Why You Need To Be Aggressive In Your Job Hunt

The job hunt can seem endless — that is no secret. You apply to fifty places, hear back from five for a phone interview, and then **poof** radio silence again. It can all be extremely disheartening and feel like it’s simply just not worth it. However, that is not the case. It is important to be aggressive in your job hunt. It is important to continuously apply to places, even when you are discouraged. And it is important to not give up.

If you are serious about starting a new career, you cannot simply casually apply here and there. You need to be proactive and applying to multiple jobs per week. Many people make jokes about how the job hunt itself is a full time job. As funny as that can seem, they are not wrong. It is work and it does take time. But in the end, it is worth it (we hope!).

There are so many reasons as to why you need to be aggressive in your job hunt, especially if you are feeling discouraged.

Why You Need To Be Aggressive In Your Job Hunt

1. You raise your odds of finding a new job.

This is just straight up probability — obviously the more places you apply for, the better chance you have at getting called for an interview. The more places you apply, the more opportunities you are giving yourself at landing that new job.

If you are only applying to two-three jobs a month, you are limiting yourself in chances of hearing back. Whereas if you are applying to three-four jobs a week, you are expanding your odds of hearing back from one of the organizations or companies. The more you put yourself out there, the more likely you are of landing that phone interview.

2. You are gaining more interview experience.

Writing cover letters and having phone interviews can stink, especially if they are not your cup of tea. The saying “practice makes perfect” does ring true here. The more cover letters you write, the better you get at spotting grammatical errors, being concise, and sentence structure.

The more phone interviews you have, the better you get at talking about yourself, getting to the point, and answering those common interview questions. These are also skills you can then taken with you into the job itself —  you will always be writing and chatting with folks either on the phone or in person!

Interviewing is a skill and one of the ways to get better at it is to do it more often. Approach each interview as a chance to learn more and to learn something new, and then do better next time.

[Tweet “Why You Need To Be Aggressive In Your Job Hunt”]

3. You are reaching a broader network of people. 

You really never know who actually knows who. And that’s the true secret of finding a job.

By being aggressive in your job hunt and putting yourself out there more than you originally planned to, you truly do not know who you are reaching. By expanding your network, more people know you are looking for a job and more people are beginning to know your name and skill set.

If this does not work out for you in the immediate future, it can work out in the long-term. If an additional position were to open in the same company or if another Hiring Manager is looking for someone with your skill set.

When it comes to looking for a new job, you want as many people to know you are looking as possible, and you want them to think of you if they hear of anything applicable. The broader your network, the better!

4. You need the help of others.

Whether by others it includes folks you already know or folks at the organization, when it comes to the job hunt, the more people you know, the better.

In today’s day and age, more people are getting jobs based off of their connections and the people they know. You need to be aggressive in contacting people in the same industry as you that you already know and let them know you are looking for a new job and what you are specifically looking for.

Even if there is not an opening at their current organization, they may have a friend or colleague that knows of something applicable. These are all great reasons as to why it is so important to network, as well.

---

It is no secret that searching for a new job is usually not an ideal situation. It can feel like an endless game of writing cover letters, editing resumes, re-writing all of this information into an online portal, submitting, and then never hearing back. And all of that can be discouraging.

But is important to remember the light at the end of the tunnel and to focus on that. The more aggressive you are in your job hunt, the more places you apply to and the more folks you connect with. This increases the odds of landing that new job.

The job hunt is not the time to limit yourself! It is okay to be picky, but do not be afraid or too lazy to apply to anything that spikes your interest. You are only doing yourself a favor!

About the Author

---