Unproductive Job Search?

With an unproductive job search it is difficult NOT to take it personally. When you first embark on your job search journey, you are filled with enthusiasm and high expectations. If your job search efforts prove unproductive over a long period of time, it can be discouraging. You feel like you are wasting your time. This is especially true, when you spend most of your time answering job boards or jobs that are posted on various websites – one of the most unproductive methods job seekers can use.

You can turn around an unproductive job search by:
1. Only applying for jobs where your credentials match the requirements of the position
2. Customizing your cover letter and resume, or application to highlight the appropriate key words for each position.
3. Spending most of your job search time developing your network of successful people.
4. Directly marketing yourself to hiring authorities DAILY! (To the person who would be your boss’s boss)

Close to 60% of job seekers find their next opportunity by networking with successful people and directly marketing themselves to hiring authorities. People recommend people they know. If you want more information on how to market yourself, log into our Career Portal located in the right hand margin on our Job Seeker Page. Click on the “Get Career Help” tab. Review the three phases of your Job Search – Prepare, Search & Connect and Interview. There are many tips in each phase that can breathe new life into your job search.

It is important to realize that when you do not hear back from a company or hiring authority, chances are they are not rejecting YOU personally. Instead, you have not been noticed. Your resume or application could have been screened out by an automated system due to the lack of key search terms. A Job Search is a sales process and each NO you hear is that much closer to a YES. Commit to a high level of actions each day, put most of your time into networking with people who have good jobs and direct marketing to management – not HR. Do this and you will begin to move your search forward while reducing your level of rejection.