The Job Hunt: Smarter, Not Harder

It’s #JobSearchJanuary, the month of the year with the highest amount of job applicants and postings alike. January has historically been a month with higher job activities (search, applications, and postings) for two main reasons. The first is that most people are ready to turn over a new leaf and pursue career change at the start the year. The culture of adapting New Year’s resolutions and goals impacts everything from the local gym (due to thousands attempting new work-out plans to achieve that ever alluring #bodygoals) to the job market. During this time of deep self-reflection and reevaluation people tend to remember their sense of purpose, or lack thereof. For most, a new start to life begins with a better or different career opportunity. The second reason for heightened activity is attributed to the elevated number of job postings by companies. At the start of a new year, Q1 as we like to call it in the business world, companies have a new budget to delegate as they please. Most managers and division heads start putting in their request for new hire’s starting in December to take advantage of the upcoming new company budget. Think of when you get your paycheck – you are more inclined to make investments and do things you want to do for self-improvement when you have an excess of money as opposed to after you’ve paid all your bills and the only money left is for necessities. It makes perfect sense. Because of this reason there is a grand opportunity for job seekers to capitalize on this time. For you, I’ve provided a short list of “rules to live by” to help you navigate the job search smarter, not harder.

Job Search Rules to Live By

1. Verify before you apply. When most people are ready to search for a new job, they visit 1 of 3 places: 1) The company’s website of the job they want to apply for, 2) A job posting site like Indeed or Glassdoor, or 3) LinkedIn. There’s nothing wrong with visiting your dream company’s website and searching for roles there. It can be a great source of inspiration and can give you an idea of what positions they are hiring for. The problem with visiting the company website however, is that most people stop at the company website once they’ve found a role they want to apply to. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. This is cardinal sin #1 because most jobs that are listed on the company website have already been filled, even if they have a recent posting date. Think about it this way: if you were a company in need of hiring someone, would you only post the job on your company website, hoping that your dream candidate will stumble across it and apply? Of course not! If you are in actual need of a new member to your team or work force you would take steps to finding that person, not waiting on that person to find you. This is where the use of recruiters come into play. The recruitment industry is simply companies are partnering with professionals (recruiters) to help find their ideal candidates. They cover their bases by posting the job on the company website but often times forget it’s posted because it’s a legitimate neglected avenue. Most companies only post the job on their website as a means of due diligence, to ensure fairness across all mediums. If you happen to find your dream role has been posted on the company website or a similar job posting site, do yourself a favor and verify that it actually exists. The best way to do this is LinkedIn. Those recruiters I mentioned above, that are in charge of finding the best candidates, live, sleep, and have their very being on LinkedIn. It is always the most up to date source to see if the job posting is real and is still open. The way to do this is simple. If you find role “Software Engineer @ Microsoft, Houston TX” (for example) on the Microsoft careers website, go to LinkedIn and type in the job title and location. Don’t be alarmed if you find “Software Engineer” posted in Houston TX by a random company you have never heard of. This is actually a good sign. This is an indicator that the Microsoft position that you originally saw on the website actually exists! The random company you don’t recognize is most likely a recruiting firm. Seeing the job title posted by the actual company or a recruiting company is the best way to verify that the job actually exists.
2. Less is more. When most people decide to start the job search, they get a surge of ambition, set goals, and start saying crazy saying things like “I’m gonna apply to 15 jobs each week until I’m hired!” While this may sound good, and makes you feel like you’re taking charge of your life and job situation, its nothing more than the fast track to exhaustion and defeat. Most people think that the more jobs you apply to, the higher chances you have at getting interviews. This thinking makes sense, statistically speaking. The more you apply, the more opportunities you have to actually getting hired, right? Wrong. Do me a favor and throw away your conventional wisdom. When we set extreme, unrealistic goals for applying to jobs, all we are doing is setting ourselves up for failure and defeat. There are some people who take the approach of applying to 15-20 jobs a week and are successful, but those people are very far and few in-between. When you set yourself on this path of applying to as many jobs as possible, as fast as you can, you risk putting your worst foot forward instead of your best. When you apply, apply, apply you don’t have time to adequately review your applications and tweak your resume and profile to fit the specifics of each role. This point leads me to rule #3.
3. Customization over capitalization. When we see new positions posted, our natural inclination is to capitalize on the opportunity and apply immediately. I’m asking you to fight that inclination and do the exact opposite. Don’t apply immediately. Do prepare your resume and candidate profile (LinkedIn). The mistake people too often make is applying in haste. We are so ready for a change of pace, we experience a burst of excitement when we see an opportunity that can potentially transform our working conditions, salary, and overall state of being. When it comes to the job hunt, the old saying “haste is waste” proves to be true. Every position you apply to is unique. Each job has its own set of requirements, duties, and desired skillsets. You want to know the good news? YOU are a unique person, just like that job. Every job or experience you have listed on your resume is summed up by 2-4 bullet points. These bullet points bring attention to the part of the job you want to exemplify the most. They do not cover all aspects of the experience and they shouldn’t. These bullet points should be changed and tweaked for each role you apply to. Applying for jobs is not a “one size fits all” process. When you change your resume for each job you apply to you are not lying about your experience. You are simply bringing attention to the skillsets you already have that this particular job values the most.

Take these “rules to live by” and store them in your noggin for current and future job search activities. It will ensure you are more effective at identifying and applying for jobs. If you desire personal help with this process, to I’d love to have you apart of my #ConqueringCorporate Masterclass. In this class I help you successfully execute the three steps mentioned above and start landing interviews in 30 days or less. If this is you, lets talk.

To promotion, advancement, and achievement!