The 3 Pillars of a Successful Job Search: Patience, Consistency, Persistence
The longer you search for a job, the easier it becomes to lose hope. A job that pays the bills and also allows you to enjoy life is hard to find. Three key elements—patience, consistency, and persistence—are necessary to thrive in a job search. As you navigate the process, you can enlist a career coach to guide you along the way.
Let’s look at how these three key elements can help you succeed in finding a job.
1. Patience
When you begin the search, you may naively believe that a job will somehow fall into your lap, but it usually takes a significant amount of time to find the right one.
Patience is a great virtue in the job search. Just because you’re rejected for one position doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road. Don’t forget that you’re competing with potentially hundreds of other candidates—rejection is normal and expected. Keep trying—there are lots of other jobs out there. If you’re facing constant rejection, it may be worth re-evaluating your resume and the types of jobs you’re applying for.
Whether you’re hunting for a new job or are fresh out of college, getting hired can take several months. So, before you turn in your two weeks’ notice or graduate college, start actively looking for jobs. If you’re desperate for a paycheck, you can take a low-end job that pays the bills while you continue the search.
When you find a job you want, the process of submitting documentation, getting an interview, and waiting for the phone call will take time, too, so stay patient. Don’t assume you got the job until you receive the offer, and keep looking for other opportunities while you wait.
2. Consistency
This aspect of the job search can be difficult to handle because the longer you look, the easier it is to grow lazy, jaded, and indifferent. Push through and be consistent, and you’ll eventually discover the job you want.
Your resume also needs to be consistent across the board. No, this doesn’t mean you should submit the same resume for every position. Actually, that’s the opposite of what you should do. The idea is to be consistent in tailoring your resume for every application. When you do this, you’re much more likely to land a great job. Hiring managers want the best candidate, so if you submit a mediocre resume that peddles generalities, they’re likely to skip you. Moreover, most companies nowadays use applicant tracking systems (ATSs) to filter out irrelevant resumes, and these algorithms work by scanning the document for keywords. If your resume doesn’t contain the right keywords, the hiring manager won’t even see it, so as tedious as it may be, modifying your resume for each job is imperative.
Another aspect of consistency is setting aside time each day to look for a job. Depending on your schedule, this could mean dedicating an hour or several hours to the task. Shut out all distractions and focus solely on your job search. If you don’t discipline yourself, you may start procrastinating. The best approach is to be consistent even in when you look for a job—if you incorporate it into your everyday routine, you’ll reliably stick to it.
3. Persistence
Persistence goes a long way in a job search. Let’s see what exactly it looks like in this context.
First, being persistent in networking, especially online, is crucial since employers evaluate candidates based partially on their social media accounts, most notably LinkedIn. So, create a LinkedIn account if you don’t already have one and update it as often as possible. Make connections and use them to find a great job. LinkedIn connections can also help you advance your career or unearth other opportunities, so invest in building meaningful relationships with professionals in your field.
Second, find opportunities to strengthen your work experience, which will result in a better resume. It doesn’t have to be paid work—volunteer work or internships can also give you valuable experience. In addition, working without pay demonstrates that you’re truly passionate about the job. Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take paid positions. Just find ways to boost your experience, enhance your resume, and increase your chances of getting the job.
Third, develop new skills that will benefit you in your job search. Never stop learning! You can improve the skills you already have, but you can also acquire new ones. If you find during your job search that there are skills you need to hone, work on them! You don’t have to sign up for classes although you can—the internet offers a plethora of learning opportunities and makes it easy to develop nearly any skill you want.
Fourth, look for jobs on company websites rather than vacancy aggregator platforms. If you find a company you’re interested in, use your connections (or take it upon yourself) to reach out and see if there are any openings. When you approach a company about working there, it may be impressed by your initiative and passion and realize how valuable you can be to it. Reaching out like this demonstrates just how persistent you are.
A job search looks different for everyone. For some people, it could take a few weeks, while it may require several months for others. Regardless of how long it takes you, you must have patience because a great job won’t pop up overnight. You also need to be consistent because building daily habits will greatly increase your chances of success. Finally, you need persistence to demonstrate that you’re willing to work hard for what you want. Regardless of where you are in the process, consult a career coach and a resume expert to help you remain patient, consistent, and persistent.
