As Executive Search Consultants, we are tasked by our client companies to provide talent for positions that they are having difficulty in filling. Our job entails a great deal of research and consultative effort to find the right match for our clients.
We’re also frequently contacted by job seekers looking for opportunities, and while we’re always happy to hear from talented people, by necessity our time and energy is primarily focused on our clients’ needs. In an effort to help job seekers, we’ve come up with a short list of (hopefully helpful) tips that may assist maximize their own efforts to find a great role.
Here are some additional thoughts regarding your job search…
#9 – Don’t go for the shiny objects – jobs you ‘could’ do
It is sometimes tempting to see a role posted that doesn’t fit your skills and experience but is attractive because of the hiring company or the specifics of the role seem intriguing. So why not send your resume and tell them how passionate you are about this opportunity? Because it’s doubtful it will work. As mentioned above Employers are looking for very specific talent for their positions, and are looking for talent with similar career paths to their job description. In other words, they are looking for “like to like”. Your “giving it a try” may actually work against you. We certainly don’t want to discourage anyone from pursuing their dream job, but simply clicking and hoping will most likely result in frustration.
This is not to say that changing your career path is impossible. But it should be approached with realistic expectations. If you have experience in marketing consumer package goods and want to move over to a marketing position in the tech space, it’s potentially possible (although it might entail a slight step back and/or change in title i.e. Director of Marketing at CPG to Senior Marketing Manager at Tech) and may depend on the size of the company. But opportunities that represent too great a career step (marketing manager to CMO), too broad an industry move (video games to biotechnology) will be problematic no matter how passionate you are about the role.
#10 – Don’t apply for multiple /different roles at the same company
Here again the convenience of clicking on dozens of online job postings can come back to haunt you. Online application systems are essentially a database whereby applicants’ information is initially vetted by an administrative assistant or HR person. They are doing their level best to screen and qualify the talent coming into this database which, depending on the company, could constitute hundreds of applications/resumes for multiple positions in a variety of departments. Their function is essentially to quickly separate the potential hires (who are forwarded on in the process) from the resumes and applications from talent who don’t match the basic criteria for the company’s positions. Here’s an unfortunate scenario that we know gets repeated on a regular basis:
John Smith applies for the job of Senior Marketing Manager at XYZ Corporation and sends his generic resume and cover letter explaining how he is a great fit for the Senior Marketing Manager role. He then sees an opening at XYZ for a Director of Business Development and sends the same generic resume and a slightly reworked cover letter explaining how he is a great fit for the Director of Business Development role. Further compounding his problems he also decides to “give it a try” and send that same generic resume and a slightly reworked cover letter explaining how he is a great fit for XYZ’s Vice President of Branding role. John may believe he’s maximizing his chance of being noticed by XYZ and he is – for all the wrong reasons. Each one of these applications, cover letters and generic resumes is most likely being screened by the same person. The result is that John is now screened out for all three roles and most likely will never be considered for any role in the future at XYZ. John may have actually brought some very valuable skills to XYZ’s team but by sending multiple applications to different positions, he’s made himself the equivalent of spam.
We understand that looking for a new role can be a very challenging experience and hope these tips will help job seekers in their quest for a great role.