📖 How to Get a Job — Part 1

You're Applying to Jobs Wrong.

most people send out hundreds of applications and hear nothing back. here's why — and exactly how to fix it.

250+

avg. applicants per job

6 sec

recruiter resume scan

75%

filtered by ATS before a human

scroll to see the truth

The Reality Check

5 reasons you're not hearing back

🤖

you're being filtered out by AI before a human even sees your resume

90% of large companies use an ATS. your resume gets scored by an algorithm and if you dont hit the right keywords... its an auto reject. a recruiter never even knows you existed.

📄

your resume needs DOUBLE optimization — for AI and humans

the ATS wants exact keyword matches. the recruiter wants a clean, scannable layout. most resumes are optimized for neither. you gotta play both games.

⏱️

you're too slow — jobs get thousands of applications in days

the best jobs get flooded within 24-48 hours. if you're applying a week after it was posted you're already behind. speed matters more than you think.

🎤

you're interviewing wrong

winging it is not a strategy. the people who get offers are the ones who prep specific stories, research the company, and practice out loud. not "review the job posting 5 min before."

📬

you're not following up correctly (or at all)

most people either ghost after an interview or send a generic "thanks for your time" email. following up with specific value-adds and references to the conversation is what separates you.

The Hiring Funnel

where your application actually goes

this is what happens when you click "apply" on a job with ~250 applicants. spoiler: it's brutal.

250+

Total Applicants

everyone who clicked "apply" this week — including you, bots, and people who are wildly unqualified

~100

Survive ATS Screening

the ATS auto-rejects ~60% — missing keywords, wrong experience level, resume format errors

-60% eliminated

20-30

Seen by a Human

a recruiter spends 6-8 seconds scanning job titles, years in role, and maybe 1-2 keywords

6 sec scan

8-12

Phone Screen / 1st Interview

quick 15-30 min call to check culture fit and verify you're not lying on your resume lol

2-3

Final Round Interview

the real deal — panel interviews, case studies, technical screens

1 🎉

Job Offer

that's it. one person. be that person.

Step 01

the ATS is the gatekeeper. learn its language.

here's what most people don't realize — your resume is read by a robot before any human ever sees it. and that robot is dumb. it doesn't "understand" your experience. it just pattern-matches keywords.

90% of Fortune 500 companies use an Applicant Tracking System. the ATS scans your resume and either passes you through or throws you in the reject pile. here's what it checks:

ATS_RESUME_SCAN.exe

✓

Affirmative matching — does your resume contain the required keywords from the job description?

MATCH

✓

Years of experience — does it meet the minimum requirement?

5+ YRS

✗

Education filter — degree requirement listed but not found on resume

MISSING

✗

Negative filter — detected 6+ month employment gap

FLAGGED

✓

Format check — can the system parse headers, dates, and sections?

PARSED

⚠️ big mistake people make: using fancy resume templates with graphics, columns, or icons. the ATS can't read them. your beautiful resume gets turned into gibberish and auto-rejected. keep it clean and simple.

so what do you do?

→read the actual job description and mirror the exact language they use. if they say "project management" don't just write "managed projects"
→use a simple, single-column resume format. no graphics, no tables, no fancy headers. boring = parseable = you get through
→include a skills section with exact match keywords from the posting
→spell out acronyms AND include them. write "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)" not just "SEO" — the ATS might be looking for either one
→dont leave employment gaps unexplained. freelance, contract work, education — fill them in or the negative filter catches you

or... you can skip all of that manual work.

Higher Income does this automatically

upload your resume once and our AI analyzes every job posting you find — then tells you exactly which keywords to add, what to reword, and how to beat the ATS. no more guessing.

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Step 02

speed is everything. seriously.

here's a stat that should scare you:

average applications received within 48 hours of posting

and that number keeps growing by the hour

the first batch of qualified applicants often gets the interview slots. recruiters start screening immediately — they don't wait for the posting to close. by day 3 they might already have their shortlist.

💡 the move: use Higher Income to send you real-time job alerts the moment new roles matching your profile get posted. apply within the first 24 hours. being early doesn't guarantee you get through — but being late almost guarantees you don't.

quality still beats quantity though. don't just spray and pray 500 applications with the same generic resume. that's the #1 mistake i see. tailor each application to the specific role — even if it means applying to fewer jobs.

the math works out better:

→100 generic apps → maybe 2-3 responses → mostly ghosted
→20 tailored apps → 5-8 responses → real conversations → actual offers

its not about how many you send. its about how many get through that funnel up there ☝️

daily job alerts that actually pay more

Higher Income scans thousands of postings every day and only sends you jobs that pay more than what you're making now. matched to your skills. delivered to your inbox at 8am.

Get Job Alerts →

Step 03

you passed the robot. now impress the human.

congrats your resume made it past the ATS. now a recruiter is gonna look at it for about 6 seconds. i'm not exaggerating. six. seconds.

here's what they look at in those 6 seconds:

0-2 sec

job titles + company names

are your recent titles relevant to this role? did you work at companies they recognize?

2-4 sec

years in role + career progression

do you have enough experience? are you moving up or lateral?

4-6 sec

1-2 keywords or achievements that stand out

numbers, metrics, results. "increased revenue by 40%" beats "responsible for revenue growth"

decision

yes pile or no pile

that's it. 6 seconds. resume either moves forward or it's done.

your resume's job isn't to get you hired. it's to get you the interview. thats it. keep it focused, scannable, and results-driven. save the full story for when you're actually talking to someone.

🎯 pro tip: put your most impressive, most relevant achievement in the top 3 lines. that's the only real estate that matters in a 6-second scan. if the recruiter has to scroll to find your value... they won't. (Higher Income's AI can help you rewrite your resume summary to lead with impact.)

Step 04

the interview: treat it like a sales call

out of those 250 applicants you're competing with, about 8-12 get an interview. you made it this far — don't blow it by "seeing how it goes."

here's the mindset shift that changes everything: stop thinking of an interview as a test you need to pass. start thinking of it like a sales conversation. you're not begging for a job — you're having a strategic conversation to figure out if this is a fit, learn about their process, and position yourself as the obvious choice.

the basics still matter — research the interviewer on LinkedIn, prep your STAR stories (Situation, Task, Action, Result), practice out loud. but the real edge comes from the questions YOU ask them.

here are the 5 questions that separate average candidates from the ones who get offers:

Question 01 — learn the bar

"Thinking back to people who have held this position in the past, what differentiated those who were good from those who were truly great?"

why this works: you're asking them to literally tell you what they're looking for. now you know exactly what "great" looks like — and you can position yourself against that bar in the rest of the conversation and in your follow-up.

Question 02 — find the objection 🔥

"Based on our conversation today, is there anything about my background or my answers that gives you pause or makes you hesitant about my fit for this role?"

why this is the most important question you'll ever ask: most candidates are terrified to ask this. but this is pure sales — you need to surface the objection so you can overcome it. if they say "well, you don't have much customer service experience" — now you know exactly what to address in your follow-up email. more on that in a sec.

Question 03 — paint the picture

"If we were sitting here a year from now and I had been a 'home run' hire, what would I have accomplished in my first 90 days to earn that reputation?"

why this works: you're making them visualize you in the role. that's powerful. but more importantly — their answer gives you the blueprint to build a 30-60-90 day plan. don't just copy what they say though. take it further. if they say "scoring 5/5 NPS in the first 90 days" — come back with how you'd actually get there: "I'd spend my first 30 days studying the current NPS environment and working backwards from how the team got to those 3/5 scores, then in days 30-60..." that's what gets you hired.

Question 04 — show strategic thinking

"What is the biggest challenge the department is facing right now, and how do you see the person in this role helping to solve it?"

why this works: you're asking about real problems, not hypotheticals. their answer tells you what they're actually losing sleep over — and gives you more ammo for that follow-up email where you position yourself as the solution.

Question 05 — close the deal

"I've really enjoyed our conversation and I'm very interested in this role. What are the next steps in your hiring process, and what is your ideal timeline for filling the position?"

why this is crucial: this is Sales 101 — always ask for the next step. you're not trying to close the entire deal right now. you're focused on getting to the next stage. knowing their timeline also tells you when to follow up and how urgently they're moving. if they say "we want someone by end of month" — that's very different from "we're still early in the process."

💡 the mindset: treat every interview like a conversation, not an interrogation. the best interviewers are curious and engaged. ask follow-up questions. share genuine reactions. people hire people they want to work with — not robots reciting bullet points.

Step 05

the follow-up that actually changes their mind

look — everybody says "send a thank you email." and most people either don't do it at all or send some generic copypasta that a recruiter has read 1000 times.

here's the thing most people miss: the follow-up isn't a thank you note. it's your closing argument.

remember Question 02 — where you asked them about their hesitations? this is where that pays off. whatever objection they surfaced in the interview, you're going to overcome it in your follow-up. here's what that looks like:

Real-World Example

they said they're hesitant because you lack customer service experience...

"Thanks so much for the conversation today — I really enjoyed learning about the team's goals around NPS improvement. I agree with you that strengthening my customer experience skills will be a huge asset in this role. I actually just signed up for a 2-week Customer Experience Bootcamp that starts tomorrow. I'd love to share what I learn and how I plan to apply it to the challenges you mentioned. I'll keep you posted!"

read that again. you didn't get defensive. you didn't argue. you agreed with the objection and immediately showed them you're already taking action to fix it. that's insanely powerful. most candidates just disappear after an interview and hope for the best. you're out here investing in yourself within 24 hours of the conversation.

here's the full follow-up playbook:

→send it within 2 hours. not the next day. while the conversation is still fresh in their mind
→reference something specific from the interview — show you were actually listening and engaged, not running through a script
→address the objection head-on. if you asked Question 02 and got honest feedback, this is your chance to flip it
→add value. share an article, a framework, or a quick idea related to the challenge they mentioned. show you're already thinking like you're on the team
→if they mentioned a 90-day vision (Question 03) — send a rough 30-60-90 day plan in your follow-up. nobody does this. it absolutely blows interviewers away
→if you don't hear back in 5-7 days — follow up again. one more time. politely. most people stop after the first email. persistence (not annoying) gets noticed

⚠️ don't do this: sending a follow-up that's just "checking in on the status of my application!" with nothing else. that's not a follow-up — it's a reminder that you exist. add something useful every time you reach out.

stop guessing.
start earning more.

Higher Income finds higher-paying jobs matched to your skills, optimizes your resume for ATS systems, and sends you daily alerts so you never miss an opportunity.

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