3 Common Mistakes Even Smart Job Seekers Make That Keep Them Frustrated and Hopeless

Marketing Forbes Consider these statistics. Thirty percent (about 300 million) of all Google searches per month are employment related. Also most job hunters including those who are currently employed spend majority of their time (50%) on two activities – searching for and applying for new positions.

What does this tell you? That as a job seeker, making a success of your job search is hard work. In point of fact it could be the hardest job of your life. When you are unemployed and job searching or employed and searching for better opportunities, hunting for a new job then becomes a job in itself. Job seeking requires innovation and creativity to make it a reality. To make it a reality, you have to bring a lot of ingenuity into it to make it effective and result oriented. Since you are marketing a product ‘you’ the job seeker, therefore as in marketing it requires positioning, process, persistence, performance and personality. You also have to exhibit enough dexterity to market yourself to prospective employers.

It is a known fact that job hunters (including the so called smart ones) often make some common mistakes which consequently cost them dearly in their job search. They continuously make these mistakes and it results in making their job search mere actions rather than being result oriented. It continues to make them mere job seekers rather than turning them to potential employees.

What therefore are these common mistakes and what can a job seeker do to avoid them?

Common Mistake #1: Failure to Imbibe the Habit of Networking

As much as 80% of new job opportunities are said to be found through networking. Statistics have shown that for those earning about $100,000 and above, networking accounts for 50% of surfaced job opportunities. For those earning between $60,000 and $100,000 however, networking account for 46% of surfaced job opportunities. For job searchers 50 years and above, statistics have shown that networking account for 46% of searching effectiveness. Men historically have become more likely to learn about new job opportunities through networking than women. Statistics put this at 46% to 39%. All these statistics are supposed to emphasize the effectiveness of networking in job hunting.

What is networking? By networking is meant “an information exchange between you and another person.” It involves establishing relationship with people who can help you advance your career in many ways. By implication what this means is that as a job seeker, your interaction with people and consequent building of relationship with them can help you in the course of your job search. Most of your network connections that are privy to job information are most likely to exchange such information with you and you with them.

However, what do we have these days? Most people rather than leveraging on their network connections on the social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc) prefer using their connectivity for gossips and other social events than what will really advance their lot exchanging information on job opportunities.

Can you see how failure to network effectively can limit your chances of securing more job opportunities and consequently keep you frustrated and hopeless about joblessness?Are

Common Mistake #2: Restricting Job Search Opportunities to Advertised Ones.

Buyyaro Sixty five to seventy percent of job leads are said to be gained through personal referrals. In point of fact, the Wall Street Journal put the statistics of job opportunities filled through personal or employee referrals at 90%.

It is therefore not all the job openings that are normally advertised. There are some hidden job markets. This is because some recruiters and employers sometimes recruit job seekers that are recommended to them by colleagues, friends and sometimes associates. I personally have recommended job seekers for employment through this means on countless occasions. In point of fact an acquaintance recently applied for and got employed for a job opening that was not advertised. You should therefore get acquainted with potential employers with a view to having a pre-knowledge of available jobs before they are advertised by developing your contact network. To advertise your availability in the job market, you need to get the names of the professionals in your field. You need to ask faculty, alumni and peers on how to contact such persons. Also, directories, association listings, professional bodies, alumni associations, job search clubs and telephone books are veritable source of such names. To get reliable information about any job listing in any organization the best person to contact is the supervisor or manager of the position you are interested in.