3 Common Job Search Mistakes

Job BoardsIt’s a new year and for some of you that means a resolution to find a new job or to re-energize an on-going job search. If you want to be successful in your search efforts (and who doesn’t), there are three common job search mistakes that you should avoid.

1. Relying exclusively on responding to openings on job boards. In sheer numbers alone, that’s where most of your competition is. It’s very easy to apply on line therefore, that’s where people tend to focus their energies. It’s also the low hanging fruit, easy to reach. However, job boards can be a big, black hole that suck in your resume and offer nothing in return. This can actually be detrimental, especially if you apply to a position for which you think you’re a perfect fit and hear nothing back, then your ego takes a huge hit.

2. Posting your resume on job boards, kicking back and waiting for the phone to ring. More and more HR professionals and recruiters (both in house corporate and at recruiting firms) are relying on their own networks to find candidates for positions. That means fewer of them are using job boards to find their candidates, and if they’re not using their own networks, then they’re turning to social media networks. That said, a direct approach to companies and recruiters is the best way to go.

3. Mass distributions of your resume. Let’s throw the spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks. I have to ask you, what do you do with mass mail or email when it hits your mailbox? Exactly. Doing mass distributions makes you feel like you’re doing something when in reality you’re not. A direct, targeted approach, while it takes more time and effort, will actually get you results.

What these things have in common is that they are very passive ways of looking for a job. In today’s competitive market, you need to be aggressive in your efforts. That means being more targeted and strategic and running your job search like a marketing campaign.

Yes, you should still use job boards to post your resume and respond to jobs, but not exclusively. Those efforts should be a very small part of your overall campaign which should include networking, both online and in person, targeting and approaching companies you’re interested in (regardless of whether they have posted openings), and reacting to current events you read in the news or online.

One more thing, hiring an experienced career coach to guide you in your efforts will make you more competitive and  can significantly shorten the length of time it takes you to land your next job.

~Linda

 

The Job Board Gamble

The Job Board Gambit

Many people think they’ll get their next job by relying on postings on job boards. Many people also buy lottery tickets. How are these activities similar? They both require very little effort or thought; they appeal to our base instincts of reaching for the low hanging fruit; and neither offers a great deal of success. Granted your chances of getting a job from a job board are better than winning the lottery, but not by much.

Time after time I strongly encourage my clients to stop focusing on job boards, but they can’t seem to help themselves. Each day they look and there on a silver platter is the perfect position for them, the one they’ve been looking for all their lives and all they have to do is cut and paste their resume and click submit. But even though they’re a perfect fit, the resume goes into a black hole, they get nothing back but silence.

One reason is that hundreds, if not thousands, of people are applying for that same position whether they’re a perfect fit or not. That’s because it’s so easy to do. The danger is when you don’t hear back it’s a severe blow to the ego, an unnecessary blow when you consider the recipient may not have even seen or read the resume.

If you insist on relying on job boards and see a posting you’re interested in and it gives the name of the company who is advertising the position, go directly to an executive at the company and network your way in the door. If the job is worth having, it’s worth working for.

The myth is that you’ll find your next job by solely relying on job boards. Now don’t get me wrong, some people do find jobs there but not very many. The majority of people, especially at the executive level, will find their next position by networking or using creative strategies that their competition hasn’t thought of or isn’t willing to try.

Don’t take a chance on your career by playing job board roulette, put some time, thought and effort into your job search and I promise you will be rewarded with a position that you’ll prize.

~Linda