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“If it’s boring to write it will be boring to read”
it is a rule that does not forgive. If you get bored when you write a cover letter, the cover letter will be annoying. If you are embarrassed by writing your CV (because there is a hole for example), the CV will be embarrassing. At worst, if you don’t have the motivation to write your cover letter, botch it but botch it quickly with an automatic online tool.
“I don’t send my CV to someone who hasn’t asked for it”
Probably one of my most important discoveries. I thought for a long time that I was crazy, until the day I discovered the book “Don’t send a CV” and then “The 2-Hour Job search” and then “What Colour is your parachute?” which all start with this sentence! There are several reasons why you should not send your CV to someone who has not asked you beforehand.
The main reason is that if you arrange to be asked for your resume, it will really be read.. Not to mention that the balance of power is suddenly reversed! How do you react when you are given leaflets in the street while you listen to your music? Well it’s the same here.
“Working on my CV is not the priority”
In the history of mankind, a CV has never risen to look for work. Starting with working on your CV is a very bad idea, really. Starting with doing your CV is a way to avoid introspection and strategic thinking. We get dangerously close to intellectual laziness (for example, there are quite a few people who send me their Cv to take a look at it, rather than taking the time to summarize their needs in one paragraph).
You can make the most beautiful CV in the world, if you send it at random, you do not risk having results.
“Responding to job ads is toxic to morale”
Generally, when I tell someone it’s a real release! So I tell you again: if your job search is based entirely on the response to job offers it is perfectly normal to be depressed after 10 days! No one can morally stand this. So you have to be very careful and vary the channels. You can respond to ads, but you don’t just have to do that. Especially since job advertisements are a very inefficient way to find a job, at the individual level.
“Too much research is counterproductive”
Probably the most counter-intuitive thing. But spending all your time looking is a bad idea. Especially if it’s responding to job ads. Because you’re going to get burned out very quickly. I am always saddened to see how people who have been looking for work for more than 3 weeks are visually exhausted. As soon as they open their mouths you feel that they are morally broken and that their self-confidence has collapsed. The more you go, the faster you’re going to ruin your confidence capital.
The problem is that it’s a vicious circle. Because from the outside you will also show less desire to be recruited
“If I don’t know what I’m looking for, I won’t find it”
Once it’s written it looks obvious. And yet this is probably the most common mistake. It is not up to the recruiter to choose your target for you. You have to have a course to know where to go. And setting a course is not a definitive action, you can always change course after if it does not work. But without a course you will be only wasting energy and time.
“To get what I’ve never had, I have to do what I’ve never done”
I don’t know who said that anymore but it’s a motto that follows me! It is the inverse mentality of “you know what you lose, you don’t know what you find” which is the perfect motto to never do anything. There is no point in obstinately using a method that does not work. I am always amazed to see people for whom ads don’t work and they keep trying harder and harder. At first they respond to 3 ads in a week. Then 7, then 15, then 50. No results.
Basically, you feel that what you are doing is not working, but you are afraid to get out of your comfort zone.
“Am I ready to do anything other than sit back and send emails?”
You can replace “sending emails” with “responding to ads”. The people who are most determined to get wet are the ones who get there the fastest. The effectiveness of a search is always proportional to the level of commitment one is willing to put. Be careful it does not mean that you can’t succeed without getting wet or that getting wet is a guarantee. But it’s a shortcut. Are you afraid of the phone? I can assure you, me too. The water is cold for everyone. But the difference is made between those who throw themselves into it and those who do not dare.
In the end, the best of the techniques is still to talk to a human being, in real life. You can’t cut it. And the earlier you can provoke it, the more chances you put on your side.
Conclusion
ah! I forgot a bonus rule: the person who has the power to recruit is never the recruiter. You have to take that into account when you set up your strategy.
