How do you do a job search (or...how do YOU do a job search)?

In My Humble Opinion
1

There are some other threads on the subject, but they are 5+ years old and may be out of date.

The “conventional” approach is you should already have a LinkedIn profile with over 500+ connections and an electronic copy (Word) of your resume. You go to one of the more popular job boards (Indeed, LinkedIn, Google Jobs, etc) or directly to the company career page. You find a couple positions you think you are qualified for and submit an application. If you are one of the lucky 1 in 100 applicants, a recruiter calls you back.

If you have a personal connection at a company, you ask them to submit your resume, increasing your odds.

On occassion, a recruiter may contact you through LinkedIn.

The main complaint with this process is obviously that, while it may eventually land you a job, it can often feel pointless and random. A lot of career coaches talks about their “secret hacks for short circuiting the process”. But I kind of feel like large companies have processes for a reason and don’t like them to be short-circuited.

Any other thoughts or techniques?

2

The last 4 jobs I’ve had were attained in the following ways:

  1. Posted to Indeed, a recruiter hooked me up with a place.
  2. Posted to Indeed, the manager at the company called me and arranged an interview.
  3. Walked into place and dropped off a resume.
  4. Brought resume to a bar with me, handed it to the bartender who later handed it to a guy who worked at the place I was heading.
3

Sorry, I’ve never approached a job search any other way (most recently: 2018). I don’t look for jobs on LinkedIn, but I make one post both there and on Facebook that I’m looking for X type of work. And while I do check the “careers” pages of companies I’m specifically interested in, mostly I use Indeed. After I tweak the query settings I set it to show me jobs in the order they were posted – most recent first – and then to subsequently only show me jobs that were posted since my last visit to the site. But I never apply through Indeed: I always go to the company’s website and apply directly.

I also don’t post my resume anywhere (Indeed, Monster, etc.): I’m generally not interested in being recruited, because I generally don’t trust recruiters. I tweak my resume and LinkedIn profile to death, though.

I agree; I think attempts to “hack” the process can only backfire. IMHO the only thing that can help is knowing someone who works at the place.

4

Every important job I’ve gotten is through knowing someone at the company. I would always keep my ears open for an opportunity and my contacts would get me an interview. I think I got every one of those jobs, thanks in large part to being at the right place at the right time. Timing is everything, and having someone tip you off from the inside made all the difference. I doubt any of the positions I got were ever posted anywhere.

5

I’m pretty sure this “convention” was invented by LinkedIn.

6

Returning to Hawaii from Thailand almost five years ago, I found a job at an insurance company through Indeed. Then my current job in a hospital by applying through the hospital’s website.

7

I’ve posted this before in another thread, but I’ll repeat it again:

8

It’s sort of evolved. Originally the school of thought was that you should keep your connections to just people you actually know. Then LinkedIn became a sort of giant recruiting/CRM database so people try to connect with as many people as possible.

Now there seems to be a trend of sending spammy invite requests with follow-up for “casual coffee chats”. I’m pretty sure no CEO or key decision-maker ever hired someone or made a purchase based off of a causal coffee chat with a total stranger.

9

I have received 10 job offers since 2000 (have taken three).

2 applied for on websites but found on consolidated job boards (Monster/Indeed/others) - accepted 1
1 from a person I worked on a project with in grad school - accepted
2 from ex-coworker/ex-boss who went to another company
4 from recruiters who found me on LinkedIn
1 from a recruiter who a coworker referred me to who worked with me for years (she’s well connected in our industry and our function in particular) - accepted

The first two were when I was actually unemployed or soon to be unemployed. I was applying for 10-25 positions a day. I was averaging between 1-3 responses a day. I was also reaching out to my “network” (pre-LinkedIn) of friends, ex-coworkers, vendors, customers, etc.

About 10% of the approaches I get from recruiters are at least in the general area. But another 10% or so are useful to others I know are looking. Two people have found jobs from me referring a recruiter to them who first approached me.

10

Personal connections and networking have been how I’ve gotten my last three jobs.

  • 2000: I was considering leaving my job as a client-side market researcher, when I was approached by several people at our ad agency. “Have you ever considered coming over to agency side? We think you’d be good at it.”
  • 2011: Was referred to a job by a former colleague at the above ad agency; he had left, a few years earlier, to join a consultancy, and they had a sister company which needed a research director.
  • 2015: A good friend of mine from the ad biz (who’s also in one of my D&D groups) referred me to the head of strategy at another ad agency, who was looking for experienced strategists.

Prior to those, I’d had two other jobs, but those are long enough ago that there wasn’t even any online component to those job searches, and so, probably not terribly relevant.

11

I got 3 jobs over a long stretch. The first was at a job fair for new PhDs at a conference. I got multiple interview trips and offers. The second was from a traditional headhunter. The third was from a neighbor who knew an HR person at a good company, and the HR person was helping someone who was looking for someone just like me.
I got another offer - I didn’t apply - through an industry connection.
I got people who worked on committees with me jobs short circuiting the normal process. The hiring manager was thrilled to not have to read umpteen resumes.
I got a Doper a job with someone I knew who used to work at my company, and who I guessed needed someone like that. (My company had no openings.)
My son-in-law did get a job through LinkedIn, so it is possible.
And I recruited lots of people (new PhDs) through connections I built with professors in my field.
I was in a small, specialized field, so this won’t work for everyone.

12

Graduating with a BS in civil engineering in 3 weeks and have been job-searching since October.

I searched for jobs on LinkedIn and Handshake (which is more-or-less just like LinkedIn) and monitored job announcements in the weekly department email from college. About 40 applications led to roughly 15 interviews, which led to 3 job offers. Most of my applications were through the two platforms I mentioned. A handful were direct applications through company recruitment portals, and a few more through state government portals (I applied for several state DOT positions).

13

Let’s see:
2001 - Coming out of business school, a college friend referred my resume to one of the Big-4 accounting/consulting firms. But I had been actively looking all through business school, anticipating a 2001 graduation date.
2003 - Applied to a small startup/consulting firm on Monster and received a call back relatively quickly.
2004 - Recruiter happened to reach out to me. I was looking to move to a larger company (a mid-sized consultancy) so that worked out.
2008 - Recruiter contacted me about a position with a big insurance company. Separate recruiter contacted me about another consulting/software vender firm. Wanted to try something different so went with the big insurance company.
2009 - First time actively using LinkedIn to job search. Identified practice leaders in various consulting firms where I wanted to work. Landed a job with another Big-4 firm.
2010 - After a somewhat protracted and depressing job search, landed a job through a recruiter at a startup.
2012 - Contacted by a recruiter for a contract gig as a project manager in a big insurance company (really enjoyed working there, but their budget didn’t last more than a year).
2013 - Applied on Indeed for a PM job at a medium sized software consulting firm.
2015 - Met a woman through a meetup for management consultants who introduced me to the small firm where she worked.
2019 - After another long and protracted job search, a medium-sized software company reached out to me on LinkedIn about two possible roles (until laid off due to COVID).
2020 - Sort of a combination - applied online, my 2019 manager (who was also laid off) recommended me to the recruiter who contacted him, also the CEO/founder was a client of mine in 2013 when he was the CIO of the Big Insurance Company I worked for in 2008.

I suppose out of 11 jobs I’ve held in the past 20 years, 6 have been due to me initiating the process (i.e. applying or networking my way in).

Of those, I’d say maybe 3 have been specifically targeted as “I really want to work for this company” (as opposed to “this seems like it might be interesting”, which is ok, but still feels random).

14

Every job I’ve ever found has been by 3 means:

  • post resume on Monster/Indeed/LinkedIn
  • reach out or get contacted by staffing companies (recruiters) I’ve worked with in the past
  • network with a very few trusted former colleagues

The above is in order of most to least successful strategies for me.

Now, I’m an IT consultant (independent) with a skill set that is currently in demand so my resume floats to the top of many recruiter searches. I get contacted almost daily with opportunities. That said, 80% are the wrong fit, 10% are probably a good fit but don’t pay my desired rate, 5% are unlikely to pan out, and 5% (if I’m lucky) could lead to something. But I’m happy where I am now (mostly) so I’m not pursuing anything at the moment.

Now, that isn’t to say that there haven’t been long dry spells in my career. There certainly have and one was close to a year long. That was pretty soul crushing. And there is no guarantee that can’t happen again. I just have not found good alternatives to the above. So I keep doing the same things hoping to get the same (mostly successful) results.

15

In 2017, a recruiter found my resume on LinkedIn and I got the job they were recruiting for. The same thing happened in 2020 (both times, I was actively job searching). That, plus someone at the company either knew me directly, or indirectly through a common connection. But I work in software test engineering and I live in the SF Bay Area, which helps.

LinkedIn is all about networking. Before LinkedIn, networking was a key way to get a job. I advocate connecting only with people you know directly.

16

Do you actively network though linkedin though, or do you call the connections you have “networking”?

I mean, I never got hang of the place myself. Months will pass between times I even go there. Every once in a blue moon I’ll say hello to someone I’ve worked with in the past because some silly update is shared with me and I feel arsed enough to congratulate or otherwise connect with that individual. 99% of the time it’s just because I liked working with them and just want to send a friendly hello.

17

A friend of mine (about the same age) was saying that he is “beyond LinkedIn”. Basically meaning his professional contacts are people he just emails or calls up on the phone because they are in his network (pre-2002 style).

Don’t get me wrong. LinkedIn is a useful tool for research and keeping track of contacts. Even reaching out to people. But like any media - whether it’s phone, email, LinkedIn message, or whatever - no one likes strangers reaching out to them asking for stuff. And just doing the same under the guise of “wanting to connect” just sounds disingenuous.

18

I have lots of LinkeIn contacts and I could have a lot more if I gave a shit, but none have ever broadcast job requests except very young students or new workers. When we were looking for someone in a hard to fill job, my HR person did do a search, unsuccessfully, so it could be useful in that way.
But I think contacts with people is still better.

19

Never mind (I wrote a long thing about CV style, then realized the OP wasn’t asking that)

20

I have a LinkedIn profile with a reasonable number of contacts (nothing like 500 though). While I have had a number of unsolicited contacts from recruiters via LinkedIn, none have been practical (offers of employment overseas spending considerable time away from home without enough monetary compensation to make it worthwhile) and I haven’t gained employment that way.

My two most recent jobs have been gained by going through a the local job seeker website looking for positions that may suit me. Once I found something, I applied online, got invited to attend an interview, psychometric screening etc, then offered a job. I got two jobs that way but probably had 15 rejections along the way. The first of the two was just a fill-in, “put food on the table” job. The second is something I could do as a career if I had to.

The job prior to those two was one that I specifically targeted. I went to the employer’s careers website, filled out online forms to register my interest in future positions and was then offered an interview once the company started hiring.

The job prior to that one was back in 2000 when you didn’t do absolutely everything online. That was a bit of word-of-mouth, followed by an interview, then a rejection, then a follow up phone call, and finally a job offer.

Two prior jobs were friend-of-a-friend type things.

The problem with all of the friend-of-a-friend jobs was that my first fair dinkum interview was when I was in my mid 40’s. That one was ok because I was confident in my abilities, I had some relevant advice from people who had recently gone through the process with the company and the company made it clear that everyone attending the interview had a position provided they didn’t fuck it up somehow, i.e., they weren’t interviewing 30 people for 10 positions, they were interviewing 30 for 30 positions and if they had to cull some they would run more interviews. “You are here because we like your resumé, now we just want to get to know you, have fun, be yourself, welcome to the family.” A very good process run by the people who do the job, not HR types. This was born out by the fact that everyone who attended our interview weekend was hired except one for political reasons.

After that though, I had a lot to learn about selling myself and presenting well in an interview. I think I got there in the end, but it was nerve racking and unpleasant.