Job Boards Belong in History Books

Just stop and think about your career so far.

How many times when you have been looking for a new job, prowling on job sites, hitting up quick apply, has a recruiter reached out to you, set you up for some interviews, and you actually got that job??

If you’re like me, that’s pretty much every good job you’ve ever had. When a recruiter ‘recruited’ me into a role. They did all the work. You just had to show up to the interviews and pass them and heck, the recruiter even prepped you for the interview!??

So my point is, it’s important if you’re going to work with a recruiter that you work with a great recruiter. And you don’t just work with any recruiter, you work with someone in your industry, who specializes in the positions you’re looking for, and they also have to be someone you trust.?

Now, on the flip side, if you don’t have time to start building relationships with a bunch of recruiters to figure out which ones you like, and whom you can trust, you can just skip that part and move on to the part where you do what they do for you.

?In other words, learn how to position yourself and promote yourself just like a recruiter would!??

Why is it better for you to promote yourself? Because if a recruiter doesn’t think you are the top candidate for the position already, then they’re not going to spend a lot of time prepping you for the interview. They’re not even going to present you for the interview! Recruiters are NOT career coaches. They’re paid by the company and typically spend their time talking to people who perfectly fit their profile to present to the hiring manager (cause they are marked on HIRES, not good intentions).

Sorry, but that's the job!?

If you aren’t their top pick, then you’re kind of screwed so you may as well learn how to promote yourself to hiring managers just like recruiters and headhunters do. I’d just tell you right now exactly how to do that, but they are literal hacks!?

?Here’s a hint :

Research?

Automation?

Relationships??

R.A.R.!!?

You’ll spend most of the time on the front end researching your industry to find the companies you are interested in and where you would actually accept an offer.?

Before you say: “But I just want a JOB, any JOB!” ?

Hold on there now, tiger.

You’re opening yourself up to a TON of work in entire industries with thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of potential contacts.

THIS is why people get overwhelmed while looking for a job.

You have to narrow it down and decide what you want to do and where. ?

A recruiter would ‘screen’ you. So 'screen' yourself.

What are your must haves?

Lines in the sand?

Now close in on that until you have much more specific criteria for your initial search. Imagine the PERFECT job, because you are going to have the POWER to get that job! ?

THEN?

You’ll build relationships with the decision-makers just like a salesperson (this is a process... just ask any salesperson).

You'll need to convince them that you’re the right fit for the position, even before the interview!?

There are handy scripts for this, but let’s keep going…?

You’ll use automation to reach out to tons of people that could potentially be your next manager and people who can support the fact that you’re the fit for the position (people you would work with).

You’ll do all this while avoiding HR and the black hole of the ATS (applicant tracking system).?

You know that crappy feeling you get when you reach out to a recruiter and they say, “Apply online”??

Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.

Let’s skip all that, and just promote ourselves like a headhunter or recruiter would promote us.?

No one teaches this because the only people who know about it are recruiters and headhunters, and if they showed you how to present yourself, they’d be out of a job!??

And if you’re a recruiter out there and you’re reading this and you’ve been laid off, you should be using these hacks. If you don’t know them, it’s not your fault, it’s because no one taught you either.?

I think it’s time to take control of our careers instead of hoping and praying that the right recruiter will get us in touch with the right job at the right time. ?

That so rarely happens. If they do find us a great gig, it’s usually after we’ve been up nights worrying, pulling our hair out, and generally trying to keep it together in front of our family and friends.?

I know in my career before I started using these hacks, if I was looking for a job, I would hit quick apply and scour job boards. Indeed, LinkedIn, reaching out to my networks to find out if they have any opportunities open. It took me HOURS.

Yeah, we want to reach out to our network, but we don’t need to do a ton of monotonous work and wait around for someone to help us find the best job!

We can just go out and GET it.

?If you are #opentowork and frustrated because you don't know where to start, and interested in learning how to get your own job and never rely on HR, job boards, or recruiters again, hit LIKE or whatever. I’ll send you my cheat sheet to get started.

Job boards belong in history books.