My job search is just not working. What do I do?

Sometimes you might feel that you’re doing all the right things in your job search, but simply not getting much traction. what should you do to get that job that you really want? The answer probably lies in one of three areas.

There are three interrelated concepts, all of which need to be working well together to get you your desired result. If one or more of them is not functioning fully, then it' becomes far less likely that you’ll secure your dream job.

Your offer

Your offer is a summation of all the value you can promise to add to a business. It will include your skills, experiences and expertise.?This offer, or Value Proposition as I call it with my coaching clients, then needs to be tailored to what you believe or know your audience is looking for.?The clarity of your messaging needs to be crystal clear - it doesn’t want to be diluted or conflated with extraneous extra but irrelevant information.?Your Value Proposition needs to be well crafted in a way that captures the imagination of the audience. They need to be able to clearly see how you’ll meet their needs, wants and address their pain points.?

Your offer will then be expressed to the audience in your optimised LinkedIn Profile, CV, elevator pitch and - during an interview - the examples that you can give of your responsibilities and achievements.

Your audience

Your job search audience will be decided by what kind of role you want to do. It’ll also be determined by the kind of businesses you want to work for. This will include the industry, sub-sector, size, culture, and company performance relative to its competition - amongst other things.

Supply and demand are also critical. If you’re not getting interviews, you may have a great offer but the market simply doesn’t want to buy what you’re selling. This might be because it’s just the wrong time of the cycle, the wrong season, or the industry has moved on and there’s no real demand for what you’re trying to offer. You have to adapt to the realities of the day and age. This, of course, isn’t always easy - especially if you’ve been in the same firm or role for an extended period time and haven’t lifted your head above the parapet for some time.

Communication

How you communicate during a job search is critical. It’s important to ensure that you’re optimising your use of LinkedIn to make yourself findable by those who might be looking for someone with your offer. When they do find you, your Profile needs to be presented in a way where the reader - your audience - immediately understands who you are and what you do, in a way that makes them want to reach out.

Effective communication also requires some volume. Leaving no stone unturned in reaching out to your target audience will allow you to find the job or understand the degree of appetite the market has for your offer.

Honing your job search

So, if you’re not getting any traction, it’ll most likely be for one of three reasons, or a combination of them:"

• You haven’t got a compelling offer that is clearly expressed
• You’re offering it to an audience that has no appetite for your offer
• You’re not communicating your offer well enough, or in enough volume to the entire audience available

With this in mind, I’d suggest the answer broadly lies in the following things:

1. Improve the offer to better match the audience’s needs
2. Change the audience to one that has a burning need for your offer
3. Improve your marketing and prospecting to better communicate

I hope you’ve found this useful. If you’re having difficulties with your job search, interviews, value proposition or most other career issues, then reach out. You can schedule a 15-minute no-strings-attached introductory call here.