5 tips if you are job hunting the conventional way
I have been close to the job market for nearly a decade now in the role of a hiring manager as well as a job seeker. In this decade I have heard much advice floating around to convince the job seekers that,
- Most of the job openings are filled up even before an official opening has been created in the system.
- So one needs to have a strong network in the industry to get you in front of the hiring manager.
- Without a strong network, you do not stand chance
Based on my experience as a hiring manager and as a job seeker, that is bullshit! Most of the openings in the tech industry at the junior, middle and senior level still get filled the conventional way. The conventional way is where you apply for a job opening, or a recruiter reaches out to you after seeing your profile and then the process moves forward.
Here are a few unconventional tips for you to improve your chances if you (like me) always try to find a job the conventional way,
Be realistic about the referral system
A referral works only if the hiring is happening in the vicinity of your referrer in the organization, where your referrer knows the hiring manager/recruiter and can put his or her weight behind your profile and get you a place at the interview table(referrer can take you only this far). If the hiring is happening somewhere in the organization where your referrer does not have much connection your chances are as good as going the conventional way.
Don’t let the job description stop you
I have been hired at places where after joining the org I relooked at the job description and realized I was not a very close match. Job descriptions are written in a very unpractical manner. Organizations think about the ideal candidate when they have just started hiring. After meeting many candidates they get real about what they are looking for but the job description never gets updated. After closing the position, if it gets re-opened again after a few years(say due to the person leaving or internal movement or another similar position opening up) the original JD gets re-used to save effort and time. No one has time in the organizations to update that JD.
Don’t let the rejections stop you from re-applying for the same job
As mentioned in the earlier section, organizations get realistic about the expectations from the candidate as they spend more time interviewing candidates. So if your resume has been rejected in initial screening and then you see the same opening again on a job portal a couple of months down the line, do not hesitate from applying. I, many times, get called back after applying the second or third time.
The X factor
In a hyper-competitive market, you need to have a factor that differentiates you from others to make a mark in every step of hiring. So, identify what differentiation factor you want to create for yourself. Ideally, your differentiation factor should move your profile from a red ocean (a competitive market where all the blood bath is) to a blue ocean where there is not much competition. A good differentiation which takes you to the blue ocean,
a. Provides you with a competitive edge that others cannot copy easily.
b. Takes you many years to develop but takes others also many years to copy as there is not just one thing to be done to develop such a differentiation but a combination of many things orchestrated together.
You may want to understand the blue ocean strategy when developing a competitive edge for yourself or your organization. Here is the link
Do leave your comments! Are there any tips you have to share for people finding jobs the conventional way? Or do you think the market has changed so much that the conventional way is not practical anymore?
