A big part of our role as recruiters is meeting candidates that are looking for new career opportunities. Since 1999, we have met thousands of candidates and have found three common pitfalls most people experience during their career search.
1. Your resume doesn’t explain what you do
You’ve combed through dozens of Web sites giving you valuable resume tips and have crafted bullet points with quantifiable numbers and statistics about your accomplishments in all of your positions. Your resume highlights your classifications and professional credentials in a relatable way. However, with all of these numbers and acronyms, are you explaining what you actually do in your job? Oftentimes, candidates will get so carried away with highlighting percentages of growth and industry related credentials, they forget to talk about their day to day activities. While you need to quantify your accomplishments, don’t glaze over your actual responsibilities.
2. You tell your network “I’ll take anything.”
You don’t want to wait to put off your job search until you are so disenfranchised with your workplace that you are ready to run screaming from the building. Waiting until you reach this point breeds desperation. Desperation is the enemy of every job search. It can lead you to underestimate your value, take a position that isn’t logical in your career path, and distract you from focusing on who in your network can help you find the right job. Without direction, your network will have a tough time finding you something that fits what you want to do. This results in people calling you about every possible opportunity from retail clerk at their favorite boutique, to contacting you about overly technical positions that you’re not qualified for. The flip side of being “open to anything,” is that your network doesn’t talk to you at all. They have their own lives, jobs and obligations and don’t have enough direction from you to go through their contacts and ask them if they know of a possible opportunity for you. The first thing their contact will ask them is, “what is he/ she looking for?” If the person networking on your behalf can’t answer that question, that is the likely the end of the conversation. Empower your network to go to work for you. Give them a description of the job you want, even if it seems like a long shot. “If you never ask, the answer is always no.” –Nora Roberts
3. You get discouraged
Feeling like you’re never going to find the “right” job is a part of nearly every career search. It is rare to answer the phone and have your next career opportunity on the other end of the call. It generally requires time, energy and a lot of conversations with people you wouldn’t normally contact. The rollercoaster nature of the interview process can be emotionally, mentally and physically draining. However, by being complacent and staying in your current role, you’ll never give yourself the opportunity to love what you do. The promise of being excited to go to work is what motivates people to step out of their comfort zone and start their search. No matter how many resumes you send, how many interviews you attend and how many times you have to hear “we’ve decided to go in a different direction,” don’t get discouraged. Easier said than done, right? Find a way to stay positive. Be kind to yourself, and mute the negative self talk that inevitably comes along with rejection. Remember that your experience is valuable, you deserve to be happy in a new job, and you will find something. Your next opportunity may not come to you on your perfect timetable, but something will come. The inclination to get discouraged is as natural as feeling desperate when you’re unhappy at your job. To avoid both feelings, find a confidant that will listen to you without judgment and could possibly help you find your next opportunity. Don’t let your feelings of negativity spill over into every interaction you have with people around you. Instead, show the people around you what successes you are having in your job search, and focus on those. If you approach each day with a forward looking, positive attitude, it will come through in any interview and demonstrate to those people around you that you’re taking everything in stride and excited about your future. So stay positive and good things will happen, we see it every day!
Avoid these three common pitfalls most people experience during their career search, and you’ll find yourself on less of a rollercoaster, rather, conducting an exercise to find a position that will make you leap out of bed in the morning and race to work.