Why You Should Stop Responding to So Many Job Postings
As a career coach, I continually hear from my clients and others about their frustrations with applying for jobs online. I don’t blame them.
It’s like dropping your resume into a black hole. Or better yet, it’s like buying a lottery ticket. You know the odds are stacked against you, but you keep doing it anyway.
The truth is that overreliance on job boards is self-defeating. While clicking “Submit” may give you the feeling that you're moving forward, it’s actually a highly inefficient, defensive approach that produces a false sense of progress.
Sure, some people who submit their resumes online are lucky enough to have them rise to the top. But what if there was a more productive, reliable way to break through the clutter and get more interviews; one that would enable you to proactively take control of your search instead of sitting back and hoping someone notices you?
To be clear, I don’t recommend abandoning the job boards altogether. Plenty of people find jobs that way. But, instead of putting all of your job search eggs in the job board basket, I encourage you to consider incorporating a more targeted, proactive strategy that relies on referrals to get you in the door.
The two best sources of information I’ve found to support this are a 2017 study by the Society of Human Resources Management and another published by LinkedIn. The SHRM report found that referrals increase your chances of landing a job by 45%, and according to LinkedIn, the #1 way people discover a new job is through a referral.
The question now becomes how to get those referrals. It all begins with using job boards and LinkedIn differently than you might have in the past. Instead of using them to identify and apply to jobs, you’ll leverage them as a research tool for identifying the specific companies you want to work for and who on the inside is most likely to help connect you with the right people. In short, get more interviews without blindly applying online.
It’s a proven approach that increases the odds of getting your resume seen by the right people. It also puts you in control of your career instead of giving it to the person reviewing resumes or the bot that’s deciding which ones get to the recruiter’s desk.
To learn more about this and other underutilized job and career change strategies, visit www.rothmancareercoach.com or click https://bit.ly/3t3m8Lm to book a complimentary, 30-minute consultation.