Think about this. If you have been looking for a job longer than four months you have tried everything you can think of and know how to do with limited results. You are looking for a job using the same approach, techniques and strategies that you used the last time you looked for a job. You tell yourself that it has always worked before so it will work now. You spend your time searching job boards, sending out lots of unsolicited generic resumes, calling the same recruiters every week and “networking” only with your friends and former associates. Your results: Nobody calls about the resumes you sent, you do not get any response from job board submittals, your friends are out of leads and are not returning your calls and the recruiters no longer call you back. If you have been real lucky you have had a couple of phone interviews but they didn’t go anywhere.
Definition of insanity – keep doing this for a few more months.
This is the reason why government and private studies tell us that close to 50% of the unemployed for a year. The average job search is now taking nine months. If you are not working these numbers should terrify you especially when most experts will tell you that everybody should be able to land a job within two to three months if they conduct their search correctly.
You must make up your mind today to dramatically change how you go about your search. You must: Change your thought process from looking for a job to looking for problems and marketing yourself as the solution. Network every day with people you do not know and have never talked to. Have a target list of at least 20 companies that you want to work for and learn everything you can about each company including talking to many employees, getting informational interviews and calling hiring managers. Never respond to an online/job board posting if you are not prepared to identify and talk to the hiring manager. Be very involved on Linkedin. Start and participate in discussions, give value and grow your network.
These are just a few of the changes you need to make. Some are hard and uncomfortable but there are plenty of resources online to learn from, from reading material to expert coaches. If you do not make changes and take advantage of the resources available you will still be reading stuff like this in 6 months because you will still be looking.
Definition of insanity – keep doing this for a few more months.
This is the reason why government and private studies tell us that close to 50% of the unemployed for a year. The average job search is now taking nine months. If you are not working these numbers should terrify you especially when most experts will tell you that everybody should be able to land a job within two to three months if they conduct their search correctly.
You must make up your mind today to dramatically change how you go about your search. You must: Change your thought process from looking for a job to looking for problems and marketing yourself as the solution. Network every day with people you do not know and have never talked to. Have a target list of at least 20 companies that you want to work for and learn everything you can about each company including talking to many employees, getting informational interviews and calling hiring managers. Never respond to an online/job board posting if you are not prepared to identify and talk to the hiring manager. Be very involved on Linkedin. Start and participate in discussions, give value and grow your network.
These are just a few of the changes you need to make. Some are hard and uncomfortable but there are plenty of resources online to learn from, from reading material to expert coaches. If you do not make changes and take advantage of the resources available you will still be reading stuff like this in 6 months because you will still be looking.
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