Job Search and the Art of Defying Gravity

My daughter is addicted to the musical comedy Glee and I’ve started to become a fan myself. Last week, two students on the show competed in the school’s first “Diva-off” and the competition required that they sing the song Defying Gravity from the Broadway show Wicked. Since watching the show, I can’t seem to get the song out of my head and I’ve been thinking about the importance of defying gravity in a job search ever since.

I think that everyone who is in a job search has to defy gravity in order to gain traction, particularly in a competitive job market such as the one we are facing right now. You need to take a leap of faith, step outside your comfort zone, and do things differently. Because techniques that worked during your last job search might not work today. So here are my five gravity defying recommendations to help you take that leap and still land safely.

• Don’t pull out your most recent resume, slap on your last position, and call that an update. Stop treating your resume like another piece of paper that needs to be in your briefcase when you start interviewing and start acknowledging it for what it is…a marketing tool and advertisement for “brand you”. Forget about what you think are the rules around resume writing…I have news for you…there really aren’t any. The goal is to make a powerful and memorable impression…quickly…and with whatever it takes. This can be achieved by communicating your impact on the organizations you have supported and it can be proven with stories, visuals, case studies, testimonials, or links to podcasts, whitepapers, and even YouTube videos. Resumes that read like job descriptions won’t cut it…they will never defy gravity, but instead will fall flat with the hiring manager.

• Get off the job boards. Job boards cater to the most complacent of job seekers. The ones who expect the jobs to come to them. The ones who think that if they throw enough resumes against the job board wall, one of them is bound to stick. But it doesn’t really work that way. Because the person on the other side of that job board is getting resumes hurled at them much faster than they can catch them. So they are forced to use applicant tracking software to parse the data in your resume and reduce its substance down to a few keywords. And keywords don’t really communicate success. In addition, while that hiring manager is trying to field all the applicants from the job boards, they are also building relationships via other channels. And let’s face it; if someone they know introduces them to a candidate, there is a much greater likelihood that they will check out that candidate first and actually look at their resume while the applicant tracking system does all the grunt work parsing data on the other 500 applicants. Which set of eyes would you rather be in front of…the human eye or the computer one?

• Don’t expect a recruiter to find you your next job. Even a recruiter will tell you that you are more likely to find your next position through a connection than through them. Just because you found your last job via a recruiter, it doesn’t mean you will land your next job the same way. Recruiters are inundated with prospects but don’t necessarily have the inventory of job openings to match the demand. Build your network by becoming an active member of professional and personal communities to extend your visibility and circle of influence. Break away from a reliance on recruiters and start making things happen on your own.

• Don’t turn your back on social media. I’ve heard all the excuses…If you don’t think that social media is relevant to you in a job search, watch how quickly you become irrelevant to the many decision makers using it to find top talent. Dip your toe in the social media water, start some conversations, support others, and learn how to protect your privacy to alleviate any concerns you have about using these tools.

• Don’t purchase a book on interviewing and expect to interview well. Interview books can help you lay the foundation for your interview strategy, but they can’t tell you how you should answer the interview questions. A strong interview strategy is one that communicates your unique value proposition through stories of success. Review interview questions to determine the underlying competency the hiring manager is searching for. Then showcase an example of something you did in the past that proves you have that competency. This strategy builds your credibility and helps the hiring manager gain trust in your abilities. You will never wow a hiring manager by regurgitating the pat answer listed on page 23 of some interview book.

Defying gravity in your job search takes a lot of work and it requires some risk. But if the old methods of job search aren’t working for you, then you need to try something new. And while you are planning your gravity defying job search strategy, here’s the song to get you motivated.