Two Major Mistakes most Job Seekers Make

Failing to narrow down your job search

If you are desperate for a job, just been made redundant, or just don’t know quite what you want to do, you might be like thousands of other job seekers out there and just apply for any old job that comes your way.

However, this is a major mistake, because you need to know exactly what sort of jobs you are going to apply for, BEFORE you start applying for jobs.

Now I know what you might be thinking – I need a job, any job, so I’m just going to apply for jobs. – PERIOD!  However, before you take this path, hear me out.  You see the ‘apply for anything approach’ is not effective.  Why?

Well, the first is, that applying for any job is going to be a recipe for job search stress, rejection and failure.

If you apply for anything that comes your way, you are going to be applying for jobs where you are not necessarily a good fit and you need to make sure your skills and experience, match the exact requirements of the employer.  If they don’t – you are going to get a whole lot of rejection letters, or worse still, no acknowledgement that you even exist.  This is the LAST thing you need, as a ton of rejection letters will turn into a vicious cycle of stress and fear.

This stress and fear from constant job search rejection, will lead to you applying for more jobs and looking at just anything to secure a job, leading to more rejection letters and more stress and more fear. Don’t get into this needless cycle of stress and fear.  You need to get purposeful and targeted when applying for jobs.

The second reason, why you should not apply for anything that comes your way, is because if you are going to have any success using this approach, you will need to adapt your resume for each and every job.  (And I don’t know any job seekers that do this effectively).  This is not only time consuming, but you are spreading yourself way too thin in terms of research and networking and might even miss out on opportunities.

Finally, if you don’t know ‘what you want to do’ – you are not going to sound convincing to employers.  Employers want someone who not only has the skills and experience for a specific job – they want someone that is committed and passionate about what they do.  Coming to interview, with, ‘I need a job’, is not commitment and passion – it is desperation and employers don’t want to hire desperate people (hence more rejection).

Spending the bulk of your time applying for jobs on major job boards

If you continue to rely exclusively, or nearly exclusively on the major job boards for job leads, you will be effectively missing out on close to one-half of all-available jobs to you. (Some experts put this figure higher).

Since most candidates apply for positions online, companies have been inundated with applications.  As a result, businesses have set up effective ‘screening’ processes, including software that excludes the majority of candidates, without even getting their credentials reviewed.

Look, if you are only using the major job boards, you need to rethink your job search strategies.  There are a ton of alternatives out there, including networking, tapping into the hidden job market, using LinkedIn, Twitter, Aggregator Job Boards, Specialist Job Boards, Specialist Recruiters, Associations and Corporate Website (to name a few).  So you need to learn the new rules and understand that the major job boards should only be one part of your job search strategy.