Managers & Executives: You are not getting interviews because your job search strategy sucks!

As a mid-senior Manager or Executive, you know all the ins and outs of how to turn a Business Unit into a massive success, despite the odds. Yet when it comes to job search, you don't know how to apply those same principles to ensure a successful outcome.

When you embark on the job search the first thing you normally do is update your CV. From there you start searching on various sites for suitable positions and click the apply button. Fast forward two to three weeks, and you're lamenting the fact that you haven't yet got a single interview. In fact, you've been keeping track and you've applied for more than 100 positions, with a high probability of no feedback.

Have you considered identifying a job search strategy that is unique to you? Do you know what sets you apart in your current role? Are you communicating your value add to your audience? Do the people who receive your CV understand clearly what problem you solve and how you solve it?

In today's job search economy, it is more about positioning yourself as a solution to the client's problem than it is about presenting a clinical list of positions held and attendant duties.

Here is a list of things you need to address if you want to start securing interviews:

1.      Curriculum Vitae

Your CV is a cold clinical list of various positions with nothing but dry and boring duties. You need to interrogate your CV and convert those duties into outcomes-based statements. Think of the following formula:

"I did X that resulted in Y"

Example: “I exceeded my sales targets that resulted in my promotion to Sales Manager”.

2.      LinkedIn

Your LinkedIn profile is a copy-paste job of your dead CV. There is nothing on your LinkedIn profile that endears me to you, or that proves your credibility. You are not active on your LinkedIn profile nor do you engage with any relevant industry subject matter. LinkedIn is the one place you can be wholly creative and authentically YOU! Brand yourself, identify yourself, and differentiate yourself.

3.      Be strategic in your applications

Your understanding of the job search process is simply to hit the apply button as many times as you possibly can irrespective of whether the position is a full match to your skills or not. I call this the “spray and pray” approach and can assure you that it never works! You cannot be all things to all people. Identify exactly what solution you bring to the table and align that solution with the companies that will be able to hire you. Start refocusing your job search strategy by applying for fewer positions, but positions that you are far more suitable for.

4.      Maximise your connections

Maximize your connection base around every single application that you submit. Connect with recruiters and line managers who have any bearing on your ability to be interviewed for the advertised role. Start engaging on their content and become a known entity in the place where your world meets their world. This will ensure you have increased visibility, and are proving yourself to be a credible entity.

5.      Network

Build relationships with every person you connect with! I advocate a strategic approach to new connections on LinkedIn whilst considering the bearing that these people may have on your career. With the advent of our digital age, we have become lazy and forgotten the principles of networking as in the Golden days of cocktail parties and networking functions. Apply the same rules to your online networking as you would to your face to face networking. When you connect with someone for the first time, do you ask him for business straight off the bat or do you break the ice with some form of complementary statement?

You need to adopt the principle of adding value. It's not about what they can do for you; it's about what you can do for them. How do you boost your credibility by adding value to new relationships that you are forging?

The post Covid landscape is both more and less unforgiving than previously. In some aspects, we have rediscovered our humanity and the job search seems to have embraced empathy.  However, the competition remains brutal and unless you differentiate yourself you will not be invited for an interview.

Chantelle Botha is a Recruitment Strategist & Coach who empowers job seekers to create opportunities through non-traditional avenues. She runs various Masterclass programs that dive into the A-Z of job search. If you are interested in discussing your job search and unlocking your unique strategy to access the hidden job market please send an email to [email protected]