You’re doing it wrong!!

I’ve watched people in the job search for more than six years.  And as the economy gets worse, so does your approach to finding and landing the next great opportunity.  Here’s what “You’re Doing it Wrong” looks like:

You focus on your resume.  You rework it until you’ve driven yourself crazy.  Every person you ask has a different opinion of it.  And just when you think you’ve got it perfect, someone comes along and tells you that it needs some serious revamping.

You list yourself with the major job sites.  After you spent all that time working on your resume, you now spend hours upon hours uploading your resume content to the major job sites.  Because you think they care?  No.  Now you’re just on their mailing list.  When was the last time you got called by someone because you were one of the hundreds of millions of people who have a listing?

You spend “valuable time” surfing the job boards.  Searching on job boards may make you feel like you’re working hard on your search.  You review each job posting and carefully select which ones you’d be perfect for.  You may spend some time thoughtfully composing a well-worded cover email.  And finally, you hit send.  And then you wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Did you know that more than 94% of companies never even respond to candidates who apply for a position?

You call every recruiter you know.  Don’t get me wrong, recruiters provide a valuable resource to corporations in finding great candidates.  It’s just that recruiters are paid for bringing in candidates that EXACTLY match the company’s criteria.  Once the position is put in the hands of the recruiter, if you don’t meet 12 out of the 10 attributes – yes, this includes the two criteria they never even thought of – then you’re wasting their time.  Recruiters don’t typically have a lot of time to spend with you if you’re not a fit for what they’re working on today.  It’s the classic cold call technique that went away (or at least should have!) in the 80’s:  “Would you like to buy from me today?  No, okay, I’ll call you back in 90 days.”

You send your resume to everyone you know telling them you’re looking for a job.  Hey, want a quicker way to make people have pity on you?  Guess what, there isn’t one.  What you’re really looking for is help.   What happens when you send out a generic email to everyone is that they feel sorry for you, and they don’t know how to help you – unless of course you end with the all-important line: “If you know of any companies looking for someone with my skills, please let me know.”  Quit sending people your sad, pathetic email.  If you really think you need to tell your circle about your job search via email – Think again!  If they’re that close, they already know about you, and if they knew about an opportunity, they would’ve told you.