So, today, we are going to walk through two very simple strategies, nearly guaranteed to get you through the most intense job search bottleneck.
What bottleneck is that? Believe it or not, the most intense barrier to entry is getting your resume opened and looked at.
Yep, you heard me right, if your resume gets opened, your chances of getting the job goes up exponentially.
Most job seekers are operating at about 25% efficiency. That’s because finding a job is a skill. Your skill is what you’ve made your career out of. It’s what you are looking for a new job in. It’s not actually finding that job.
Part of the problem is no one ever tells you how to do things. They tell you what to do, but not how to do it. And if a strategy is going to work, you need to know how to implement it. Otherwise it isn’t effective, you don’t get results, and then you become even more frustrated.
Conventional wisdom says networking is the most effective. Well yes……….and no. I say it wins by default. In other words, not knowing how to read a job ad leads to excess optimism (and no results) and being overly discerning (and no results). The more resumes you send to ads – especially the online black hole – the worse your ratio of sent:response rate is, the more dejected you become. Improve your skill in understanding job ads and how to deal with the black hole and you up your response rate.
Here’s some advice: Contact companies you want to work for! See if they have open positions! Okay….how? A few out there advocate sending out hundreds or thousands of letters. Something is bound to hit, right? Not really. That’s the worst and most ineffective strategy possible. Not to mention it wastes both your time and energy and again……….results in frustration. But what if you knew how to do it? How to select the companies that make sense for you, write a custom letter than will get read, follow up and get results?
Over 50% of my unemployed clients have found new jobs this way. What’s more, often the position has been created specifically for them.
And what about recruiters? Do you hate them? Do you understand them? Probably yes, and no respectively. That’s okay – there are some very bad ones out there. But do you know how to spot them? Do you know how to screen them? Develop a relationship with one? Get them excited about working with and for you? I’m always amazed at the number of people who are either not working with recruiters when they could and should be, or aren’t utilizing this resource as fully as they could.
I was one for 22 years. I’ve seen over half a million resumes, developed relationships with exclusive clients, set and followed up on about 15,000 interviews and placed all levels of management. Do you want to peek behind this curtain and know the reality of how they work and can help you?
And lastly, networking. Got your one-sheet? Throw it out. Bringing your resumes to networking meetings? Leave them at ho
There’s plenty of frustration during job search. After all, the process is often characterized by a lack of control and never enough feedback, not to mention the slow pace of good news coming from hiring companies.
Then there’s the fear and anxiety over the unknown, not knowing where you’ll end up or how you’ll pay the bills as the months move along.
I’ve been there. I’ve felt those fears.
But reasons to feel good are plentiful, too, if you pay attention and change your perspective.
Here are five reasons to feel good about your job search:
1. The ability to compete
The job search process can be taxing. There’s a p
For a variety of reasons we sometimes find ourselves in a position of launching a job search in a city other than where we currently live. We need to relocate. Perhaps the city we live in is simply too small to produce good career opportunities or we want to live closer to certain family members. The reasons to relocate to another geography are as varied as we are.
The idea of conducting a job search in another city is kind of daunting, especially if you’re not too familiar with the city itself. Even if you are more than a casual visitor to another city, more than likely you paid more attention to the entertainment venues than employers. Now you have to look at this place in a whole new way; and there are some automatic challenges you will face.
Let’s first examine the challenges with relocation:
No network. You don’t know anyone or know very few people. Our network is generally the most developed where we live. This constitutes neighbors, co-workers, friends and maybe relatives. Chances are high that your network in the new city will be sparse to nonexistent.
No relocation assistance. Most companies have eliminated relocation support. You may have all the intent of paying to move yourself, but in this economic environment, it may be a show stopper with a hiring company. Relocation was
Work hard, have fun and make history.
Author: Sherrie A. Madia, Ph.D.
Online job search should never completely replace traditional ways of searching for a job.
As any good marketer knows-and thats what you are, a marketer of yourself-its never smart to make assumptions about what works and what doesnt. Rather, the ideal approach is to test everything and see what works for you.
If going to real-world networking events gets you the gig, thats great. If finding a job in the newspaper classified section does it for you-kudos!