How To Land The Right Job Faster: Stop Playing The Job Search Lottery And Start Job Searching Differently From Everyone Else

What do lottery tickets have to do with job applications?

When you see gifs and memes of Effie Trinkett saying "May the odds be forever in your favor," and you wince, it's likely because being a job searcher in the current job market- especially for those in tech- does feel like you're one of the tributes in the Hunger Games.

1. The odds are NOT in your favor. When you apply for a job, you're essentially buying a ticket by submitting your application in the hope of getting a favorable outcome. And just like in a lottery, the odds of winning are often low. How low? On average, for corporate level applications, there are as many as 250 applications per job listing (the figure is more these days, especially with 60,000 professionals having been laid off since January 2024, on top of the 305,000 laid off in 2023), which gets shortlisted to 30 that the recruiters take a closer look at, and then 4-6 of those 30 get invited for a screening.

I'm sure you've seen the posts from hiring managers and recruiters about how they posted a job, walked away for lunch for an hour and came back to 100's of applications and had to pull the job posting after just a couple days because they'd received 1000's. Yes, THAT low. Depressingly low.

Already inundated with a thousand to-do's even before the layoffs, those recruiters who have managed to hold on to their jobs (especially on the corporate side) not only have to handle their workload plus those of their former co-workers who have been laid off, they also now have to wade through an avalanche of applications not just from those who are qualified but from those as well who throw their applications in like it’s a lottery ticket in the hope that they win, even if they’re not a fit for the job.

2. Randomness and Chance

One of the things that makes job searching so exhausting and frustrating is that there are external factors beyond your control. Job applications can be unpredictable. Sometimes, even highly qualified candidates don’t receive offers due to factors like timing, internal policies, or personal biases (in particular, ageism, which, ugh, seems to really be rearing its ugly head these days, and which I will be covering in an upcoming post due to the numerous conversations I've been having recently and posts from older job searchers that have gone viral).

3. Lack of Personal Connection

Applying online feels impersonal. You’re essentially at the mercy of a stranger (the recruiter or hiring manager) who you're banking on to choose you based on your resume. And if you haven't seen what applications looks like on an ATS dashboard, at first glance, we're all lines, lines, lines and more lines of words.

It doesn't help that everyone's resume is starting to look and sound the same, thanks (or no thanks) to resume-writing AI's (No, don't stop using AI tools to help you draft your resume. Also, NO, you can't just submit what AI drafted. You have to rewrite it so that it's your very own.)

Just as lottery numbers are drawn without any personal connection, job applications feel detached from your own unique individual qualities, your human-ness.

I often liken it to how most (not all, so don't come at me) pop singers today sound the same: formulaic, excessive ornamentation, same vocal timbre, same catch in the voice, and all auto-tuned and hyperproduced to an inch of their vocal lives.

What's the better approach? Strategic networking.

Yep. I know. Eyeroll and facepalm if you must. I know most people loathe the idea of having to network for a job because it's icky and uncomfortable.

If you've followed me long enough, you know I've been shouting "Strategic networking!" from the rooftops, meadows and hills for years now. But the reason why it's a hill I will die on is because, throughout my entire career, it's proven very effective for me and for the people I've taught The Dezzi Way to.

If you don't believe us, all you have to do is scroll through LinkedIn and you'll find countless posts from hiring managers encouraging people, especially in this job market, to lean into networking. Don't take my word for it or the word of other career coaches and job search strategists. Take theirs instead, since they're the ones doing the hiring.

Networking is like building relationships with potential allies. It’s akin to knowing the right people who can vouch for you. Unlike the lottery, networking allows you to connect with real individuals who can advocate for your skills and experience.

I remember one of the top voices in the cybersecurity industry being trounced and flayed online a couple years ago for saying she no longer posts entry- and junior-level jobs because wading through the 1000's of applications becomes absolutely unmanageable, and she prefers to hire those she already knows either personally or through their LinkedIn posts, or who are known to those she trusts. People took offense because they perceived it as privilege and exclusivity. (It really isn't. It's no different from companies having sales and marketing teams to get the word out about them to the right audience.) She was right back then, and she's even more right today.

Is networking easy? Not exactly. But it gets easier the more that you do it. And the more that you do it, the more positive results you get. And you soon realize that it's way more efficient than playing the job search lottery, and before you know it, the weeks of hearing nothing but crickets turns into leads and prospects that you would not normally have.

So, shift your mindset and prioritize strategic networking over playing job search lottery.

Instead of relying solely on job applications (the lottery mentality), consider actively networking and connecting with professionals in your field.

I'm not saying you shouldn't apply to jobs if you want to. By all means, apply to jobs if you meet 70% of the requirements (although please don't muck up the job application process for yourself and everyone else involved by having bots apply on your behalf because it just makes more work and more noise to muddle through for everyone and it actually hurts YOU in the long run) but don't make it your be-all and end-all.

Make proactive, strategic networking more of a priority than applying and I promise, your targeted efforts will significantly increase your odds of landing the right job faster.

In upcoming article, I'll be digging even deeper into the ways that you can implement strategic networking into your job search strategy, so if you're not subscribed to my newsletter, be sure to do so so you don't miss those!

In the meantime, if you missed my 5-part vlog post series from last week, where I walk you through how to job search beyond the job boards, check these out because I'm pretty certain you'll pick up a few helpful tips from each episode:

Part 1: The Importance Of Strategic Networking

Part 2: Putting Your Target List Together

Part 3: Crafting Outreach Emails

Part 4: Follow-ups

Part 5: Dealing With Rejections, Staying Motivated

If, at the end of all this, your gut reaction is, "Can't someone please just do all this for me?!!!", you're in luck, because that's exactly what I help my clients with, so if you're interested in having me put some semblance of sanity into your job search so you can land the right job in half the time, with no guesswork and less frustration, book a session with me at www.careercoachdezzi.com

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