Have you been trying desperately to seek a job with no avail?

Rose Hindy

Have you exhausted all your connections and have received either no response or even worse a disappointing one?

Have you been in conversations with recruiters and search firms, and they couldn’t help you land a job? 

In brief, are you a disheartened job seeker? 

If your answer is yes to any of my questions above, then this piece is for you. The good news is that there is an alternative journey for you to land a job. You would need to hit a road that is less travelled, way less travelled. Your job seeking journey will be even more on-purpose. This journey has indeed been optimized by a group of career consultants, coaches, and recruiters.

We will be taking it one step at a time though. Let’s start in this piece with the initial rapport you build ideally with your potential future boss, a CHRO or a talent acquisition person.

With up to 70% of jobs being literally hidden and scarcely listed, how can you possibly tap into these coveted positions?  Here is one thing you can start by doing: simulate interactions with decision makers even those who don’t currently seem to have a vacancy that fits your profile.

They might be your direct connections, second or third on LinkedIn. Do not reach out to them on social media platforms. 

Your aim needs to be crystal clear to you at the first place. You are aiming at having a meaningful conversation at this stage. It can be via an email, direct message or InMail. I insist, it is just a meaningful conversation at this stage, and it cannot be treated yet as a job interview. 

We are here doing our best to mitigate the risk of losing this opportunity and falling into your current disappointing and ailing job seeking cycle that has already taken its toll on you.

 In this induced rapport scenario, you are metaphorically standing at the threshold of a possible long-haul communication and a process that you might need to embrace along with its slow pace.

Your first outreach message to a decision maker is way more critical than you think it is. A crammed and overwhelming message would only result in a no reply. Sound familiar right? Here comes your “Everyone is letting me down” catch phrase.

We are going to change that.


Your first outreach message should neither have an attached resumé out of nowhere nor a statement that you are actively looking for a job. I am aware you would have the propensity to do so yet we know for a fact that it is a futile premature attempt.

Disclaimer: we are neither aiming at entrapping your future potential boss nor at a bait and switch approach, we are just safely paving the path to a proper job seeking.

Once you are successfully having this call or grabbing this coffee, refrain from transmuting your written resume into spoken words. You successfully made the outreach message generic and you resisted attaching your resume, keep it up by not enumerating your competencies and past experiences. They most probably have already scrutinized your LinkedIn profile, and should they need further details you would simply become aware of it.
 
Gear yourself up. Research your industry trends and challenges before the meeting and engage into a professional generic talk. Do not demean any current employees. This will not make you stand out.

You don’t need to announce that “you are open to a job”, even worse “open to ANY job”

You might have a transferable skill set, yes, you might consider adjacent industries or a new geography, yes and you might be in a very malleable status yet sounding desperate serves no purpose. I know you have been trying for long, just hang on there, stretch your patience, adopt this strategy and trust the process.

Befitting all the above, be relevant and leverage subtly in your conversation phases of your experience that can add value to a current/ possible vacancy or even just align with the overall company profile and challenges.
Get curious about what the other person is sharing and ask intriguing questions. Remember the aim of this first encounter? Having a meaningful conversation.

Self-manage every time you find yourself inclined to do a sales pitch. At least don’t make it an obvious one. You still want in a way to “sell” you profile, just mind the dosage of the hidden pitch. Embody the persona of a smooth operator, a mega professional one.


Remember confidence is a requirement, an outsized super bold personality isn’t. You don’t need to try hard to impress anyone. You know your forte and you are entitled to share it, minus the exaggerated swagger.

 Refrain from self-assessing yourself and your competencies with the most cliché behavioral attributes like “fast learner”, “Hard worker” or “team player”. You don’t have to sound like you’re sharing a Hogan psychometric assessment. Who care about these attributes coming from the candidate themselves?

 Sound knowledgeable yet not a Mr./Mrs. know it all. In fact, you don’t need to know it all to be offered any position. You rather need to be willing to learn it all. No one is looking for a handyman.

Prepare, Practice, and rehearse (yes!) these possible scenarios of conversations alone. You hone a presentation before your usual meetings, why not invest in probably a mock interview/ meaningful conversation with a professional?

Now, I apologize as have to be a bearer of some bad news. You won’t be leaving with a job offer. Not even close. You will rather leave with an interview primer done right. If you do, then you would have successfully completed what is in my opinion the most exigent phase.

Make sure you leave on a “let’s meet up again soon” note.

In the near future, start nurturing this relationship with timely messages. 

Will be sharing with you what can happen next in the nurturing phase and more job landing shortcuts. In the meantime, stay visible. Stay present. Stay engaging.