Getting the job(s) you want

Throughout my entire life I have helped many people get into jobs. Obviously, for them the fun part lies in getting the job. For me, the fun part lies in the diversity of approaches for different sectors, the psychological warfare focused on influencing the interviewer and optimizing the applicant's experiences slightly to fit the role perfectly. In this post, we will take one step back and investigate some general (yet also unknown) trivia regarding the job market.

Let me first talk about the most interesting fact that I have encountered in my life, regarding the job market. So, the most people start looking for their jobs online right? It turns out that only a fraction (<30%) of the actual vacancies available in a job are posted online (even in 2021). So this means that by choosing to look for your job online, you already exclude around 70% of job posts. This has a variety of consequences. If your job search is company-based, it could (theoretically) mean that you will wait 2.5x longer on your placement within that company. If your job search is function-based, then it would mean that you would miss out on more than twice as many opportunities.

The proces of finding a job changes a lot once one comes to the realisation of the above. The first question that should have popped up would be how to access the other 70%. To be honest, it is not as easy as it looks to access all of the 70%, but it is certainly possible to passively increase your likelihood of encountering that part of the job offers, which brings me to the next important point in searching for jobs: networking.

Many of the people I encounter really underestimate the power of networking. Not only is networking the way to access that other 70%, but it also is extremely easy to do while it also trains many of your soft skills while you do so. Technically, you are networking throughout your whole life. However, not everyone on this world knows exactly who you are and what power you possess. This is easily solved though, as nowadays it simply implies managing your social media and your findability on the internet. A simple LinkedIn account can improve the chances of a follow up interview with more than 50%. Combine this with some daily connecting with people, as well as some algorithm favouring actions and you got yourself an account that can serve as a passive job offer magnet. Just for reference, I turn up in 960 job searches of recruiters per week on average nowadays.

In the previous section I wrote that not everyone in the world knows what power you posses. I explicitly chose to use the word 'power'. The rationale behind this is that recruiters do not only look for what certificates and experience you have. In fact, it is almost certain (>80%) that a recruiter will look you up online. The big question is why someone would do that, and the answer is actually quite simple. We, humans, have this urge to satisfy and/or substantiate our prejudices and feelings on a person. If one looks you up and finds that you have your own site, multiple published papers and proper looking social media profiles, then that person will have a good feeling of you. This is something we do unconciously as well, as we appear to question the credibility of strangers around us quite fast. It is only natural that when having to recruit a crucial component in your company, that you question that component and its credibility. This emphasizes another important aspect of profiling yourself during a job search and online: be yourself (or be uniform in acting who you are).

So this is quite a cliché; you all have probably encountered at least one person that has told you to be yourself. Most of the time, the reason behind it is more about protecting your mental health and building up your confidence. However, the extent of 'being yourself' goes far beyond that. There are always people that lie in their cover letter about some things, and this could be done very easily in the past. In the present this is not a realistic thing to do and that is because there are only two possiblities to pull this off; one being focused on not having any of your social media publicly findable and the other being consistent in your lies over all of internet. This is because if you lie, your lies will have to be uniform as everyone will look you up. The problem with not having any publicly disclosed social media makes you look like a fossil, leading to your recruiter thinking that you are less modern, thus rather choosing another candidate. The problem with being consistent in your lies is that to do so, you will practically also have to live the lie. Changing your profiles per job offer, or acting as if you are different will waste your time too much, and even drain your mental health and flexibility at some point.

So, for the final part, let's go back to that 70% as this brings back all of the aforementioned. If you want to get a job as X, then display your interest in X publicly. Let's say you are interested in Project management within the field of Artificial Intelligence, then the next step for you would be to follow, like and comment on pages concerning AI projectmanagement. This can be combined with a bio that publicly displays your interest in the field. These two simple steps can already up your job search results in LinkedIn to 100+. Share some articles, projects and other content that you think is relevant and you will see that these results go up even more.

Now, for the next step start connecting with people that are already where you want to be in the future. So in this case you could connect with Senior strategy consultants and projectmanagers within Artificial Intelligence. The reason why you are doing this, is to get yourself more connections, but also because you now have a valuable connection to gain information. If you feel ready, just send them a simple DM with 'hey I am really intrigued by what you do, regarding X and I was wondering whether you would have time to talk with me for a short 10 minutes?'. You will be suprised by how many people say yes to this, as most people just love talking about their job, especially if they are talking to someone as interested as you. This conversation will have two benefits, because it allows you to ask questions on how you can get where you want to be to different actors, but it also allows you to leave your contact details. More often than not, the people will have some people in their network that can help you during your quest to find a starting point on the job market.

As you can see, everything is connected and that is the power of networking. And the beautiful thing is that you can make it your own power if you do it the right way. What I described in this post is just the foundation of putting yourself out there. There are so many factors involved in getting where you want to be, and I consider networking and awareness the most important. By raising both your credibility and your public output, you synergetically start increasing your power and the best part of it, is that at some point it will just happen passively. As for me, I have gotten to the point that I get at least three recruiters a week contacting me, and the best part is that I barely post or share content. This is all because I know how to market myself well, and the only way to do so is by being aware of your public display, your network and by being yourself. I encourage all of you to do the same. In the future I will address some concise ways of doing so.

As for now,
Follow your dreams and Never lose focus,

Harry T.