Does Your Job Search Feel Like Ground Hog Day?


 Like the movie, every day you wake up and go through the routine. Check the job postings on Indeed. Scroll until you find something interesting. Read the job posting. Decide you don't qualify (maybe the employer is looking for 3 years experience and you recently graduated, or they have a wish list that is long and unachievable). Or perhaps you find a couple of postings you want to take a chance on. You send in the same resume you've been using for months. You use a cover letter template that you feel is good enough but you rarely change it up. You wait. No calls come for interviews. 

Or, like the actual ground hog, you wake up, see your shadow, and go back to bed to wait for spring.

It doesn't have to be this way! 

The first thing to change is the way you read a job posting. 

Remember that most postings contain a wish list. Like when you think about your dream car - maybe you want a red, sporty convertible with a booming sound system so you can play your favourite music while you zip and zag along the coastal highways of your dreams...it's nice to have a wish list. But in reality, what you really need or want is a car.

When compiling the wish list for a job posting, the employer may be doing one of a few things- they really have an ideal, perfect candidate in mind; they want to hire someone they can use for multiple roles; they may be setting the bar high to reduce the volume of "unqualified" applicants. It's hard to say what they are thinking or trying to achieve. But, like the car shopper, they need to hire someone.

One of the first steps in breaking your personal Ground Hog Day dream sequence is to start looking at job postings differently. 

If you have 50% of the wish list, apply for the job. 

What have you got to lose? 

Look at the top few items on the wish list. These are likely the most important things the employer wants in a candidate.

Make sure you write a fresh cover letter, at the very least. Yes, you can use a template if you prefer, but please do yourself a favour and make sure you write to that specific employer as if they were the only one you are interested in working for. 

Those top wish list items? Make sure you address them in your cover letter. How can you show that you have those qualities, competencies, or experience? Draw from your own Accomplishment Statements (you can learn how to create your own Accomplishment Statements HERE.

Subscribe to this blog to get regular tips on job searching and how to survive the process during the pandemic.

April

https://www.meetup.com/job-seekers-support-circle-meetup-group/

www.job-search-help.thinkific.com



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