There are Two Ways to Job Hunt...But Only One Works

Dear friends,

The first time I was asked to speak to an audience of job candidates - at the Public Library not far from my office in Skokie, Illinois - I jumped at the chance.

I could see from my vantage point as an HR person that many job candidates didn't know a lot about how to write a resume, navigate the job search process or handle tricky interview questions - and why should they?

Most kids don't learn in school how to get hired or manage their careers.

Parents would love to help their kids but a lot of parents don't know all that much about job search or career management, themselves. (How would they know?)

So I was happy to address the job candidates congregating in the library basement.

We had a great time.

We talked about resumes, interviews, frustrating and silly job search experiences and how to get stronger and zero in on what you want, even when you're not working.

Starting that day and continuing over the years since then, I saw that there are two completely different ways to job hunt.

The two ways to job hunt might look the same on the surface, but they couldn't be more different!

The Traditional Way to Job Hunt

The traditional way to job hunt is to view a job search as an unpleasant process to finish as soon as possible.

The mindset in the traditional approach is that until you get a job, you are bobbing in a raft, alone in a vast ocean, adrift - and in need of an employer to save you.

The traditional way to write your resume is to use every business jargon term you can stuff into the document and fill up the rest with tech keywords.

The traditional way to interview is to treat the interview like an oral exam - wait for the interviewer to ask a question, answer it and then fall silent, waiting for the next question.

The traditional way to job hunt is to believe that you're in competition with every other job candidate, that the employer who hires you will be doing you a huge favor and that you are not really very special or desirable - so you should take the first job offer you get.

The traditional way to job hunt is to job hunt in fear - the fear that you're not good enough.

A lot of people still job hunt this way, and it hurts them.

You are not going to get a job that deserves your talents by following the traditional, disempowering job search approach.

If you need money now, no doubt, take the first job you can get - but in that case, keep your job search going.

There's a Better Way to Job Hunt Now - through Trust

Back in the mid-90s I started designing a new way to job hunt - the Empowered Job Search? methodology and mindset that we teach at our company, Human Workplace .

The major steps in the Empowered Job Search? approach are not so different from the traditional job search process:

1. Decide what kind of job you want
2. Brand yourself for the job you want
3. Develop a strategy to get interviews, and
4. Interview with confidence to get the job you deserve!

The major steps are the same as the traditional job search approach, but the methodology and mindset are very different.

The Empowered Job Search approach springs from trust - not fear.

After a little reflection it comes clear that the traditional job search approach is based on fear (fear of not being liked, not being hired, failing in the eyes of society, etc.).

Once you realize that no matter who you are or what skills and experience you have, not everyone will like your brand of jazz, you can relax a bit.

It dawns on you that you are an amazing candidate for some managers but not others - like every other candidate on earth.

Your mission as a job candidate is not to convince anyone to like you or hire you.

Your mission is to find one hiring manager who resonates at your frequency - just one!

When it hits you that you don't go to interviews to please or impress anyone but rather to check for a match with your own style and energy, your interviews become vibrant, powerful and memorable.

You won't answer the interviewer's questions and fall silent any more.

You'll ask a question in return, or add a short story - and you won't give the standard, cliched answers to any interview question, ever again.

You'll ask brilliant questions of your own - a great thing to do because the questions you ask interviewers share more of your thought process than your answers to their questions!

If you're ready to step into Empowered Interviewing? I'll show you how!

I'm about to teach my Interview Course for the only time in 2024, and in the lead-up to my course launch I'm sharing interviewing advice for free in my Interviewing Boot Camp campaign.

Sign up here to get my interview tips, get inspiration for your upcoming interviews and get on the early bird list for my Interviewing Course!

Here's to your growing flame!

Best,

Liz

P.S. Sign up for my free Interviewing Boot Camp advice here!

P.P.S. Have an interviewing question for me? Leave it in the comments!