Passive Job Search VS Assertive Job Search

Passive Job Search VS Assertive Job Search

I have met many people who tell me that they have send out 20, 50, even over 100 resumes and they have not landed an interview yet. I understand their frustration. It takes a lot of time and energy, not to mention some money, to market yourself when you are looking for the next, or the first, opportunity.

I will not give you something easier to do. In fact, I am going to give you something more time consuming and more difficult to do. With that said, with strategic effort and commitment, hard work pays off. The key words, strategic and commitment. Hard work is worth it if there are results.

I want you to think of your job search in a different way. When I used to manage sales teams and I had people who were struggling month after month to meet their goals this is what I would challenge them to do:

“Forget about your sales goals and quotas. What I want to know four weeks from now is not how many sales you closed, but how many you opened. I don’t even want to know how many sales calls you made. All I want to know is how many new friends you made. Intentional friends, but friends non-the-less.”

From intentional friends come opportunities. Your job search is the same way. When sales people get stressed about the lack of sales, they panic and try so hard that they overcompensate and lose potential sales. When job seekers get frustrated they sometimes try too hard and seem too desperate. They lose interviews and job offers.

So, what are you to do if you are sending out resume after resume and not getting an interview? Well, keep doing what you have always done and you will always get what you always got. Change it up.

The passive job search is when a job seeker waits for some action to happen and then they react to that action. This is usually what people do when they are job searching. They wait until a job is posted and then apply for it. I encourage you to do this as a tool in your job search tool belt. But I would encourage you to have a few different tools. Right tool for the right job as my Grandfather used to say.

The assertive job search is making a prospect list, identifying the decision-makers, and creating a plan to make some intentional friends. Remember, the decision-makers know what they are planning two, three, and six months ahead. Many jobs today are not published. They are filled before they get published. This is called the “hidden job market”. As a job seeker, you need to tap into this market.

When I was a hiring manager I would meet people who I thought would be a good addition to my team if I had an opening. I would keep their information and when I had an opening I would go to my file drawer where I kept this information and start calling.

My challenge to you, get in as many files drawers as you possibly can, don’t quit, and realize rejection is part of the process. Seriously, every no does lead to a yes. And one good yes is all you need.

Good luck in your job hunt.