Where are you getting your #JobSearch advice from?

A common frustration I’ve been hearing from quite a few #JobSeekers I’ve been meeting with and speaking with lately is: there’s so much #JobSearch advice to follow out there, its really confusing – which advice and whose advice should I be taking?

Not only is this frustrating to a lot of #JobSeekers, but its really saddening for me to see #JobSeekers simply take terrible advice, apply it to their search, and potentially mess up their approach.

Look – not all advice is good advice for you. In fact, there might be some tips and advice I might be giving out which might not apply to you and your respective field, so make no mistake, you need to apply the below rules to any information you receive from my end as well so you can make that evaluation.

So, here are some pointers on things you need to consider when you are receiving advice so you can evaluate whether or not the advice applies to you and your situation:

1)     Is the information being given relevant to real-life or is it utopian? If you’ve been following my posts and content for a while, you’ll know I like to say this: I don’t deal with utopia, I deal with navigating your job search based on how things currently are. When the hiring system changes, so will my advice. So, you need to make sure any advice you receive is first and foremost advice which will allow you to navigate things the way it is. If you want to revolutionize the hiring process – hey, I’m all for it. But that’s a different conversation. Here, I’m talking about advice that will address the current way of things so you can get yourself a #JobOffer.

2)     Is the advice an appeal to emotion? There are a lot of posts out there which appeal to strong negative emotional reactions such as rejection, anger, disappointment, frustration – the whole gamut. But just because something reaches those aspects of your being and resonates with you, does not mean the information is well-suited or accurate. It could be simply a post to get “likes” and views because people interact a lot more with anything that arouses strong negative emotions such as those.

3)     Is the advice relevant to your professional discipline? Perfect example of this is the “keep your resume/CV to one-page” advice which has been going around. I recruit for IT, and in Technology, this is terrible advice for anyone in this discipline for the most part. Perhaps there are some fields out there where this would make sense, but not for IT.

4)     Who is the person giving out advice? Have they ever worked in a hiring capacity as a decision-maker or worked a recruitment cycle from end to end as a Recruiter? If the advice is from a fellow #JobSeeker: are they providing advice which they personally have used in their search with successful results? This is crucial to know. Perspective/opinion is one thing – what actually works and is a real-life reflection of the recruitment and job search cycle carried out over periods of time which gets you results is a completely different ball game.

These are some of the questions you need to be asking to help evaluate which advice you should take, and which ones you shouldn’t. There are a lot of great, awesome and helpful people out there with the best of intentions who want to help you with their personal take on things. These are not bad people. But that doesn’t mean the advice is good. At your end, you still need to qualify WHERE that information is coming from and whether it makes sense for you to take it. Make your evaluation and practice your own good judgement!

Wishing you the best in your #JobSearch!

Dean Kulaweera - #TechRecruiter

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