You’ve spent hours perfecting your resume, you’ve updated your LinkedIn profile to add all your latest achievements, and you’ve begun to attend networking events.
You feel like you are doing everything you could possibly do, but you still aren’t seeing the results you are hoping for in your job search. You’re not getting any calls back for interviews for the jobs you really want to work for.
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What’s the problem?
Most job seekers skip a critical step in the job search process that could make or break their results: They fail to get specific.
Why Getting Specific is so Important
You can’t be everything to everyone. You have to start to think of yourself as a product that needs to be marketed to your customers, who in this case are the hiring managers!
For example, if you were going to promote a night club, you wouldn’t blast your event flyers out to everyone and everyone. Why would you waste your time and money promoting your club to children or the elderly? They aren’t your customers!
The same thing goes for your resume and marketing yourself as an employee! If you fail to get specific on what job you want at which companies, then how could you even begin to effectively market yourself as a solution to those hiring managers! It’s no different really!
In case you want to expand your job search and find more options, our guide to the best job posting sites is an essential read.
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Could You Describe Your Ideal Job Title and Company On Paper Right Now?
Do you know what job title you are targeting and what type of companies you want to work for? If not, then you haven’t taken the time to get specific enough and you will not see very great results from your efforts.
If you just want any job to get away from your current situation, then the chances are high you will end up in a similar predicament. You’ll be in another job that you don’t love that probably doesn’t pay great either!
Take the Time to Do the Hard Work First
It’s easy to blast your resume out to job boards and pray to get a call back. It’s not easy to take the time to understand what opportunities exist and decide which job title you want to target. This makes everything easier on the back end though.
When you’re networking you can spend time networking with people who are in a position to help you. You may think it’s great to talk to everyone you can, but that can actually be extremely deflating when you waste time meeting people that cannot help you.
Once you decide what you want, then everything you do is more targeted. Your resume is more targeted, your networking, and all your job search efforts are more focused.
Why People Avoid Getting Specific
People avoid getting targeted because they are worried they will leave options on the table. The truth is, you are actually lowering the chances of getting what you want if you haven’t taken the time to decide what that is.
People will be less likely to help you get what you want if you can’t tell them exactly what that is! Getting specific isn’t easy though, it may feel unproductive because you aren’t applying to jobs right away. You may feel like you should go back to the path of least resistance.
Taking the time to research what you want is tough work, but it pays off! You need to do your digging to find out what job titles exist that you may not have heard of. Then you need to talk to people in those roles to learn what a day in the life is really like. Only then will you know if this is something you should pursue.
Clarity Feels Good!
Taking the time to figure out what you want and taking action to get the answers will feel empowering. Then you will truly be on a path to landing a job you know you will love and that matches up with your strengths and interests. This is work the work and effort I promise you!
Olivia Gamber is an organizational psychologist and author of The Career Upgrade Roadmap: 90 Days to a Better Job and a Better Life. Buy it below on Amazon
