Don’t Blame Me For Your Job Search Lack of Success

In one of my recent blog posts, I suggested that if your job search is now moving past one year, in most situations your job search is ineffective. You can read that post about job search failure by clicking here.

From my perch regarding ineffective job searches

I was deluged with hate mail.

It’s not my fault that your job search is taking so long.

I sit up on this perch and everyday talk to a lot of candidates and hiring managers. I’ve been doing it for 25 years. This is the 5th or 6th major recession and job market depression I’ve been through.

I’m sharing with you hard, quantifiable facts and information based on surveys, research, and talking to hundreds of unemployed candidates on a weekly basis.

I’m going to go way out on a limb here and suggest that if you’re still conducting a job search after one year, you’re not doing everything you could be doing to conduct an effective job search.

A number of candidates got indignant and upset that I could make such a suggestion.

Prove me wrong about your job search effectiveness

Then prove me wrong!

• Take our FREE Job Search Self-Assessment. Download the Job Search Self-Assessment by clicking here.
• Absolutely no obligation to buy a single thing.
• It’s FREE! Thousands have used this self-assessment to improve their job search.

If you’re not hitting 3’s (the top score) on almost every item, then you’ve still got a lot of room to improve. If you can honestly score yourself as 3’s on every item, I’ll stand corrected on whether you’re conducting an effective job search. I acknowledge that there are always “exceptions to the rule.”

However, in most situations, if 100 candidates were to complete the self-assessment, one out of ten – less than 10% – are conducting a job search that might be categorized as adequate or minimally effective.

In this job market – which has been compared to the Great Depression – and doesn’t seem to be getting any better – you can’t get by conducting an “adequate” or minimally effective” job search.

If you want to complete an executive or managerial job search in less than one year – you’ve got to take it into the top 10% NOT bottom 10%.

Once again, I’m going to go way out on a limb and suggest that the vast majority of unemployed candidates I’ve interviewed for executive search assignments in the last year and with whom I’ve conducted a brief survey – they are conducting at best barely adequate job searches and at worst completely ineffective job searches.

Don’t be conducting a job search after 18 months

But don’t take my word for it – take the FREE Job Search Assessment yourself and discover whether there is room for personal improvement in your job search. If you don’t think we’ve covered all the bases on the assessment or some of the categories are not appropriate – fire off a comment.

We’re always looking to improve based on feedback. Would you make the same comment about your job search?

I don’t want to see you still conducting a job search after 18 months. Brad and I want to help you bring your job search to a close right now.

However, you’ve got to be willing to move past all the excuses and explanations and do the things required to kick your job search into a high state of effectiveness. Are you up for the challenge?

Doing the same thing for the next 6 months that you’ve been doing for the last 12 months will mean that we’ll be having this conversation again when your job search is at the 18 month point. Don’t let this happen to you.

Here’s my offer to you – if you’re at an executive level and you’ve been conducting a job search for at least one year, complete the Job Search Self-Assessment and send it back to me. I’ll review it and check out your activity level on-line (you have to send me an invite on LinkedIn to do this) and give you a quick assessment and recommendations of how you might improve your job search.

Are you game for a “check-up” OR would you rather make excuses and explanations for why your job search is not working?

Barry Deutsch

P.S. Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group. Discover all the best practices that combine to make an effective job search.

1 Comment

• 

  By Kimba Green, December 10, 2010 @ 3:29 am

  Very brutal! Very true! I have not done the assessment yet but I am sure you are right. I have been unemployed for 14 months and I know I am not being as effective with my job search as I was in the beginning. A kick in the pants is what I need. It is my fault that I don’t have a job. The economy is bad, yes but I have not done my best everyday. There are days I know I can’t even get out of my own way. The situation is a struggle which is why a kick in the pants is helpful.
  Thank you!

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