5 Common Mistakes People Make In Their Jobsearch

There are millions of people navigating the jobsearch scene these days. 

While there is a lot of talk about the great job market for candidates, it doesn’t mean that it will be easy peasy to land a job.

There are many reasons that jobseekers could struggle in their jobsearch, but five of the common mistakes they make are listed below.  

1. Focusing on the resume first: Each week, dozens of requests cross my desk for resume services. And, because there’s a high demand for these services, there is also a large marketplace of providers who will take your money and promise you a sparkly new resume. But, sadly, this usually leads to disappointment. Unless you have crystal-clear clarity on your target, your brand, and your stories, building out your resume (or worse paying someone to do it for you), is almost never the best place to start. 
2. Not networking with the right people: One of the most common phrases I hear from struggling jobseekers is, “I don’t have a very big network”. My response is always, “it doesn’t matter.” Networking to land a job isn’t about tapping into your network, it’s about networking with the people who are most likely to help you land the job you want. That may be people you already know, but in many cases it means building new connections with people you don’t. 
3. Going straight to job boards to apply: Jobseekers need jobs, job boards post available jobs, seems like a match made in heaven. Right? Wrong. Job boards can be a portion of your jobsearch strategy, but it shouldn’t be the whole strategy. Instead, get a solid game plan in place, and then use job boards as the icing on the cake. At most, job boards should be 1/4 of your job search strategy.
4. Using a quantity over quality approach: Applying to jobs online is easy. For many companies you can click a button and upload your resume or LinkedIn profile, hit apply, and you’re done. Not only is it easy, but it feels good too! You get a little boost of dopamine every time you check another application off your to-do list. But, the bad news here is that you’re using the most competitive and difficult way to land a job. So the more apps you send, the greater your frustration will be, not your success. 
5. Not having clarity of what they want: When you initiate a jobsearch, but you’re not clear on what the ideal target is, meaning a career path that is authentic to you and matches your strengths, values, and interests, it’s will be very difficult to find it. It’s like embarking on a trip, but not knowing the final destination, yes it’s possible you may eventually get to where you were trying to go, but it might be a long, hard, slow road to get there. 

So what’s the alternative? Well, first and foremost, having a clear idea of what probably you’re trying to solve in your career. Not sure? 

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