Accessing the modern jobs market through a multichannel approach
Greg Wyatt
Outcome led recruitment. UK key hires when your context matters. 40,199 hours in - the more I learn, the less I know.
Updated on 8th January 2024, with '4.3 Convert interest with AIDA'
Note: this is a live document that will be updated over time. When complete it will be a comprehensive guide to navigating today's uncertain jobs market, and will always be available for free.
While it's a work in progress, you should find it an effective start for your search, with points you can act on. You may also come across practical steps you may never have considered that will get you closer to your next job.
Contents
These aren't linked to the sections yet, sorry. To skim to the right section, run a search on the section number through your browser.
Section 1 - The overview
Every jobseeker should have an appropriate funnel based 'integrated multichannel' strategy, where you focus on your actions rather than the outcome, to have the best odds of finding the right job.
?So what is one, why does it matter and what does it look like?
?1.1 Definitions
?A ‘channel’ is a means to finding a job, such as applying to an advert or being visible to a headhunter.
?The ‘multi’ part is finding a job through all the appropriate means at your disposal. Not ‘omni’ for the marketing readers, as that means using every means available, while you should be careful in taking best advantage of the channels that work best for you.
?The ‘integrated’ bit means making sure every part of your job search works well together, with consistent messaging, tone of voice, and showing off your best professional self. It’s your choice how you portray yourself, but be aware that a careless comment (either online or in 'real life') may undo good work you’ve done elsewhere.
?And then there’s ‘appropriate’ as in appropriate for you specifically. The priority that is placed on each channel will be different from person to person, depending on your seniority, expertise, location, demand for your skills, state of the market and what you can effectively achieve.
?Indeed if you focus too much on one channel, while neglecting more channels that are more effective for you, this can actually reduce your odds - for example working only on 'personal branding' in a skills short market when you should be focusing on the channels that 'get you out there'.
?‘Funnel based’ – think of all your job search activities as drips of water entering a funnel, all heading to the exit at different speeds. Fill that funnel with appropriate different speed activity and what comes out the other end may be a job.
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1.2 How to find ‘appropriate’
?A good way to establish what may work for you is to speak to peers that have recently found jobs, and professional recruiters that are working on the current market, then form your strategy around what should be effective for you.
?There are some excellent career coaches too, and if you choose to go down this avenue, make sure they have the right background (ideally in recruitment / HR with insight into how the employers you’d like to work for recruit).
?Be wary of any advice that declares ALWAYS or NEVER, which will normally have unmentioned?nuance for the sake of engagement.
?For example, posts that say ALWAYS / NEVER send a cover letter! Both good points, unless your ideal employment has a specific requirement for the opposite, as unfair to the outside as that may seem.
?Don’t forget that while some employers may not recruit well, it doesn’t mean they aren’t great employers – it’s your choice whether to put up with a suboptimal process that may hide a great opportunity. While others that run a fast recruitment process, may be terrible employers.
?Always do your due diligence (lol).
?Below is the section on Channels, then I’ll talk about why ‘not appropriate’ can work against you, how to look at your funnel (!) and the platform to kick off your search.
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1.3 The channels:
Split between channels that you find jobs in, and those you are found for
?I’m sure there are more channels that I’ve missed. Comment your suggestions below and I’ll update this list accordingly.
?You may note I haven’t included the “hidden jobs market” as a channel. Whatever you think of the term, it’s not a channel, it’s an outcome.
?By following the right multichannel approach, you will inherently access every part of the market, not just the unadvertised jobs, nor just the hidden jobs, nor even just the deep state jobs – every job.
?Focus on process, not on outcome. Process is within your control and leads to outcome. Outcome is not within your control. The better your processes and actions, the more likely you are to reach the outcome you want, no matter how daft decision makers may act.
?Which is why the hope of accessing the “hidden jobs market” is like swimming in sand – it’s an outcome that is out of your direct control.
?The added benefit of focusing on process, is that you are detached from the outcome. This can only be a good thing in a difficult job search as it makes you a stronger candidate if you aren’t seen to need that job; it is less harmful if you don’t get that job; and you know to keep filling your job search funnel with other activity, even if you are hopeful for a job offer this week, because you know the decision to give you that offer is out of your control.
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1.4 The dangers of an 'inappropriate' job search
All of these channels can get you closer to a job.
They all require commitment, time and energy, which we all have different amounts of, whether working in a busy job, out of work, or returning to work with a new family.
But if you focus too much on the wrong channels, you may make your job search unnecessarily tortuous.
Who you are, your situation, your skills, your requirements, your level of seniority all have a part to play in which channels you shouldn’t place emphasis on.
For example, if you were a React developer in 2022– apply to jobs, work through agencies, stick your CV on a job board. You would get no end of interest in that market. Spending hours and hours on LinkedIn, building a personal brand… you’d get some interest for sure, but what is the benefit compared to the more immediate steps you might have taken? Other channels are even less relevant.
But the same React Developers in 2023?
Equally, if you are a CEO, you aren’t likely to see many jobs advertised, nor will high street agencies have access to what you need. However look at how your ideal role is typically recruited – retained headhunters, equity partners, investors, business owners. Networking, the right outreach, nurturing relationships, potentially personal brand work (which is delicate at a senior level if you do choose this approach).
Let’s not forget too the remarkable couple of years we’ve had. Relying on job boards during lockdown 1 would have been woefully ineffective, whereas today they are much more so. Whereas personal branding work carried great import then, now it is just a piece of the puzzle (not one to be discounted if you are so inclined and there are other benefits carrying out this kind of work).
Timing and demand is everything.
1.5 The benefits of a funnel-based approach and why you might always keep this in mind, even when employed
The activities you do to fill your job search funnel will typically have short, medium and long-term time frames before they pay off.
If you find yourself in a long, difficult job search, it goes to follow that the long-term activities will pay off at some point and will do so at the same time the short term activities you continue to do achieve an outcome too.
Applying for a job; registering with agencies / headhunters; even contacting someone direct at a lucky time – these are short term activities that can literally give you a job offer next week, even if you have nothing in view today.
Networking is a medium to long-term activity.
Personal branding and content is a medium to longer term activity – it may take 6 to 12 months to pay off, even though you may get lucky sooner. But if you know it’s going to be a long job search (particularly for those senior expert roles) you should consider starting these on day 1.
Even better, if you are gainfully employed – networking, content and all these other long-term activities have benefit professionally. The more you do now, the more traction you’ll have if you find yourself in an unexpected job search, while seeing professional benefit before then.
That’s why the ‘hidden jobs market’ can be so frustrating, especially at a senior level where many jobs are filled direct or by exec headhunters who don’t advertise. Yet if you are nurturing those activities that require long-term commitment to pay off, you’ll be in the best place if that indeed is where your next job hides.
On that note, keeping your job search tool kit in order, whatever the shape of your next job search, is always a smart thing to do. Keep your CV updated with any notable changes, and document any achievements.
1.6 How to execute your multichannel jobsearch strategy
Much like making sure the channels you use should be appropriate to your situation, so too is the execution. The goal is to make all your activities work together with a funnel based approach, so that they coalesce into not just one job offer, but a few that you can objectively choose between (how many times have you read someone experiencing that on LinkedIn?).
There’s no one answer in what works best, but there are a few principles that can serve as a platform to everything else:
As for how to best access each channel –each is a chapter in its own right, but I’ve collated a lot of advice under #jobseekersbasics. Click on the hashtag for more.
2 – on job offers
Okay, so this is starting at the end and I'm sure for some will feel out of touch, but if you follow the right process at some point (soon!) you will be offered a role, and it's good to keep in mind what a 'good' offer will look like.
If you receive a job offer and have the freedom to decline it, there are some questions you should ask yourself before committing.
Questions that may seem obvious, yet are commonly described as surprises if a role doesn't work out as expected. Always ask:
Of course, this is information you might be gleaning throughout a recruitment process, rather than at its end.
Everyone has different priorities, and many of these have changed over the passage of the past two years.
What may have been right for you in early 2020 may look very different now.
Make sure you consider all facets when making what may be a life-changing decision.
3 The ATS and 'algorithms'
This section tries to help cut through the assumptions and confusing advice on the ATS and how 'algorithms' may or may not penalise job seekers:
Recruitment systems ease the administration of internal recruitment functions.
They can be integrated into job boards to make it easier to administrate both adverts and applications, with features that make it easier to communicate, coordinate and arrange.
The common factor is administration, speed and efficiency.
Many internal recruiters refer to them as electronic filing cabinets, because like email replacing letters that’s what they started out as.
While many are designed without the candidate's journey in mind, none are designed to actively reject applications for arbitrary reasons.
They are only as good as how they are designed, configured and used.
It's the same for ‘algorithm-based’ searching and ranking.
These systems allow us to search for information quickly and efficiently.
If we look for a skill that isn’t on your CV, and the system doesn’t build in synonyms, we won’t find you easily.
If you're one of many candidates/applicants arbitrary decisions from humans might rule you out or miss you.
Most decisions on an application, ranking or search are made by a human, sometimes qualitatively and sometimes quantitatively.
For example, a recruiter may scan your CV for a few seconds, which could be one of hundreds or even thousands, and judge you unsuitable, no matter how unfairly.
Or a recruiter may have had 100 great applications and decide to reject everyone after.
Or they may have a killer question which you have failed, leading to an automated rejection - work permit, years experience, qualifications etc.
Technology simply facilitates our decisions.
In the majority of cases, the reason for a rejection or lack of progress is human.
It’s true that ATSs can struggle with parsing images, tables and columns, but this is a basic hurdle to overcome - don't use images, tables or columns.
Don’t worry about ATS compliance. Worry about helping your human reader see you as a good candidate.
Indeed, if a CV writer pitches their service based on 'beating the ATS', it's likely they are of: ignorant, cynical or unscrupulous.
ATS can be configured to automate comms, such as rejections, so when you never hear back, that too stems from a human decision.
4 Your CV / resume
"Ask 10 people for advice on your CV and you'll end up with 11 CVs"
This includes CV Writers wrangling for your investment.
Aiming for a subjective 'perfect' isn't helpful.
Aiming for an objective 'good enough' is.
4.1 Improve your CV findability
Set aside the top 10 job adverts you adverts you see yourself as an ideal candidate for.
These can be specs sent to you by a hiring process too.
(If you don't meet the essential criteria of these adverts, and aren't gaining traction, then you need to be more realistic about your strengths)
Look at the skills required in the essential criteria in these adverts. You'll see some common themes.
- Make sure your LinkedIn profile and CV show these skills are they are stated.
It's likely some of the skills required will be listed slightly differently to your terminology. These are synonyms.
If you can show your skills are directly applicable (and honestly) add these synonyms in.
For example, you may be an IBP expert (integrated business planning) who can perform an S&OP (sales and operations planning) role brilliantly.If a recruiter doesn't know what IBP is and relies on looking for S&OP, help them find you by using the right synonyms.
Another example might be job title - "Head of People" "HR Director" "VP of Culture & Talent" might just be exactly the same job.
Or COO / "Operations Director".
Etc.
Recruiters use keyword searches and boolean to identify 'top talent'.
When time-short, inexperienced or other, we may only search on the keywords and job titles listed in the essential criteria of our job descriptions.
With a decent set of results, we may not dig deeper.
If you don't list these keywords, we may never find you or consider you.
The good news is that the same LinkedIn profile and CV that can be used to find you, can also be used to apply for jobs.
If a recruiter has hundreds of applications they may well run such a search to prioritise those with high keyword hit rates.
A good enough CV/profile with relevant skills cuts it in most situations if you want to be found.
Meaning you don't need to spend hours customising each and every application.
Help us find you.
4.2 CV Context
Many CVs don't show context.
This is a key reason why great candidates get rejected without being offered an interview.
If a hiring manager or recruiter reads your CV without context, we have to assume whether or not you are suitable.
How often do assumptions work in your favour?
When you read your own CV, you see the path of your career linked to generic terms.
Every company, role, skill and achievement tells a story in your mind. It makes total sense, yet the meaning is trapped in your head.
While we can only rely on the words you've written down.
And we aren't mind readers.
Show the right context so we don't make an assumption that may lead to binning your application.
? A line of context on your key employers: nature of the company, turnover, number of employees, number of sites.
? Same for your role: what was its purpose, how many reports did you have, and what problems did you solve?
? Your skills: you may be frustrated that people don't see how transferrable they are, but can you help readers by showing us how they applied?
? Your achievements: yes these show impact, but what do they relate to? ￡1.2m of sales on a new business ￡1m target is very different to the same on a ￡2m account management target.
Think about interview questions you may have been asked that cleared up what is in your CV.
If someone has to ask "What do you mean by that" your words don't have sufficient meaning.
If you get feedback that doesn't make sense, it's because they've perceived the wrong context from your words.
Think about the information your reader needs and the questions they might ask. The answers should be in your CV.
4.3 Convert interest using AIDA
Your CV advertises your capability, so why not use AIDA to convert more readers to conversations?
AIDA is a classic advertising formula that's been in use for over 100 years - it works.
Attention - help readers see you as a good candidate without having to scroll or turn a page. Readable, clearly laid out copy that uses the right job titles, key words and skills front and centre.
Interest - show us how you can help through your achievements, backed by numbers. Be honest.
Desire - show the depth of these points through context. Achievement against target, how you contributed individually, company size, industry, relevant team structure. The salient points that align your candidacy with the requirement.
(Example -Replace 'consistently hit target' with 'achieved 110% of ￡10m new business target selling industrial robotics in a standalone role'Use 'So What?' to find and show meaning)
Action - make it easy to contact you, through multiple correct means.
5 - The detail
5.1 setting your job search principles
The key to any multichannel job search strategy is starting it off on the right footing and establishing the principles of what ‘good’ looks like.
Given a job search is a strategic marketing activity where you are the product, we can steal these principles from Marketing:
?????????????? - know yourself. What do you offer? Which strengths are in demand from your next employer? What are your features (experience) and benefits (achievements)? How can you help?
Also think in terms of your needs, wants and ambition.
?????????? - what salary covers your baseline needs if working from home? What does that look like as part of an overall package? What about if commuting - what's the cost off your net salary? What is the market rate? What should you aspire to? Take a holistic view.
??????????- where are your jobs likely to be found, both physically and in the channels you’ll access
?????????????????? - how you communicate across a multichannel job search. Take a consistent approach and voice to show your professional self to your next employer. This integrated approaches requires mindfulness of everything you do, including social media commentary and politeness to receptionists – in case you are judged for those messages by others.
?????????????????????? - segment the market to understand where your ideal and adequate jobs are situated. Which industry sectors, locations, cultures, job profiles suit your needs?
???????????????????? - both individual and market. Speak to your next employer's needs on an individual basis. And understand the state of the current market to temper your efforts - e.g. job boards and agencies are more effective now than in Lockdown 1. Don't assume future performance from past results - gain insight into current trends, and supply and demand.
?????????????? - establish how each market channel works and how to best use it. Everything from the ATS (simpler than you think) to agencies to LinkedIn (a platform for marketing, research, business development, networking, solidarity, socialising, headhunting, referrals and more - how do you use it?)
5.2 A sustainable job search
Once you’ve covered the principles of what your job search means for you (see 2.1 linked in comments), it’s time to put together a sustainable plan.
Looking for work can be a full-time job, but it should be structured in a way that you can commit to over the long term.
If you are unemployed and facing a difficult market in the roles you are looking for, it might look like this:
Keep track of what you are doing and how it impacts you. Tweak your strategies to get the most out of it. If you’ve hit the wall, take baby steps while your energy levels are difficult to manage.
6 - the channels
6.1 job boards
6.1.1 The problem with job boards
There’s no question that job boards are a valid channel to employment; however they come with two types of problems to be expected – systematic and user-led.
The first type of problem relates to how job boards are built and are described as benefits to their paying customers, yet are the opposite for their applicants.
Often these features have nothing to do with the employer / agency and their employability, and you should recognise these features for what they are:
Scraping – this is an automated “copy and paste” process that copies content from one job board advert to another. In doing so it parses data, often incorrectly. This can lead to incorrect or lost salary data, wrong location, misleading dates about when the advert was posted, lost content and poor re-formatting of content.
Many job boards do this, including LinkedIn, Indeed, CV Library, Totaljobs, often to amusing / aggravating effect.
Automated Relisting – this is where an advert is relisted automatically and periodically as a new advert, keeping it at the ‘top of the pile’.
When you buy an advertising slot, it is typically live for 4 to 6 weeks, and will likely be listed as new once a week. So for the applicant, you may apply for an advert that appears 2 days old, when it is actually 5 weeks and 2 days, and possibly far older.
Combine this with scraping and you can see adverts that appear new that actually hark back to when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
Job Alerts – sign up to be notified about new jobs. You’re a marketing manager and you get a job alert for a toilet cleaner – who hasn’t? This is done by comparing how the skills you list on your CV and chosen keywords, to another job. Do you ‘clean data’ and get rid of waste leads? Don’t be surprised if you’re cleaning toilets instead.
These points, and others, are baked into job boards. Often the recruiter won’t know that these benefits are active, even though it can make us look pretty shoddy (“salary on the advert!!??”).
Be aware of them so you don’t needlessly frustrate yourself or blame the wrong people.
The second type of problem is how recruiters use job boards to advertise.
If how we use our words turns you off, feel free to judge us for it, but try not to let bad recruitment get in the way of what may be good employment.
6.1.2 effective use of job boards
Look past the above problems and they are a valid, effective and short-term route to a new job. You can apply to a vacancy today and receive a job offer by the end of the week, something that definitely won’t happen if you ignore job boards.
Which job boards in the the UK should you pay attention to?
Generic: – indeed, Reed, Totaljobs / Jobsite, CV Library, Monster, LinkedIn. All list vacancies that you may be interested, hidden away in the mix
Specialist: for your sector, e.g. Change Board for HR, CWJobs for IT. Likely to have a greater proportion of relevant vacancies.
Niche purpose: formed to serve a specific marketplace. E.g. in the Cambridge tech scene, the Cambridge Network.
You’ll need to research your own market to form a list of all three categories. Talk to your industry peers, talk to specialist recruiters – ask where they think the jobs are advertised.
How should you find relevant adverts?
Most job boards work to the principles of SEO, with searchable fields for skills words, salary, location, date listed, contract type. Depending on your position in the market, you’ll find a combination of search criteria for the best effect, which will need manual filtering to sift through the crap.
Establishing the key skills you should search for is helpful.
You might be an HR lead, in which case “HR Director”, “Chief Human Resources Officer”, “VP of People” and even “Human Capital Strategist” may all throw up relevant appearing roles.
“Supply Chain”, “Procurement”, “Purchasing” should all be different roles, yet can be the same too.
You get my drift.
Understanding how adverts list what may be arbitrary terms or company specific jargon will help you find them. If you see an advert for a Chief Donkey Advocate, and it’s a relevant role with an unrecognisable title – it’s worth iterating a search with that title, among your normal job titles and skills.
Minor search adjustments bring up profound changes in results.
Extending your search from 10 miles from your postcode to 15, will create 2.25x more results in an even population. Or if you only want to work in the Cambridge Science Park, you could run a search 2 miles from CB4 0WZ (my old offices).
Once you know how to search effectively, and you are accountable in only applying for jobs you are confident you are suitable for (6 out of 10 is a good minimum fit), split your activity between transactional and insight-led applications (see post in comments).
6.1.3 transactional vs insight led adverts
When applying on job boards, split your profile of application between transactional and insight-led adverts. Your life will be better.
It's easy to lump all your applications together, taking a monolithic approach and coming away with a 1-10% hit rate.
Utterly depressing if you tailor each application and inevitably get a rejection within 1.2 seconds or worse yet it disappears into the chasm of ghosting.
Yet not all adverts are born equal, and they should not be treated with the same brush.
Perhaps you already separate applications between agency and direct, but I think the transactional vs insight-led discussion is the better one to have.
A transactional advert is your cookiecutter pasted job description with generic wordage. No doubt it starts with "My favourite client is an innovative award-winning market leader". It probably finishes with "If you don't hear from us within three years you can do one" (I think that's how it goes).
This is a sign of a transactional process where the job description and generic brief is all the information to go on, and the advertiser fills out the rest with the same words they see on other adverts and CVs. The advert probably isn't even 80% representative of the actual job.
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With these, there's little point tailoring a CV. What are you tailoring it against exactly? Assumption? Sure you can tweak your keywords to align with the description but don't waste any more than a couple of minutes.
Fire and forget. A 1% hit rate is fine if that is the expectation. Just make sure you can broadly do the job or even that's a waste of everyone's time.
On the other hand, an insight-led advert shows that the writer has dug a little deeper and that the employer places a different value on interpreting their needs in the job marketplace.
These are the ones to focus on if you are a good match. Indeed it should be easier to tell if you are a good candidate because these adverts aim to help you assess that. And they will be more representative of the role itself.
If you need to tailor your CV to highlight relevant achievements, working environments and contributions, these are the ones to spend that time on. Although if you have a 'good enough' CV, you'll probably find the advert writer spends a bit more time assessing applications and will look a little deeper than words on a CV. That's what I do anyway.
I expect if you are accountable in your job search, applications to insight-led adverts will have a 10-30%+ hit rate. That's a good return worth focusing on, when you can find these insight-led adverts.
Given they are rare, on the dross that is job board advertising, if you don't segregate these from transactional ads, that hit rate will disappear into the volume of failed transactional applications.
6.2 CV databases
When you apply for a vacancy on a job board, it is likely your CV will be captured for its database. CV database access is sold to recruiters, separately from advertising.
This should be a secret weapon in being found for vacancies, including those which are never advertised. Here are simple steps to keep your CV visible:
Of course, some of these principles should be applied to your LinkedIn profile and content too – you don’t want to be a candidate that can’t be found.
6.2.3 Mapping your network
You should be purposeful, strategic and consistent
Build a list of everyone you know, both on LinkedIn and off.
You can download your contacts list from settings on LinkedIn.
Prioritise first on the people you know – because they know you and your capability, and the relationship is already there.
Use the LinkedIn search bar to find people in your field, by job titles and industry, then filter for a targetted search.
Segment your list in this way:
1/ people who can hire you
2/ people might refer you for a role
3/ people who can advocate for you
4/ people who can help you with relevant advice
5/ industry peers for insights and to share knowledge
6/ fellow job seekers (a burden shared)
Respect peoples' time - if they don't engage, consider how many similar contacts they get, and how busy they are. Some people don't even use LinkedIn much gasps.
Take notes of every contact you make and any action points. You can use the downloaded excel list of contacts, or even one of the many free CRMs online.
Diarise any agreed follow ups, and if you haven’t agreed a time frame be judicious about how often you keep in touch.
Above all, remember networking is about building a relationship, not treating us as a commodity - or is that how you like to feel when applying for jobs?
6.3 LinkedIn
6.3.1 Let's start with an exercise in raising your visibility
Think about your last role. Imagine you've been promoted and been tasked to find your replacement.
You are only allowed 30 minutes to find them, and are limited to only using LinkedIn:
Bingo. Successful appointment!
Now ask yourself this:
Imagine you are applying for a role, where you and this candidate are the only two in consideration.
And the decision is down solely on the strength of the points you've identified.
If your profile is weaker than the other's, you've work to do.
Take a few more minutes to critically assess the "successful candidate's" profile. Where is it stronger than yours? What lessons can you apply? Compare and contrast objectively.
Look at
Do the same with the "unsuccessful candidates" to confirm what you prioritised on, and anything that made you rule them out.
Are you guilty of the same?
By acting as a hiring manager, you'll take the same approach many other hiring managers and recruiters do in assessing your profile.
Detach yourself from your profile - ego, humility or a concern for appearing arrogant can all hold you back. How does the successful candidate come across?
Use your experience in hiring to make your LinkedIn presence objectively more appealing to the people whom you want to be found and employed by.
It doesn't matter how good you are if we can't tell this from your LinkedIn profile, content, CV, cover letter, interviews, or behaviour. Or if we can't find you because the keywords we search on don't appear in your content.
Assume we will only go for the low-hanging fruit, and help us do our job.
6.4.1 Networking to find a job - the What, the Who and the Why of it.
First, an analogy. Who are the two types of people you remember at networking events?
One will be the instant pitch networker, whom you strive to avoid at future events.
The second is the one who gets to know you, so that when you have a problem they can solve, you think to go to them.
Jobsearch networking is no different.
The purpose of networking in a job search is to build a network where you are seen as a go-to expert should a suitable vacancy come up.
Either because someone you know is recruiting, or because they advocate for you when someone they know is recruiting.
It is always a two-way conversation you both benefit from.
It is not contacting someone to ask for a job or a recommendation. A one-way conversation, that relies on lucky timing.
It's a short, medium and long-term activity, which is to say you MIGHT get very lucky and network with someone who is recruiting now, but the likelihood is you nurture that relationship over time.
This makes it sensible to start by building a network with people that already know you:
- former direct colleagues and company colleagues
- industry leaders and peers
- recruiters you have employed or applied through
These are a priority because they know you, your capability and your approach, and trust has already been built.
Whereas networking with people you don't know requires helping them come to know and trust you.
Networking with people you know is the most overlooked tactic by the exec job seekers I talk to (followed by personal branding). These are the same people who see the 'hidden jobs' market as where their next role is, yet miss simplicity for the sake of ambiguity.
If you are looking for a new role on the QT - networking is a go-to approach, which invites proactive contact to you.
Networking with people who know people you know, networking with people in a similar sphere, then networking with people outside of this sphere - these are networks in decreasing order of priority.
Always go for the low-hanging fruit first.
Let's not forget the other type of networking, if you are unemployed. Talking to fellow job seekers is a great way to share your pain, take a load off your shoulders, bounce ideas off each other, and hold each other accountable.
Of course??is the perfect platform to find the right people if you haven't kept in touch already.
But it's a conduit to, not the means of, a conversation. Speaking in real life is where networking is at because while you might build a facsimile of a relationship in text, it's no replacement for a fluid conversation.
And not just LinkedIn - business events, seminars, conferences, and so on are all places are the perfect places for proper networking.
The next section is on the How of networking.
6.4.2 How to network constructively
Don't think about networking as 'what can I get out of it?'
That's a transactional approach which relies on contacting the right person, at the right time, who has something for you.
They may not even reply if they feel awkward or can't help.Most outcomes will be negative, given the reliance on happenstance.
Instead, think about networking as 'how can I help?', 'what can I add to the conversation?', 'what can they get out of it?'.
The possibility of them helping you immediately is the same.
The chance of getting a reply and starting a conversation is higher.
The opportunity to build a relationship where they can advocate for you, given the opportunity, is much greater.
And the outcome is much more likely to be positive. It's not the only channel to a role, but one that is neglected.
What's in it for them?
6.4.3 mapping your network
6.5 Personal branding
"You don't see yourself the way others see you" Dad, 1994
Whether you like it or not, as a jobseeker, you have a brand.But it's not so much what you do and say, it's more about how others see, hear and experience you.
For example, what do you think of me?
If you don't know me, you'll see I'm a recruiter - does that affect my message?
Whatever your answer is, for you, that's my brand, and it will influence everything you see, hear and experience.
Sometimes you'll be wrong - that's on me, because I'm accountable for my actions, behaviour and message.
This is all well and good, but how does this principle help your job search?
Your brand isn't in you, it's experienced by others, so you need to cater what you do to the experience you want them to have, so that they get you closer to your goal:
Why can't people see my transferrable skills?
becomes 'How can I demonstrate that my skills apply in their context'
What's my professional brand?
becomes 'What do my colleagues and peers think of me? What value do I bring them and how can I articulate that to people who don't know me?'
How can my network get me closer to a job?
becomes 'Does my real life network know I need a job, and the kind of job I'd be interested in?'
The point about your brand is that we all keep valuable insights trapped in our head.
Unless we help others understand who we are, how we can help and what we need, how can we expect them to help us?
Everything you do in a job search creates a brand experience, and sometimes this can work against you.
If all an employer knows about you is that one comment you made complaining about unfair recruitment practice, what should they think?
That you've had a bad experience or that this is how they can expect you to behave at work?
Their reaction is out of your control, but your message is.
Everything you do can work towards the same goal of getting you a role:
Your CV
Your LinkedIn profile
Your LinkedIn messages
Your dealings with recruiters
How people advocate for you
How you come across at interview
How you follow up interviews
How you keep in touch
Your TikTok dance
It's all part of your brand - the experience others have of you, and make a decision on.
If you'd like to get a sense of how your brand is influenced by your online presence, try the Visible - https://www.visible.cx/ . It's not perfect by any means, but it's a great tool to see how others may see you.
7. Recruitment agencies
7.1 What to expect
Managing your expectations is a key part of a sustainable job search, especially when looking for work through agencies.
We can be a key route to a job - how we operate will be a factor in the support we can give you and your general experience.
It's important to differentiate between transactional and non-transactional recruitment.
Transactional relies on the quality of documentation available, and information process, rather than a human element - job descriptions, adverts, CVs etc.
The common transactional approach is ‘contingency’ where an agency is paid for filling a vacancy by the employer.
Typically multiple agencies will compete on a first past the post basis for that vacancy.
In the UK, average fill rate for contingency is estimated to be between 20% and 33%. I’ve seen some operate at 90%+, which therefore means others operate well below the average.
This model dictates how many vacancies a recruiter has to work on at any one time to be profitable.
If a recruiter has to fill 5 vacancies a month, with a 20% fill rate, they need 25 live vacancies.
If they specialise in a discipline, then their candidate focus will support this goal, given one candidate may be viable for many vacancies. But if you aren’t in this pool of viable candidates it can be hard to break in.
For a generalist contingency recruiter, having 25 different vacancies means there is no candidate overlap – with little time available per candidate.
Especially given the role of a recruiter includes many other activities, such as business development and LinkedIn memes.
And when generic adverts attract hundreds of applicants.
It's a tough job, especially in an environment where resilience is seen as a key skill.
If there is a guilty party for poor experience, it’s the system. That system is driven by how employers and job boards work, as well as technology – agencies follow suit.
This is a system built on speed and volume, not individual experience.
Contingency recruitment is predicated on failure.
At a 20% fill rate, 4 out of every 5 vacancies aren't filled, and the 'successful client' pays for the 4 unfilled vacancies.
This is one reason fees can seem so high, yet their value is questionable.
It's the transactional system that leads to so many complaints about recruiters, and needs lower expectations of what you can expect as an individual jobseeker. There simply isn't the time to help everyone, so most focus is on hitting as many sales KPIs as possible.
Non-transactional recruitment is, by my estimation, 1-5% of the market, and the key difference is a focus on individual experiences, context and culture fit.
7.2 How to differentiate transactional and non-transactional recruitment
How can you differentiate between transactional and non-transactional recruiters?
Does it impact the likelihood of their getting you closer to a job?
1/ Messaging
Anything that commoditises candidacy is a sign of a transactional approach.
“Apply now with an updated CV and full cover letter. Only successful candidates will be contacted”
If a candidate has to do the work, with no commitment in return, this is a one-sided transaction.
A lack of insight shows a transactional approach.“Our client is a progressive and innovative market leader” – words which say nothing at all when everyone says the same.
Where’s the insight?
It’s likely because they are part of a transactional process, where most of their information is gleaned from a job description.
2/ Behaviour
If a recruitment process focuses on their needs and not yours, it’s likely a transactional process.
You should distinguish between applicant and candidate.
At volume it’s impossible to provide an individual service to every applicant.
If someone is a candidate for consideration, how they are engaged shows a lot about the process. Any engagement that leads with a pitch is at least in part transactional, because the hope is the candidate will bite.
But if engagement is about your needs first, to establish if we can help and how, which might include a vacancy, you can expect a different service.
And behaviour that relates to transactional KPIs and tries to change minds, works for the vacancy and not the candidate.
That may seem how recruitment should work, which is the case if you want to fill a vacancy, but it works less so if you want to keep a vacancy filled and achieve long-term desired outcomes.
3/ Does it matter?
Possibly not.
Transactional recruiters work at higher volume because they need more vacancies to achieve a 20-30% fill rate, and because the system demands it. But more vacancies might mean more opportunities if they specialise in a niche.If you’re a great candidate, and you help them see you as such, you may have access to more vacancies.
However, you should expect less individual service, and be disappointed with everything we hear about – ghosting, lowballs, etc.
Non-transactional recruiters will likely be more helpful on an individual basis, but because we do so by working fewer vacancies (with a higher fill rate), we may have access to fewer relevant vacancies.
A recruiter that is non-transactional, and an expert in your domain: gold dust.
8 On interviews
8.1 Preparation
The way I see it there's too much focus on preparing for interview questions, and not enough on preparing for the 'why' of the interview.
Employers want people who can solve their problems, who can fulfil their role (and sometimes the next), who will be a good addition to the team and who really want to work for them.
If they have a structured process, they'll likely give you a heads up, so following the rules is crucial too. Yes, that may mean a cover letter, application form or ATS entry. It may mean other things. Play by the rules well, or choose to withdraw if it besmirches you too much.
If you can show those four things, and do the potential fifth, you're halfway there.
The other half is out of your control anyway (other candidates in process and the decision to take you forward), so not something you should waste energy worrying about.
With that in mind, you can prepare by:
In my career, rare is the feedback that says "wow they answered those questions well" when related to a positive decision. More often, feedback on good preparation relates to the points above.
These are all things I help my candidates with. Not by giving them the answers, which would be cheating, but by giving them the tools to find the answers themselves. It has the added benefit of helping assess whether they are the right candidates in the first place - insight is everything.
Preparation is key - like all things, it's how you do it that matters.
8.2 STAR and CARL
STAR is a great way to answer a competency-based interview question, but it isn't just about the answer you give.
More than that it is a framework for helping the interviewer understand your answer.
It's a storytelling device that interprets your stuck-in-head data with meaning:
S Situation - the context in which your answer takes shape. This could be the nature and size of the business, team, project or activity you were working on related to the question.
T Task - the specific activity that relates to the question the interviewer asked you
A Action - the steps you took to get to the outcome of the Task
R Results - what happened? What was the outcome? Who did it impact and how? Did you learn anything from it (particularly salient for a 'tell me about a time you failed' question)
The trick isn't in practising specific answers - that's the way of coming across like a personality-lacking robot.
The trick is to make this framework habitual, so you can plot out your answer instinctively and share it in 60-90 seconds.
If you've had a few unsuccessful interviews, think about the questions asked and lay out your answers in STAR.Being concise is key, as is simplifying corporate jargon - those acronyms and corporate speaks that were unique to your employers.
STAR allows you to tell the story of your answer, so that the listener wants to hear more. And if their eyes are glazing over, or they're checking their watch, you need to nail down how you're telling your story.
As for CARL it's a nuance on STAR. Context Action Result Learning - think about that against description above and it works much the same.
9. The AI conundrum
Here are some reasons you might use AI to support how you look for work:
1/ More applications at scale.
2/ Less time and effort per application.
3/ More interviews.
Here is why I don't think you should, right now (9th October 2023)
1/ Remember all those spammy automated messages you receive in your inbox? That's your AI application, that is.
2/ When used at volume, AI customisation will make all applications look grey. Every CV customised by the same rules, with the only difference your job titles, companies, qualifications and tenure.
3/ AI customises by parsing content and iterating yours. If a job description and advert are written by AI, your AI is merely mirroring the other AI, not the job you're applying for.
4/ AI takes accountability away from your job search because you can apply at volume with no stakes. Accountability is what forces you to apply for jobs you are suitable for, which will always increase your odds per application.
5/ You will get more interviews, but those interviews are less likely to be suitable. Interviewing an AI CV against an AI job description isn't the same as interviewing a person for a job. You'll have to get used to personal rejection rather than CV rejection.
6/ If everyone uses AI more people will apply for the same job, making it harder for recruiters to find suitable candidates - especially if they rely on AI for assessment.
7/ If you've already struggled to find work in a transactional marketplace, AI will only make it more transactional. Do what you can to be non-transactional: network, build relationships with people who can hire or advocate for you (while not doing so transactionally or like a duck), create inbound leads through specific content.
8/ If most applications become GrAI, a non-AI CV will stand out, even if you just use blue paper rather than white. It will become more effective, but not right now.And if you're a recruiter nodding along, sceptical of AI job search tools, think about how you're employing AI with your content and how it may come across.
It's your choice.
END (to be continued)
If you’ve hung along for the end of this article, thanks for reading and I hope you’ve found it helpful. This is going to be a higgledy-piggledy article as I add to it, and I’m sure has many flaws. I’ll be editing it over the coming weeks to make it more cohesive, readable, accessible and for general improvement.
Each addition will be tagged with . Click on the hashtag and follow it to be alerted to each new post.
Outcome led recruitment. UK key hires when your context matters. 40,199 hours in - the more I learn, the less I know.
10 个月New update 4.3 Converting CV interest with AIDA
Outcome led recruitment. UK key hires when your context matters. 40,199 hours in - the more I learn, the less I know.
10 个月Updated on 4th January 2024, with '4.1 "Improve your CV findability'
Outcome led recruitment. UK key hires when your context matters. 40,199 hours in - the more I learn, the less I know.
12 个月New update '4 Your CV / 4.1 Showing context on your CV'
Outcome led recruitment. UK key hires when your context matters. 40,199 hours in - the more I learn, the less I know.
1 年New update - '6.2 How to differentiate from transactional recruiters'
Outcome led recruitment. UK key hires when your context matters. 40,199 hours in - the more I learn, the less I know.
1 年Updated with a section on 'ATS and the 'algorithms''.