Bottom line up front: This. Tool. Works.
I wanted to fill my calendar with real human voices. Not just click buttons and fill out forms. Unfortunately, the job hunt for any candidate is not "one shot; one kill". But I had better things to be doing than filling out form after form. I heard that I could apply more easily using the power of automation, so in Spring of 2022 I decided to put computers to the test. I wanted to see for myself whether I could go from this:
to this:
within the space of a week. Spoilers: yes, and those are my actual real interview appointments.
Spring is in the air, and that means hiring season. I recently dusted off the ol' resume as a Product Manager (I also love working as a technical writer, feel free to reach out if you'd like technical posts like this one for your own company) and seeing if there were any jobs for product managers around. Oh gosh were there ever:
Wait is that...
Oh, I see what the problem is!
There are two types of people in the world: those who recoil at the thought of filling out 30,000 forms. And tax accountants.
Let me tell you, my friends, I am no tax accountant.
Is there an easier way? Larry Wall, the inventor of a language too powerful to speak of, famously said that the virtues of a programmer are Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris: the first is about not doing extra busy work, the second is about wanting results soon, and the third is, in my case, becoming a sworn software engineer and documenting my code.
This blog post will talk about my experiences using Lazy Apply as part of finding my job in New York City or remotely as a Product Manager. Link to my resume as a Product Manager:
I heard about Lazy Apply in this post which mentions:
This app lets you apply to new jobs daily without the tedious application process
The summary at the top caught my eye:
TL;DR: As of Feb. 6, a lifetime subscription to LazyApply Job Application (worth $999) is just $67. That's a savings of 93%.
The text of the article promises:
The LazyApply app was built to speed up your application process through automation. It eliminates the need to constantly repeat the same tasks over and over again, and instead, allows you to apply to hundreds of jobs in just a single click. It works across platforms you're likely already using, like LinkedIn and Indeed.
That is a bold claim. It says "hundreds of jobs in just a single click".
The only question now is:
I was raised on a diet that included eating my fruits and vegetables, getting plenty of sunshine in the park, and using test-driven development when it comes to shipping applications. For anything I like to do, I love to come up with the test first and see how I can make it succeed later.
So we have two informal tests:
I like my tests like I like my coffee: extra large, and capable of leaving me with the feeling, yep, that's real strong. Something worth getting up in the morning for.
Now that we have the tests established, let's see whether Lazy Apply is a strong cup of coffee:
Let's find out!
Here's the very first screen that met my eye when I went on LazyApply's web site:
It looks great! It says "Automate Your Job Application Process", and it is very clear:
We automatically apply to all the jobs on platforms like Linkedin and Indeed
As long as I'm able to use it for the filters I set or some search I do, this will work perfectly!
The top of the shows 5-star reviews, which implies it works, and someone sent me the link to the article I mentioned earlier, which is good social proof. Nobody would write about the extension if it didn't work in practice, right? Spoiler warning: if it didn't work, I wouldn't be writing this now either!
The price it quotes me is 50% more expensive than what I saw in the ad. This shows that the extension has real value, but I wonder if I can get the less expensive price somehow. Since the web site lists their email address at the bottom, I decided to test their responsiveness and customer support.
I wrote:
Hi!
I was thrilled to read about your application LazyApply since I am in a city with about 30,000 jobs that I'd like to apply for, and the process is a bit tedious.
#1 I read about your extension on this post which said that a lifetime subscription costs just [$xx]. However, for me your web site quotes [$xx]. Could you give me the [$xx] price?
#2 If I try to use the extension and it doesn't work for me, can I get a refund?
p.s. I also work as a technical writer and I'm blogging about the experience of using LazyApply! You can see my work in progress here: (I will edit it further as time goes on!). So a good response is a good chance for you get a great, free blog post from me! Don't worry, since I work mainly as a product manager I will not write anything very negative regardless of your response! I try to always keep an upbeat, positive attitude in all of my writing :) I hope you can help me by answering the above! It is free promotion for you :)
I got a friendly and fantastic reply from LazyApply within 1 day of my email, which considering I sent it at the end of the day on a Friday is fantastic! A response by Monday or Tuesday would have been more than appreciated. This shows that the company is committed to customer service! The reply I received encouraged me to print it so, here you go:
Hi Robert,
Vivek here, one of the Co-founder and CEO of LazyApply.
- Here is the link for a $[xx] subscription - [link removed]
- No we do not offer refunds and we are absolutely committed to making this work for you.
I really enjoyed reading your article till the point you have written and now you can write my response over there , HAHA. I will absolutely share your article through my social media.
Looking forward to welcome you as one of our customer.
PS- yes there are all the filters that you can use as part of LinkedIn Job Automation.
Do let me know if I can do anything else for you,
Cheers, Vivek
I couldn't have asked for a better reply. It showed they read my email, considered it carefully, and gave a really nice reply. They don't give refunds, but in my case since I am writing this blog post about it, of course, they would prefer to ensure I have a good experience rather than an OK one they must refund. This personalized reply is 10/10 and I am excited to start using LazyApply!
Let's see what happens when I click the link!
I got the stripe payment page, filled out my information with my main email, and clicked submit. The experience was seamless and I got Stripe's green checkmark!
So far so good!
I went back on lazyapply.com's home page and saw the giant Add to chrome button. I signed into the Google account I paid with, since extensions are tied to individual Google accounts. Big button I clicked on LazyApply's web site:
Resulting chrome web store page:
I clicked "Add to Chrome" on right:
The rest was straightforward. I simply filled out the information that I wanted LazyApply to use, just once, simple forms like this:
Luckily it is just a one time commitment to have to add all those skills! When job applications ask those screening questions, LazyApply fills it out for you. So go ahead and add all of your skills and years of experience.
You can add a cover letter as well:
After carefully filling out a few pages of forms like this, I was ready to test LazyApply!
I just go to the dashboard (I usually just go to https://lazyapply.com and click the big "Go to dashboard" button which takes me to the extension's dashboard), then I can click Start Applying to start applying:
You can enter some search criteria and get some results:
This opens LinkedIn in a new window. You may want to check that it has the search right, you will have to click fast as the window it opens closes after a few seconds. For me occasionally the search was for a slightly different city, however I could fix this by searching manually in LinkedIn and trying again.
Once the proper page has loaded, you can set some criteria if you wish before you click the magic "START APPLYING" button.
This button will set LazyApply to work.
At this point you should not use your computer for something else, because LazyApply is automating applications using Chrome. Once, I forgot I had set it to start doing that and used LinkedIn from a second computer. It didn't cause any problems. I wouldn't advise you to do anything with LinkedIn while LazyApply is working on your computer, but you can still use it.
Or you can spend time with your loved ones, while LazyApply automates your tasks. Later this is what they'll say when you tell them:
Or at least, that's what they'll say if they looked at your monitor while LazyApply did its magic thing.
This is what LazyApply's hard work on your behalf looks like:
Look at that go!
If you picked a large number of applications to send (up to a maximum of 150 per day) then even automated in this streamlined fashion, it will take a while!
Still, at such a speed it's pretty hard to believe all those are real applications being sent, right!
Just have faith and let it go for a while. When you come back, in the LazyApply tab you can see how many applications it went through:
It gives you a chance to give any feedback, such as any problems you encountered. In this example it went through 122 applications!
It happened so quickly, that at first, I found it a little hard to believe that they really were being sent! That is, until I checked my inbox!
When I checked, my inbox looked like this:
Careful! Some of these were real responses asking for an interview! Make sure you don't miss them.
You could filter it in gmail or perhaps turn off the LinkedIn notification about the applications, but I actually really appreciate having this confirmation in the inbox.
In fact, it's solid proof that LazyApply works completely!!
They weren't just applications sent into the void, either. The applications were being opened.
(I believe that LinkedIn sends out these read receipts all at once.)
And a view is all it takes to pass the second test, that I could potentially be hired from one of these views! After all, it is hardly LazyApply's responsibility what happens after the view. LazyApply got the hiring managers the applications, exactly as promised.
So with that, I must fully concede that LazyApply has proven its solid ability to apply to up to 150 positions per day in a single click!
Although I had set my standard at whether I could apply to all 30,000 jobs, due to the enormous number of responses, that would not have actually been in my interest - I would have been overwhelmed:
(This is after I manually remove linkedin responses with -linkedin as a search term in Gmail). Along with a lot of messages like "thank you but no thank you" - it's important to scroll past those, but without missing the interview requests.
Some of these come from linkedin messages like this one for example:
That is what an ordinary interview request looks like, and you'll be seeing a lot of those!
I didn't use LazyApply every day because I had too many interviews from the days I did use it, and I would say that is a resounding success.
Verdict:
Stars:
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ out of ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
