I’m willing to bet that you really care about your work environment. Whether it’s the culture, how leadership treats staff, opportunities for growth, etc., you have spent time considering these either when choosing to leave or take a job. These are key concerns for professionals, but as job seekers, our focus is often in the wrong place. The misdirection is that the job doesn’t contain these critical elements — the company does. This is why I strongly advise job seekers to chase the company, not the job, in their job search process.
This flipping of focus will not only have long-term impacts on your happiness, it will also have immediate, short-term benefits for your job search.
Why You Should Chase the Company, Not the Job
Most job seekers begin their search by logging onto [INSERT JOB BOARD] and entering their desired title/function. Depending on your profession, industry, and location, a query may return hundreds of matching job openings. While conventional wisdom says that this is a fine way to conduct a job search, my experience working with clients has shown that it leads nowhere fast. Despite the numerous job openings for your target role, the work environments that will be the best fit for you and allow you to thrive are not.
Given the outsized impact your work environment can have on everything from your ability to perform your job to your precious mental health, starting a job search with job titles is equivalent to starting a journey without your final destination in mind. Why do that to yourself?
You will be spending 40+ hours a week at your company — you should like being there. Here are 3 key reasons why you should chase the company, not the job in your search process:
1. Quality vs. Quantity
While job boards are great for high-volume search results, high-volume also equals high time spent sifting through postings and submitting time-consuming online applications. You are far better off conducting a focused search with a shortlist of target companies. This is especially important as your career advances, but true at any level. If I asked you, “what company(ies) would you love to work for right now?”, those that immediately come to mind should form the core of your list, which will evolve organically with time.
Having a finite set of target companies will allow you to conduct more in-depth research not only about a company’s business model, products or services, but also the truth about the work environment. A company’s website serves only to project the image they want you to receive. It’s far more realistic to be able to learn what’s behind the curtain of 5-10 companies versus the 50+ you applied to via job boards. The best way to do this detective work is through networking.
2. More Effective Networking
Given the time and energy-intensive nature of networking, having a set of target companies to focus on will facilitate maximum impact from your efforts. This shortlist will quickly enable you to know where gaps exist in your network and in turn, where you need to grow it. It will also allow you to effectively enlist support from your existing network. Imagine sharing a shortlist of 5-10 companies with your network and asking where they have any connections. You’ve just empowered your network to help you by focusing their attention on a knowable universe of current and former colleagues, classmates, clients, friends, etc. that they can potentially connect you with.
Once you have established your ties with a target company, you can then begin the process of getting to know the inside story of said company and building both the knowledge and contacts that will be instrumental in the success of your candidacy. Even if a current job opening doesn’t exist that matches your skill set, you can intentionally use your networking to “get on the radar” of a target company (i.e. its recruiters and/or hiring managers) so that if a matching opportunity arises in the future, as a known entity, you might be the first to receive a call before a job posting ever goes live. This is how the “hidden job market” truly works.
3. Authenticity & Longevity
Getting to know your target companies through networking will not only help you determine if the environment will truly be the best fit for you, it will also allow you to craft a quality, highly tailored career platform and application materials, which will boost your chances of landing a job. Here’s the best part – all that effort is being made for a company where you actually, really want to be!
When it comes down to the networking and interviewing process, there is no need to fake anything because you are genuinely excited about the company. You can clearly and enthusiastically articulate, the “why,” of you wanting to be there and how you can contribute to the company’s mission. You are fully congruent. There is no dissonance, and this will reflect in your cover letter, how you position yourself in your resume, the time and effort you spent connecting with current employees. Everything about you and your candidacy will appear authentic, and what better impression is there to leave with a prospective employer?
Despite the 2-3 years that most professionals currently stay at a company, I believe that when most people look for a job, they don’t want to make just any move, but rather, the right move. Though longevity may not be the explicit goal in joining your next company, when you create a focused list of target companies, you’ve increase the likelihood of making the right move…and longevity may just be an accidental byproduct. I know that’s a scary prospect in today’s commitment-phobic [work]culture – but as a career coach, it’s an outcome I’m willing to accept.
What are your thoughts on this approach to job searching?