How to apply for a job so a human actually reads it

Two candidates with identical CVs get different outcomes because of how they applied. This is the unglamorous mechanics of it.

Apply in the first 48 hours

Most Nigerian employers shortlist in waves, and the first wave usually starts within the first week. By day ten, the hiring manager has a shortlist and is reading new applications for exceptions only. Applying on day one is not a guarantee, but applying on day fourteen is close to a no.

This is why alerts matter. Daily WhatsApp alerts exist precisely because the value of an opening decays every day it is public.

Name your files properly

A recruiter downloading forty CVs sees `CV.pdf`, `CV.pdf (2)` and `my cv final final.pdf`. Be the one they can find again:

The subject line does half the work

If the advert names a format, use it exactly — many teams filter on it. If it does not, use:

Write a 150-word email

Nobody reads a cover letter pasted into an email. Four short paragraphs do more:

1. 1What you are applying for, by exact title, and where you saw it.
2. 2One proof point relevant to the advert, with a number.
3. 3Why this company — one specific sentence that could not be sent to anyone else.
4. 4Close: documents attached, available for interview, your phone number.

Follow up once

Five to seven working days later, one short message: who you are, the role, the date you applied, one line of continued interest. Then stop. A second follow-up moves you from keen to difficult.

Track everything

A simple sheet: date applied, company, role, where you found it, contact name, follow-up date, outcome. Two reasons. First, you cannot learn from a search you cannot see. Second, Nigerian adverts disappear — the page is taken down, the WhatsApp group is deleted — and six weeks later you will not remember what you applied for when the call comes.

Referrals beat applications

One message to someone who works there beats fifty applications. Not “please help me get a job” — be specific: the role, the reference number, one line on why you fit, and a request to forward your CV to whoever owns the role. People are far more willing to forward a CV than to vouch for a stranger.

Where the jobs actually are

Nigerian candidates tend to look in two places — a job board and a WhatsApp group — and then conclude the market is empty. The market is spread across five, and they reward different approaches.

1. 1Company career pages. The roles that never reach a board. Pick twenty companies you would actually work for, and check their pages weekly.
2. 2Job boards like this one, where the salary is disclosed more often than on social media adverts.
3. 3LinkedIn. Not the job listings — the people. A message to the recruiter who posted the role works far more often than another application in the pile.
4. 4Referrals inside companies you already know someone at. The highest conversion route there is.
5. 5Sector-specific channels — NGO job newsletters, engineering and HSE groups, hospital notice boards, professional association mailing lists.

A tracker you can copy

After six weeks, read the sheet. You will see which source actually produces interviews for you, and most people discover it is not the one they spend their evenings on.