3 Reasons to Chase the Company, Not the Job in Your Search

I’m willing to bet that you really care about your work environment. Whether it’s the culture, how leadership treats staff, opportunities for growth, etc., you have spent time considering these elements when choosing to either leave or take a job. These are key concerns for professionals, but as job seekers, our focus is sometimes in the wrong place. The misdirection is that the job itself doesn’t contain these critical elements — the company does. This is why I strongly advise you to chase the company, not the job, in your search process.

This shift in focus will not only have long-term impacts on your happiness and longevity in your role, it will also have immediate, short-term benefits for your job search.

Why You Should Chase the Company, Not the Job

Too many job seekers still begin their search by logging onto a job board and entering their desired job title/function. Though there may be numerous job openings for your target role, the work environments that will be the best fit for you are not.

Given the outsized impact your work environment can have on everything from your ability to perform your job to your precious physical & mental health, starting a job search with job titles alone is like starting a journey without your final destination in mind. Why do that to yourself?

Think about the last time you went on a big vacation. How much research did you do on the destination you would be visiting? You wanted to know the best places to stay, eat, see, and what you could do that would make your time there the most enjoyable. Your "title" during that 1+ week period was "vacationer," but it was the qualities and features of your destination that ultimately influenced how much you enjoyed your vacation.

Now, how much research did you put into the companies you are applying to where you will be spending ~40+ hours a week and ~48-50 weeks a year holding the title of [INSERT YOUR JOB TITLE]?— You should enjoy being there.

Here are 3 key reasons why you should chase the company, not the job in your search process:

1. Quality vs. Quantity + Mental & Emotional Health

Job boards are useful for gathering data, but their downside is the high-volume search results. This volume leads to increased time sifting through postings and submitting time-consuming online applications. The volume can also increase your stress levels and can make many job seekers feel overwhelmed. Job boards can also create a false sense of progress given that submitting an application is so tangible. The challenge is that your significant efforts yield low ROI, which can lead to frustration and for some, anxiety or even inadequacy due to the lack of response. None of this is helpful for your progress or healthy for your process.

Company-Focused Fix: Answer the question, “what company(ies) would you love to work for right now?” and start creating a list of target companies that can and will evolve organically with time and research. Your list can be ~10-30 depending on your industry and location. First, having a finite set of target companies will allow you to narrow your focus and does wonders for your psyche by eliminating the noise of hundreds of job postings. You can now prioritize your time, attention and efforts, therefore preventing you from feeling overwhelmed, and in turn, benefitting your overall wellbeing during your search.

Secondly, it also enables you to conduct more in-depth research about a company’s business model, products/services, and also learn the truth about the work environment. The lower quantity will help you create higher quality application materials (e.g. a highly customized resume) that hone in on your target companies' challenges, needs, and gaps. The more precisely you can speak to an employer's needs, the higher the likelihood of you being seen as the right candidate. Attaining this level of precision is hard to achieve with a high volume search. It’s far more realistic to be able to learn what’s really behind the curtain of your target list of ~10-30 companies versus the 60+ you applied to via one-click-to-submit job boards. Lower quantity of company targets = Higher quality of your candidacy and job prospects.

2. More Effective Networking

Can you imagine trying to network your way into 60+ companies during your job search? Would it be realistic to email your close contacts asking them to scroll through a list of 60+ companies you applied to, to see if they have any connections there? The answer is clear. If you conduct a job-title centric search, your networking efforts must multiply exponentially to keep pace. Let's say it takes 5-10 touchpoints with a single contact at a company to gain a referral or some other tangible action regarding your candidacy -- you would then need 300-600 touchpoints for a contact at each of the 60 companies you applied to. This is not scalable.

Company-Focused Fix: Given the time and energy-intensive nature of networking, having a shortlist pf companies will facilitate maximal impact from your efforts. This shortlist will enable you to quickly determine where gaps exist in your network and in turn, where you need to grow it. It will also allow you to effectively enlist support from your existing network. Imagine sharing a shortlist of 5-10 companies with your network and asking where they have any connections. You’ve just empowered your network to help you by focusing their attention on a knowable universe of current and former colleagues, classmates, clients, friends, etc. that they can potentially connect you with.

Once you have established your ties with a target company, you can then begin the process of getting to know the inside story of said company and building both the knowledge and contacts that will be instrumental in the success of your candidacy through informational interviews. Even if a current job opening doesn’t exist that matches your skillset, you can intentionally use networking to “get on the radar” of a target company (i.e. its recruiters and/or hiring managers) so that if a matching opportunity arises in the future, as a known entity, you might be among the first to receive a call before a job posting ever goes live. This is how the “hidden job market” actually works.

3. Authenticity & Longevity

I'm a terrible actor, a terrible liar, and I can't stand my thoughts and emotions being incongruent. If you are anything like me, I have found it very hard to fabricate false enthusiasm during an interview to land a job at a company I didn't particularly care about. If you go into an interview not genuinely enthused about being there, your interviewer is human, may pick up on it, and you won't land the job. If you are able to escape detection and do indeed land the job, you may not last long in it because it wasn't the best fit to start with. Neither outcome is good -- especially the latter because you will land right back in a job search much sooner than you intended.

Company-Focused Fix: Getting to know your target companies through networking will not only help you determine if the environment will truly be the best fit for you, it will also allow you to discover what you need to know to authentically connect with the mission, goals, and values of the target company, enabling you to craft a highly attuned career platform. This will naturally boost your chances of landing a job. Here’s the best part, all that effort is being made for a company where you actually, really want to be -- motivation issues solved!

When it comes down to the networking and interviewing process, there is no need to fake anything because you are genuinely excited about the company. You can clearly and enthusiastically articulate, the “why,” of you wanting to be there and how you can contribute to the company’s goals/mission. You are fully congruent. There is no dissonance, and this will reflect in your cover letter, how you position yourself in your resume, the time and effort you spend connecting with current employees. Everything about you and your candidacy will appear authentic, and what better impression is there to leave with a prospective employer?

Despite the 2-3 years that most professionals currently stay at a company, I believe that when most people look for a job, they don’t want to make just any move, but rather, the right move. Though longevity may not be your explicit goal in joining your next company, when you create a focused list of target companies, you’ve increase the likelihood of making the right move…and longevity may just be a beneficial byproduct.

I know that’s a scary prospect in today’s commitment-phobic [work]culture – but as a career coach, it’s an outcome I’m willing to accept.

What would you rather be chasing -- a new job because you landed at the wrong company, or your next promotion because you landed somewhere that you love and loves you back?

If you're ready to switch up your job search strategy...let's talk.