REAL Reason 80% Jobs Gotten Via Referral

Dear J.T.,

Ever since I lost my job three years ago, I’ve been in what feels like a constant state of career crisis. The economy was so bad, I decided to take any job I could get. I was lucky enough to find a position pretty fast, but quickly realized it wasn’t for me.

However, as I continued to look for a better fit, I became more and more confused. I sent out countless applications, spending hours online filling them out, only to hear nothing back. On the rare occasion I would get interview, I prepared like crazy, and would leave certain I nailed it, only to get a rejection email or letter just days later. At the same time, I’m constantly contacted for jobs that don’t interest me it all, in spite of my efforts to be as clear as possible on my LinkedIn profile what I want to be doing – without of course, having my current employer find out I’m looking.

Why is hunting for a job that’s a good match for my strengths and interests so hard? I consider myself a pretty smart guy, but this process is making me feel more and more inadequate with every passing day. How can I get my career on track again?

This reader is one of millions who are affected by a massive disruption in our employment ecosystem. Dysfunctional technology and an extended recession have created a perfect storm of ineffectiveness. Here’s why…

Employers Are Hunting For ‘Purple Squirrels’ – And Searching For Them Blindfolded!

When you have an extended recession, employers get it in their head that they can have the 'pick of the litter' at bargain basement prices. They expect the “perfect “candidate at a “low” rate. In recruiting, we call these “purple squirrels” because, just as the term suggests, they are so elusive. [This article explains how employer's hunt for perfect candidates is starting to create an employee-employer stand off.]

To make matters worse, in hopes of automating the sourcing process for purple squirrels, many companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that review your application first and only pass along the resumes that are an exact keyword match to the employer’s criteria. Thus, it’s more than likely (as much as eight out of ten times), your resume was never seen by a human eye.

Lucky Enough To Land The Interview? Get Ready For Communication Curveballs

For those who make it pass the ATS and the phone screen and actually land an interview, the process only gets more confusing. You’ll arrive to the interview and often find the job description doesn’t seem to match what they are looking for. You do your best to provide examples of how your experience matches their needs, but just can’t help feeling like you are a desperate salesperson trying to close the deal. Even if you feel like they enjoyed your pitch, all too often, you get the “thanks, but no thanks,” email or letter (never a phone call!), to let you know you’re out of the running.

Do the above enough times and you can find yourself at the bottom of the “I Need A New Job” Spectrum. [Read this learn more about where you fall in the spectrum today.]

Want To Stop The Insanity? Speak The Right Language

The solution is to step off the job search treadmill and take a new approach. At my company, we have spent many years studying disconnects between employers and job seekers. The main problem lies in the two sides lacking a common language. Employers need an accurate way to articulate what they’re looking for in a candidate, and job seekers need an equally accurate way of presenting the strengths they want to leverage in the workplace to employers. Once both sides are on the same page, finding a match gets easier.

Use ‘Career Decoder’ To Unlock Your Professional Strengths

My company recently launched the Career Decoder to help with this problem. It’s a simple test users take online (20 questions that can be answered in less than two minutes), to determine which of the eight primary professional personas they represent on the job. The test allows you to see where your skills and motivation connect, helping professionals “decode” their careers so they can properly optimize their resume, LinkedIn profile, cover letter, and other job search tools in order to send the right message to potential employers.

You can take the Career Decoder for free by clicking here >>

8 Personas = Ultimate Formula For Workplace Success

Think of your favorite professional sports team. When they win, it’s because the team works in harmony, leveraging each others strengths to succeed. These players not only know what they bring to the game, they also know what their teammates bring. In short, they realize they’ve got skills, but can’t win without the skills of others. The same applies in your career and ability to succeed in the workplace. You must:

A) know what strengths you bring to the job, but also,
B) know how your teammate’s strengths compliment your own.

This is how we can gain career confidence in our ability to succeed at a company. And, if you are clear in your value, you can market those strengths to employers so they can feel certain they are hiring the right addition for their team. To do this, you must embrace your top professional personas and then develop a personal brand that showcases them clearly and consistently. If you take the Career Decoder, you will learn which of the following personas you represent on the job:

Visionary
Builder
Educator
Superconnector
Optimizer
Researcher
Mentor
Warrior

While each of us likely has some of each persona in us, the test will help you see which ones are more dominant. Moreover, if you study the videos we provide on the Career Decoder results page, you can start to see how you can do a better job of promoting these strengths to employers.

EXAMPLE: The REAL Reason 80% Jobs Landed Via Referral

It’s common knowledge these days in recruiting that 80 percent of all jobs are gotten by somebody referring someone into the job. Why is this? Very simple. When a hiring manager shares what they are looking for in a candidate to people in their network, these individuals have an advantage of knowing something about the job environment that doesn’t get communicated in a job description. Such as, what personality types would work well with the manager and the rest of the team. Or, what skill sets would best support the efforts of the existing staff. These things are not easily conveyed without generating a persona for the type of person who would excel in the role. Unknowingly, personas are used quite effectively in the networking referral process.

For example, think of the last time you recommended someone to a job. I guarantee you talked about their strengths in a way that helped the hiring manager “visualize” this person in a positive way. This led to an introduction, where the hiring manager was actually expecting a certain type of persona. Which led to a job interview, where the persona was further validated while answering the hiring manager’s questions. Ultimately, resulting in the hiring manager extending an offer because your referral felt like the best “fit” for the job. How did this happen? You gave the candidate you referred an inside advantage, by offering up a persona the hiring manager could get excited about. See why developing and promoting your own personas becomes so important? Instead of relying only on your network for introductions, it’s a way for you to help total strangers visualize your professional strengths!

In the Coming Weeks, I’ll Be Showcasing Case Studies Featuring The Career Decoder

To help readers learn how to use the Career Decoder for professional advancement, I will be writing regularly on LinkedIn, showcasing individuals we've worked with to leverage their professional personas more effectively. I’ll also be doing LIVE webinars on a weekly basis where users can ask questions in real-time to get answers to their career questions with respect to the Career Decoder. For details, just sign-up and take the Career Decoder Quiz and we will automatically put you on the email reminder list.

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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