There Is a Better Way to Conduct Your Job Search

 

Conducting a job search under the best of circumstances is hard work.  

Conducting a job search while unemployed, with all the accompanying financial and emotional pressures, is extremely hard work.

And of course, it’s also highly competitive. Being successful requires you to be at your best. Success is often a game of only inches.

Some succeed at this endeavor quite readily, with only moderate effort — while a great many struggle and make painfully slow progress.

During our combined 40+ years of experience, helping thousands of professionals in an active job search, we’ve had an opportunity to see it all — both ends of the spectrum — and everything in between.

Here’s a sample of some of the challenges:

- We’ve seen many highly accomplished professionals struggle in their first-ever bout with unemployment — simply because they didn’t have the knowledge and skills needed to conduct a successful job search.

- We’ve seen many job seekers ignore the irrefutable job search law that “networking works” — because, as many put it, “I hate asking for help."

- We’ve seen others pursue opportunity after opportunity they have little chance of getting — because they don’t have a good understanding of how the hiring process works.

- We’ve seen over-reliance on recruiters, too much time spent on job boards, inability to deal with the “age issue," ineffective LinkedIn profiles, resumes only a mother would love, and interviewing skills guaranteed not to land the job.

Yes, job search is indeed a complex endeavor, and many struggle with these and a host of other issues.

But conversely, we’ve also seen many extraordinary successes:

- The self-proclaimed introvert who, nonetheless, develops highly sophisticated networking skills — and receives multiple offers as a result.

- The executive who is unsuccessful in one interview after the next — and then, with a very slight change in approach, aces three in a row.

- The four job seekers who join forces on a “Job Search Team” and see their progress increase exponentially.

- The 60+ year-old executive who successfully creates a portfolio of income-producing activities after accepting the likelihood that his “W-2 days” are behind him.

On and on it goes: the tweak in a LinkedIn profile that dramatically increases recruiter traffic; the one-page job search document that takes the discomfort out of networking; the older professional who successfully repositions herself in the market from “outdated and too old” to “sought-after expert.”

These and other successes are born of knowledge, technique and action, but also out of introspection, insight, and . . . . . and what? What is it about these often small changes that has brought about such significant successes?

Why do some job seekers succeed — while others struggle?

Why do certain job search strategies work for some and not for others?

These are the kinds of questions we began asking ourselves during the past several years.

Prior to the Great Recession, most job seekers could expect to be successful within a reasonable period of time, even if their search strategy and execution were only moderately effective. The proverbial rising tide was lifting all boats.

And after many years, the tide came back in - with a vengence! But now there's a new problem - the economic havoc caused by the COVID-19 crisis. The competition remains extraordinarily fierce - from both unemployed and employed talent; and on top of this, the rapid technology changes affecting the job search process bring a whole new set of challenges. Only those at the “top of their game” are successful. Many others struggle.

So the questions we were asking ourselves morphed into some bigger questions: What can be done to help make this a less daunting, unforgiving process? How could we translate the “lessons learned” from so many experiences to help professionals in a search – especially those in transition?

Could we develop a better way for individuals to conduct a job search, so they could be successful more quickly?

We began with three key findings we’ve developed over our many years working with thousands of professionals  during their job search.

  1.  (The bad news) The typical job seeker greatly underestimates the complexity of the job search. Success factors extend well beyond resumes, networking, interviewing, and using technology — often into some critical, but not so obvious, areas (such as assessing market demand for your expertise or capturing pipeline metrics to provide insight into trouble spots). Unfortunately most job seekers "don’t know what they don’t know."

  2. (The good news) Despite the great number of potential success factors, a given individual’s success usually hinges on just a few. In most cases, identifying the three to five factors that are blocking success, and then putting action plans in place for them, brings significant improvement. This is the 80/20 Rule hard at work. 80% of the improvement in your progress will likely come from focusing on just 20% of these job search success factors.

  3. These three to five “critical success factors” vary widely by individual. Everyone’s “20%” is different! For instance, one individual might benefit most by improving his interviewing skills, while another might need to generate more leads through her recruiter relationships.  A top priority for one job seeker might be to develop better networking skills, while another would benefit from an improved focus on the type of position he is seeking.

Simply put, every job search is unique. And as an important corollary, the best advice for one could be ineffective or even terrible advice for another.

We also realized that despite the overwhelming array of resources available to job seekers, there really was no comprehensive framework and tool to help individuals understand how they were performing in their search and what specifically was limiting their progress. To help them understand what their 20% was.

We set about to develop such a tool — a tool to help professionals in a job search understand if they were on track, and more importantly, how they could get better results.

We spent many months organizing our thinking and developed a comprehensive framework that incorporates all of the critical success factors involved in a successful job search — not just the obvious ones. The result: 3 Principles & 22 Factors, which, after much testing and feedback, we determined capture the essential elements of any professional’s search.

We also developed methodologies and algorithms to account for the many differences and unique characteristics of job seekers — and then created a technology platform to deploy the tool efficiently, making it available to anyone conducting a search.

The result of all this is the Job Search Diagnostic™, a unique and first-of-its-kind “expert system” that helps professionals in a job search understand what’s working well and what’s not, so they can prioritize their efforts on their 20% — the key Factors that will bring them better results. It’s available at www.jobsearchdx.com.

And it's FREE.

This book, Search Smart™, is the companion to the Job Search Diagnostic™. It is a starting point in providing additional insight and information on each of the 22 Factors, and as importantly, also offers specific steps you can take to improve in the areas that were identified in your personalized Diagnostic report as priorities for you to focus on. The brief write-ups on each of the 22 Factors that follow are only an introduction. Many of these topics are quite comprehensive, so we have also vetted and suggested some additional in-depth resources that could be helpful (see Resources at www.jobsearchdx.com).

One last point before we dig in. The Job Search Diagnostic™ and Search Smart™ are resources to help land your job — faster. They’ll help you conduct a more effective and efficient search. They are not “career exploration” tools, to help you discover your interests and future career aspirations. This is an area where career assessments and working with a coach can be very valuable.

Of course, taking the additional step of reviewing career assessments with an experienced coach can always be beneficial. A coach can help identify your personality type, interests and strengths, and be particularly useful in identifying the right culture and venue — and this is especially important if you are considering a career change.

So, if you are a professional currently conducting a job search — especially if you are unemployed — we hope you’ll take full advantage of the Job Search Diagnostic™ and this companion guide, Search Smart, as well as the other resources available at www.jobsearchdx.com. Based on the feedback we have received, we are confident they can help you:

  • Develop a comprehensive understanding of what’s involved in conducting an effective job search.
  •  Reach an objective understanding about what’s working well in your job search — and what’s not — your 20%.
  •  Create a realistic, personalized Action Plan, with specific steps you can take to improve your search effectiveness.
  •  Land your next job — faster!

As with any worthwhile endeavor, we’re sure you realize this will require your ongoing commitment and effort. But the payoffs of taking this disciplined approach can be substantial, so we hope you will embrace the challenge.

We understand just how difficult job search can be, but we also know success can be achieved with the right knowledge, approach, resources, and personal commitment.

There is a better way.

It’s time for a fresh perspective.

It’s time to simplify and speed your job search.

 

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