November 28, 2011

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If your job search has you teetering on the brink of insanity, my advice to you is simple: spend less time applying for jobs, send out fewer resumes, and accept every interview invitation. You read it right-I recommend  less  time applying for jobs and  fewer  resumes. The conventional wisdom of treating your job search like a full-time job by firing off resumes for eight hours per day is not wisdom at all. If you are fed up with just sifting through job postings, applying for positions and hoping for the best, try these three pointers: 

Spend less time applying for jobs. 

You will only get out of your job search what you put into it. Spending 40 plus hours per week searching for a job deprives you of direct people contact and skill building—the two things you need the most when unemployed. According to CareerXRoads, a staffing strategy consultancy, referrals represent a sizable portion of external hires for employers. So while you should definitely be checking out the relevant job boards, networking is still one of most effective ways to find employment. Consider becoming an active member within your industry’s professional association or volunteering with a charitable organization, the chamber of commerce or your local library. If you have specialized knowledge within your field, consider writing a blog or submitting articles to your local newspaper for publication. All these things will help you keep your skills up-to-date and give you more opportunities to connect with potential employers.

Send out fewer resumes.

Quantity and quality are usually trade-offs for each other and it’s no different when it comes to your job search. Forget about pumping out 15 to 20 resumes per day. Flooding employers’ inboxes with boilerplate resumes and cover letters isn’t going to speed up your search. Instead, limit your applications to positions for which you meet qualifications and to employers for which you can truly add value. Thoroughly research every employer prior to applying for any position. This means making sure you know things like the employer’s mission statement, their business model, recent company developments and their plans for future growth. A little online research will often help you find the name and contact information of the specific individual whom you should address your cover letter to. You will spend more time per application, but each application will be better targeted and increase your chances of getting contacted for an interview. Moving forward, focus your search efforts on high quality instead of high quantity. 

Accept every interview invitation.

So you finally get a phone call from an employer and realize the job is not what you had expected. Perhaps the job is part-time instead of full-time, the salary is less than you expected or the commute will be longer than you thought. You might think now is the time to withdraw yourself from consideration, right? Wrong! The only way to land a job is to get face-to-face with an employer. Since interviews are hard to come by, you should accept all invitations. The employer could very well have other job opportunities now or in the near future that would be perfect for you. But, you will cut off your access to that information by declining an interview. Keep things in perspective—an interview is simply a conversation with a prospective employer, not a commitment of lifelong allegiance to them. If you go to the interview and still determine this particular job or employer is not the right fit for you, withdraw yourself from consideration at that time. That way, you still will have added one or more new contacts to your professional network. 

In summary, your job search should focus on staying professionally active and sending high-quality applications to the right employers. Using these pointers is not guaranteed to instantly result in multiple job offers from companies on  Fortune ’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. However, you will make new contacts, keep your skills current and break up the monotony of your search. Hope and optimism are key ingredients to a successful job search and it’s hard to stay positive if you spend you days shuttered in your home sending out lots of resumes with no response. Using these contrarian pointers will help you discover new opportunities and stay encouraged during your job search.