Does applying through a company website ever work?

[Anonymous]

I'm an attorney with a large company. Typically, our strongest resumes come from referrals or recruiters, but every time we hire someone, there are at least a few resumes that come through our website that end up making it far along in the process.

[Anonymous]

I applied through the web portal without connections and made it through. I'm now a hiring manager and most of our hires come in without connections. We value referrals and they tend to be higher quality candidates, but there are only 1 or 2 referrals out of a 100+ applicants per opening. We can't limit ourselves to who knows some one.

OP, make sure your resume reads well and that a clear picture emerges after a 3 second scan. That's all you get from the recruiter screen. Read the job descriptions for your target role at multiple companies and be careful that you've phrased your experience and skills in the language reflected in those job descriptions. Don't leave it to recruiters or hiring managers to translate your experience. They won't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a hiring manager. We occasionally hire people through the web site, but it's rare. We prefer to hire someone who comes recommended through people we know, and we often get resumes sent to us that way. That's where we usually start and have success. But for junior level positions especially we sometimes don't have referrals and so will bring in a handful of people who applied online without any connection.

I've been a hiring manager for 2.5 years and have never even seen a cover letter.

Thank you for posting this. I do not know one person who ever got hired through the website. Network, Network, Network.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a hiring manager. We occasionally hire people through the web site, but it's rare. We prefer to hire someone who comes recommended through people we know, and we often get resumes sent to us that way. That's where we usually start and have success. But for junior level positions especially we sometimes don't have referrals and so will bring in a handful of people who applied online without any connection.

I've been a hiring manager for 2.5 years and have never even seen a cover letter.

Do you "know" a lot of people of color?

[Anonymous]

I love for a large healthcare organization. All applicants have to come in through the website. So even if you are networking and have a connection, you have to apply online. 3 of my recent hires were online with no networking and 1 was networked (but applied on line.)

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks, everyone! So the consensus seems to be that it works sometimes, but often it's better to go through your network (which I've done and continue to do).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a hiring manager. We occasionally hire people through the web site, but it's rare. We prefer to hire someone who comes recommended through people we know, and we often get resumes sent to us that way. That's where we usually start and have success. But for junior level positions especially we sometimes don't have referrals and so will bring in a handful of people who applied online without any connection.

I've been a hiring manager for 2.5 years and have never even seen a cover letter.

Do you "know" a lot of people of color?

I agree, the networking habit is a form of nepotism and continues to rob non-connected people of deserved opportunities. And I don't buy the argument that knowing how to network is part of doing a job.... a lot of people start their network via connected parents, fancy schools, etc. and those who don't have that advantage can almost never catch up.

[Anonymous]

I have gotten two jobs through a website. Ironically when I have utilized my network it never works out in my favor. Random website submissions for the win!!

[Anonymous]

That’s how I’ve gotten all my jobs (three jobs and another offer I turned down). Never used my network or a referral. I might be a rarity though based on the previous responses.

[Anonymous]

Networking is the key to getting the best jobs. Website applications are a formality for such jo

[Anonymous]

I've gotten a few interviews that way, but no offers. of course, I have gotten exactly one offer through networking (that I turned down), but I've had a couple of big, all-day interviews and feel like I'm getting close to an offer. when I have managed to network my way to a good connection, they ALWAYS tell me, "you need someone internal to submit you".

[Anonymous]

All of my teams' recent hires at mid-higher level have come through the corporate website. They are pretty specialized roles and networking alone did not find the right candidates. But we don't rely on people just coming to apply, our internal recruiters are also reaching out to people on LinkedIn. I also got my job (senior manager level) by directly applying through the website.

However, for entry-level, the last few times we've had an opening, we've filled it by contacting our recent interns. There's only one true entry-level position in our department (which I supervise) and my goal is to never have to open-hire for that position. I also hire our interns -- we have three per year -- and those are hired via a general application to the website. Occasionally I do get a recommendation for an intern and that will most likely get you an interview but is not a factor considered beyond that. Only once have I ended up hiring an intern who first made it into the interview pool because of a recommendation.