TIN #036 - How To Overcome Job Search Obstacles
This one thing will help you eliminate the barriers standing between you and the job
Good Morning 👋 - Greg here.
Almost everyone who stumbles across my newsletter is networking to find a job.
That's what people think of when they hear the word "networking."
Any job search is filled with obstacles - things standing between you and the job.
This morning, I’ll talk about three of them and how networking will help you overcome them.
This issue takes less than 4 minutes to read.
In TIN #034, I shared other reasons to network, but most people comes back to "job search" as the reason they need to start networking.
It's true. Networking is a critical part of the job search.
But, have you ever thought of how networking helps you in your job search.
There are very specific ways networking can help you throughout the job search process.
In this issue, I want to talk about three obstacles in your job search and the networking solution to help you overcome them:
Ageism
Resume gaps
Career pivots
All of these happen because recruiters or hiring managers judge you based on your resume, LinkedIn profile, or cover letter.
It's not fair, but it's reality.
You can complain about it or do something about it.
Ageism
Even though you don't explicitly state you age on your resume or profile, there are clues.
Your career history, your graduation year, or your profile picture on LinkedIn can give away your age.Â
You can scrub these from your resume and profile, but eventually, the people deciding to hire you are going to see you and make a judgment based on your age.
You can reduce this bias by having a mutual connection talk to the recruiter or hiring manager about you.Â
When another person tells someone about you, she can provide more details on your background.
You become much more than your resume or profile.Â
You turn into a person who can add value to the team.
When someone can talk about how you've worked on teams with people of all ages and backgrounds, the objection to your age disappears.
Resume gaps
Sometimes, we get to explain the gaps in our resume in our job search.
Sometimes, we don't.
There are recruiters and hiring managers out there who see a gap on a resume and assume you were out of work for a long period of time. They assume it means you weren't employable.Â
The gap raises red flags for them.
Not fair. But it happens.
What if someone who knew your backstory told the recruiter how you took care of your aging parent or sick child during that gap.Â
What if a person the hiring manager knows told her how you took time off to care for your family while your spouse was launching a new business.
That information would probably assuage the manager's concerns about what you were doing during those gaps on your resume.
Career Pivot
Switching career paths can be hard. Your resume shows experience in one job function or industry, but you want to get a job doing something different.
All of a sudden, that experience doesn't seem to count for much.
It can be hard to articulate your transferable skills on paper.
If you can't get a recruiter to get past this objection to your resume, you aren't going to get a chance to interview.
But when someone who knows you tells the recruiter how you did your last job and how your experience and skills are perfect for the open role, you'll at least get a chance to demonstrate them in the interview.
Referrals
You're picking up what I'm putting down, right?
Referrals are the key to getting ahead in the job search process. They allow you to get past the typical objections recruiters and hiring managers have in the recruiting process.
Want to know another secret? Recruiters love referrals. A referral can greatly reduce the time it takes to fill the position. Recruiters are all about that.
The secret to a strong referral is the person needs to know the recruiter or hiring manager well enough so that they trust the person. The person referring you also needs to know you well enough to speak on your behalf.Â
Your connection is putting his own reputation on the line by talking to the recruiter or hiring manager about you.
Strangers aren't going to do that for you.
You will need to have a relationship with people that extends beyond 1st degree connections on LinkedIn.
What does it take to develop the types of relationships that generate strong referrals:
Time
Effort
Trust
When you’ve spent time getting to know people, put effort into the relationship, and achieved a level of trust, connections will refer you to people who can hire you.
This is your goal when you’re networking to find a job.
How Can I Help?
I've given you all the steps you need to take to become a better networker over the past 35 issues of this newsletter.
I lay out the process in my book, The Fast and Easy Guide to Networking for Introverts.
I talk about it every weekday on LinkedIn.
If you’re still struggling to network, you have to tell me what's not working for you.
Leave it in the comments or send me an email at greg@gregsroche.com
I'm here to help you!