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Job Hunting

A different approach to Job Hunting

Most people come to a crossroads at some time in their career whether the need is to find a more interesting, challenging role or to get back into work after redundancy. Take the case of Pauline L who had decided to take up a job at a University after her previous job at a pharmaceutical company had been made redundant. It quickly became a case of "Out of the frying pan and into the fire" as she found after a few months that her new job was very restrictive and her new boss was autocratic to the point of bullying. Having decided she had made a mistake she tried the usual methods of applying for jobs, putting her CV on a CV database, contacting recruitment agencies and asking old friends if they knew of jobs anywhere else, but all to no avail.

The problem was she was de-motivated by her job. A feeling which was made worse by the constant rejection she experienced in the job market. This led to her having to take anti depressants, being irritable at home and wondering if she should just take any job at whatever salary just to get away from the situation.

When faced with the need to carry out a job search people naturally tend to choose some if not all of the following options :-

Put their CV on a Job Board or CV database
Apply for jobs ( either advertised on the internet or in the newspapers )
Send their CV to a recruitment agency or head-hunter
Contact a few close associates in the hope that they will know of an employment opportunity

What tends to happen is that because many people apply for jobs they are not qualified for, they get the "Dear John / Jane" letter. The longer time goes on the more they apply for and the more they get these "no thank you" letters back. This builds in a " rejection" syndrome at the very time they are least psychologically geared up to deal with it. The more this happens the more people tend to widen their job search and apply for positions that are even less appropriate and quickly get into a "vicious circle" of rejection and then perceived failure with the consequent effect on their self confidence to say nothing of the cost in terms of lost earnings.

Equally, putting a CV on a job board or CV database is a fairly “hit and miss” exercise. According to a leading financial journal, you only have a 6% chance of success by doing this.

Approaching recruitment agencies and head-hunters can also be very counterproductive as most recruiters are busy trying to earn a living in today's market and do not have time to read your unsolicited CV. If you are lucky it will get scanned into a database.

There is a much better way

Firstly let's look at the whole job finding exercise as a "marketing" exercise. Any marketing person you talk to from trainee to "guru" will tell you that a company marketing a service or product will look at three things:

1. The product's ( that's You ) USP.
2. The "niche" in the market where there is a demand for it.
3. The route/s to get there.

How does this translate into you finding a new career position?

Well let's start with your USP.

Very few people can readily define what this is. This is because what most of us do well, we do quite naturally. We therefore TAKE OUR GREATEST STRENGTHS FOR GRANTED. There is a wonderful story told about George Bernard Shaw. He was once asked what he had wanted to be as a young man "A great hunter or explorer" was his reply. The questioner then asked "But didn't you think about becoming a writer? " The great man replied, "Why should I have, it came naturally"

It is very hard to be objective about yourself and discover and be able to sell your uniqueness. More to the point, unless you have a clear idea about what you are happy and comfortable doing (we call them Key Unique Abilities) you will not only find it harder to find the right job, you can find it difficult to "sell yourself" at interviews.

Working with a good career coach will help you to identify your key ability areas and very importantly give you the confidence to sell yourself better in the job market. .

But what about your approach to the job market?

Let's look at the relevant sectors and their importance.

Approximately 40% of jobs are either advertised or are handled by recruiters.

60% to 70% of executive jobs ( excluding a very few sectors ) change hands by "word of mouth" Once you know how to access this so called "unadvertised job market" you can :-

Get in ahead of the competition
Develop a process that enables you to have meeting per week instead of just interviews per month
Speak to decision makers on a one to one basis
Take control of your career search not have it controlled by others

Why should it work this way ?

Consider the recruitment process as a timeline

When a company seeks to find someone to appoint, they usually start by looking internally. Failing this, they will use their own networks to find someone e.g. if they are looking for an engineer, who does their chief engineer know who could do the job ? Failing this, they will either advertise the job, place it on their website of approach a recruiter to find someone. All this takes time and if you come along during this period and can do the job, there are several reasons you will be recruited :-

You are the person "on the spot" who can immediately fulfil their requirement
If they recruit you directly, they will save the recruitment fee
You may well have been recommended by someone they know
Even if you are not fully qualified for the job, you are compatible with their culture and ideology ( compatibility counts for far more than competence.)

Using a PROCESS like this has a number of benefits :-

You have a clear focus on what it is you are looking for
Your confidence is increased and therefore your motivation
You are not wasting time "thrashing around" in the job market
You minimise your loss in terms of lost earnings
Finding jobs through the "unadvertised" job market is a much easier process than attending formal interviews
It is you who in control of your career, not others.

Oh yes and what happened to Pauline L ? We quickly helped her to realise what her strengths were and showed her employment areas she had never thought of. She now has a very senior role in a Regional Development Agency. Most important of all - she loves her job.

Again a good career coach will take you through the whole process of identifying your abilities and skills, focussing on sectors where there is a demand for them and coach you in job hunting techniques.

Information provided by our Career Expert Peter Robson - www.careers-advisor.com