Let’s get you a good job!
- Understanding the Job Market
- The 4 Step Fool-Proof Process of Finding a Job You Like
- FAQ, Best Practices, and Proven Techniques
- Conclusion
Understanding the Job Market
The term “job market” gets a lot of attention in the media and by politicians. And with good reason…
The average person has around 12 jobs throughout their lifetime.[1] Since the average career is 46 years long, it is expected that a professional will be looking for a new job every 3.8 years.[2]
This means, assuming you want to prosper, from asking Google “jobs near me” to visiting every corner of LinkedIn, from uploading your resume to every “job search site” you like to cultivating a professional online presence, you will need to become familiar with how the job market works.
Let’s take it from the start… And lets begin with answering the most pressing questions most job seekers have at the start of their journey…
The fastest way to get a job is to increase the applications you make, as long as you keep applying to jobs that you are qualified for, or jobs you show an aptitude towards.
That being said, when it comes to getting jobs, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. If you want to find a job quickly, slow down, and learn how to do it right. You have one shot at making an impression with a particular employer, and you don’t want to mess up your chances. This is why, if you are in a hurry, it makes sense to get some help from professionals.
Yes and no. Yes, because it is rather easy to find a job where you are undervalued, underpaid and underemployed. There is a vast global labor shortage, especially skilled labor shortage. No, because it is hard to find a job where you are challenged, valued and well compensated – especially if it is a job that has significant authority or growth opportunities.
If it were easy, we would not have spent considerable resources building this site 😉
It not being easy to find a job does not mean it has to be hard for you. With the right preparation and guidance, you can make it significantly easier and much more lucrative.
Technically no. In fact, we happen to be experiencing a fairly sustained labor shortage, where open positions are far exceeding job seekers. Practically, however, it feels like there is a jobs shortage for job seekers.
This is because there is a growing sense that candidates are having a hard time finding good jobs, despite their education. This is caused by an endemic skills gap. Many early career professionals and recent graduates report that their education does not match them with the available jobs, or the kind of jobs they are interested in effectively.
The internet seems to think that it takes 100 to 200 applications to get a job. While this is a reasonable overall estimate, it is also wildly misleading.
Not every job search is the same. There are vast differences between candidates and their job search outcomes.[3] We’ve worked with professionals who continually get jobs from single applications. And we’ve come across case studies where trained engineers have sent upwards of 350+ applications without a single interview.
Therefore, the appropriate answer to this question is: as many as it takes.
The internet seems to think that it takes anywhere between 10 and 20 interviews to get a job.
This is also misleading and depends entirely on the company. Some companies like Google reject 99% of candidates.[4] Other companies prefer a hire fast, fire fast approach where they keep shallow interviews with high success rates, but keep employees on probation for a long period of time.
Again, the proper answer is: as many as many as it takes.
On average, it is estimated that it takes 3-6 months to get a job.[5] Others report an average of 5 months.[6] While there are also reports of the average job hunt taking as short as a month and a half, we recommend sticking to a 5 month horizon. [7]
Assuming the average annual salary as reported in Q4 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor, a 6 month job search has the opportunity cost of $27,408 for an unemployed individual.
For an employed individual, the real cost to find a job is $4,568, where we assume a total of 160 hours spent in the job search process. This estimate assumes the average job acceptance and income statistics outlined earlier.
Between the start of April and the end of October. Why? Most companies operate in annual cycles. In the typical cycle, the first quarter (January to March) is usually dedicated to strategy rather than recruiting, making it slightly harder to get a job.[8] Similarly, after thanksgiving, companies tend to leave off bigger decisions like hiring until after the Christmas and New Years breaks. While this does not mean you are hopeless if you need to find a job between November and March, it will likely take a higher number of applications, or a longer interview cycle.
Now that you have the lay of the land, let’s get to the brass tacks.
How will we get you a job you want?…
The 4 Step Fool-Proof Process of Finding a Job You Like
- Step 1: Identify Your Goals, Strengths and Interests
- Step 2: Research Companies, Industries and Resources
- Step 3: Prepare Your Resume, Cover Letter and Profiles
- Step 4: Tailor Your Applications and Network Strategically
Step 1: Identify Your Goals, Strengths and Interests
To start your journey toward finding a job you love, it’s crucial to take stock of your goals, strengths, and interests.
Consider what activities energize you, what skills you excel at, and what career aspirations drive you forward. Reflect on past experiences, hobbies, and even feedback from peers, teachers, mentors or family members.
What truly motivates you? What inspires you? What would you rather be doing?
By the way, this doesn’t mean coming up with activities like “walking at night” or “I’m really good at Overwatch”. Neither does it mean making statements like “I want to be a TikTok influencer” or “my ideal job is a self-made crypto trader”.
Don’t think from your own perspective. Think from the perspective of someone who is going to pay you a substantial amount of money for your activities… What would you pay yourself to do?
In that context, we recommend putting together a table like the following:
| Goals | Strengths | Interests |
| Independence | Fast learner | Crypto |
| Big network | Detail oriented | Pro gaming |
| Own a home | Good at sales | Traveling the world |
This table will act as your guidepost.
When you have your own table like the one shown above, your brain will automatically do the rest. For instance, for the individual above, building the table above clearly showed he needed to be working for an international cryptocurrency exchange, entering as an analyst and promoted to an operations manager.
It may take more than one try and a little bit of fine tuning, but if you build your “goals, strengths and interests” table, your career path will reveal itself before you’re done writing the words down!
Step 2: Research Companies, Industries and Resources (That Align With Your Goals & Values)
Once you’ve identified your career orientation, the next step is to delve into researching companies, industries, and resources that can help you. There’s a lot that can.
Begin by exploring job search websites and online tools such as job search sites, Indeed, and LinkedIn Jobs. Just browse through available opportunities and gain insights into different companies and roles. When you come across a title you don’t know much about, just type it in Google and learn about it.
In order to succeed in applying and getting the kind of job you want, it is crucial that you learn about the specific job titles in the industries you want. Unlike the old days where you had to hunt for an insider and talk to them, today, the Internet has all the information you need at your fingertips.
If you simply spend 2-3 hours browsing through, and then, reading about jobs and industries, you will quickly develop crucial insights that will give you an edge over your competition.
It’s also important to seek out job search assistance and guidance from career experts, mentors, or professional networks who can offer valuable advice and connections to relevant opportunities. Don’t hesitate to go through our resources, courses or events. An extra few hours spent learning about resumes or networking, can save you weeks and months of effort down the road.
What’s are some online resources to find a job?
- Job search sites: Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, FlexJobs, Ladders, Wellfound, LinkedIn, Getwork, and Snagajob in that order.
- Company websites: Most companies have job openings directly on their websites. (You can put Google alerts for them)
- Industry job boards: Look for industry-specific job boards. Again, Google is a great place to start (i.e. “crypto jobs”)
- Freelance platforms: Freelancer, Upwork, Fiverr, or TaskRabbit can get you part time or even part to full time opportunities.
- Professional networking sites: This is mostly LinkedIn. But there are other industry specific ones you can find.
- Recruitment agencies: Search for “recruiters near me” on Google. They will cost your employer a percentage of your salary, but can open doors that are otherwise shut. (Great for more experienced professionals)
- Government job portals: Governments (your state government) have job portals.
What are some real life ways to find a job?
- Personal connections: Let your friends, family, and peers know you’re looking for a job. A vast majority of professionals find their job through their “sphere of influence” or social network. Referrals are also 7x more likely to be hired than those from a job board.[9]
- Alumni networks: Connect with your university’s alumni network.
- Local newspapers: Some people still use the classifieds section of local newspapers to advertise open positions.
- Career fairs: Some people do find jobs through career fairs. At the very least, attending them will motivate you to get a job.
Step 3: Prepare Your Resume, Cover Letter and Profiles
Even before you know the specific job you’re applying for, it’s important to get an updated resume and a template cover letter. Next, it’s also important to review your social media profiles and get them ready.
We recommend organizing your application materials (resume, cover letter, social media) around the “5 core skills and 7 high-value disciplines”. These are high in demand skills and areas of expertise employers are looking for.
As a final note, it is also crucial to make sure that your most visible public photos online are ready for employer scrutiny. Profiles with photos receive 21x more views, and also, a majority of recruiters admit to browsing photos.
Keep in mind, 7 out of 10 employers use social media to screen candidates. It’s important to be prepared.
We cover these subjects extensively throughout our website, and the best places to start are The Ultimate Guide to Getting a High-Value Job as well as Launch Your Career.
Step 4: Tailor Your Applications and Network Strategically
Tailor your resume and your cover letter to the specific job you’re applying for.
This is a crucial step toward getting a job, especially if you want to cut through the noise and get noticed. In fact, making your resume relevant to the job you’re applying for is one of the simplest techniques you can use to upgrade its chances.
The more relevant your resume, cover letter, and when applicable, your social media profiles are to the job you’re applying for, the higher your chances of getting the job. Of course, sending personalized resumes and cover letters to each employer is easy. Personalizing your social media profiles for each application is challenging.
You have to balance your time availability, as well as your level of interest in the job. As a rule of thumb, we recommend:
- Making your resume and cover letter, laser focused on the job
- Making your LinkedIn profile, focused on your industry and geared toward networking
- Making your non-professional social media profiles mostly private, but with a professional photo and job title visible.
Of course, applying for advertised jobs is only part of the battle. If you are interested in getting really desirable jobs, you have to figure out how to learn about these jobs before they are advertised.
This is where networking comes in…
Networking has gotten a bad rap, and even turned into a catch all phrase meaning something like “asking people for jobs even when there isn’t a job advertised”.
That, of course, is not networking!
How Networking Actually Works
When we talk about networking, we’re mostly talking about catching employer attention and starting a dialogue. This may be active or passive. It may or may not involve asking for a job.
For the purposes of our definition, passive networking is raising your online profile and engaging with other professionals without overtly asking for a job or a referral. Active networking is the kind of networking where you actively ask for a job.
For passive networking, engaging with others online is a good route to go. Making posts, linking articles, infographics, news, studies or any type of interesting content can be a great way to capture the attention of an employer. (Your activity on LinkedIn specifically, increases your SSI – Social Selling Index – which is a metric they use to determine your brand’s reach)
The purpose of this type of networking is to build professional connections so that hiring managers and recruiters can know about you, and chose to contact you, before they advertise positions that you’re a good fit for.
Of course, this type of passive networking is slow. It’s usually not a big help when you’re unemployed or actively looking for a job.
In such situations you need to engage in active networking. Active networking, at its core, is proactively asking for jobs that are not open or advertised to those in your network. It’s just like cold calling. It’s unsolicited. And it can be detrimental to professional relationships.
Of course, there is a right way to do it which has minimal downside. If you want to engage in active networking, and ask for a job or a referral from those in your network, it’s better to be upfront about it. You should also learn our Warm Application Process so that you mitigate the downside and learn the appropriate scripts to follow.
You can use this process to connect with individuals who work at companies you are interested in, and apply to jobs before they are publicly advertised. Keep in mind, employees at an organization usually have incentives to refer you, and if you engage them the right way, you can leverage the 7x increased probability of acceptance.
Ultimately, you want to employ all of these tactics – job applications, passive networking and active networking – in order to get the highest and best job you can get.
FAQ, Best Practices, and Proven Techniques
Here are the answers to the most common questions as well as best practices for getting the most out of your job hunt.
It depends on the sector. While some sectors experience increased demand for skilled workers, others may face challenges due to automation, globalization, or economic downturns.
In recent years, technological advancements, shifts in consumer behavior, and global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have put a dent in the job market. Additionally, disparities in access to education, resources, and networking opportunities have made it very difficult for some to find employment.
If you are experiencing difficulty finding a job, seek guidance from professionals and get help. There is a path to a growing career for almost everyone.
There are four major reasons. These are economic uncertainty, industry disruptions (AI, globalization), geopolitical and global disruptions (covid-19, war) as well as the skills gap. The skills gap is the easiest for an individual to address, which can be accomplished by developing job skills as well as career skills.
There is no one best website. The sites we recommend are Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, FlexJobs, Ladders, Wellfound, LinkedIn, Getwork, and Snagajob in that order.
When you’re unsure about your career path or what type of job to pursue, first follow the four step process we outlined, with special attention to the first step: “Identify Your Goals, Strengths and Interests”. Once this is done, we also encourage that you seek help. There are many resources available, including our very own publications and courses.
Consider expanding your search to include different industries or roles, updating your resume and cover letter, networking with professionals in your field, gaining new skills through training or education, or seeking feedback on your job search approach. Seeking feedback from a professional mentor, coach or guide is usually the fastest way to resolve any issues.
Use online job search platforms, including part-time and gig platforms, and consider temporary positions as stepping stones. It may be significantly easier to get a foot in the door job than your ideal job, and your ideal job may not be possible directly with your level of experience and credentials.
Remember: referrals are 7x more likely to get hired than cold applicants. Stepping stone jobs work spectacularly well.
First learn the Language of Value. Then utilize career services offered by your college or university, network with alumni in your field, and consider internships or entry-level positions to get started.
Prioritize self-care, seek support from friends, family, or mental health professionals. Break the job search process into manageable tasks, set realistic goals, and consider seeking assistance from career guides and our resources.
Prioritize gaining experience over getting a job. Highlight transferable skills gained from volunteer work, internships, or academic projects. Learn the Language of Value.
Just like you get a job normally. Focus on positive aspects of your previous work experience, highlight your skills and accomplishments, and be honest but also discreet about the circumstances of your departure.
Getting fired or let go is NOT the end of the world. 68% of executives who had been let go got a new job within 6 months.
Conclusion
Never give up. Focus on the outcomes you desire, set your aim high, and use our resources.
It may look daunting or frustrating to be looking for a job. If you get overwhelmed, just remember that many others have gone through the same trials and tribulations in the past, and figured it out.
You will also figure it out. We’re here to help.