As someone who’s basically an optimist, I believe that expecting good things to happen is a healthy attitude to take. However, having seriously unrealistic expectations for your job search is another matter altogether.
5 Common but Unreal Job Search Expectations
- If I put my resume out there in enough places, it will get me a job.
- Free help can get me where I want to go–people should want to help me if I’m having a tough time but have years of good experience to offer.
- All I need to do to my 3-year-old resume is add my latest job.
- After I upload my resume to my LinkedIn profile, I’ll start getting job-lead contacts within days because I have a large network.
- I don’t match all the major requirements for a particular job posting, but if I use the right keywords, I should still get calls.
What’s Wrong with Those Job Search Expectations?
- Quantity versus quality as a job search technique could seriously extend the length of your job search. Also, a resume doesn’t get you “a job”; it’s a tool to help you open the door and land interviews.
- Free help isn’t necessarily bad, but it needs to come from good-quality resources. Also, the likelihood that someone will want to help you just because you need/deserve it doesn’t translate into reality. Finally, actively pursuing free support presents you as more of a taker than a giver, which doesn’t inspire people to help you.
- Times change. So does the impact of trends and technology on your resume and your job search in general. The way we did resumes a few years ago has changed substantially since then–largely due to factors such as Applicant Tracking System (ATS) screening and LinkedIn. If your resume isn’t up to date in more ways than just its chronology, you’re missing something critical.
- LinkedIn is a powerful tool for business/professional networking, and you should definitely have a strong presence there. However, just uploading your resume isn’t a substitute for building a robust profile and is highly unlikely to flood your inbox with great job leads. Sorry, but you have to work at it.
- You can certainly apply for jobs where you don’t meet all the major requirements, but just packing your resume with relevant keywords isn’t going to plug that gap. Keywords are important, but they’re not a “fix every problem” solution to your job search. If you’re a savvy job seeker (and you should be), you already know that.
How Can I Have Realistic Job Search Expectations?
To start with, create a plan that might be ambitious but isn’t ridiculously over the top. Then work that plan consistently. In addition:
- Put your time and energy into the actions most likely to yield potentially beneficial results for your job search.
- Use technology to your advantage as much as possible but recognize the need to work with what is, not what you’d like it to be.
- Create a professional resume that represents you as effectively and accurately as it can, but don’t expect it to do all the heavy lifting for you.
- If you’re looking for help from other people, try to put yourself in their shoes. Would you appreciate an in-your-face, what-can-you-do-for-me approach if it were directed at you? No? Then don’t use it on them.
- Give yourself a reality check every now and then. If what you’re doing isn’t working, is there something else that might be more productive?