7 Aggressive Job Search Strategies for Success

Is your job search producing lackluster results at best? Don’t settle for a job search that just creeps along! Instead, consider taking a more aggressive approach to take fuller advantage of high-performing tactics.

You need to know that aggressive job search techniques are unconventional, often radical, and always strategic. And they work! They outperform traditional job search strategies in 7 key ways.

1. Make your aggressive tactics proactive:

If you have been in the job market very long this is the way it is typically done. Traditionally you submit a job search, you set the pace for your campaign through weekly networking calls or emails. These should include weekly follow-up contacts with hiring managers to whom you have sent your email and cover letter. These will include both posted or anticipated job openings. By making 10 – 15 such calls each week, you can increase the pace of your results. And affect your search exponentially.

2. Target your aggressive job search tactics:

If you spend all your time only seeking online job postings, then you’re missing out on all kinds of highly targeted job leads. Instead focus on specific industries, employers, geographic areas, and position types to help you magnify the number of interviews and job offers you receive. Don’t make the mistake of applying for everything you see. ­Doing that may make you feel productive, but such a shot-gun approach to job searching ultimately fails to help you secure the position you desire. For several years I was in sales and the companies I worked for pushed cold calling. I hate cold calling because it is unproductive. So I focused on applying the above techniques to sales. They worked. I was always way ahead of my peers who spent their time cold-calling.

3. Aggressive job search tactics are consistent:

If you sit back and wait for the interesting jobs to show up on job boards and in ads, you are guaranteeing failure or at best prolonging the agony of job searching.

If you submit 8-10 resumes in some weeks, say, and only 1-2 in others, then you are setting yourself up for failure. However leveraging an aggressive job search will enable you to consistently submit 25 or more resumes per week, which in turn will produce a regular series of job interviews. And a series of interviews boosts your odds of receiving one or more job offers. That’s the plan after all, isn’t it?

4. Aggressive job search tactics are customized:

No matter how you figure, a job search is something of a numbers game just as it is in the sales scenario I mentioned above. The philosophy behind traditional job search tactics of blasting your resume to hundreds of employers all at once is a job is a job, is a job. But that leaves no room for you to target specific industry segments or position types. A more aggressive job search technique will stress your individuality by weaving your personality and career-related values into your resume, cover letter, and interview responses boosting the odds that hiring managers looking for someone like you will find you.

5. Aggressive job search tactics are free or low-cost:

If you took advantage of all the job search offers available on the Internet, you could easily spend hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars, and still see little to no positive results. The good news, though, is that by using an aggressive job search technique by their very nature either free or extremely low-cost. Many HR consulting firms who work with job seekers will often stress that they give you hundreds of hiring employer names to contact (that’s how they justify their high fees). Did you know that you can access that same information on the Internet for free? You will be surprised at what you can find on the Internet, or maybe not surprised at all.

6. An aggressive job search tactic will restore balance to your life:

Many things in life output and effort, yet overlook the power of automation. Searching for a job is no different. By taking advantage of automated functions in your PC’s software and online job search tools, you could save time every week. Life is too short, to spend all your time hunting down job leads. Enhance the quality of your life by automating your job search in every way possible.

7. And finally, aggressive job search tactics will penetrate the Hidden Job Market:

One of the greatest weaknesses of traditional job search methods is that they focus on the Visible Job Market or those jobs that are both currently available and known outside the hiring organization. Many companies hire individuals who are recommended by their employees. Almost three-quarters of all jobs are never advertised in the Visible Job Market. Most companies would prefer to promote from within or hire from a referral of a trusted employee. So what does a smart job seeker do? They tell everyone they know that they are available. You have to ­leverage the power of aggressive job search tactics to penetrate the Hidden Job Market as much as possible.

You don’t have to wait for a hot economy to land the job you want. By taking advantage of as many aggressive job search tactics as possible, you will dramatically shorten your job search while boosting the interviews and offers you land.

Job Search: Fundamentals of Effective Job Hunting, Resumes, and Interviews

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