Lost Your Job Search Mo-Jo? 10 Steps to Get it Back!

Remember that day when you decided it was time to look for a new job? You were fed up and said, "I need something new. Something better." You updated your resume and LinkedIn profile, hit the job boards, and started applying. You were in the zone.

At first, you were picky...

You didn't want to waste your time applying to jobs that didn't excite you. You took your time reading through lots of job postings (getting blurry-eyed in the process), and settled on a few that seemed like a perfect match. You spent a good hour navigating the online application process, pondering what to put into the various fields of information they asked for. You hit the "send" button, and with a smile on your face from a job well-done (or, so you thought), you sat back and waited for the recruiters to contact you.

Unfortunately, you heard nothing.

As days turned to weeks, you found yourself checking your personal email more and more frequently, wondering where the invite to an interview was. Doubt set in as you thought, "Hmm. Maybe I'm reaching too high." You went back to the drawing board and decided to expand your options.

You applied the "spray-and-pray" method.

In an effort to increase the quantity of applications, you decided to log some serious hours applying to as many positions as possible - many of which you were certain you could do with your eyes closed since you were clearly over-qualified. Your thought was, "Why would they turn down talking to someone with my skills? I bring way more to the table then they are asking for." Convinced this would result in a filled email inbox from recruiters dying to talk to you, you once again sat back in satisfaction. Until...

Still, nothing.

Panic officially set in as you realized NOBODY was taking you up on your offer to work for them. You decided it must be the resume or LinkedIn profile, and began furiously studying ways to improve both. Maybe you even decided to throw money at the problem by having someone do the resume for you. If you could improve these two job search tools, surely it would result in recruiters contacting you, right?

Wrong.

Again, you heard nothing.

You officially lost your job search mo-jo, now what?

This is the point when most job seekers lose their desire to find a new job and decide to "take a break" from job search. It makes sense. You can't look for work when you aren't feeling confident in your skills as a professional. Nothing creates a crisis of career confidence more than failure to get employers interested in you.

However, this is when you need to step back and see the problem for what it really is...

Stop the insanity! You're not broken, your job search is.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. This is definitely the case when it comes to applying to jobs blindly on the internet. It doesn't work. Most of the time, your application got tossed out by the automated tracking system (ATS) for being a mismatch before a human eye ever saw it. From there, the average recruiter spends about six seconds skimming your resume to decide if they should look at you more closely. You've got better odds of winning the lottery than getting the interview these days. At this point, you may need a total "motivation makeover" - as outlined in this article (click here to read it on Inc Magazine.)

The good news is, once you re-energize yourself, you can get your job search mo-jo back. To find a job today, you need to reverse engineer the process. Start with the end in mind. The process works like this:

10 Steps to Getting the Job in Today's Market

1. Define a list of employers you want to work for.
2. Identify what impresses you about the products/services/business model they have.
3. Determine how you came to learn their products/services/business model are worthy of respect.
4. Reach out and connect with people who work at these companies and start a discussion around their products/services/business model.
5. Earn their trust so you can seek their insights on what it takes to get hired by the company.
6. Get referred into the company directly by someone who works there, or is connected to someone who works there.
7. Get fast-tracked to an interview because 80% of all jobs are gotten on referral, so your chances skyrocket.
8. Nail the interview because you can share how you feel connected to the company's products/services/business model (see how important #2 is above?).
9. Get the job offer and start a new, better job with a company you CHOSE to work for!
10. Do your new job happy dance!

Don't want to work that hard? That's okay, just expect your job search to take 2X as long. Here's why...

The average job search in America is 9+ months. However, a study by the Career Advisory Board of successful job seekers shows they are finding work in half the time - most of whom are only spending 1-3 hours/day (at the most!) on their job search and applied to less than 10 jobs total before landing new employment. Working consistently, and with a targeted plan gets you there faster. Not to mention, you feel more in control and happy with your search. 

Don't lose your job search mo-jo to a bad job search strategy! Get in the game and leverage a smarter way to find work. Your happiness depends on it.

P.S. - Have we met yet? First, thanks for reading my article! I have the privilege of being the CEO of CareerHMO.com. Besides writing for LinkedIn, I also write column for INC Magazine is called "Workplace Referee." I invite you to CLICK BELOW on some of my most popular articles:

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