Waiting is not a Job Search Strategy [Updated] - Career Pivot

Waiting is not a Job Search Strategy [Updated] - Career Pivot Waiting is not a Strategy Most of you are waiting on a: Job to be posted Recruiter to respond after submitting your resume to a job posting Recruiter to respond after a phone screen Hiring manager after an interview I know, I know you do not want to be a pest or appear to too forward.Well…be a pest. Be a polite pest â€" but be a pest. Pursue what you want. Most importantly…STOP WAITING! Waiting for a Position to be Posted Approximately 80 percent of positions are never posted. So why are you waiting? The days of thinking you are going to get a job by applying online are over for most of us in the 2nd half of life. If you were 20 years younger and looking at junior positions, then maybe applying online might work. The hiring process at many companies is broken. You will want to check out my post 5 Things You Will Never Know About the Hiring Process. Your belief that that the system is fair and equitable is very outdated. Your next job will come through a relationship. Go work your network, work your network and then … work your network some more. Use the Targeted Job Search approach by targeting companies and quit chasing “the job.” Build a list of companies who are capable of hiring you. Use LinkedIn advanced search to find companies that hire people with skills like yours. Approach potential peers and hiring managers, telling them about the problems you solve. Stop waiting for a position to be posted! Waiting is not a job search strategy! Waiting to hear from Someone after Submitting Your Resume Immediately, seek out a company contact if you see a position posted or hear about a job through your network as ahuge percentage of positions are filled through referrals. Do not wait and find a referral first! At the same time, very aggressively, reach out to recruiters or HR professionals in the company to find out who is hiring for the position. Your goal will be to have a discussion with the hiring manager. Waiting is not a job search strategy. The strategy of my fellow Launch Pad Job Club board member, Jim Adcock, was to reach out to recruiters and ask, “I wanted to make sure you received my resume. The sexual nature of my last name sometimes causes my resume to get caught in SPAM filters.” Yes, this strategy works! Waiting for a Response after a Phone Screen with a Recruiter It is very common for recruiters to have up to 60 positions to fill at any one time. Call the recruiter 24 hours after the initial phone screen. Be courteous but persistent. You want to stay on the top of their mind. Be a pest, a polite pest but a pest none the least. The important point here is to call them. Leave them a voicemail if they do not answer. I know, I know you sent them an email and you have not heard back. When people are getting hundreds of emails every day, it just makes sense to call the recruiter and be persistent.If you do not hear back, call them again in a day or so. Do not wait a week to call them back. Be persistent. Waiting is not a job search strategy! Waiting for a Response after an In-Person Interview Make sure and get business cards and contact information from everyone you interview with. Ask for their business cards at the beginning of every interview. If they decide you are not the right candidate during the interview, they may not offer you their business card at the end. Similar to waiting for a response after a phone screen, you want to follow up quickly and be persistent. If you do not hear from them after several weeks, use the Take-Away Closing Technique by calling the hiring manager and leaving them the following message: I am presuming that you are no longer interested in me for the XYZ position. If you have not found your ideal candidate, I would be happy to recommend someone else for the position. Let me know if I can be of any help to you in filling this position. If the hiring manager is still interested in you, they will reach out to you quickly. Earlier in my career, if I wanted someone to call me back, I would leave the following message: Hey Larry, could you call me back about the planned gold shipment. Larry would usually call me back because he wanted to know about this supposed gold shipment…which was fictitious. Be Persistent and Quit Waiting The idea for this blog post came from a presentation by Gary O’Neal, who presented at Launch Pad Job Club. You may want to listen to my interview with Gary on the Repurpose Your Career Podcastcalled Gary O’Neal on Looking for a Job in the 2nd Half of Life [Podcast]where Gary talks about how he would approach a job search. He would not be waiting but be proactive. Gary made it very clear that recruiters and hiring managers would like to respond to every applicant. The reality is that they have way too much on their plate. For every job posted, on average, there are 180 applicants. The hiring process is broken at oh so many companies. Technology has made it way to easy to post and apply for positions that there is a glut of information that clogs up the system. If you want to get hired for a job in the 2nd half of life, you need to quit waiting, be persistent and be a pest! Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...