Job seekers seem to think more is better. If you just put out more applications, you are likely to get more results. Right? Wrong!
Volume is NEVER the secret to success in job search
A current commercial has a moderator questioning young children with the question: “Is More Better?” The children give examples why more is better.
More is better is not true in your job search! More is never better because you lose the ability to focus on the goal. You are so convinced that more applications will result in a job that you don’t look at the quality of the submissions. Recently, I had a very committed job seeker who had been intensely looking for a job. She hired me because she knew her résumé wasn’t selling her to the people who could hire her and her 4,000 applications had not gotten her even an interview.
When you don’t get interviews, the problem is with the résumé. You have not conveyed your value or narrowed your search to the right targets to convey that value. You need to slow down the process and get the résumé right and then target the job search.
Volume makes you think you can fit all openings
I remember when I was very young, a teenager, perhaps, and I was reading the want ads in the newspaper. At that point in my young life, I looked at the job descriptions and thought that I could probably handle most of them. Because I was that young, I lacked the discernment to really understand what qualities were needed in these jobs. Later I read want ads again and realized I wasn’t qualified for most of them.
When you conduct a volume search, you grab any positions that look close and fail to realize that you need to match the qualifications and be able to defend why you are a good candidate for the position.
Selective and targeted job search is the key to job search success
A selective job search to target positions you actually are qualified to fill coupled with a strong networking strategy to connect you with decision-makers will yield a much more productive job search.
When I hear job seekers sound so disillusioned, they sent out huge numbers of resumes with no results. They might even think they are networking but a broadcast e-mail to your network (or even individual e-mails without follow-up will never yield you the results that solid research, internal networking with personnel, or external networking with closely associated colleagues in the industry will yield.
My rule is always follow directions. If they say no phone calls, don’t call. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use the back door and you always should. Ads are generally the worst potential leads too, the warm contacts for the hidden job market are so much more productive than ads that are already making it hard to communicate and show your true value.
Picking a target and building meaningful relationships through networking are all keys to a successful job search.
How do you keep from falling into the volume trap?
