041 How Long Does It Take To Find a Job?

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Aw. Welcome to job seekers radio. I’m Andrew, and I’m Scott this is a production meant to provide. You the listener meaningful support to find great careers faster. Whether you’re working or not today on job seekers radio were answering. The lifelong question how long is it going to take to get a job? Well, it depends depends. Are you talking about the undergarments that you use older? But suppose, if that something you need to deal with and you know, maybe you should consider that. No, we’re talking about this, maybe. Okay. Off to a great start. We are asked to this question. Just about every time we get together in a networking scenario. We hear it all the time. It is going to be a question that we’ve asked ourselves that others will ask us that we hear people asking each other. This question is never going away. And it, unfortunately, there’s no good answer that covers everybody. It may be just have to ask a better question. We’ll talk about that later on in this episode. The feeling I get is it really depends on how you ask it because it may be like, oh, how long is this going to take or you could be at the front end of the search. And you’re wondering how long is this going to take a really depends on your mindset? And we talk about that in a lot of the episodes out here is where is your mindset? I really think that the the best approach to answering this question. First of all you have to understand that the answer that. You’re going to find is going to be different from any other answer than anybody else finds because we’re all in a unique situation as a result. We start looking for the answers internally in a future podcast. We’re going to talk about looking for a success from external sources, and and the the liabilities involved in that. But I wanna touch on that for a moment. Because if I’m always looking for someone else to answer the question, I’m always going to find that it’s a little bit off. Because no one else is going to be an exactly the same situation for me. And what works for them isn’t always going to work for me. But there are ways for us to take what has worked for others. Try it on for size and see how that works for us. What it brings? Because really the way to answer that question for my experience has been what am I doing in my job search, and what of that is actually working what you really asking is what qualities or what components would. Determine how long is it gonna take to get a job? Exactly. And there’s a lot. And there’s a lot of them the first one I would look at is the level in terms of seniority in the organization, if you’re looking director or executive level. The presumption is of course, depending on the other components will talk about here is that it’s going to take longer. The companies are more deliberate about this hiring decisions. There might be more stakeholders involved, and it just gonna take longer. It may also be an organization that has a lot of back story that they want to undo they want to shift the focus or shift the trajectory of their corporate culture. And so they’re looking for a very specific skill set or track record that they feel is going to be moving them in the direction they want even for them finding the right candidate is going to take just as long as the right candidates finding them. So just no executive positions are a good opportunity. Also to have somebody help you. And this is something that I recommend. Very highly to people if you are looking for a higher position higher someone some consultant a placement special coast or or coach that that can help you with these connections because often the corporation is going to be hiring someone like that to find them a candidate. They don’t just post it on. Indeed, a lot of these organizations may not have the type of experience hiring that level exactly and higher so hiring that out is really fairly common. The next thing to think about in terms of how long is your job. Search gonna take is the activities you’re participating in to actually find the work. And we talk about affective job. Search we’ve talked about the anatomy of networking conversation. In fact, will leave that in the show notes. So you can have access to it. If this is the first time, you’re joining us on the podcast. We’d actually suggest you for I subscribe, first of all and second of all go back and listen to some of the prior episodes where we talk about. What is the -ffective job surgeon? What works, and what doesn’t and how to approach this whole activity that is somewhat challenging for most people because they’re changing what either what they’re doing now or they’re changing careers, or they’re, you know, they’re trying to head a new direction. And there is some friction that happens when you make that decision, but I wanna come back to your initial point. And it depends on the mindset if you are just starting job.

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Search you’re going to have a different attitude, you’re going to have more energy. Hopefully, you’re going to have a different point of view from if you are into it a year or so and fortunately, we’re gonna time right now where people are finding work within a year, even at some higher levels. But we know that this cycles through I’ve had it in my own experience a period where I was three years unemployed that was during the great recession. So it wasn’t terribly surprising. But it was tough. And at the end of that it was tough to keep going. So as we think about our job search for. From our own particular mindset. How does that affect the way? I look forward. What are the activities that I’m going to do how do I approach this differently and changing it up can be really healthy? What I the advice that I got at the time. And then again in a later job. Search was do things that actually bring you results. So we talked in a prior episode about resumes. Do the format of a resume that gets you calls send out one out if someone asks for something specific that is different give that person whatever their want. Dave, what do the things activties resumes? Whatever it is do the things that bring something back that could be an interview. But it could also be just someone new to talk to a different website to search that you hadn’t heard before these are all forms of success. If you get something out of a certain effort, keep doing that. And see how long that will bring you an effort each one of you is probably looking for the end the end being the offer. Okay. Exactly. We encourage you to look work backwards from the offer the oppor- is just an outcome of successful interview. If we were to look at the successful activities, they should be gauged against an interview. What’s generating an interview for you? Now your definition of success may differ. Most people are looking for an offer or opportunity for employment. And if we work backwards from that, you’re wanna track in maybe even do a retrospective on the activities or participating in now. Enter the. Generating or not interviews for you. If you haven’t started tracking those things I encourage you to do that. Now, if you’re sending out application resumes, and you’re getting one interview for every five locations. That’s a pretty darn good conversion rate, right? I haven’t seen many people get that. But it’s possible. I’m personally, I’m not the data type. I don’t live in data. Doesn’t drive me doesn’t bring me joy. But I have found that it’s really useful. So I come back to it. It’s an effort that I make because it feeds the things that do bring me the energy. If you haven’t to your point if if our listeners have not done the research on what the success rate is that is going to give you a lot of information that will help you in your search. It’s not that sending out the resumes blindly on to bleeds that come over. Indeed. Or some of the other aggregates isn’t a good idea. I think it is a good idea. I’ve found work that way, it’s not the one that’s going to generate the most. Incremental successes. The networking really makes a difference. And there are other activities that you can do like volunteering and hand Toastmasters. And so many of these other activities that involve people that are in business, you’re making the right connections. Do the research find out which one is working for you. Because you can have the head of that Toastmasters group tell you all the things that worked for him. But that may not be the best one for you do the research on what you’re doing. And keep doing the things that bring you those incremental successes information advice connections. We talk about that a lot. That’s really what you’re looking. For is information advice in connections, where taken this information and process it and find something that works for you. Right. Well, speaking of data really the next act. The next thing that really is going to impact your ability to find work quickly, and how long it takes is the sublime demand in the market if we have high supply, right and low demand, you’re. To be looking for a long time right now, though, it’s kind of the opposite. In a lot of ways. There’s a lot of people not a lot of opportunities available, but not a lot of people to fill those opportunities. Right. And yet that still is different in every locale based on the industries involved. You know, who who are the predominant industries in an area? It creates the struggle. There’s a dichotomy really those that are there’s a lot of the same industry in one area. And I’m thinking in the Portland area. We are the silicone forest silicon forest silicone to something else. Whatever donate. Tomato tomato. Right. There’s a lot of high tech here in the Portland area. And if you’re not in high-tech, you’re not interested in or you don’t have the right skill set to get into it.

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And yet you wanna live here. It’s going to take you longer. And that was exactly my situation. I wanted to come back home to Portland, it took me a lot longer to find the right job in this area. But it’s where I wanted to go. So I was willing to put in the effort and to the patient. I also had the support both from you know, the familial situation. And also, the financial I could make it last you narrowed your market identified by, narrowing your market fewer opportunities. It may be time. That’s right between the interviews and tell you open your market, if you’re willing to do so opening your market could include things like, hey, let’s look for remote work or let’s expand our geography or industry or anything like that. So if you’re really in a point if you’re listening to this this, Ed. Episode where you need to find work quickly. You need to expand your market that would be a recommendation night. Make and to be okay with how ever far you’re looking if you actually land something, you know, you get that interview. Don’t say no try to find ways to say. Yes. Even if it’s at more of a distance than you’d like because you don’t know where that might lead. Open remain open. Keep a fresh perspective every time you approach your activities, right? If you are in a situation where you can wait then narrowing to exactly what you want can work for you. Because it I find that the sex six S’s become more more significant more powerful when it is building on the last one when it really is very targeted you keep drilling deeper and deeper you’re going to get to the target that you’re looking for is just gonna take longer. I’m reminded of rich who came to breakfast club. I don’t know if your member rich. He I mean, he. Came in and said, you know, I work for anybody as long as it’s Nike golf. And I was like, okay, that’s one strategy. Now, it probably took him longer to find opportunity because of that. Sure. But everybody knew that when they heard of an opportunity for Nike golf who. Are they going to mmediately think of exactly and it worked it took him a period of years, but he got it? And he was in that situation where he could do that. I remember having a conversation with him and his wife was saying I think you need to take the next job that comes along. And that was his response. I will take any job as long as with Nike, and but he was driven. And he got it. And he’s still there. It can’t work for you. The only person who can answer the question is you, and that’s the toughest thing to deal with speaking of questions asking better questions will actually get you better answers. Perhaps the question you should ask that it’s better than how long does it. Take to get a job is what is the best way to find a job fast. East or what steps should I take defined the right job? So if you increase the quality of your question, yes, you’re going to get better answers. And when you think about riches example, where he he was absolute set on working for Nike, then the questions become how do I get further into Nike? How can I penetrate that how can I meet the gatekeepers? How can I get those informational interviews which I believe he did over one hundred over one hundred he still doesn’t and he still doesn’t in. Here’s why because he knows. Yeah. He’s been there. Right. So it is he’s walked that path. And he understands the importance of doing these things so the questions ended up changing for him, and I have used his tactics. And it has worked I didn’t focus on a specific company. Mine was on a specific job. And I got it, narrowing the questions refining the questions to something that works better to get an answer that is more. Meaning. Awful really is the better way to approach the question. How long is this job? Search gonna take it’s gonna take long as you think it’s going to take and it’s going to be based on the level. You’re seeking your activities. Your supply and demand in your marketplace. And your ability to ask yourself better question. That’s it for this episode of job seekers radio. You can find show notes and resources on seekers radio dot com slash zero four one. So thank you for joining us for this episode of job seekers radio. We want to acknowledge your investment of time and attention. We really appreciate it head over to itunes and subscribe to get future episodes. And while you’re there, please provide us a rated review. We we want feedback. We want to know that this is helpful and that you’re finding meaning here, and we want to incorporate those needs that you have into our into our episodes. A podcast. We do have a free resource for you. It’s called the anatomy of networking conversation. It’s an e book that Scott ni- put together, it’s a free gift that we have for you.

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Just go to job seekers radio dot com. You’ll see a little pop up comes up on the screen, and you can get that completely free. Just as a gift from us to you. My name is Scott. And this is Andrew and two. We want to leave you with thought that which you persist in doing becomes easier. Not because the nature of the thing has changed. But your ability to do it has increased. All right. Thanks, everybody. Bye. Bye.