116. Above & Beyond: The Job Application Moves Nobody's Making (But Should Be)

Are your job applications disappearing into a black hole? You're not alone — and it's not your resume. It's the system. In this episode, host (and career coach) Christina Kohl breaks down why the standard "apply online and wait" approach is failing midlife women in today's job market, and exactly what to do instead.

Whether you're pivoting careers, stepping into a new industry, or returning to work after time away, this episode gives you a practical, step-by-step playbook to stand out before a human even opens your file.

You'll learn:

• Why AI-powered Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are filtering out strong candidates — and how cover letters often disappear entirely
• The single most powerful move you can make before submitting any application (hint: it's 13x more effective than applying through a job board)
• What employee referral programs are, how they work, and why timing is everything
• Why mailing a physical resume and cover letter is getting people interviews right now
• How to drop off your application in person — and what to say when you get there

Free Resource

Grab the Strengths-First Resume Template - ideal for career transitions, whether you’re returning after a break, navigating a layoff, pivoting roles, or ready for a change.

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Work with Me

Want an HR expert’s eyes on your resume?
Book a 30-minute Resume Review with Christina - live on Zoom, recorded, and focused on one goal: getting you interviews. 

Want to talk through your career goals and explore next steps?
Schedule a career consultation to see how I can support you. 

Email me directly at christina@hernextchapters.com

Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina

Transcript

Why Applications Disappear

Christina Kohl 0:12

Well, hello friends. Welcome back to her next chapters. I'm your host, Christina Kohl, and this podcast is for midlife women who are ready for what's next in their careers and life. And whether that means a full pivot into something new, a step up after years of building expertise, or returning to the workforce after time away. Whatever brought you here, one thing I hear from almost every woman I work with is some version of this. I'm applying to lots of jobs, but I'm not hearing anything back. The applications go in and it feels like they disappear into a void. Well, today, my friends, we're fixing that. I want to talk about what I call the above and beyond approach to job applications. Some of what I'm going to share sounds old-fashioned like what you did back at the beginning of your career. But here's the thing: it's working right now. And it's working precisely because nobody else is doing it. First of all, let's talk about why you need a strategy that goes beyond just clicking submit. Most job seekers today do the same thing. They find a posting, they customize a resume, maybe, and they upload it into the online portal and wait and wait and wait. Well, here's what's happening on the other side of that apply button. Almost every mid-sized to large company uses an ATS, an applicant tracking system. It's software that receives your application, scans it, and ranks it before a human ever sees it. And those systems filter hard. They're looking for keyword matches, title alignment, and continuity of employment history. Some of you may have gaps, a career break, a pivot, a layoff, time spent running a business or raising a family. But even if your resume is rock solid, the ATS may still filter you out simply because your background doesn't check every box the algorithm is looking for. And here's something even more frustrating. Those beautiful custom cover letters that tell your story. It might not even be seen. Some ATS systems don't even look at the cover letters, they're simply looking at your resume. This isn't meant to scare you, it's meant to motivate you. Because once you understand the system, you can work around it. And that's exactly what the above and beyond approach does. All right, so step zero, let's check your network first. Before we talk about emailing hiring managers or dropping off resumes in person, I want to back up even further. Because there's something that should happen before you apply anywhere. Check your network first. Here's why this matters so much. Research consistently shows that referrals are up to 13 times more likely to land a job than candidates who apply through John Boards. Let me say that again. 13 times more likely. And here's the wild part. Only about 7% of applicants are referred by someone inside the company. Yet that 7% accounts for somewhere between 30 and 40% of all hires. Think about that. A tiny fraction of the applicant pool is getting nearly half the jobs. Why? Because a referral is a trusted and warm introduction. The hiring manager isn't looking at a cold resume. They're looking at someone a colleague has vouched for. That changes everything. So before you apply to any role, ask yourself, do I know anyone at this company? Does anyone in my network know someone there? Reach out on LinkedIn. Check who your connections are connected to. You might be surprised how close you already are. And here's a bonus that many people don't know about. A lot of companies have employee referral programs. If an employee refers you and you get hired, that employee can receive a referral bonus anywhere from $1,000 all the way up to $5,000, with $2,500 being a common baseline. But here's the catch. Oftentimes, the employee's name has to be listed at the time you submit your application. After that fact, it doesn't count. So if you try to get a referral after you've applied, that employee won't get the bonus. Okay, so that's why it's important to reach out before you apply. Let them know you're interested, ask if they'd be willing to refer you and make sure their name is in the application when you submit. A lot of ATS systems have a place for you to like click check the box and put in someone's name. And keep in mind, of course, they're doing you a huge favor, but you're potentially doing them a favor too. Okay, so now if you don't have a referral, that's okay. That's where the rest of this episode comes in. So whether you have a referral or not, you always apply through the company's online portal. Always. If you reach out to someone directly by email, in person, by mail, but you haven't applied online, you're essentially creating extra work for them. They'd have to manually enter you into their ATS. And that's not how you want to start the relationship. Apply online. Get in the system. Think of the online application as the floor, the baseline everyone starts from. Everything else we're about to talk about is what gets you noticed above that baseline. Okay, so you've checked your network and you don't have a direct referral, or maybe you do, and you want to follow up anyway. Either way, the next step is to find a real human being at that company and reach out directly. I know this can feel uncomfortable. Am I being pushy? Am I going around the system? I want to put that to rest right now because I've heard this validated straight from the source. I recently had a client who attended an HR networking event and did an HR conference in the same month. At both events, both both venues, she heard HR directors and recruiters say it plainly in front of rooms of almost a hundred people, email us directly. Everyone nodded. Everyone nodded along. They said, We want to hear from you. We want the context because the AI system might be reading you out before we even get the chance to read it ourselves. So, with that validation, HR directors, recruiters, they are saying, go ahead and email us directly. So, where how do you find them? If you've been following me for a while, you know that LinkedIn is gonna be your best starting point. You're gonna search the company name, go to their people tab, and then look for HR, talent acquisition, or the hiring manager for the relevant department. So if you're going for marketing, you're gonna look for people with marketing titles that work at that company. Sometimes the job posting names a recruiter directly. Sometimes you have to dig, but it's usually findable. A second place to go is the company website. It's worth checking. People often overlook it. Go to the about page, go to the careers or contact page. There's sometimes a general HR recruiting inbox listed there. It may not get you to a specific person, but it gets your message to someone who is actually inside the hiring conversation. So once you have a name or an inbox, write a short, warm email. You want to open with genuine enthusiasm for the company and the specific role. Give them a quick snapshot of who you are, your background, your expertise, what you bring, two or three sentences, not a whole novel, and then address anything that might look like a question mark on paper. If you have a gap, own it briefly and frame it in a positive light. If you're pivoting industries, connect the dots for them. Don't make them guess. Let them know you've already applied online, so they have no extra work to do. They just need to pull up your name in the system. Your email is doing what the ATS can't. It's telling your story in your own voice. And be sure to attach your cover letter and your resume to the email as well. Okay, so that's tactic one. Find the person and email them directly. So next we're going to move to tactic number two. Put your resume and cover letter in an envelope, put a stamp on it, and mail it. I know, stay with me. I've heard this come up multiple times actually. Most recently from someone whose adult child was struggling to get traction in a job search. Someone in a parenting Facebook group suggested mailing a physical resume, envelope, stamp, real paper. And it got them interviews. Why? Because no one does this anymore. When your envelope lands on a hiring manager's desk, it stands out simply by existing. It signals intentionality. It says, I am serious about this, and I was willing to do something extra to show you. If you're applying to local businesses, nonprofits, smaller organizations, or companies where you want to make an impression in a tight-knit community, this is particularly powerful. It's unexpected, it's tangible, and in a sea of identical digital submissions, a physical piece of paper on someone's desk is genuinely memorable. Back when I was a longtime stay-at-home mom and was looking for my first job, my re-entry job, I had networked my way into a hospital system and I had applied online as well. And I got a call from the vice president of HR. It was an HR job that I was going for. And she said, I'm not sure who dropped this off here, but your resume was on my desk this morning when I came in. I'm like, wow. So, and that was actually through some networking that I'd done. I hadn't mailed it in, but because of networking, someone at the company had printed it out and dropped it off on her desk. It's going to take a little bit more extra effort on your on your part. Um, all of these tactics that I'm that I'm giving you will take a little more effort, which is why they're the above and beyond. Um, okay, so that was tactic two, physically mailing your resume and cover letter. All right, tactic number three. For local companies, go there. Dress like you're going to an interview, walk in the front door, and hand deliver your resume and cover letter to the receptionist. A few things to keep in mind. Dress the part because that receptionist is evaluating you. Not in a pressurizing way or judgmental, but in this, but in a this is an opportunity kind of way. The person at the front desk often talks to the hiring manager and vice versa. They notice who walks in, how they carry themselves, how they treat people. A brief, warm professional interaction at the front desk can open doors that the online portal never can. Keep it simple. Something like, hi, I just applied online for the whatever the position is, the director of marketing role. And I want to make sure the hiring manager had a copy of it in hand. I'm really excited about this opportunity. Okay, that's it. You're not asking for a meeting, you're just making a human impression. Now, this same principle applies beautifully to thank you notes after interviews. And I want to tell you what I personally do and what I go to my clients to do. Right after an interview, I sit in the parking lot while everything is fresh and I hand write a thank you note for each person I spoke with. Then I walk back in and I give them to the receptionist to deliver. Same day, handwritten in person. Why? Because almost no one does this. Most candidates send a quick follow-up email, and that doesn't even happen all the time. A handwritten note delivered the same day you interviewed says something about who you are as a professional. It shows follow-through. It shows thoughtfulness. It shows that you operate with intention. The interview process is, at its core, a preview of what it's like to work with you. And a handwritten thank you note delivered in person is a very compelling preview. Okay, let's bring it all together. Here's your above and beyond application checklist in order. First, check your network before you apply. Do you know anyone at this company? Can someone refer you? Get that referral in place before you submit. Second, apply online. Always get your application in the system. Third, find the hiring manager or recruiter on LinkedIn, on the company website, and send them a direct email. Short, warm, specific, tell your story. Fourth, mail a physical copy of your resume and cover letter. Yes, with a stamp. Fifth, for local companies, drop it off in person. Dress apart. Be brief and genuine. And I just want to summarize like you don't have to do all of those, do at least one of those. Either send an email with your resume in cover letter or mail a physical copy or drop a drop a physical copy off in person. And then finally, after the interview, handwrite a thank you note in the parking lot and walk it back to them in the same day, if possible. So most people do step two, which is applying online and call it done. You're gonna do more. You're gonna go above and beyond. That is your competitive advantage. So here's what I want you to take away from today's episode. The job market right now rewards people who are willing to show up literally and figuratively. AI is screening resumes, portals are filtering applications, and the candidates who break through are the ones who make a human connection alongside that digital process. And this all works whether you're returning after time away, pivoting into a new field, stepping up after years of building your career, or simply ready for something different. The tactics are the same. The willingness to go above and beyond is what separates the people who hear back from the ones who don't. Now, one of the biggest reasons applications get filtered out is the resume itself. If yours isn't getting through, or if you're not sure it's presenting you at your best, I have something that can help. I have a free download called the Strengths First Resume template. It's a different format than the traditional chronological resume. Instead of leading with your work history in reverse date order, it leads with your strengths and your biggest, most relevant accomplishments right on the front page where the eyes go first. It flips the script so that what makes you exceptional is the first thing a hiring manager sees. Grab it for free. The link is in the show notes. If today's episode is helpful, please share it with a woman in your network who's navigating a job search right now. She needs to hear this. Until next time, you've got this.

Speaker 15:58

Thank you so much for listening today. I hope this episode hit home for you. And if you haven't already, be sure to connect with my own and say hello. I can hardly say thank you for listening. Until next time, remember your story is a little bit more than a little bit.