A user on TikTok has gone viral after sharing a tip for increasing your salary: stop applying for jobs.
In a video with over 1.8 million views, TikTok user Aniya (@mediabuyingbestie) says that successful job applicants “are no longer applying to our own jobs in 2023.”
Instead of applying for her own jobs, Aniya says that when she was “ready to level up,” she hired a recruiter.
“She and I sat down, and I was like, ‘Here’s all my experience, this is what I want to do, these are the kind of roles I’m looking for,’” Aniya recalls. “Y’all, tell me why she sat there, crafted my resumé, totally professional so that it was compatible with all softwares. Then, on top of that, she crafted my cover letter, and to sweeten the pie even more, she went out and applied to roles for me and then personalized my cover letter to each individual role.”
@mediabuyingbestie do what this information what you will but if you want the big roles sis you gotta bring on the big guns 😭❤️ #fyp #blackgirlmagic #makemoneyonline #mediabuying #recruitment ♬ original sound – A N I Y A | media buyer
From there, Aniya says, the recruiter kept track of every application, providing a Google Sheet with every role to which the recruiter has applied alongside the salary for each role.
“I paid this woman a few hundred dollars to put my resumé out there for respective roles, and I ended up earning over $150,000 just on her efforts alone based on the job offers that I got—y’all, we’re not applying to our own roles anymore in 2023,” Aniya advises.
Why this works, Aniya says, is because companies invest a substantial amount of money and resources into recruiters, giving them skills that applicants may not have. Instead of trying to emulate a recruiter and figure out what they’re looking for in a job, Aniya suggests that investing in hiring a recruiter will bring greater returns for applicants.
As for how to find a recruiter, Aniya says to simply look up freelance recruiters and work with them to tailor your resumé, provide you with cover letters, and more.
In the comments section, some users spoke to the veracity of this tip.
“I had a recruiter in my early 20s,” wrote a user. “She’s why 30 yrs later I’m making mid six figures without a college degree.”
“I doubled my salary working with my career coach who was a Global Recruiting Manager at AWS. Getting ready to leap frog again & only working w/ her,” shared another.
“This is exactly what my husband and I did- we both work in tech now. Found the recruiter on Fiverr,” stated a third.
“Did the same thing but already had my resume together…….. SHE NEGOTIATED MY SALARY FOR ME,” detailed a further TikToker.
However, some noted potential issues with this method.
“Not sure why tiktok thinks I have ‘hire a recruiter’ money, but here I am lol,” offered a commenter.
“I don’t think finding a recruiter is hard, it’s finding a competent recruiter,” stated a second.
“The ones I’ve worked with haven’t cared what I want – they just want to fill their open positions so THEY can get paid!” exclaimed an additional TikToker.
The Daily Dot reached out to Aniya via email.
