Yet another story about a job seeker who is going about their job search all wrong. "Werth said he spends several hours a day looking for jobs online and submitting résumés. He’s looking in Nebraska, in Kansas City, Denver, even Dallas. He applied for one job taking orders at a window company in South Dakota but never heard back. He said he puts out 10 to 15 résumés a week. Except for a couple of phone interviews, he rarely gets a response."
I ended it with, "If you keep on doing what you've always done, you're going to keep on getting what you've always got."
The promise of online career boards like Monster.com and Careerbuilder and even local site Careerlink is that you can sit in front of your computer at home and get your dream job.
Well, if you're the kind of person who plays the lottery every week and thinks that's the way to fund your retirement, then you probably believe that you can find your next job online.
The reality is, however, that finding a job -- and especially finding your dream job -- requires you to talk to actual human beings, not sit at home and simply apply for advertised openings.
The reason is because humans do the hiring for jobs, not computers. And when you're submitting your resume in competition with dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of other people, it's hard to stand out. (A professional resume can help, but even then, you need to get it to the right person -- and that means getting it to the hiring manager, not the HR person -- or worse, sending it to an anonymous e-mail address, like careers@whatevercompany.com).
In 2000, a study by Forrester Research reported that only 4% of job hunters polled found jobs through the Internet. Similar research since then has confirmed those numbers -- only 5-10% of jobs are found online.
So why do job seekers continue to spend so much time online searching for and applying to online job postings, especially if it's not working?
A reply to my Facebook posting suggests that's the strategy being taught in high school and colleges ... which makes sense for Gen X and Gen Y jobseekers, but that doesn't explain the 50-year-olds who think that's the best way to search for a job. But enough about what's not working. What does?
So how SHOULD you look for a job?
The strategy is fairly straightforward:
1. Identify the type of job you want. (This is harder than it sounds -- I talk to dozens of job seekers each week who say they want, "Any job." It's actually harder to find "any job" than it is to find the "right" job. Use my Ideal Job worksheet to narrow it down. You must be clear about what job you want if you hope to find it.)
2. Figure out what kind of companies hire for the kind of job you want. Research them -- see if they are hiring for the kind of job you want. Look at their website. Google them. Remember the #1 rule of the job search: Companies hire people who can solve problems for them (make them money, save them money, save time, be more competitive, make work easier, attract new customers, etc.). Research the company to find out what kind of problems they have (because you might be the right person to solve them!).
3. Identify your strengths and skills and how you can help the company. It's not enough to do the job -- you have to show how you can do it exceptionally well. That means identifying key skills needed in the job and coming up with CAR (Challenge-Action-Result) or CCAR (Context-Challenge-Action-Result) examples. (My Canadian colleague Sharon Graham explains how to come up with CAR statements in this article.) Be sure to quantify the outcomes (in terms of %, $, and #). Talk about key projects -- especially your role.
3. Once you know how you can be an asset to a particular employer, talk to people who might know about job opportunities at the company -- or, who might be in a position to help you get a job with the company, even if there isn't an advertised opening.
Talk to people who work at the company. You may know someone who works there, or you can find them through your personal network, or connect with them through online sites like Facebook or LinkedIn (the Internet does play a part in the job search, just not through giant career boards!). You don't have to know someone directly -- many job leads are found through weak ties, as this article points out.
Another article cites Ormain Gathers, a senior recruiter, who cited the statistic of "35-40 percent of all new hires come from employee referrals."
Even if the company isn't actively advertising openings, there may still be an opportunity. Again, it's about identifying a need and filling it. Talk to people who can lead you to the people who make the hiring decisions.
Getting a job is about talking to people. People who can provide you with leads, contacts, and referrals. It's not about sitting in front of your computer and sending out dozens, hundreds, or thousands of resumes. Remember, you only need ONE job. It's better to spend a lot of time identifying the RIGHT job at the right company (and finding the RIGHT person to talk to about the job) than using the "Spray and Pray" method of job search.
I can't emphasize this enough. If you want to get a job, you've got to get out from behind your computer and talk to people. Here's some ideas on who you should talk to. Make sure everyone you know knows exactly what kind of job you want. But you also need to ask them for specific help -- for example, "I'm looking for a computer programming job with a bank. Do you know anyone who works at any bank in Lincoln? It doesn't have to be someone who works in the IT department -- just someone who works at the bank."
Talk to people. That's the key to getting your next job. But "if you keep on doing what you've always done, you're going to keep on getting what you've always got."
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If you found this article interesting, read this one about the Get Hired Now! system.
