This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life.

I'm your host, Mack Pritchard. I'm also the

founder of Max List. It's a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling

career. Every Wednesday, I talk to a different expert about the tools you need to get the work

you want. You likely won't meet a hiring manager until you interview for the job.

And before you get to the interview room, you have to compete with other applicants.

But there is a way to bypass your competitors altogether.

Linda Marik is here to talk about how to go past the gatekeepers and get hired.

She's a recruiter and a career coach.

Through online classes and coaching, Linda shares with job seekers her insider knowledge of how hiring works.

She joins us from Botho, Washington.

Well, Linda, let's jump right into it. We're talking about why you

need to go past gatekeepers in a job search. Who are the gatekeepers exactly?

So the gatekeepers are anyone who is basically not involved in the hiring process. So the person

who's going to be making the decision is usually

the hiring manager, the manager of the team, somebody who would be your direct manager or supervisor.

There's a lot of voices that are included in that, team members, other departments that might

be interacting with someone, but the people who are receiving resumes or trying to

filter things out, there are hundreds of resumes that companies get for each job, if not thousands.

And the hiring manager does not have time to go through all of those.

And so they typically rely on an applicant tracking system or an ATS to sort those resumes.

And that is a computer.

...