We all know that a thorough job search process takes a good deal of
time, attention and emotional energy. These are valuable resources
you’ll want to invest wisely. Once you realize an approach is not
working, rather than become discouraged, I suggest you treat the moment
as both a wake up call and a great opportunity. Now is the ideal time to
re-examine your job search strategy and look for improvements!
The question posed here is very common. I find many relaunchers begin
or primarily conduct their job search by spending countless hours
behind their computer, responding to job postings they see online. This
approach has been called the “spray and pray” approach, which gives you a
hint as to its typical success rate! If you have been spraying and
praying, I encourage you to ask yourself why. Could the reason(s) be:
- It makes you feel like you are busy and actively job searching
- It feels less threatening than being out speaking with people about
what you are looking for, at a time when you might not be as clear as
you’d like to be
- This is what you think a job search looks like
While completely understandable, there are many problems with
spending a majority of your job search energy sending out resumes. For
starters, this activity is very time-consuming (especially if you are
customizing resumes and cover letters for each listing), thereby
crowding out the time and attention better spent on higher-value tasks,
such as networking. In addition, online job listings are a numbers game
to begin with, even for folks with a conventional resume. With the added
complexity of a career break, your resume might be less appealing to
someone who does not already know you or who has not heard about you
from a friend or colleague.
But don’t get me wrong: I am not suggesting you stop sending out
resumes altogether. There is a place for this activity in a
well-balanced job search, one that includes (and prioritizes) various
activities that get you out of the house and meeting with people. For
the limited time that you do give to online listings, here are some tips
on how to be most effective:
- If you are still in the process of clarifying what roles are most
interesting to you, then clipping job descriptions and looking for
commonalities in skills, responsibilities, etc. will likely be very
illuminating. To go a step further, try cutting and pasting all text of
the listings into an online “word cloud” generator to see which keywords are showing up most. Take a look at what a client of mine found out about herself:
- Get
feedback on your resume and make sure it looks its best. If you hand
your resume to someone and give him or her only one minute to scan it,
what would they say about you as a candidate? Is it what you want them
to take away? If not, invest the time in creating a resume that clearly
gets your value proposition across.
- Make sure you have an equally compelling LinkedIn profile. Think of
this as an online resume that recruiters will surely look at.
- When you see a job posting of interest, the next step should be to
try and find someone inside the organization that can recommend you for
this role. Many organizations have employee referral incentives, and
candidates referred by an employee are more likely to be hired than
other non-connected applicants. Try looking on LinkedIn to see if you
know someone (or have 2nd degree contacts) employed there who can be an
ambassador for you.
- Follow up on the resumes you do send. Again, identifying a helpful contact in the organization will enhance your follow up.
But most of all, my best advice is to get out from behind the
computer and find the jobs that are only discovered through
conversations. I encourage you to be talking as much as possible about
your relaunch, to everyone. And encourage your spouse or friends to have
it top-of-mind as well. I can’t tell you how often I have worked with
clients who found the best opportunities hiding in plain sight. I know
it will involve putting yourself out there in a bigger way, but I
promise it will be worth it!
