Each time, you will take more time to find a new job, will lose jobs faster and will job hunt more often. If your job search methods are still old school, you will be jobless longer. Change your approach to job search by stepping into your employer’s shoes to understand what works faster.
Insider first
You are an outsider trying to convince an employer that you are a good bet for a vacant role. Your employer does not feel that way. He does not want to take risky bets and lose a ton of money and time in a wrong hire. His first priority is to minimise hiring risk and thus he prefers to hire an insider, a known person who he can trust to deliver and stay long enough to make it worthwhile.
As an outsider, this is a Catch-22 situation. To get out of it, recognise that internal hires are those who joined earlier in a junior position, or in another lateral role, or as temporary staff, or on a contract, or is an intern or is a vendor or consultant. You now have multiple options to become an insider and then be the first to be considered for any new vacancy.
Currency of trust
The next best thing after an insider hire is hiring through trust. Employee referrals is one method that you have heard about but the least effective one. Your employer believes that a referral hire increases sincerity and chances of success because the referee’s reputation is at stake and so is your relationship with your referee.
Can you find an employee to refer you? Know that the credibility of the employee will affect the employer’s choice. Employee referral is not the only way though. Your employer values the judgment of an equal, a mentor or a friend/ family member even more. Can you find a first-degree connection to both you and the employer who is willing to introduce and vouch for you? Reach out and skip the queue for the vacancy.
Initiative
You want to be paid a ton of money after only a couple of hours of selection process. It’s a terribly risky game for the employer to play with a stranger. She is always looking for extra information or actions that increase her confidence in you. Thus your employer is always attracted to people with initiative who through their actions demonstrate their intent, energy and ability.
Have you simply responded to a job advertisement or have reached out directly irrespective of a vacancy? Have you done your homework in understanding the business, speaking to employees and coming up with compelling communication that makes the employer interested in meeting you? The interview schedule doesn’t matter anymore when your initiative gets you a discussion with the decision-maker.
Get noticed
Your paper CV is only a part of this story. Did you notice how your resume lies within the fourth priority of your employer’s hiring behaviour? But it was the first and biggest time-suck in your old school job search method. In a world where your employer is extra cautious with hiring risk and where there many job seekers for every vacancy, your paper CV is not the only thing that matters.
Your employer will sift through your entire online footprint from LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Glassdoor, YouTube and anything else that Google reveals. Will you be judged for the right reasons or the wrong ones? Get online rants, drunken pics and other messes rectified immediately. Play the long game and continue to build the online image that will get you noticed and invited for a discussion. Meanwhile, keep your CV down to one page and make sure it is crafted for the job description and it is not a generic one. The most critical accomplishments relevant to the employer should be in the top third of the page to be seen first. In a list of a hundred or more profiles, the employer will only spend an average of six seconds per CV to decide if there is anything worthwhile.
Show me the money
‘Show me the proof first’ – is what your employer thinks before you get to see the money. Think about demonstrating what you have done or what you are doing, to show the employer that you have got exactly what she needs. If you are a designer, show your portfolio.
If you are a coder, show your code or project before your CV, qualification or test scores. If you are in sales, show your last numbers or show customers who you will bring in during your first week of probation. Whatever the vacancy, think about what you can ‘show and tell’ instead of ‘interview and hope’.
HOLDING YOUR JOB
What would you worry about if you were the employer in tough times? You will identify critical parts of the business, roles and outcomes that help in getting revenues and reducing costs. Compare it with what you are doing now. Can you become an essential employee by switching to a critical role or delivering bigger outcomes?
‘More with less’ is every entrepreneur’s mantra to stay alive longer. Focus on the ‘more’ or extra to ‘lessen’ your job loss risk. What can you add to your plate to show up for your employer’s needs? Can you reduce the cost of an extra hand by taking on another role? Can you deliver a new project that wasn’t started for want of a hiring budget?
‘There’s always a better way’ is the hallmark of a growth mindset. Exercise your idea muscle by writing down three new work ideas daily. Review in a week, pick the most promising ones, build a plan and take it to your employer. Every idea that works out, makes you invaluable in your employer’s eyes.
The biggest drains on your employer/ manager’s time and energy are micro-management and conflict resolution. Solve them to get yourself out of the exit list. Honour your deadlines and keep your employer updated to save him time in managing you. Then avoid or resolve team conflicts on your own before they explode.
Your employer or boss is stressed about taking the right decisions and executing them on time. Reduce that burden to magnify your contribution. Become a sounding board for decision making by being updated on situations, concerns and offering inputs. Else ask for and deliver on the manager’s task list to free up her time.
(The writer is a career coach, Mentor and the author of Yoursortinghat.com)
