulling the top three requirements from the posting and making sure your bullets reflect them specifically) lets you move fast without going generic.
Tailoring efficiently: Your resume bullets need to show impact, not just describe duties, and that's true whether you're applying fast or slow. See our guide on how to write resume bullet points for the exact rewriting process.
3. Follow Up After Every Interview
It sounds small but it isn't.
A brief follow-up after an interview does two things: it keeps you present in the interviewer's mind at the moment they're forming their impression, and it signals that you're the kind of person who closes loops and communicates proactively, which is exactly what hiring managers want in a hire.
The follow-up doesn't need to be long or elaborate. A few sentences is enough:
"Thanks for the time today, I genuinely enjoyed the conversation, especially the discussion about [specific thing they mentioned]. I'm attaching the [article / framework / example] I referenced in case it's useful. Looking forward to next steps."
The reference to something specific from the conversation is what makes it land. A generic "thanks for your time" is forgettable. A message that shows you were paying attention is not.
If you're in the final stages and choosing between two candidates who are nearly identical on paper, the one who followed up thoughtfully is the one who gets the offer. It happens more often than people think.
Closing interviews strategically: The follow-up is the last move. But the move that happens just before you leave the room (the final question you ask) is often what determines whether a decision goes your way. See the best question to ask at the end of every interview.
4. Practice Interviews Like They're Scarce, Because They Are
In a tough market, interviews are hard to get. When you land one, you cannot afford to waste it because you weren't prepared and froze on a question you should have been able to answer.
Most people underprepare because interview prep feels awkward and its mostly because you are talking to yourself, rehearsing answers that feel scripted and not knowing if you're actually improving. Here are a few things that help:
- •Record yourself answering common questions. Video or audio. Watch it back. You'll immediately notice things like filler words, vague answers and moments where you lost the thread, that you couldn't see in the moment.
- •Use AI to simulate the conversation. Tools like ChatGPT or Claude can run mock interviews, give feedback on your answers, and push back with follow-up questions. It's not identical to a real interview but it gets you comfortable with the format and forces you to articulate your experience out loud.
- •Do at least one practice session with a real person. A friend, a former colleague, anyone who will ask questions and give honest feedback rather than just nodding. The social pressure of performing for another person is the closest simulation of the real thing.
- •Prepare specific stories, not generic answers. Every competency question like "tell me about a time you handled conflict," or "describe a project you led end to end" should have a prepared story attached to it. Vague answers about what you generally do are forgettable. Specific stories about what you actually did are memorable and verifiable.
5. Stop Showing Up as Someone Who Wants a Job
This is the one that separates candidates who are nearly identical on paper.
Showing up as "a person who wants a job" looks like: enthusiasm without specificity, generic strengths, answers that are technically correct but interchangeable with every other candidate. "I'm a fast learner, I'm passionate about this space, I'm a strong communicator." Every candidate in the room says some version of this. None of it sticks.
Showing up as someone who can add value from day one looks different. It means:
Knowing the company's actual situation. Not just what's on the About page but also what's in their recent press, their product updates, their job postings (which tell you where they're investing), their Glassdoor exits (which tell you what's not working). Go in knowing something real (Check out our article about How to Research a Company for more tips on this)
Having an opinion about the role. Not "I'm excited to contribute", have something specific about how you see the function, what you think the challenges are, what you'd prioritize if you were starting next week.
Teaching them something. The most memorable interview moments happen when a candidate says something the interviewer hadn't heard before. Not a rehearsed talking point but a genuine observation that shows you understand their world in a way that surprises them.
One example that illustrates this: one of our clients interviewing for a payments role said: "Fraud isn't just chargebacks, it's people who join with the intent to be fraudulent from day one." The CEO in the room hadn't framed it that way before. That one line made the candidate memorable in a way that no amount of enthusiasm could replicate.
You're not looking for a line to memorize. You're looking to genuinely understand the company's problems well enough that something you naturally say lands that way.
Putting It Together: The Sequence That Works
In a competitive market, these tactics aren't optional extras, they're the baseline. Here's how they layer:
- Before you apply: Check if anyone in your network can refer you. Set up alerts so you can move fast when something relevant posts.
- When you apply: Tailor your resume to the specific posting. Make sure your bullets show impact, not just duties. Apply within hours of the posting going live.
- Before the interview: Research the company using exit reviews, recent news, and LinkedIn data. Prepare specific stories for competency questions. Practice out loud until your answers feel natural, not rehearsed.
- In the interview: Come with knowledge, opinions, and something worth saying. Ask the closing question that surfaces any concerns before you leave the room.
- After the interview: Follow up the same day with something specific from the conversation.
None of this is complicated. All of it requires more effort than most candidates are putting in and this is exactly why it works.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
The market is hard. That's real, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.
What's also real: most candidates are not doing all of these things. They're applying late, using generic resumes, skipping interview prep, and showing up without specific knowledge of the company. The bar for standing out isn't actually that high it just requires more deliberate effort than the average application involves.
Referrals first. Apply early. Follow up. Practice seriously. Show up knowing your stuff.
You might only get a handful of real shots in a tough market. Make sure you're ready when they come.
