The Career Thought Leaders Consortium, the industry’s leading think tank for the now, the new, and the next in careers, conducted a nationwide “Job Seeker Success” survey. Job seekers were asked five open-ended questions. One of these was:
In general, what ONE specific activity do you engage in that gives you the best results in your job search?
A full 67% of respondents indicated that NETWORKING produced the best results. Networking – reaching out to potential employers, talking with peers, and building relationships – is often touted as the best use of your time when engaged in a job search. These findings are interesting because – rather than coming from recruiters, career industry professionals, or other experts – they come from job seekers themselves. It’s one thing to tell someone, “Networking works.” It’s another thing entirely to have someone tell you, “Networking worked for me.”
Once every few months, a job seeker contacts me to inquire about my services, reporting that he’s applied to hundreds of jobs in the past few months without getting a single interview. Responding to online job postings is a time-consuming and generally ineffective process. Certainly, if you come across that perfect job opening, you should apply with a keyword-optimized and strongly branded resume – but only after mining your professional and personal network to reach a decision maker.
Your time is best spent building relationships, making contacts, and meeting new people.
Read the results from the Job Seeker Success survey here: Survey Results.